…is a flooded cave system located north of Tulum, on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The exploration of Dos Ojos began in 1987 and still continues.
– Wikipedia
Playa del Carmen is only a few hours ride away from several Cenotes in Tulum, Mexico.
img courtesy of Every Steph
We went diving in it and there was a rope line to guide divers around. There was sunlight in many parts but there were also plenty that was so dark, we needed our flashlights.
It made me feel… irrelevant. It reminded me that I’m just another speck of dust in this world: a state of being that I am constantly on the lookout for, which is one of the reasons why I do these things.
Anyway, there’s also this thing called the halocline effect (density of saltwater changing or, in this case, saltwater and freshwater meet but don’t mix), which was happening at many points in the cave. Some parts were blurry like looking through a translucent, textured glass, whereas some parts look like a different body of water in itself. The divemaster warned us about the latter because of the illusion of “coming out from the water” and apparently some people had taken off their masks. We kept ours… but it was pretty unreal.
The Yucatan peninsula doesn’t have any lakes or anything for freshwater so this is where the Mayans got their supply 500 years ago. It’s insane. There are apparently spots where you can squeeze (when you push yourself through narrow gaps in between rocks); we didn’t do that but I think there’s that option for technical divers, which is a different route from the recreational one.
(If you’re interested in seeing more: Planet Earth, Ep. 4.)
DO NOT dive here if you have claustrophobic tendencies. The divemaster compared the large openings to the size of the gas truck. I’d say it was bigger and those bits were easy enough to navigate but there were spaces that were really narrow.
My buoyancy is not bad for ocean diving but for this, you have to be really steady.
I kept hitting the stalactites & stalagmites. It was a hassle, not mention a hazard (to the cave, your equipment – your life support – and therefore, yourself).
The divemaster held on to me during those parts to minimize the damage.
img courtesy of Cold Water Kitty
Either way, this is still most definitely worth checking out. You can go swimming, snorkeling… the view alone from its shallow waters are well worth the several hours’ ride.
We stayed in an all-in hotel thing so it was good to get out of the resort too. I like staying in bamboo-things and hippie stuff places when I’m in tropical areas but all-ins are great if you’re pressed for time and/or you’re literally just there to dive and care about nothing else.
Gelene 