Cancun

Did my cave diving yesterday. I could not sleep past 6 am because (1) it was noisy (2) I did not want to miss my pickup at 7.30am. I had breakfast and updated my journal instead. The pick up came on time. Gwen was the driver and dive master for the day. We had a nice small group with a total of 4 divers including Gwen. We made a couple of spots to pick up passengers and gear but we were on our way to the site around 8.30am. All of the cenotes are apparently owned by families. Land was distributed to families at one point. We paid an entrance fee and once we got in, we drive down a short bumpy road to find a ton of other cars. Since it was windy, it was especially crowded because the wind does not affect diving in the caves. We got out gear together and dove in. The water was a bit colder than I had thought. It was about 72 degrees. The first dive was okay but I was freezing by the 2nd dive. We did not see much in terms of life. Some small fish and a white koi which was introduced by someone. We swam right next to stalagtites and some stalagmites. In some areas they were pretty long. It really looks incredible when you are swimming towards the entrance. The water is a beautiful blue color set against the opening of the cave. In the second dive, we swam into a dome area where we could take our regulators out of our mouths and look at the fossils and the spiders in the cave.}

There is a difference between cavern diving and cave diving. With the former, you can always see the light from the opening. And with cave diving... you do not. The tunnels can also be a little more narrower so definitely not something you want to try if you are closterphobic.

The water in the cave is mainly fresh water. The water gets filtered as it passes through the lime stone (which was once coral). As you dive down, there is a point when salt water and fresh water meet called the halocline. When you swim through it, you cannot see anything. Everything becomes fuzzy. It is very cool but can be a little scary because you cannot navigate by sight. I just followed my dive master.