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Protecting the Cenotes
Cave diver
Many caves formations are extremely delicate and fragile like coral reefs, and actually more so because they have no ability to regenerate. Cenote divers should not touch walls, floors or ceilings of caves and keep away from the fragile dripstones. The important thing is to keep control over your buaonancy and not fan silt off the bottom. It is best to stay halfway between the ceiling and floor, swimming in a horizontal position. |
Learn to dive the underwater caves and caverns of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico - Charlotte van Weeghel
Following a friends' raving comments, I signed up to go cave diving with Yucatek Divers in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. My main goal was to finally learn to cave dive to be able to see the famous Cenotes of the Yucatan Peninsula for myself. I'd always been fascinated by the cave diving stories of explorers such as Skeck Exley, Jim Bowden and Wes Skiles who were always penetrating deeper and deeper into the cave systems of Florida and Mexico.
I was curious to find out what it felt like to be diving underground and hopefully see some stalagtites or stalagmites. I had done a cave dive once before, in Sipidan, years ago, with a local divemaster. No cave line, no backup lights or safety tanks, several very narrow passages and lots of turtle skeletons (the poor animals hadn't been able to find their way back out again) later, I remember being very happy to see the light of the entrance in the distance. Looking back it was pretty reckless. I was going to do it right this time.
I expected to be a cave diver by the end of my trip. No problem right? "Not so fast Skippy!"
What's involved in becoming a cave diver? Common sense mostly, and buoyancy, buoyancy, BUOYANCY! I thought I wouldn't have much problem in that department, after all, I am a dive instructor with many years of diving under my weight belt. This, however, proved to be a disadvantage in the cave environment. Instructors tend to hold the vertical position when doing skills and inside the cave it is crucial to be HORIZONTAL AT ALL TIMES so as to not stir up the bottom which will ruin your visibility and can put you in dangerous situations. Not something I was used to. And for you smaller women out there, I might highly recommend you go to the gym beforehand so you can handle the heavy gear. Yes, it was harder than I thought. But nevertheless a totally worthwhile experience for any diver who is interested in seeing the beautiful underwater caves of Mexico and elsewhere.
After a short flight to Cancun, I arrived in Playa del Carmen which is approximately 45 minutes drive by car or one hour by bus from the airport. Easy navigating, the place has been catering to tourists for years now. Cozumel is 45 minutes to the east of Playa by ferry and you can see it standing on the beach. The colorful reefs around Cozumel are well-known to divers all over the world. But I was here to explore the caves. Playa started to grow about 15 years ago as a result of the traffic to Cozumel. It is a fun town, not too big, with plenty to offer in terms of accommodations, good coffee shops for breakfast, fantastic food and excellent nightlife. There is a great beach and Playa is centrally located to all things touristy in the Yucatan. I really enjoyed the small town feeling it has and the friendly locals and equally hospitable expat community. The place is full of Canadians, lots of Europeans and a few Americans who have made Playa their home.
But I wasn't here to party or lay on the beach, I came to dive the Cenotes. These caves were first called "d'zenots" by the Mayan who discovered them centuries ago. Later, this name was changed to "Cenotes" by the Spanish. These Cenotes are part of the largest underground river system in the world. Centuries ago, rain water on its way to the Caribbean sea formed cavities in the limestone of the Yucatan Peninsula by hollowing out caves, creating fantastic formations. When parts of the caves grew too large, their ceiling collapsed and voila!: cenotes and sinkholes were formed.
The cenotes, which are distributed all throughout the jungle, are the entrances to an magical underwater world, providing incredible cave and cavern diving. The water is as clear as air which makes the visibility unbelievable.
 Cenote diving is divided into two distinct forms. One is cavern diving. Defined as "staying in sight of the entrance of a cave within the realm of natural sunlight." The other is cave diving, "swimming into a cave beyond the limit of natural light." If you just like to experience the caverns you only need to be a confident Open Water diver to take a cavern tour with an experienced cave diver. If you want to do some serious cave diving, you will need to get certified first, starting with the Cavern course after which you can move on to Intro-to-Cave and then to Full Cave after that.
