Finally made it!
After numerous trips to Coz I fianlly made the ferry ride across the strait to the Mainland and down south to Dos Ojos (two eyes). This is the place where the filmed the U/W cavern/cave sequence in "Amazing Caves" the IMAX movie. Even though you don't need to be certified for overhead environment I took the class in preparation for doing this anyway. And after the dives I am glad I did and think it should be a prerequisite.
Anyway, Dos Ojos is about 30 minutes south (by taxi) of Playa Del Carman which is just south of Cancun. The dive operation which runs Dos Ojos is "Hidden Worlds" and is a first class operation. We all had our own wetsuits (3mil), lights etc. but you can rent them there if you need.
http://www.hiddenworlds.com.mx
We got out of the van and checked in at the DS and loaded our gear in the
jungle buggy. This has got to be the wildes dive vehicle I have ever seen. Let me try and describe it to you. First you have a 2 ton truck frame sans the cab. Take 1 motor and radiator, 1 steering wheel (no dash), 1 driver's seat. On the right side where the passenger would normally sit, (resting on boards) is a battery surrounded by 3, 5 gallon plastic gas cans. On back there are 2x8 boards bolted to the bed and along each side about every 3 feet are some uprights made out of tree limbs, these are tied across the frame about 4 feet high with more tree limbs to give you something to hold onto while you ride through the jungle standing up. The saying is
"If you can survive the ride, the diving is great".
Off we go, down through the jungle on a path. (to use the word "road" would be an injustice). Before I go any further, be sure and buy some of the mosquito repellant at the DS, cause the skitos there are ravenous, got bit through a 3 mil. Back to the story. It's about 1 mile back through the jungle to the "dive site" which consists of some wooden benches, tables and a 3 foot round hole in the ground which has a metal ladder going down into the bowels of the earth. We all get our gear ready, put BCs, regs on tanks and they lower them down by rope to a platform about 30 down the hole. We put our wetsuits on last due to the heat.
Down the ladder we go, not sure exactly where it leads but we are trusting souls anyway. We get down to a platform inside a dry cavern which is about 30' tall and 100' in diameter. Water is about 8' to 10' deep. Pierre (our guide) has us get our gear up and gives us the dive briefing. We then get in the water for a buoyancy check. The water is a nice crisp 75 deg which is perfect for a 3 mil wetsuit. I do my check and cannot believe the clarity of this water. The Culligan Man would be envious.
They take 5 in a group. The guide decides the order of the group, the one who has the highest air consumption rate is #1 and the most experienced is #5. My buddy and I are in the 4 & 5 slots at 10' apart. The dive begins. We submerge and go down to a wide hole, about 10' wide and 4' tall and into the underworld we procede.
Before going any further, I have read about untrained divers going into caves and dying for one reason or another and could not figure out why anybody untraind would do something as stupid as that. I must admit there is a magic to a cavern/cave, an almost mystical beckoning for you to come in. I understand now how it happens. If you have an explorer attitude and no common sense to go along with it you will end up dead.
The dive procedes, the water is unbelievably crystal clear, not even any suspended particals in the light beams. The colors are hauntingly beautiful with varying shades of gray, tan and red with strikingly contrasting blues and violet. It is so serene and peaceful I can understand why it becomes addictive. There are no flows here only calm water. When we entered a large room it felt as if I was an astronaut, suspended in the middle of a room about half the size of a fieldhouse. (John Glenn ain't got nothin on me!) The dive procedes along the line, off to the sides we see stalagtites, stalagmites and columns. Cracks and crevices leading off beyond my light into blackness are all around. Above us we see the light coming from pools every so often which gives the cavern it's bluish tint and haunting appearence. All to soon the dive is over and to my astonishment we have spent almost 1 hour underwater and I still surface with 1200 psi from an 80 cu ft tank. The dive is only about 45' at it's deepest point.
The second dive is just as remarkable as the first but with this note. Pierre takes us to the mouth of the cave and show us the
SIGN. Here it is written in Spainish but I still understand it's meaning. It has a picture of the Grim Reaper beckoning you in. Hard core cavers can quote it to you verbatum, but I will paraphrase it for you.
There have been 139 deaths related to cave diving, most of them from untrained O/W divers, instructors and divemasters. There is nothing in here worth dying for!
I peer into the hole into the blackness that is just beyond the beam of my light and feel it calling for me to come in. This is a very eerie feeling and quickly we resume the dive back to the safety of the cavern and the line.
We have completed our second dive and have completed the tour of the Dos Ojos Caverns. Again I surface with 1100 psi from a 55 minute dive. Must be something with the serenity and comfort of the caverns. Relaxing, beautiful, serene, mysterious, haunting and of course beckoning.
I will go back.
ID
Nice!!
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