I returned home a couple days ago from a glorious 10 days in Mexico, along with S. starfish, ataman, and one other who is not a member here. The original intent of this trip was to take the Cavern course in Tulum, which the four of us did. Not only did we complete the course, we enjoyed other bits of Mexico and found out what kind of diving Cozumel has to offer.
We arrived in Cancun and spent a night there before heading up to Isla Holbox for a couple of days to see the famed whale sharks. Holbox, by the way, is the cutest little island ever, what with golf carts for taxis. We stayed in a little bungalow thing right on the beach, and the boat to take us to the whale sharks picked us up bright and eartly one morning, right in front of our place. Now, whale sharks are truly amazing creatures. Pictures don't give them any credit. They are so graceful and peaceful, yet quite difficult to keep pace with. After a good 5-10 minutes of hard swimming to keep up with one of them, I was pooped right out. But wow, they are beautiful and I am very glad we decided to incorporate this into our short trip.
From Holbox, we headed down to Tulum for our cavern course. It is easy to say that this was the most difficult and demanding diving course I have ever taken. We started around 8am with the book work, finally got into the water in the afternoon, and we were there until 6pm-ish, sometimes later. They were full days, and tiring, and hard, but well worth the effort.
Day one of the course led us to 2 open water dives in Cenote Carwash (so named for the taxi drivers who washed their cars here in the 70s, apparently). We all opted to do the course in double tanks as we all desire to continue our training and perhaps, eventually, become full cave certified. Thus, the first dive consisted of getting aquainted with doubles, deploying the long hose, learning the horizontal cave trim, and learning many different anti-silting fin kicks (modified frog, modified flutter, modified dolphin, helicopter turns, etc). I found all of this actually quite difficult, as it was all extremely new to me. Not only was I learning new ways for propulsion, I was wearing twin tanks and was adjusting to a wetsuit (I always dive dry, this was my very first wetsuit dive, other than in the pool for my OW class!). Second dive was more of the same, plus the instructor set up a line, which we did various drills along...follow the line while blinded, follow it with mask off, then again as an OOA diver and again as an air donor. All in all, a very productive day and many new things were learnt.
Day 2 brought us into the cavern zone of Cenote Carwash, and it was amazing. 3 dives were completed this day, all in the cavern. We took turns running the line, doing air-sharing drills, etc etc etc. Basically it was amazing. As always, we had to keep our trim in check.
Day 3 was more of the same. We began in Cenote Carwash again (2 dives), practicing running the line, air-sharing drills, keeping horizontal, and for kicks, blindfolds were placed on us in turn while we were doing air-sharing drills, and we had to exit the cavern zone while sharing air, while blind, following the guideline. I now have a very good appreciation of guidelines. When you can't see (silt out), they are your only ticket out of the overhead. We then headed over to Grand Cenote and completed 2 more dives, this time executing a "real" cavern dive as a team, now that we had an idea of what we were doing. Grand Cenote is truly miraculous. The stalagtites and stalagmites made my jaw drop, and my eyes were open wide the entire time, taking in as much as possible. I was floored by the beauty of the caverns. I knew they were pretty, which was why I wanted to take the course, but I had now idea HOW pretty until I actually got there and saw for myself. It is safe to say I am hooked on cavern diving and now plan to do Intro Cave whenever I get a chance (after I get more practice in the cavern zone, of course).
All 4 of us passed the course, and I can tell you, it was a hard-earned certification, but well worth it. My diving improved by leaps and bounds, I was exposed to such a beautiful environment, and now I have a ticket to learn even more!
The following day, 3 of us headed to Cozumel for the last 4 days of our trip, while one opted to stay in Tulum.
The 3 of us dove with Dive Paradise, 2 dives a day, on one of the small boats in the mornings. Over the four days, we dove Palancar Horseshoe (twice), Villa Blanca, Columbia, Cedral Wall, Punta Sur (Devil's Throat), Paso del Cedral, and Punta Dalila. We spotted most of the usual creatures such as parrotfish, angelfish, barracudas, groupers, trunkfish, toadfish, spiny lobsters and blue tangs, among many many others. We also saw quite a few turtles, and we found 2 green morays and even 2 nurse sharks. Being the cold water divers that we are, it was quite a luxury to dive with only a 2mm shorty and no ditchable weight (just my steel backplate for me!). All in all, it was a very positive experience.
Warm water diving is nice and relaxing, but I couldn't do it on a regular basis. I love the cold water. Yes it is more cumbersome, and more work, and you have to wear so many more things and carry around a billion pounds of lead, but I love it. Though, warm water diving sure is a treat, and I am glad that I finally got to experience it!
