We meet at the dive shop at 8:30 in the morning. There are two other divers, Anna and Tim, who are going to dive in my group.
Our guide is Rubiel, or Rubi.
I use a 5mm wetsuit from the shop, 25 Celsius is definitely to cold for my 3 mm suit.
A short ride in the pickup truck brings us to Dos Ojos.
Cenote diving is new to the three of us (and maybe for some of you divers out there), so here are some basics from my first dive briefing:
You dive by the rule of thirds, start with 210 bar, signal your guide when you reach 140, and get out with 70 (That's 3, 2, and 1000psi respectively). Start with a full tank, return after using one third, surface with one third left.
As opposed to ocean diving, where you signal half tank and 70 bar/1000 psi.
Good buoyancy skills are a must, there is not to much room to move in some places.
Strict rules for the training level and equipment of your guide apply for Cenote diving.
Respect the cave limits and stop signals.
Follow the line. Repeat: Follow the line.
We will do two dives here, there are two routes: The Barbie Line and Batcave.
Rubi gives us a thorough dive site briefing
OK, let’s get in the water. We assemble
our equipment at the truck
and walk down the stairs to the cenote entrance, looks like this
you can simply walk down the stairs into the water and put on your fins.
We take it easy, Anna hasn't dived for three years, only when everybody is comfortable, we descend.
The ccoling water is welcome after the jungle heat, and the colors and rock formations are breathtaking, when you see them the first time. The dive is shallow, deepest point at Dos Ojos is about 9 meters.
I have never been diving anything like this before
We reach the turning point of the Barbie Line, marked by a crocodile eating Barbie (and two Superheroes coming to the rescue)
this is why it is called Dos Ojos (two eyes):
and surface after a total of 47 minutes.
Wow!
During a short surface interval with bananas, Granola bars and water, we have a visitor, an Iguana.
We enter again to dive the second line, Batcave.
There are even fish
and Rubi shows us some petrified shells, millions of years old
After about 25 minutes you reach the cave and can surface, there is daylight from above through a small hole .
The last 20 minutes of the dive are dark, but as you get near the entry/exit point, the natural light returns.
We return to Tulum, I must have lunch and a Corona now, and go through the pictures.
After that I return to the shop and book two dives for the next day. We will do two very different Cenotes: Angelita (little angel) is a deep Cenote, and Calavera (skull) has a lot of Haloclines (freshwater and seawater mixing).
I start taking more pictures of Tulum street scenes and murals,
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| Where the taxi drivers call themselves "Sharks of the Caribbean"... |
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| Mexico, country of colors |
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| Oh yes, me too, by now |
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| put on your best shoes, darling |
have some drinks at the Batey Bar, listening to live music, and walk home, taking more pictures.
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| Volkswagen is popular in Mexico |
See you under water
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