Diving the cenotes, Part II

Jason picked me up at the hotel Thursday morning, along with Polo, the Mexican cave divemaster.  We drove south of Playa del Carmen a couple miles, and quickly took a right turn away from the beach.   On the way, Polo asked me if I were Catholic since, many Catholic people feel they are seeing God when they look up through the waters at the jungle and the light streaming in.  I responded that one did not have to be Catholic to feel that way!  Jason laughed.

Down a dirt road into the jungle, past a hand-painted sign "Chac-Mool" - the jaguar.  Jason paid the entrance fee, and we drove a bit further to a dirt parking lot. Jason led me down steps to the first cenote, KulKulcan, to view the prospect.  I had envisioned one of the round bottomless holes.  I had felt better when Jason told me that these were cavern dives where the bottom was within recreational dive limits.  However, the sight of the murky pool with the cavern entrance was unnerving.

Well, I had come this far - I certainly wasn't going to turn back.  But I ascended the stairs with my heart beating a bit out of control.  I hadn't felt this way since my early ocean dives.  We viewed the Chac-Mool pool which was even smaller, and headed back to the truck to get suited up.

 The cenotes are colder than the ocean, but my 3mm with booties was sufficient.  Polo explained that there was a line strung through the cave that we would follow, and that one should not descend below the line.  Touching bottom or disturbing the debris would ruin visibility.  One also had to be careful to not hit the top of the caves, especially near stalactite.  Besides good buoyancy control one should use a frog kick which is less likely to hit bottom or stir up debris.

In I went, and after Polo helped with the fins, and a last minute check, down we went.  KulkulCan has a shorter tour, with the first half back and forth near the entrance.  This is where we saw God.  It was truly a remarkable sight!

We then headed into a cavern where Polo had told me to swim beside him because we would go through a halocline.  A halocline is an effect that happens where fresh and salt water do not mix.  The cenotes are part of underground river systems in the Yucatan.  Close to the ocean salt water intrudes into the caverns.  Less dense fresh water from the land forms a layer over salt water from the ocean.  When one gets near the halocline it looks like a mirror ahead.  As one goes through, visibility becomes blurred until you reach the other side.  You can see the blurry halocline in the next two photos.

On the first dive we did not stay too long in the cavern area.

We had been the first divers in, but soon we started passing by other divers.  I was becoming comfortable with the experience, so I gave the 'ok' sign to the photographer.

After another tour around the lip of the cavern, we headed back up.

Soon we were close to breaking through the surface.

We took our surface interval and headed over to Chac-Mool.  The Chac-Mool tour was much longer.  It's interesting how quiet it is in the caves compared to the ocean.  And with no current jostling one, air supply seemed to last much longer.  They actually place a time limit on dives of 45 minutes.  I came up from the first dive with more than half a tank remaining.  Highlights of Chac-Mool included a lot more stalactites, larger caverns, a much longer tour, and an ascent into an air pocket where tree roots extended through the pocket into the water.

I was a happy camper after two great dives!

We got lunch from the nearby deli, viewed the photos and videos the young entrepreneurs had taken and headed back to the resort.

In the afternoon I wrote up my dives, prepared for the trip to Chichen Itza and started packing.  I was to be at the front of the hotel at 7:20 AM, and we would not return until late.  Saturday morning departure around 9:30 to the airport.

That night I had arranged to have dinner at the upscale restaurant at the resort.  And up-scale it was.  The food was incredible, and the service excellent.  Everything I wanted for around $45.