Melrose Caverns, Harrisonburg, Virginia (part 2)

Yesterday I presented stuff  from the outside world, to just inside the cave.  Now a post with a bunch of pictures and stuff from inside the cave.  Likely a third post tomorrow to finish all this up.

Commonly called sharks teeth, this formation occurs down a wall and has a water cover. The white line along the points is just a reflection of the white calcite. They grow during wet periods. This photo is from quite near the entrance of the cave, where several examples of this occur.

And time to think about soda straws, a cave formation common across the globe.

This is a little one, but has an interesting crack in it's structure. But also a decent shot to show that macro photos are more artistic and enjoyable to the masses if the main subject is in focus, but similar subjects are in the background out of focus. A technique used by photographers to make a thing more in place without distracting the eye.

But then there is this. A non-conformist soda straw with an air bubble at the tip before the water droplet. What? Never saw this before.

So chalk up a new phenomena to Melrose Caverns.  But wait, this wasn't the soda straw with a bubble that I had been told about, but a new one.  So now there are two soda straws in the cave that do this.  Allow me to present the original specimen.

Soda straw with an air bubble and getting ready to drip.

It's ready to go.

And the drop is off. The air bubble is still there and interestingly there is a tiny droplet following the main drop, something I noticed in most of my pics attempting to make these final photos.

What, you thought I got these images on my first try?  Hardly.  This stuff takes hard work and much time to get right.

And a few more shots of the cave.  Note that I had to do this with just one off-camera flash, nothing else.

Connor Christenson and a big formation in Melrose Caverns.

big passage. Stal here and there.

Cave pearls! There are a few locations with these in the cave,

And looks like a third installment on Melrose will be needed, as still more pics worth posting.