reggie's backpacking chronicles

HOME CENTRAL AMERICA ASIA SOUTH AMERICA MORE...

"The Underworld of Mexcio"

Fresh water cave diving
When you hear Cancun or Playa del Carmen what comes to mind? All-inclusive resorts, powder white sands, and endless amounts of tropical cocktails? Mexicos Yucatan peninsula may have originally gained fame through these tourist avenues but her real beauty lies below. In the cenotes. Cenotes (say-no-tay) are underground caverns or caves formed almost 6,500 hundred years ago. Millenniums worth of geographical changes created these intricate cave systems but climate change is most likely what filled them in. Now completely submerged in fresh water, scuba diving is the only way to see this lost world.

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

The Yucatan is colored by thousands of cenotes, but we chose to dive, Dos Ojos, just outside of Tulum. Translating as, Two Eyes, this dive is exactly that. Two portals into two different worlds. Our dive company, Divers UnderGround, explained everything about the caves on arrival and made sure to be the first company there. This meant an unobstructed view of the cenote's incredibly clear waters and no other divers tainting our experience in the cave. The first cave series, known as Barbie Dive, takes you around a bigger, dare I say, more spacious circuit while the second, Bat Cave Dive, transports divers into the smaller, darker and more technical caves next door.

A large rock overhang, rich in flora and fauna, hides the cenote from above and its not until descending the hill behind, that her existence is revealed. Timed perfectly, the sun had just begun its daily ascent, shining beams of light through the lofty palapa trees and onto the cenote waters. Dancing over the surface, the waters glistened to life, and our crystal clear aquatic portal opened.

Peering over the small dock, I could see perfectly down to the bottom. With no currents to blur vision or clouds to disturb vibrancy, underwater visibility reached new lengths! All the little fish 10 meters below appearing just inches below the surface. Descending into the cool waters, my senses were in overload. The sun that tangoed on the water above now illuminated everything below. As if thousands of Swarovski crystals had been dropped into the water, every angle of vision filled with sparkles and light. Excitedly looking around the large cavern I saw our entry point into the cave. A dark, eerie opening lying just 20 meters away. From heaven to hell, here we go!

Welcomed by towers of stalactites and stalagmites, the caverns age was evidentold! Thousands of years of slow drippings created these enormous formations and the watery filling now served to preserve them. Swimming into the cavern mouth, we immediately switched on our flashlights and located our life line. A fixed golden line providing navigational assistance once inside the dark caverns. Our other, more qualified form of assistance, Camilo. Our incredible dive instructor. Inky blackness was no match for my powerful light. Excitedly scanning nearly every crack, cavern and formation, every pass of light revealed another discovery. The only other form of life, other then ourselves, were a variety of small fish. Living in dark solitude, these fish were direct descendants of fish around during the Mayan rule. And like the ancient rock formations, they too, had stories. Just when I thought we were about to enter the afterlife, a ray of light pierced the blackness. Racing through the water, the beam hit the adjacent limestone wall and exploded in color. Then another, and another, until finally the entire cavern was illuminated. Following the light beams to their source yielded one of the most beautiful sights my eyes have ever seen. A large, thick slice in the cavern roof afforded our first glimpse of the outside world. The trees and leaves rising high above reflected on the waters surface and then refracted themselves below to create a rainbow of colors and dizzying images.
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

Unobstructed by opposing outside lights, the colors came streaming through the neutral waters in all their glory. More vibrant then anything Ive ever seen, I floated their, mesmerized by this once in a lifetime show.

Our next dive, proved very different then the first. The occasional streams of light and expansive caverns of before, mutated into a series of tight fits, dark corners and eerie drops. Floating very close to one of these unknown caverns, two shiny eyes opened! Ahhhthe creature of the deep! Flailing backwards, it took a moment for my eyes to focus and uncover the truth. The ominous almond eyes were nothing more then two perfectly distanced metallic fish glowing against the harsh light of my torch. Phew. Aside from my overactive imagination, the caverns eerie persona did not impose fear, only awe. The methodical sound of my regulator assured safety while the light pops of air bubbles hitting the rock ceiling, reminded me of our shallow depth. Spoiled by crystal clear visibility for most of the dive, I was surprised by a sudden drunken blurriness. I later asked Camilo what caused it to which he replied, saltwater. Denser then fresh water, the nearby sea waters found a way into the forbidden caves and are now creating this divided haze.

A highlight of the dive was the Bat Cave itself. Surfacing in a small cavern,

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

A highlight of the dive was the Bat Cave itself. Surfacing in a small cavern, we were welcomed by the screechings of hundreds of bats. Flying erratically about, the bats soon calmed as we admired their ancient hideout. My favorite part of the Bat Cave dive however came towards the end. Covering our lights and swimming through the final caverns in complete darkness. A small blue patch soon appeared in the distance and signified our portal home. But did we want to return? The calmness and peace found within oneself during such dives is like no other. I truly believe in order to appreciate our world, we need to experience others. Cenote diving offers this opportunity and should not be missed when in the Yucatan. Gracias Camilo y Margarita of Divers Underground.
Divers UnderGround Trip Advisor

Create a free website with

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com