More Cenote Diving today!
This dive is going to be completely different to yesterday's.
Angelita (little angel) is a deep pit, with an "island" sticking out from the bottom, and a halocline at around 28 meters depth. Another specialty of this little angel is the visibility between 3 to 17 meters depth during descent and ascent, where the water gets milky and green, you have no visual reference at all, except your dive buddy.
At 28 meters the island sticks out of a layer of hydrogenic sulfate, that looks like solid fog.
There are no other divers in our group, actually from now on for all the following dives I have a private guide in Rubi, and we get along with each other very well.
As always he gives me an extensive briefing on the dive site, then we set up our equipment at the truck on the parking place and walk to the entrance point with it.
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| Enter here |
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| After dropping below 15 meters you can make out the island through the rest of the milky layer |
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| Getting closer to the ground |
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| Rubi playing in the sulfate fog |
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| Close up up the two liquids, fresh water and sulfate |
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| artificial and natural light side by side |
During ascend, there is a little cavern, close to the milky layer, where the camera is having trouble to focus
After the dive we have to carry everything back to the truck on the parking lot
That was a spooky experience, and really amazing to see at the same time!
We keep the wetsuits on, put plastic layers on the car seats and drive to the next dive spot: La Calavera, the Skull, for another dive, again different to this last one.
Calavera, also named the Temple of Doom, many divers have died here going beyond their limits and not following the strict rules of cavern diving. It is part of a system of underground rivers, stretching over hundreds of kilometers beyond the Yucatan peninsula.
This map shows the explored parts of the underworld at this site, I marked the small part that we will dive today
Rubi gives me a dive site briefing, sometimes being distracted by the surroundings ;-)
This is your entry point, a 4 meter jump, better keep your legs together instead of trying the giant stride...
look back up from below
and off we go into the caverns. Aah, did I mention the specialty here? Haloclines, many of them. Where waters of different salinity meet and mix, your vision gets blurry, and the camera cannot focus anymore. In some of the following pictures you can see this phenomenon.
and here is why it's also called the Temple of Doom
You can get lost easily, very easily...
On my way home to the Posada Hal-Ha I pass a beautiful patio with palm trees and a small swimmingpool on Ave. Satellite.
It's a hotel, the Art Hotel Tulum. I ask for a room for tomorrow and they have it, even less expensive than where I am today. And the water is okay. Young people at the reception. My guts say: Do. Book it. Three days later I will be glad I did.
See you under water
After the dive we have to carry everything back to the truck on the parking lot
That was a spooky experience, and really amazing to see at the same time!
We keep the wetsuits on, put plastic layers on the car seats and drive to the next dive spot: La Calavera, the Skull, for another dive, again different to this last one.
Calavera, also named the Temple of Doom, many divers have died here going beyond their limits and not following the strict rules of cavern diving. It is part of a system of underground rivers, stretching over hundreds of kilometers beyond the Yucatan peninsula.
This map shows the explored parts of the underworld at this site, I marked the small part that we will dive today
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| The guardian to the Temple of Doom, a tamed parrot |
This is your entry point, a 4 meter jump, better keep your legs together instead of trying the giant stride...
and off we go into the caverns. Aah, did I mention the specialty here? Haloclines, many of them. Where waters of different salinity meet and mix, your vision gets blurry, and the camera cannot focus anymore. In some of the following pictures you can see this phenomenon.
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| Sometimes it's clear view |
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| Sand, being copressed to rock over millions of years, forms these structures |
and here is why it's also called the Temple of Doom
You can get lost easily, very easily...
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| The perfect Halocline example: clear waters in the front, Rubi behind a Halocline |
and back to the entry/exit point
The two Cenotes Angelita and Calavera couldn't be more different.
I am very glad I decided to go here and dive this, getting hungry for more, this is truely fascinating.
We go back to Tulum and drop the tanks at the filling station.
I get into my usual afternoon program, eat lunch with a decompression beer ( Rubi, remember: Deko Beer ;-) , while going through the pictures of the day, taking notes and more pictures of Tulum.
I extend my stay at the hotel for two more nights, don't decide yet what to do after that. I start researching possibilities to dive the underwater museum close to Isla Mujeres up north, later this week.
It's a hotel, the Art Hotel Tulum. I ask for a room for tomorrow and they have it, even less expensive than where I am today. And the water is okay. Young people at the reception. My guts say: Do. Book it. Three days later I will be glad I did.
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| Among the bars and people smoking outside, the gas truck delivers a charge of highly inflammable material. |
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| Tell me what you want, I will hand it out to you after you pay, but don't get into my shop... |
See you under water
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