All in all, it was a great trip to Mexico. Lots of great diving was done, lots of new skills were learned, and many new amazing experiences were had. I can't wait to get back into the caverns again.
We arrived in Cancun and spent a night there before heading up to Isla Holbox for a couple of days to see the famed whale sharks. Holbox, by the way, is the cutest little island ever, what with golf carts for taxis. We stayed in a little bungalow thing right on the beach, and the boat to take us to the whale sharks picked us up bright and eartly one morning, right in front of our place. Now, whale sharks are truly amazing creatures. Pictures don't give them any credit. They are so graceful and peaceful, yet quite difficult to keep pace with. After a good 5-10 minutes of hard swimming to keep up with one of them, I was pooped right out. But wow, they are beautiful and I am very glad we decided to incorporate this into our short trip.
From Holbox, we headed down to Tulum for our cavern course. It is easy to say that this was the most difficult and demanding diving course I have ever taken. We started around 8am with the book work, finally got into the water in the afternoon, and we were there until 6pm-ish, sometimes later. They were full days, and tiring, and hard, but well worth the effort.
Day one of the course led us to 2 open water dives in Cenote Carwash (so named for the taxi drivers who washed their cars here in the 70s, apparently). We all opted to do the course in double tanks as we all desire to continue our training and perhaps, eventually, become full cave certified. Thus, the first dive consisted of getting aquainted with doubles, deploying the long hose, learning the horizontal cave trim, and learning many different anti-silting fin kicks (modified frog, modified flutter, modified dolphin, helicopter turns, etc). I found all of this actually quite difficult, as it was all extremely new to me. Not only was I learning new ways for propulsion, I was wearing twin tanks and was adjusting to a wetsuit (I always dive dry, this was my very first wetsuit dive, other than in the pool for my OW class!). Second dive was more of the same, plus the instructor set up a line, which we did various drills along...follow the line while blinded, follow it with mask off, then again as an OOA diver and again as an air donor. All in all, a very productive day and many new things were learnt.
Day 2 brought us into the cavern zone of Cenote Carwash, and it was amazing. 3 dives were completed this day, all in the cavern. We took turns running the line, doing air-sharing drills, etc etc etc. Basically it was amazing. As always, we had to keep our trim in check.
Day 3 was more of the same. We began in Cenote Carwash again (2 dives), practicing running the line, air-sharing drills, keeping horizontal, and for kicks, blindfolds were placed on us in turn while we were doing air-sharing drills, and we had to exit the cavern zone while sharing air, while blind, following the guideline. I now have a very good appreciation of guidelines. When you can't see (silt out), they are your only ticket out of the overhead. We then headed over to Grand Cenote and completed 2 more dives, this time executing a "real" cavern dive as a team, now that we had an idea of what we were doing. Grand Cenote is truly miraculous. The stalagtites and stalagmites made my jaw drop, and my eyes were open wide the entire time, taking in as much as possible. I was floored by the beauty of the caverns. I knew they were pretty, which was why I wanted to take the course, but I had now idea HOW pretty until I actually got there and saw for myself. It is safe to say I am hooked on cavern diving and now plan to do Intro Cave whenever I get a chance (after I get more practice in the cavern zone, of course).
All 4 of us passed the course, and I can tell you, it was a hard-earned certification, but well worth it. My diving improved by leaps and bounds, I was exposed to such a beautiful environment, and now I have a ticket to learn even more!
The following day, 3 of us headed to Cozumel for the last 4 days of our trip, while one opted to stay in Tulum.
The 3 of us dove with Dive Paradise, 2 dives a day, on one of the small boats in the mornings. Over the four days, we dove Palancar Horseshoe (twice), Villa Blanca, Columbia, Cedral Wall, Punta Sur (Devil's Throat), Paso del Cedral, and Punta Dalila. We spotted most of the usual creatures such as parrotfish, angelfish, barracudas, groupers, trunkfish, toadfish, spiny lobsters and blue tangs, among many many others. We also saw quite a few turtles, and we found 2 green morays and even 2 nurse sharks. Being the cold water divers that we are, it was quite a luxury to dive with only a 2mm shorty and no ditchable weight (just my steel backplate for me!). All in all, it was a very positive experience.
Warm water diving is nice and relaxing, but I couldn't do it on a regular basis. I love the cold water. Yes it is more cumbersome, and more work, and you have to wear so many more things and carry around a billion pounds of lead, but I love it. Though, warm water diving sure is a treat, and I am glad that I finally got to experience it!
All in all, it was a great trip to Mexico. Lots of great diving was done, lots of new skills were learned, and many new amazing experiences were had. I can't wait to get back into the caverns again.
