Cova des Pirata

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Cova des Pirata

Coves des Pirata 43.jpg
Location: Manacor , Mallorca , Spain
Geographic
location: 		39 ° 30 '25 "  N , 3 ° 17' 58"  E Coordinates: 39 ° 30 '25 "  N , 3 ° 17' 58"  E.
Cova des Pirata (Balearic Islands)
Cova des Pirata
Geology: limestone
Type: Dripstone cave , karst cave
Lighting: No
Overall length: over 300 meters
Level difference: 33 meters

The Cova des Pirata ('Pirate Cave'), also Gruta des Pirata ('Pirate Grotto'), is a stalactite cave on the east coast of the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca . It is one of several karst caves on the Can Frasquet estate south of S'Estany d'en Mas in the municipality of Manacor , which are collectively known as the Coves des Pirata ('pirate caves'), which indicates their location near the sea. The Cova des Pirata is subaquatically connected to the Cova des Pont and Cova de sa Piqueta caves and forms a common cave system with them .

location

Path to the cave entrance

The entrance to the Cova des Pirata is 350 meters from the east coast of Mallorca at Cala Falcó within the nature reserve Cales Verges de Manacor . The next town, S'Estany d'en Mas, is 1100 meters to the north, the bay of Cala Varques 750 meters to the south and the historic fortified tower Son Fortesa 2090 meters to the west.

The cave entrance with a metal grille door is located to the south-east next to the path from S'Estany d'en Mas to the buildings of Can Frasquet under tall trees in the middle of bushes in a small sinkhole . From there, the main rooms of the Cova des Pirata extend about 140 meters to the south. About 50 meters west of the entrance there is a connection to the Cova des Pont . The largest width of the cave is 70 meters. The cave entrance is 22 meters above sea level , the height difference of the cave is 33 meters in total.

Name and story

In the 18th century there were frequent raids by pirates from the barbarian states , who found suitable hiding places especially on the southeast coast of the island. For example, there is evidence of an attack on the fortified tower of Son Fortesa above Cala Varques in 1760 . When the pirates were repelled, parts of them were trapped in the bay of Cala Varques. According to legend, one of the wounded pirates with a broken leg was able to take refuge in the Cova des Pirata . There he nourished himself on the milk of the goats and sheep living here for several weeks before he went in search of his ship after the fracture had healed. Later the cave ( Catalan Cova ) was named after him.

Schematic sketch of the Cova des Pirata after Edouard Alfred Martel

The Cova des Pirata , like the other “pirate caves” in the area, was created by karstification of the limestone . Probably the oldest graffito in the cave indicates 1614 as the year of the inscription. A similar graffito was found in the Coves d'Artà , possibly by the same person. On the occasion of an agricultural exhibition and the fairs and festivals in Manacor, the Cova des Pirata was expanded into a show cave in 1897 . For this purpose, a circular path with stairs was created through the cave. In the entrance area, benches were installed on the rocks, which are still there today. From there two corridors lead south and south-east into the interior of the cave. After a change of ownership, the privately owned Cova des Pirata was later closed again as a show cave.

In 1901, the French speleologist Édouard Alfred Martel visited the Cova des Pirata and the neighboring Cova des Pont and published schematic sketches of the two caves in 1903. Martel named the cave lakes of the Cova des Pirata as Lac des Sylphes and Lac des Ondines , after the mythological natural spirits of the sylphs and undines .

After a mapping of the cave in 1971 by the speleologists X. Delgado, J. Ferreres and J. García (published in 1976), a first dive in the large lake of the Cova des Pirata was undertaken in 1972 . On March 6, 1982, five cave enthusiasts entered the Cova des Pirata to explore unknown places. Two of them were seriously injured by a triggered landslide. In 1989, during an underwater exploration, a narrow flooded gallery was discovered that connects the Cova des Pirata with the Cova des Pont . The entire cave system is over 2025 meters long. The Cova des Pirata has been considered an "Area of ​​Community Importance" (GGB or English SCI) according to Natura 2000 of the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive of the European Union since 2006 .

literature

  • D. Pedro Estelrich: Las cuevas del Pirata de Manacor (Mallorca) . Guía y descripción de sus principales maravillas. Palma de Mallorca 1905 ( online [accessed July 2, 2015] partial view).
  • Joaquín Ginés, Angel Ginés: Ses Coves del Pirata . In: Endins . No. 3 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 1976, p. 41–45 ( online [PDF; 3.2 MB ; accessed on July 2, 2015]).
  • Mateo Vadell, Juan Antonio Zaragoza, Rafael Jordana, Lluc García, Francesc Gràcia, Bernat Clamor: Nuevas aportaciones al conocimiento de la fauna cavernícola terrestre de las Coves del Pirata, Cova des Pont, Cova de sa Piqueta y la Cova des Xots . In: Endins . No. 29 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 2006 ( online [PDF; accessed July 2, 2015]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Francesc Gràcia, Bernat Clamor, Joan J. Fornós, Damià Jaume, Mateu Febrer: El sistema Pirata - Pont - Piqueta (Manacor, Mallorca): Geomorfologia, espeleogènesi, hidrologia, sedimentologia i fauna . In: Endins . No. 29 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 2006, p. 25–26 (Catalan, online [PDF; 1.1 MB ; accessed on July 2, 2015]).
  2. ^ Rudi Pfister, Stephanie Rost: Coves del Pirata. Description of foreign caves. www.caveseekers.com, July 24, 2011, accessed July 2, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Francesc Gràcia, Bernat Clamor, Joan J. Fornós, Damià Jaume, Mateu Febrer: El sistema Pirata - Pont - Piqueta (Manacor, Mallorca): Geomorfologia, espeleogènesi, hidrologia, sedimentologia i fauna . In: Endins . No. 29 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 2006, p. 28 (Catalan, online [PDF; 1.1 MB ; accessed on July 2, 2015]).
  4. ↑ a b Jochen Duckeck: La Cueva del Pirata. Coves del Pirata - Cova des Pirata - Cave of the Pirate. www.showcaves.com, accessed July 2, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Cova des Pirata. www.mallorcaverde.es, 2007, accessed on July 2, 2015 (Castilian).
  6. ↑ D. Pedro Estelrich: Las cuevas del Pirata de Manacor (Mallorca) . Guía y descripción de sus principales maravillas. Francisco Soler Prats, Palma de Mallorca 1905, p. 18-19 ( online [accessed July 2, 2015]).
  7. ^ Antoni Pasqual, Maria Esperança Nicolau: Anàlisi dels grafits de sa Cova des Pirata i de sa Cova des Pont (Manacor) . In: Endins . No. 29 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 2006, p. 66 (Catalan, online [PDF; 305 kB ; accessed on July 2, 2015]).
  8. ↑ Miquel Trias, Francesc Mir: Les Coves de la Zona de Can Frasquet - Cala Varques . In: Endins . No. 4 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 1977, p. 25 ( online [PDF; accessed July 2, 2015]).
  9. ↑ Mapa topográfico de sa Cova des Pirata. webs.ono.com, 2010, archived from the original on July 1, 2016 ; Retrieved July 2, 2015 (Castilian).
  10. ↑ Natura 2000. Site ES5310055. natura2000.eea.europa.eu, September 2011, accessed on July 4, 2015 (English).

Web links

Commons : Cova des Pirata  - Collection of images, videos and audio files