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How I Spent My Summer Vacation!
I just returned from 10 days cave diving in the Riviera Maya region of the Yucatan, Mexico. Its about 60 miles south of Cancun. 3 1/2 hr direct flight from Philly, followed by an hr in a van. It was the most uneventful travel in a long time.
We (my wife, teenage daughter,world traveler two yr old Madison,and I) rented a private condo in Puerto Aventuras to avoid the crowds and expense of an all-inclusive resort. It was a great decision. There were a dozen restaurants around the local marina to choose from for meals and I stocked up on essentials at the local Mayan Supermarket. Our condo overlooked the marina with its dolphin training center. The pool and warm Caribbean ocean were just steps away. Everyone spoke flawless English, the weather varied from 85-95 with a few quick showers in the late afternoon. Thumbs up on the accommodations.
Sunday morning I met with my instructor, Steve Gerrard for our first day of diving the caves. We dropped off the girls at the Mayan ruins in Tulum, and headed 2 kilometers out of town to the first cenote, or opening in the cave system. Gerrard is amazing. Many of the cave systems in Mexico were discovered and explored by Steve and his buddies. Everything is newly discovered since 1985- over 1/2 million ft of cave system!
Throughout the week, we used scooters and stage bottles in the morning, then did surveying in the afternoon. If it weren't for the fact that I had a reg clamped between my teeth, my jaw would dropped open on every dive. The formations were beautiful. Everywhere were huge columns and stalactites by the thousand. We scootered through tunnels about 4 X 8 ft and entered chambers 70 ft tall. One time Steve had us doing barrel rolls (backward flips) on scooters! Nothing beats the effortless tow of a scooter to pull you along. Gas consumption goes way down and with the shallow depths, I'd look at my spg after 40 minutes and I used 300 psi of air!
On the survey dives, I was responsible for gathering data regarding depth, azimuth, and length for over 2400 ft of tunnel. Its hard work- you have to be rock steady with buoyancy while holding a compass, tape measure, light, recording slate, watching your air consumption, keeping from silting and bumping into the fragile cave structure. Then move on to the next location. We did close to 70 positions over three separate dives. Then I had to transfer the data to graph paper and see how close to reality we were. If I had been good, I could have recorded ceiling and floor depths, distance to right and left walls, and the location of features like stalactites, side passages, domes and fissures for each spot. I was lucky to get the length and depth correct. Compass headings were to 2 degrees accuracy, tape measuring to the inch. Very few people have the time and patience to do surveying.
All in all I dove 11 cave dives in 8 cave systems, had 1200 minutes of bottom time, including a dive of 150 minutes and one of 3 1/2 hours. No deco- the caves average depth are about 30 ft. Its neat to cruise through the halocline- the boundary of fresh water above and salt water below. Everything gets really distorted and hazy as you pass through. The water is crystal clear and about 80 degrees, both fresh and salt. We wore 7mm wetsuits and double 80's filled to 3000 psi. We had every cave to ourselves. We saw a lot of snorkelers in the cenotes and some cavern tours, but the caves are pristine and undamaged. I am one of only a few people in the world to experience the grandeur of this underwater world. Very humbling experience.
I recommend the Riviera Maya to any divers who want to experience a truly unique dive environment. Any level from snorkeling to cavern tour to cave diving classes to scootering to exploring is worth the trip. Non divers have plenty to do between the beach, Mayan ruins, snorkling, and shopping.
I am definitely ready to return.
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