The cave diving course involves a minimum of eight days instruction and sixteen dives. The cave course can be divided into three parts Cavern Diver, Introduction to Cave Diver and Cave Diver. Find details and prices on the Yucatek Divers Web site here.
I met up with Harry Gust, my instructor, over morning coffee for an initial overview of what to expect. Harry is a very experienced American cave diver and technical instructor associated both with the NACD (National Association of Cave Divers) and TDI (Technical Diving International)who has lived in the Yucatan for four years. I was handed the exam questions, we adapted my regulators, chatted for a while, hopped in his truck and off we went. He seemed nice enough...
 After following the main highway for a while we took an exit inland into the Yucatan jungle, Harry blows his horn, a land owner awakes from his hammock to collect a daily fee and there is was: Ponderosa, my very first Cenote. For a cavern course, all necessary equipment for open-water diving is required, plus two battery lights and a line reel. But since I had planned to continue on to become a full cave diver eventually, I started learning with double tanks and full cave gear right off the bat.
First we had to get the general concept of cave diving down; it all revolves around THE CAVE LINE, your surest way out of a cave, your lifeline to say the least. You better stay in grabbing distance of it at all times. We tied lines from tree to tree and I followed them around with my eyes closed simulating the dark cave environment. Hmmm...interesting, never done that before.
Then it came time to get familiar with all the equipment involved and how to put it together. Two 80 cubic tanks, a wing, a plate, a long hose, a short hose, a big primary light with a huge battery, two back up lights, a pouch with dive tables, arrows and directional clips, writing slate and a knife. And up to three safety reels. There is a lot to take in. The whole set-up weighs about 120 pounds. On top of that you get pretty toasty really fast wearing a 7mm suit and hood while it's 28 Celsius in the shade!
After figuring out how to get geared up we jumped into the wonderfully cool and fresh, clear water of the cenote for our very first "cave dive". Not so fast Skippy... first there is the concept of the frog kick, the flutter kick and the adjusted kick to master. Then there is the buoyancy issue, more line drills, underwater this time. It's sort of funny to swim around holding a line with your eyes closed hoping not to bump into anything. Not too bad for the first day. My frog kick was pretty crooked though. Let's practise it in the pool some more.
Day two we ventured into the cave. Help, it's dark in here! Now how do I tie that line again? Not as easy as I thought.But the serenity of the place is awesome. It's quiet, no boat traffic, no other divers. Really nice.
Throughout the whole course, great attention is given to monitoring air supply, buoyancy control, body positioning, emergency procedures and the cave environment. All very important in making it safely out of a potentially very dangerous overhead environment. Quite a few people have perished while cave diving. The environment is not very forgiving. Your team members are also very important. The National Association of Cave Diving sums it up right on the money: "A safe cave dive is totally dependent upon sensible dive planning based on common sense and good judgment. Preparation and planning for a cave dive must take into consideration the equipment, training, experience and abilities of each team member. Constructive critiques after the dives are equally important in order to allow the cave divers to mature as a team."
 For two days, Harry did his best to train me to avoid stressful situations and anticipate potentially hazardous conditions. And boy was he tough! But he was also right. There are few to no second chances when things go wrong in a cave so you better be able to execute the drills calmly without mistakes. On day three we moved into the "Intro-to-Cave" course. According to the NACD "Students lacking the necessary skills and coordination are discouraged at this level." This applied to me but Harry felt confident I would do better eventually so we continued on. I was intimidated by all the gear, the darkness and it showed. I moved around too much. My frog kick hadn't improved and I was stirring up silt everytime we had to do a drill. I felt a bit like an Open Water student learning how to dive all over again. Harry didn't make easier by calling me "Skippy" all the time and telling me I was nervous, even when I didn't think I was. I knew I had to be calmer but did he HAVE to rub it in so much?
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