By C. David Conner
It took more than an hour to drive from the hotel in Cancun to the Abyss Dive Center near Playa del Carmen. After securing our gear, we got into the back of an old truck for the next part of the journey. Bouncing through large potholes on old shock absorbers did little to alleviate my discomfort from just getting over Montezuma’s revenge.
Upon reaching our destination, we had to carry our gear along a rock-strewn trail about 100 yards farther into the jungle. Relief came in the form of a giant hole in the ground. These plentiful freshwater pools in the Yucatán are sacred to Mayans as bridges to the underworld.
For anyone used to low visibility, diving in cenotes is like going from using a rabbit-ears antenna to high-definition 1080-pixel clarity. Here at a cenote named Temple of Doom,one can either climb down a rickety ladder or else take one giant stride into the water 15 feet below. We chose the latter. Today was my second dive trip to cenotes, the first being to the nearby Dos Ojos and Bat Cave.
I prefer open-water diving with lots of sea life, but these caverns are near the top of my list of favorite dive sites. You go into an area that feels enclosed, with walls all around and a ceiling above, yet these caverns are filled with stalactites and stalagmites alive with their own beauty.
Today’s dive featured something new to me, a halocline, which occurs when fresh water and salt water merge. They separate into distinct levels if undisturbed, and a diver can literally see salt water at the bottom of his mask and fresh water at its top if suspended in the middle of the phenomenon. When the two waters are disturbed they mix into a concoction that’ll make you feel as though you hit the tequila too hard the night before.
Montezuma was not done with his revenge, as the wavy halocline became my final straw for this dive, but fortunately regulators are designed for just such an occurrence. I finished my dive and sat out the next one, instead recuperating on the cool surface while my dive buddy and the guide continued exploring.
