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Last year’s group attempt at Coz, Cenotes, and Holbox failed with us evacuating in advance of hurricane Dean and I really was eager to make a similar approach this year - but on my own, with better operators and hotels for less money, and maybe an extra day in PDC to dive Tortugas reef and share the experience I once enjoyed drifting thru dozens of turtles feeding on the sponges there with my home dive bud. I contacted a PDC operator recommended on SB who agreed to set up the two days there after our 3 days on Coz (http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/248752-our-coz-trip-unforgettable-cab-driver.html), and it worked out okay - but after long consideration of some of our blah experiences, I’ve decided to leave that op & hotel unnamed here. He certainly was not good enough to recommend to others in my view, but then not bad - so I’ll just talk about our trip - but with a plug for the Cenotes op he did connect us with…
Our first day of diving finally started after a quick meeting with the original op that nearly went bad as there had been some confusion over the price that suddenly went up over $100 each for the 2 day/2 night package, but he did have print outs of all our emails and we accepted my part of the confusion - agreeing on the price change. After that, it was a wonderful day with Klaus of Playa Scuba Dive Center (English link) and I know who to recommend now and whom we’ll book with on our next visit.
It’s a little hole in the wall shop in a way, but we didn’t care about that. What we did like is that he took us to 2 great Cenote dives. They have 2 nice, extended cab pickups suitable for carrying tanks, gear and divers to many Cenotes as well as 2 rougher 4WDs more for the adventure sites, and we took one of each. Klaus and a fairly new diver from Canada who’d been diving with him for a few days led in the 4WD and we followed in the nice rig out of town, onto the Tulum hiway, and on to Dos Ojos which we’d dived last year - but then up a side road as far as the nicer truck could go, parking it for the last quarter mile walk to The Pit. I can’t believe I forgot to take pics of the site but I guess I was focusing on dive preparations as I should have been. Klaus plans to post his pics of us and the dive as soon as his computer is out of the shop, but I don’t want to wait any longer on this.
Dos Ojos contains the deepest known cave passage in Quintana Roo with 118 meters / 396 feet of depth located at The Pit cenote discovered in 1996 by cave explorers who came all the way from the main entrance some 1500 meters / 5000 feet away. The deep passages include the Wakulla Room, the Beyong Main Base (BMB) passage, Jills room and the next generation passage.
We geared up, carefully approached the edge holding onto the small trees growing on the edge, I lied to Jer that this was just like the strides I’d taken off of the NC boats I’d been on, and I stepped off first for the 30 ft drop & splash. Klaus lowered his & my camera on a rope and the others followed. Everything checked out as we started our descent and we continued down to the chemocline of hydrogen sulfide layer. Wow! My pic of that didn’t work, maybe Klaus got a better one as he seems to know his camera settings better, but it was lovely - the purple bacteria layer growing on the weak sulfuric acid and reflecting in the scant sunlight in the surrounding darkness. Breathtaking, which is not really a comfortable feeling for a scuba diver at depth - but we proceeded. From there it was a short trip down through the Big Room to see bones of a Myan sacrifice from a time when the water level was lower and my quick dip to 139 feet for that shot, then our slow ascent thru the system.
Back at the surface, I took a few more shots of the lovely grotto then we took turns tying our rigs to a rope on pulley, climbing out of the pit on crude steep steps aided by another rope (glad they used good nylon ropes for all this), and two of us pulling to hoist each rig with weights out. LUNCH!
PSDC’s lower rates do not include park fees as they can vary with choices and it’s really best to do those separately, or lunch - but Klaus led us to a nearby roadside center where we had some great shrimp tacos. Messy, but we had another dive to do so we just enjoyed them, then headed for El Eden.
Cenote el Eden:
Also known as "Pon-de Rosa", Cenote Eden is situated 3 Km. south of Puerto Aventuras and 25 Km. South of Playa del Carmen. A large and beautiful Cenote, it is like a swimming pool in the middle of the jungle. Big Rocks covered by mosses and plants on the bottom of the Cenote are home to a variety of fish, fresh water eels and abundant aquatic plant life. This makes Pon-de-Rosa a perfect place for snorkeling, swimming as well as for Diving courses on days the ocean is to rough to dive. For inexperienced Cavern Divers this Cenote is ideal. The rooms are very large and the main part of the dive takes the diver alongside the nearby Cenote Coral Garden. Here breathtaking shows await the Diver. A Halocline stretches through the Cenote at 10Mtrs. For Cave Divers there are many different passages to explore, often connected to nearby Cenotes.
