Cenote Diving in Mexico

 March 6-17, 2020

In what we didn't know was going to be the last hurrah of travel in 2020, Shay and I visited Mexico to go dive in the cenotes (sinkholes) along the Maya Riviera. We flew into Cancun, and took a bus to Tulum where we were based for the diving.

Cenote diving is technically 'cavern' not 'cave' diving and doesn't need any extra certifications because we were always within sight of light. Somehow when reading up on it, I interpreted this to mean we'd always be in some sort of direct sunlight, and that was definitely not true. It just meant that if we turned off all our lights and turned in a circle, we'd see the glow of the exit and be able to swim towards it. So it basically seemed like we were cave diving to me. And it was amazing.

The cenote openings were often unassuming holes in the ground.

Each cenote was different. Some of them had small surface openings and the tunnels extended far under the ground around it, some were big holes in the ground with minimal tunnels, one was kind of just a big deep hole. Some were filled with stalactites and stalagmites, others had bigger rock formations. We had a great guide, Pascual, who told us about each cenote before we got there, some history and what the dive would be like. We had three dives each day, either doing two dives in one cenote or moving locations between dives.

I managed to get some decent photos out of video screenshots, so here is a little phototour through the cenotes we dove. 

Day 1- Dos Ojos and Nicte Ha

We did two dives in Dos Ojos, one upstream loop and one downstream one. The water was incredibly clear, and Pascual said based off a light study that was done, if there was enough space the water would have 600 ft visibility. The only limiting factor was how far our flashlights went. The glowing blue exit we could see from inside the cave was gorgeous, and there were stalactites and stalagmites everywhere.

Our third dive was Nicte Ha. There were lily pads and other water plants growing in the middle of it, and the dive was a loop down tucked under the edge of the whole thing, so we had a great blue-green light coming in from one side the whole time.

Day 2- The Pit and Dreamgate

The Pit fit my preconceived notion of what we'd be seeing, it was basically just a big hole. It's an incredibly popular dive, so there were lots of other divers to contend with. Partway down it has a halocline, where salt and freshwater stratify. If the layer hasn't been disturbed you get some really cool optical effects and can see the divide really well, but there were way too many people and bubbles going up and down for us to see that. Going through it your vision goes all fuzzy and you can't clearly see with the mixing layers. On either side of it you're fine. There was a small hydrogen sulfide cloud at the bottom, a milky layer caused by decaying plants. We went back into a small cave area on one side and got a really cool view back into the deep blue main area with stalactites hanging down from the ceiling of the opening. Unfortunately my camera decided it didn't want to work on this dive.

Dives two and three were at Dreamgate, which was easily my favorite cenote of the trip. It was a maze in a large cavern back into the dark, and was just full of stalactites and stalagmites, and other limestone formations which were absolutely incredible to look at and swim through. Parts of the cavern were giant, and swimming through or past them makes you feel incredibly small. It's a little surreal to be essentially hovering in the middle of something that's big enough your brain has trouble comprehending it. There was an open air section in the middle so we popped up to the surface and floated in the dark for a couple minutes, listening to water drip around us in the pitch dark.

Day 3- Angelita, Carwash and Casa Cenote

The big selling point for Angelita is a large hydrogen sulfide layer. Pascual asked if we wanted to go down through it on the dive, and I said 100% yes. So we did. And I got a super sweet video of it.

There was a definite egg taste/smell to the water going through it, and below the layer it was dark and needed flashlights to see. We stayed for a minute or two before coming back up through the layer again.

On the surface was a small crocodile sunning himself. I named him Chancho.

Our second dive was at Carwash, apparently locals used to wash their cars there. There were plants growing in this one too, and lots of surface swimmers. The dive went back under a ways, and there were some big caverns to feel small in.

An attempt to keep untrained divers out of the more dangerous sections of the cenote.

The third and final dive was Casa Cenote, which is just a short ways from the ocean, so it's brackish water instead of just freshwater. This meant that visibility was kind of weird and fuzzy, like when we went through a halocline. There were smallish tarpon swimming around in it, and mangroves lining the whole thing. It was more like a channel than a cave, and had a completely different feel. On the way back we surfaced to see Pancho, the local crocodile sunning himself on a rock. I estimated he was 5 1/2 feet long, and got a kick out of the fact that he was right next to a 'beware of crocodile' sign. We didn't get too close, and he clearly didn't care that we were there.

Pancho is on the rock in the background.

