We were up bright and early this morning to get our taxi to the ferry taking us to Playa del Carmen. All went according to plan and we were grateful for the boxed breakfast the kitchen folks had put together for us last night. Once we were dropped off at the terminal with all of our gear it was just a quick stop to buy our tickets and we were boarding the 7AM ferry. We had to place our own baggage onto the back deck of the boat once they figured out we were divers...apparently no one wants to handle dive gear around here...you'd think they could smell us coming...maybe they could LOL. Once our stuff was stowed we headed in to find seats for the 45 minute journey. There was a big table upstairs and we all fit there...so we settled in and soon the rocking of the boat had us snoozing. No lively conversation this early in the morning!
Soon the ferry was docked and we gathered our stuff off the deck and headed into Playa to meet Thomas (our guide) at Senor Frog's. After some introductions we loaded all of our stuff onto a 'bicycle cart' and then followed Thomas to the van that would take us to Chac-Mool. Our luggage was there waiting for us at the van and we were quickly on our way. Thomas gave us a thorough briefing (laid down the law) on our way to the dive site. There are some very important rules to follow when entering any kind of overhead environment when diving. He made it very clear how things would go...specific swimming formations...communication signals...the guide line and its purpose. He would take only four of us in at a time so we would have two groups taking turns (there are 8 of us). Ok...we're all ready to go...
Once at the site we broke into our groups of four and decided Dave, Monica, Wade and I would go first. We got our gear put together and then got to see our entry point. Once it was all clear we geared up and headed into the water. HOLY CRAP WAS IT COLD!!!! I had to force myself to put my face under! Because it is fresh water and inland in a cave system it didn't have the sun to warm it up. BRRRRRRR After a few minutes I got used to it...or got numb...either was I was more comfortable. While we waited for Thomas to join us we checked our buoyancy and bobbed around on the surface looking at stuff. Then Thomas got in and double checked our gear before giving the signal to descend. Our job was to follow Thomas while watching our buoyancy carefully to not crash into anything and kick gently to avoid silting the place into darkness. Wade was first, then me, then Monica with Dave bringing up the rear. We all had lights and Wade and I had cameras.
I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting the dive to be like...but I was certainly expecting more light than there was in there. I was thinking big open caverns with light shining down and illuminating interesting formations in the rock. It was much darker than I thought and even though I had my light on and could see the lights from the others it was very cave-like. There were some places where we swam through that felt quite restricted, Like I could touch the top and bottom at the same time if I had reached up and down with my arms while swimming through. Thomas pointed out fossils and other interesting things as we swam along and I tried to get some pictures. We did come to some stunning 'rooms' where the light was shining in and casting beautiful beams through the water. Then we hit the helo-cline...a place where salt and fresh water meet. It makes everything very blurry so you can't see clearly at all. There was an up side though...it was WARM...so it was a bit of a trade off...see what is around you and be cold...or have blurry vision and be warm. We were in the helo-cline for quite a few minutes before it cleared and we were back in the fresh clear water. We continued to follow Thomas until were were eventually led back to our entry point. YAY we made it back!
We had booked a two dive trip to Chac-Mool but I had decided about half way through the first dive that I didn't need to do any more Cenote dives. Once was enough for me :-). So I offered shore support to the teams as they got their second dives in and enjoyed the sun and friendly dogs on dry land. Monica stayed up with me as she has been struggling with her sinuses and ears all week and the up and down nature of these dives were causing her grief. Once the dives were done we loaded back up in the van and back to the Ferry. Soon we were again being rocked into a snooze by the boat as we headed back to Coz.
Once again the kitchen staff here saved the day for us. Not only did they box us up breakfast this morning and open early so we could have coffee before we departed but they extended their lunch time to feed us when we got back. The sandwiches that Thomas provided were not quite sufficient for our hungry crew.
Now we're back in our room resting and sorting through photos before we get in one more night dive.
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