Cave explorer Bil Phillips originally discovered this cave system in July 2000. Sergio Granucci carried out further explorations between 2004 and 2009 in this system, connecting it with a few cenotes in the surrounding area.
Robert Schmittner connected the Sac Actun cave
system to Sistema Caracol in 2012 through the Actun Hu section. This
connection was not confirmed for several months, due to the lack of information about the topography of Caracol
system.
Recently, the Caracol cave system was surveyed and mapped in it�s entirety for a total of 22,500ft / 6,554m by Alex Reato, Camilo Garcia, Paul Kirby and Bil Phillips.
The main passage begins just behind the warning sign to the north west of the water entry point and is continuous
for 4,648ft/1,417m ending at a cenote at the top of a mud slope with a Sidemount only restriction / exit point.
For the first 2,500ft/762m the "Mainline" is a white, #36 nylon twisted guideline with white directional markers (arrows)
every 200ft/60m indicating the distance to the surface exit/entrance point. There is one air-bell at approximately
1,550ft/470m on the mainline with no known access to a fresh air opening.
All of the jumps to the south/southwest (or left) side of the Mainline are marked with Day-Glo lime
green line arrows. While all of the jumps to the North/Northeast (or right) side of the Mainline are marked with Day-Glo
orange arrows.
The first set of Double Lime Green arrows indicates the jump to the start of the Main Circuit line to the left.
This jump line Tees-back-into the Mainline at approximately the 2,500ft/762m point. This Tee is indicated with
Two Day-Glo Orange Arrows pointing the way out via the Mainline and a Single Day-Glo Green Arrow pointing the way
out back through the Mainline Circuit. There is one Bail-out cenote opening at approximately 1,460ft/445m on the
Circuit line with breathable air, but it would be physically very difficult to exit until a rope is lowered into the
chimney shaft opening.
The start and end of all other lines are marked with single line arrows many of which remain to be the original
exploration markers / arrows.
Sharing tasks, I resurveyed the northern section;
this permitted me to confirm the connection with the Sac Actun system (via Actun Hu) found by Robbie, and also to
discover another branch of the cave, nicely decorated, at the end of which I could find a new cenote, named "Venom".
Close to this cenote, the waterflow is really weak, almost inexistent, making me thinking there are no leads for
further exploration.
The total amount of new surveyed caves of this section is 3691ft/1125m.