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On January 21st, 2016 I had the greatest sandwich ever (salami and cheese on very fresh bread, with hot sauce) and I also went cave diving*.
M’lady and I checked out of our hotel and carried our bags across the street to the dive shop where we found our guide Luis getting our gear together. The stereo in the shop was playing Lost In Love; Air Supply seemed very appropriate and I mentioned as much. The guy at the dive shop told me it was his favourite band (naturally). “This is how I learned to speak English,” he told me. I guess he’s an expert in breaking up. All set up, we hopped in Luis’ van (I use the term loosely, the thing was held together with baling wire, habit, and hope), stopped for scuba tanks, some fruit and fuel and we drove to the ocean.
When I got my scuba certification in The Bahamas all anyone was talking about was Cozumel, Cozumel, Cozumel, and as we had decided to skip the island altogether on this trip to Mexico I wanted to try diving at least on the reef between here and there so I booked two dives this morning: one in the sea and one in the cenote. When we arrived at the beach the captain told us no way, the sea was too rough to dive in. Oh well, I guess we’d have to do both dives in the cenote, like most people do. A few kilometres on and we arrived at Dos Ojos cenote.
Unique to this area, a cenote is an underground freshwater river. Before I was born a meteor crashed into the Yucatan peninsula and broke apart, poking hundreds of holes into the ground and exposing a massive network of caverns. Over several millennia these caverns filled with rain, then they filled with tourists, until they ultimately evolved into the major swimming/snorkelling/diving destinations they are today. On short: cenote diving seemed like an opportunity not to be missed, so we caught it.
We arrived at the cenote shortly after the place opened (for business, not geologically) and suited up. Luis gave us a don’t-crash refresher course in diving, for example he reminded us that our wetsuit zippers go in the back. Oops. Diving is pretty easy, 95% of it is uber-basic and completely intuitive, unfortunately the other 5% will leave you underwater without air and likely dead. I listened to most of what he said and we walked to the mouth of the cave.
We dove in and tried to neutralize our buoyancy. This right here is what separates the newbs from the dive masters. Can you find that sweet spot where you have enough weight on your belt and enough air in your BCD so that you can float at the depth you want (I wasn’t paying attention when he mentioned what “BCD” stands for)? This is something I rather suck at so I spent a lot of time rising, deflating, falling, and inflating. When Luis wrongly decided that I had a solid handle on things he beckoned for us to follow him and he swam away. M’lady and I pulled out our flashlights and got moving.
Our first dive had us exploring one end of the cenote. We passed by ancient stalactites and fallen stones, swimming through the impossible network of jagged, flooded caves. We swam through crevices and emerged into vast spaces, trailed the whole time by tiny fish and even tinier bubbles marking the current in the fresh water. Sometimes I would look up and see the surface of the river, other times above me was only rock. Mostly I could see little mirror-like puddles up there where tiny gaps formed between the top of the river and the roof of the cave.
This was not a trip for the claustrophobic. Not at all. In any way.
My buoyancy troubles had me drifting between the floor and the ceiling; I was struggling almost the whole time. In the last ten minutes or so I started to get comfortable enough to really enjoy it but of course with my bad eyesight I could hardly see a thing anyway. Constantly checking my air supply (I’m lost in love…), I was surprised to see my tank get as low as 500psi (we started with 3,000 and were supposed to use two-thirds on the dive – when you hit zero you’re out of air, which means that you are finished). Then the level went down to 400, then 300…
And just in time we were done! Whew, what a trip! We went back up to the van for a snack and to have a rest between dives. I ate most of the world’s greatest cookie, we got fresh tanks of oxygen and a good talking to about conserving air (I did, anyway) and soon we went in for our second dive.
This one was much the same as the first – swimming past pillars of stone and jagged monoliths of erosion – and while I was buoyed better this outing, m’lady had some struggles on the second leg. Luis turned to swim behind me and looking back I saw m’lady stuck to the roof, looking like an aqua version of the blueberry girl in Willy Wonka. As I waited for Luis to talk her down I pulled out my GoPro and set phasers to stun. I had to manage my flashlight and camera in one hand – you always want the other hand on your BCD inflator (or at least a newb like me does) – and soon we were back on our way. There was one more instance where m’lady was caught Dancing On The Ceiling but after that she got balanced and we were both fine for the rest of the dive. Near the end we surfaced inside a large domed room called the Bat Cave. Without my glasses I didn’t see Alfred or Robin (or any bats for that matter) but they were there, m’lady told me so.
Between the Bat Cave and the cenote exit point I snapped some pics that didn’t come out at all and soon it was all over. What a great experience!
Back in the van we made it almost a mile before the right rear shock fell half off. Luis told us this had happened before (besides being in a repair shop, what hasn’t happened to this van before?) and together he and I managed to quick-fix it using a diving belt. Undeterred, he continued to drive at Mach 45 along the bumpy dirt road back to the shop.
Once we switched our wetsuits for land clothes m’lady and I went directly to the closest bar where we both ordered beers and tequila shots (I also got a coffee) and drank ‘er all down even though it was not yet noon. We found a cheap Mexican place and enjoyed a good lunch and afterwards we both felt great.
Was it as good as diving in the ocean? I don’t think so. Was it a fantastic, unique experience that I may never have the opportunity to try again? Definitely, and that’s all I usually need.
*Though the cenote dive was really quite remarkable, over the years when I think back on this day my memories always go directly to that sandwich. My gawd I enjoyed that sandwich so much.
Todd Man Out 