Cavern diving in the Cenotes (sinkholes) of Mexico was an incredibly memorable event. We entered into a small pond in the middle of nowhere with our scuba diving equipment.
Often big rocks surrounded these entrances.
Other times, you had to climb down into a cavern to reach the entrance point.
Here is Eric making faces through the ultra clear freshwater before beginning our dive.
Here begins the decent... we fall into a maze of rocks and boulders, following our cave-diving experienced dive master (basic diving certification is enough to take on cavern diving).
From below, we watch the silhouette of other divers above near the entrance.
It is fabulous to see the world as fish see it, looking at trees from within.
On a beautiful sunny day, this dive site (Chac-Mol Cenote) is revered to be the #1 cenote as the light transcends into the water magically!
Another shot of natural sun rays reaching the bottom of this part of the cave, 50 feet below.
The clarity of the water was unbelievable (sometimes when diving, you can not see further than 10-20 feet in Canadian Lakes and 60-100 feet in the Ocean. Here however, visibility was fantastic for as far as 200 feet!
The cavernous ceiling above us captured air bubbles and the bubbles' dark colour made them look like a silvery mercury bubble on a solid surface.
The bottom of the caves looked like a field of dinosaur skeleton bones -- the oddest shapes caused by erosion from water currents created a fascinating landscape!
As this was an empty cave ages ago, stalactites formed over millions of years. Then the cavern became flooded allowing us to discover them up close. Floating around like an astronaut.
Another set of beautiful stalactites and stalagmites illuminated by our divemaster's flashlight.
Only certified cave divers (or cave divers in training) would enter this part of the cave... The sign is a good reminder that cave diving is a much more dangerous sport.
We popped up in a air pocket in the cavern... we could breathe as there was a hole above that allowed air to enter (otherwise, it is not recommended).
We saw a spider in here with large mandibles. Yikes!
