Hello. This is now our last excursion on this beautiful vacation in Sardinia. We’re headed to the Neptune Cave. At the hotel, they said this natural wonder is definitely worth a visit. Since it seems that every guest gets this recommendation, we only managed to secure a spot on the last ship of the day. Tomorrow, it’s back to the airport.
We’ve just arrived by boat at the entrance of the Neptune Cave. This way, we’ve avoided numerous steps. However, up there by the ticket counter, it seems there are problems beyond my Italian skills.
Someone from the hotel translated in broken English that our group is too large. Some of us will have to wait. If I hadn’t taken so many photos of the cave entrance and the sea, I wouldn’t be sitting on these plastic chairs now.
Finally, we’re allowed in.
Wow, these rock formations, these stalactites and stalagmites are truly impressive. But at times, the passages are quite narrow and pose a significant risk for head bumps.
What was that noise? Hopefully not the iron gate at the entrance? No, it couldn’t be. But it’s better to hurry through and get back on the boat.
It couldn’t have been the gate, I hope. Being trapped in here would be a nightmare. There’s no cell signal down here deep in the cave – like something out of a bad horror movie, but with all this stone and the sea, it somehow makes sense.
Slowly, these rock formations seem more menacing than beautiful. It’s almost as if the stones are weeping. Have they witnessed something terrible in this vast cave? They’ve had thousands or even millions of years for that. The stagnant water is giving me an eerie feeling too. In the spotlights that cast the cave in a yellow-red glow, it could easily be mistaken for blood.
I was right. About my feeling and about the gate at the entrance. We’re trapped, and no one can hear our cries.
How cold does it get in the cave at night? At the end of a hot day, it was refreshingly cool, but at night?
Damn it! The lights have been turned off. We can only see a little with the flashlights on our phones. One person in the group has a bloody gash on their head from the tight passages and sharp rocks.
Another one is mentioning something about another door. At least, I think that’s what he’s saying in Italian.
We’re saved. There really was another door, and light is seeping through from the sides. The hope of not having to spend the whole night on cold, wet stone couldn’t have come too soon. Another person in our group slipped and can only move with assistance. The scream echoed a hundredfold in the cave and seemed to never end – an echo of agony.
The second door was only secured by a bit of string. We now follow the faint light. Bent over like Quasimodo and sweating uncomfortably in the cool cave air due to the concentration with every step.
What’s happening up ahead? We’ve reached a new chamber. The rock formations here look like grotesque faces. Did nature carve these devilish visages into the stone, or did humans lend a hand? The features of these diabolical rocks appear older than humanity itself.
But in the center of this large chamber, there are some figures in black robes. They surround an altar. The eerie scene compels me to whisper right now.
One of the people in the robes approaches a cave wall and breaks off a stalactite from the low ceiling.
No, it can’t be! On the stone altar lies a boy or a young girl. It’s screaming, and the echo is deafening. Can you still hear me?
I can’t believe it. He’s thrusting the stone point into them. Blood is flowing into the water around their stone island. This water hasn’t moved for millennia, and I’m only seeing it now. It’s stagnant blood.
We have to get out of here. What is that? NOOOOO.
I found a cell phone in a small corner of the Neptune Cave. I’ve charged it, and without knowing the password, I can play this audio recording from the home screen.
What should I do with it?