Playa del Carmen - more diving

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April 29, Wednesday

Up and at it early enough to easily make my 8:15 dive appointment. I was excited as we were going to dive two places along the reef system, which is fairly close to shore here at Playa del Carmen. Helene, a pretty Danish girl, was my "Dive Mike" quide/dive buddy, and we chatted about where we've both camped in Denmark. We carried our gear about 1/2 block down to the beach, loaded up on the boat, and in about 10 minutes were at the dive location. This was about a 60 foot deep area, and we saw many turtles, stingrays, moray eels, spiny lobsters, and we were even followed VERY closely by a remora, the kind of fish that fasten on to sharks. It's full name is Shark Remora (Echeneis naucrates ) This caused some consternation for Helene, as she kept busy looking out for sharks which this fish is usually close to. I was too dumb to realize there might be danger involved. The Remora eventually tired of chasing us, and we continued on without seeing any sharks. After a short break on the boat, we made another dive, just off the coast of some Mayan ruins, along a really nice series of short walls that look like a hand's worth of fingers from above. Here we spotted more marine wildlife, including a crab that had to have been at least 2 feet wide, with a claw as big as a queen size pillow ! He was tucked well up into a small cave, and I feel sure if he'd wanted my arm for dinner, he could have easily taken it. After the dives, Deb and I shopped the main tourist streets, and I bought a few items. Once back at the hotel, I opened up the bags and realized in the last two days I'd purchased FOUR shirts, one pair of swim trunks, and a silver bracelet. AHHHHHH. I'm going to have to leave a few of my older shirts behind just to make enough room for the new stuff. Fortunately I've been very leery of getting into the T-shirt buying habit, so I guess I'm still doing okay overall.

April 30, Thursday

Up early again so we could grab a coffee and still make the dive shop appointment. Today we loaded up, with Mike (the owner of "Dive Mike") and Lilly as our guides. Deb signed up for the snorkeling tour, and I signed up for Cenote diving. This is called cavern diving, not cave diving. The difference is in degree. In cavern diving you are restricted to specific distance from an available opening, and the spaces must be wide enough for two divers to swim side by side in order to share a single tank during an emergency. Therefore you can use normal dive equipment, rather than the specialized gear that true cave diving requires. After about a 45 minute ride in the company pick-up truck, we arrived at the caves, and found we were the only ones there! Mike said often there is not only a line to get into the water, but a line just to get into the "park". The cave openings are beautiful, the water is a gorgeous blue, and a reasonable temperature for swimming. We suited up, dropped into the water, checked our gear and descended into the cave system. There was not a lot of animal life, some few small fish and in one area, a collection of bats, but the rock formations were astounding. It's like touring Mammoth Caves, only under water. To swim along, in virtual silence, and virtual weightlessness, then to suddenly see light glimmering down into the water from an opening above, is to take your breath away. It felt like the near death description of a light in the distance, calling you somehow... What an experience.

Deb had a great snorkeling experience as well, and was very glad she overcame her initial shyness at snorkeling in deeper waters. Lilly took her through some great routes, and they got to see some beautiful formations too, including the "bat cave" area. At some points, Deb's snorkel was hitting the ceiling of the cave.

We headed back to Playa, and once back we freshened up, and went out for more "shopping" time. I refused to buy anything else ( I had bought a hat at the caverns....) but we had a great dinner of Ceviche Camerone (a shrimp salad with lots of onion, tomato, cilantro and vinegar), and some Mayan dish with fish fillet, peppers, onion, spicy sauce and rice. Very tasty. A quick visit to Wal-Mart ( yuck ) for another "thumb drive" so Deb could copy all her photos off her camera for back-up purposes, and a quart of 20w50 oil for Bear, then a Lechero at the coffee shop, and back to the Hotel Sahara to catch up on email and this blog.

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Photos

Cenote Dos Ojos
Two Eyes Caverns