We moved around a bit for the rest of the trip. We went to the Cirque du Soleil show in Playa del Carmen one night, then took a ferry out to Cozumel. We were going to do two days of diving on the reefs there, but I managed to injure my ears in the cenotes (still not exactly sure when or how) so Shay had two days of diving and I had one of doctor visits and then one of sub-par snorkeling from the dive boat. Not exactly an optimal way to spend the days, but it could have been worse. We rented a scooter one day and toured around the rest of the island out of town. Had a great time snorkeling off a beach on the far side. There was ocean surge to play in and lots of fish around.

A wreck on Cozumel. Shay got to dive it, I snorkeled above it.

Snorkeling on the far side of the island one day.

Cirque du Soleil dinner and a show.

Visiting the Tulum ruins one afternoon.

Overall we had some great diving, some less than optimal diving (for me), some really good food and ice cream, did a little salsa dancing, and got some beach time. Then we flew home straight into lockdown and quarantine and I didn't manage to finish the blog post until over a year later. Oh well.

Diving in Veracruz, Mexico

January 26, 2020

Our second day in Veracruz we got going early and went scuba diving.

Dad went snorkeling and got to experience what a dive operation is like out on the water. The visibility wasn't fantastic, but I got a couple pictures underwater that are worthwhile to share.

Fun little boxfish friend

These little cone shaped barnacles were hard to get a picture of since whenever I got close enough to be able to see them in the picture, they'd feel me messing up the water and shoop! back in their shells they'd go.

Lots of big brain corals

The green squiggly thing in the middle of the photo is the tail end of a giant moray eel that was hiding his head in a cave.

There's his head poking out. I didn't want to get any closer to those teeth to get a better angle photo.

Orizaba - Pueblo Magico

February 1-3, 2020

Our last stop in Mexico was Orizaba, a little mountain town near the tallest peak in Mexico, the Pico de Orizaba. We weren't planning to climb that mountain (since it's a 6 day trek) but were hoping we could find some hiking of some sort in the area.

It was a slightly drippy morning when we arrived (the first rain we had seen) but it mostly held off while we explored. We couldn't check into the hotel yet, so we stored our packs and went to find the walk along the river that I had read about, and all the guidebooks talked about. I was expecting a dirt path, and found something very different indeed.

There was a paved path along each side of the river extending for several kilometers upstream.

At intervals along each side were animal enclosures that were part of a zoo/rescue operation. Free to look at with posted information about the species inside. All the animals were rescued or born in captivity, many were old or injured. While not the best enclosures I've seen, they were more than just an empty concrete cage which was nice.

We spent a couple hours walking up the river and down the other side looking at everything from parrots and snakes to leopards, monkeys, dromedaries, ostriches, a hippo and tigers.

After getting into our hotel room it was time for a nap, and then we ventured out into the actual rain to find some food. We grabbed some tacos at a small joint, and headed right back to the hotel. The weather made it not inviting at all to linger outside. We found some crazy Jackie Chan movie dubbed in Spanish to watch on TV, and called it a night.

The next morning we had breakfast at the Palacio de Hierro, or Iron Palace.

It was designed in the 1800s by Gustav Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel) and shipped in pieces to Orizaba to be reassembled. It was pretty in a slightly strange way, the walls reminded me of the inside of a shipping container. But now we can say we ate breakfast in a place designed by Eiffel. And that's not nothing.

A quick stop at the tourist office gave us our destination for the day, the 500 Escalones, or 500 Stairs that were a little ways through town. While at first that didn't sound appealing at all to me, we were promised a waterfall, so we went for it. My Google Maps stopped working that morning, so some help from a local got us on the right bus and off at the right stop armed with directions for how to reach the escalones.

We found a funny little park just on the other side of the major highway through town, which seemed to be built around old (maybe still working?) hydroelectric equipment.

There were posted guards, which argues for it still working. Trails led down to spillways and massive equipment, but there wasn't really any information about what things were. It seemed to be popular with trail runners, and with 250 stairs down and back up I can see it being a nice place to get some exercise.

We took it easy and enjoyed the view. There were a couple things that could be considered waterfalls, but mostly that aspect of the park was underwhelming.

We caught the bus back home a while later and Dad took a nap while I wandered around town some more.

I scoped out restaurants, found a previously unexplored street where they all seemed to be hiding, and decided on one for us for dinner. It had wonderful food, and turned out doubly auspicious because they had the Superbowl playing.