We noticed many locals and other tourists enjoying the swimming hole, a from few McAllen TX came over to ask us about the caves they thought they’d seen below while snorkeling there. Walking down steps in scuba rig is always challenging for me as I try to make sure I don’t fall on anyone but the locals sitting on the steps didn’t think it necessary to move out of my possible impact zone, then or later on exit. We managed…Also known as "Pon-de Rosa", Cenote Eden is situated 3 Km. south of Puerto Aventuras and 25 Km. South of Playa del Carmen. A large and beautiful Cenote, it is like a swimming pool in the middle of the jungle. Big Rocks covered by mosses and plants on the bottom of the Cenote are home to a variety of fish, fresh water eels and abundant aquatic plant life. This makes Pon-de-Rosa a perfect place for snorkeling, swimming as well as for Diving courses on days the ocean is to rough to dive. For inexperienced Cavern Divers this Cenote is ideal. The rooms are very large and the main part of the dive takes the diver alongside the nearby Cenote Coral Garden. Here breathtaking shows await the Diver. A Halocline stretches through the Cenote at 10Mtrs. For Cave Divers there are many different passages to explore, often connected to nearby Cenotes.
The swimming hole is indeed lovely with Sailfin Mollies, catfish, Cichlids dining on the water weeds, but soon we were in the dark zone. Not as exciting as the previous cavern dive perhaps, but lovely in many ways and shallower so our air lasted longer as we enjoyed the changing experiences thru a thermo/holocline where warm intruding sea water haze had us instinctively flooding and clearing our masks as if they had fogged, through many lovely sights where sunrays peeked in through holes in the surface, fallen trees, and such…
I failed to use new batteries in my lights, and had to switch lights on the dive, dropping the good one when I slipped a broken lanyard over my wrist - and I thought I took pride in checking my gear. :blush: The newbie picked it up for me, twice before I figured out what was wrong; thank goodness it didn't fall in a hole! Arrg! Back at the surface Klaus pointed out a lovely freshwater eel grazing on mossy rocks, and then the clumsy exit through the kids playing on the steps. I guess this was the only day I left my ankles uncovered and sure enough, I nicked a vein on an ankle that’s prone to swelling with strenuous activity - liked to never got it to stop bleeding. A very minor injury, but made a mess - leaving me so frustrated that I lost the keys to one of the trucks as I ungeared. I swore I gave them back to Klaus, but he’s a former cop and found them in my camera bag where I’d laid them. More blushing. “Gawd! What else can I get wrong today?“ Jer was happy to remind me on trip review the next week…!
We had not been impressed with the near beach front hotel our original op set us up with; it was okay, but Klaus showed Jer a nicer one a block further from shore for the same money that we’ll probably use next time. Then after carrying my gear down a street on a hot afternoon to the hotel, the nick started again when I stepped in the hotel cafe for something. I needed a cold, wet cloth to stop it, but the bartender didn't have one?? Jer got me one from the room, but I still made an embarrassing mess. Hotel owner later came to see if I needed a doctor, only to see me mopping up blood stains in the room with his wash cloth - so he charged me $5 for it. I started to get mad until Jer reminded me that some employee had to mop the hallway and cafe where I bled. Accidents happen, but I was embarrassed. $5 was cheap for the problem caused.
I didn’t want to walk far that evening for dinner and risk another leak but we found a nearby place that could meet Jer’s lust for brewed iced tea - not easy to find even in touristy areas of Mexico. Gawd, next time in addition to my coffee maker we have to remember his tea bags. The next day lead to the boat dives booked thru the original Op; I’d booked 3 even tho we had a long road to a new place that afternoon but that’s another story (link). It was a very basic boat, but we were well tended with the Op leading the dives and the skipper manning our private boat to pick us up at the end each time. No turtle herd, tho? I don’t think he took us to the site I requested, but maybe my description was too vague and/or the turtle flocks are there only during egg laying? Who knows? Okay dives, okay fish, okay finished…
Some of my pics worked better than others. Check out my Cenote slide show here if you’d like - click “View As Guest“ if prompted to log in…
And the reef dives slide show here…