We watched almost all of the first half before our food was gone and they were locking up for the night. We figured we'd just have to google the rest of the game, and headed out.

Just across from the restaurant was a big park (also previously unexplored) which had a great light-up fountain spouting in time to the music playing, and also a ton of small children racing around in little electric cars.

There was no rhyme or reason to where they were going, but most were going full speed all the time. I figured it was pretty accurate practice for when they grew up and started driving real cars.

We swung by the bus station and bought our tickets back to Veracruz for the next evening. And caught part of the halftime show on the screens in the waiting area. Sitting there to watch the rest of the game wasn't appealing at all, so we went to get ice cream instead. Or rather, I did.

Then walking back towards the hotel, found the game was on all the screens in a TV/motorcycle/cell phone/refrigerator store. We ended up standing on the sidewalk watching all but the last 52 seconds of the game through the window.

They pulled the shutters down and turned off the lights in the store before Kansas City could take a knee the last couple times and officially win the game, but we saw the good parts. And Dad got to watch the Superbowl in a way he never dreamed he would.

The next morning we packed up our packs, stored them at the hotel, got breakfast, and headed to the Teleferico, or cable car that went from the town plaza up the small mountain next to the city.

It was just a 5 minute trip up to the top (not a very tall mountain) where we found signed walking paths that looked like they got very muddy when it rained. We were up there shortly after it opened, so there weren't enough people yet to make it feel crowded.

The trails weren't long, but had some pretty good views down into the valley.

There was a lookout tower to walk up, and since it was the clearest morning we had seen yet, we could see the top of the Pico de Orizaba poking above other mountains.

We had time to leisurely explore at the top. There was the ruins of an old fort, a small military themed museum, and some good photo ops.

When we had seen all we wanted we hopped in a cable car back down with pretty much zero line. A very satisfying last adventure in Orizaba.

The bus back to Veracruz was uneventful, and we just walked from the bus station towards the water until we found a likely looking hotel, inquired, and booked a room. It was getting on towards evening, so we flagged a city bus back up towards the main part of the waterfront where we figured we could find a restaurant and maybe some tourist shops for souvenirs. We found both. The first evening we were in the same area, but none of the stalls were open. This night it was a veritable craft bazaar all along the sidewalk. We took a look at everything, bought nothing, then found the main plaza (which we also managed to miss the first time around) which was ringed with restaurants with outdoor seating. Dad got to try the flat chicken dish I had for our Superbowl dinner, and I got spaghetti. I guessed the sauce started it's life as tomato soup, but it was good and filling. We had another cultural moment as every couple minutes someone else would walk by our table offering us things to buy. We turned down watches, perfume, food, electric lanterns, cell phone chargers, cigars, shoe shines, multiple types of handicrafts, and the services of a mariachi band over the course of our meal. Dad got a kick out of it.

After finishing we found a couple of things we wanted to buy for people back home among the souvenir stalls, and headed back to our hotel to prepare for an early flight out the next morning. I think our trip was wonderful. Dad got to experience a whole new culture and everything that comes with it, and I got to share with him a whole new culture, and some of the reasons why I love traveling so much. Success.

Cascada Bola de Oro

January 31, 2020

Our last morning in Coatepec we had a good breakfast in a little cafe, bought our bus ticket from Xalapa back to Veracruz, and packed up our things. We left our bags downstairs in our hotel and went for one last waterfall hike.

We headed north through town, and gradually it became more out of town. The paved road became dirt and cars stopped driving past. We found one small weathered sign for la Cascada Bola de Oro, or Ball of Gold Waterfall, and after that we had to rely on intuition and relative proximity based on offline Google maps.

When we finally came across some people to ask, we found intuition had taken us too far. So we backtracked and asked another guy for directions, and finally found the path off the main road.

We still weren't 100% sure we weren't just walking onto someone's coffee farm, but because there was no one to double check with there also wasn't anyone to yell at us, so we did it.

5 minutes down the road, against all odds, we found the waterfall.

It appeared that the river had been altered to serve some irrigation purposes at some point, so the lower part was a small waterfall over a man made wall.

Further back in the little grotto was a natural waterfall. And the whole area was lovely and cool with the water running through.

We didn't have too long to hang around since we had to get back to town to collect our packs then taxi into Xalapa to catch our bus, but it was a lovely way to spend the morning. We got some exercise, some fresh air, and some rural Mexico views.

Thanks for the adventures, Coatepec!