I just got back from a quick trip to Cozumel. Typically I take this trip with my wife and we do a few days of OW diving on the island and I ferry over to the mainland for a few days of the Cenotes.
This time around, I thought I would try to find some cave diving on the island and avoid the ferry trip. I had seen Germ Yanez’s name mentioned here a few times, so I contacted him to see if he would be available for a couple days. Turns out everything fell into place very nicely. I also mentioned to German that I would be looking to bring my camera with me and he could suggest dive sites accordingly.
When OW diving, I usually catch a fast boat from Caleta Marina and head out to the reefs. Turns out the Aereolito system mere steps away from that very same marina. Even more amazing is the extent of the system. I seem to recall German telling me there is over 60K ft mapped out.
On the first dive we entered the Aereolito system, jumped off the mainline and went to Bosanic Pit. This was a very pleasant dive and rather shallow for the most part and never exceeding 60 feet. Since German and I had never met, I suspect this was his “size up the other diver dive”. The dive was relaxing, and a pleasant warm up dive. During the dive we were constantly traversing the halocline. Pretty significant how the vis changes from simply following the number 1 diver as opposed to following with a slight offset.
The second dive of the day was a bit different. As German works for one of the governments environmental departments, he has some special permits. We took the main road past Caleta for a Kilometer. Suddenly he pulled over to the side of the road saying, “We are now 500 ft. away.” As I looked about, all I could see was jungle. I am talking about overgrown, dense brush, mosquito infested jungle. He looked at my eyes and said “Trust me, there’s a path.” This system is called Chankanaab. It is directly inland from the reef with the same name.
We geared up at the back of the truck and just before entering the jungle, German handed me a bottle of water. He instructed me to dump half on my head and the other half in my wetsuit, “…to avoid getting heat stroke.” And so began the jungle trek. Interesting enough to walk through the jungle in 90+ degree heat wearing a 5 mil suit and doubles, but I was also carrying a very non-compact camera rig that probably goes 30-35 lbs as well. Ducking under branches, stepping over barbed wire fences, quite the adventure just to get there. I am not certain about the 500 feet, but I am guessing that a Mexican foot must be a bit bigger that an American one as it seemed to take forever.. Man was I happy when we got to the water.
The name of the dive site was so off we went into Chankanaab following the mermaid line. This was my first encounter with the greatly discussed Mexican “T” system. We discussed the dive plan in some detail as to the expected navigational choices and methods of marking passage. In retrospect, I did not see any significant differences in navigating the T’s other than the fact I would need to carry more markers than a typical NoFL dive. Again this was a long shallow dive, as we never got deeper than 30 feet. Some interesting decorations
The second day we picked up tanks and drove out to Xcan Ha. This is the site of a traditional Mayan steam house; an easy access dive site and one billion blood sucking mosquitoes. The dive itself reminded me of a somewhat smaller version of EN. While bottoming out at just over 150, it offered a few other perks. The basin was extremely tannic with perhaps a foot of vis and a rather fragile looking line down to the cave. Once through the tannin, we entered the hydrogen sulfide layer before getting into some reasonable vis at 30 feet or so. At this point we tied in a primary reel and continued our descent and soon came to the summit of a seemingly endless debris cone. Continuing down the side of the cone I noticed several passages breaking away at around 130 feet, but did not enter any of the beckoning passages on this trip. We circumnavigated most of the cone at depth then began our ascent, as we were not equipped for any significant deco time.
As an aside, what a difference perspective makes. During the entrance we went in following the line in pretty much in a heads down attitude in order to maintain visual contact with it. New cave to me, so very focused on the line I suppose. On the way out, as we returned to the vicinity of the halocline, I saw a huge stalactite. I’d estimate it must have been at least six feet in diameter. How does one miss something that big ??? Unfortunately, due to the turbidity of the water, I could not get a decent photograph of it.
Exit from the water was a mixed affair consisting of amazement of what I had just done and seen, and dread of the return trek to the truck. However, now that it is behind me, I am certainly glad we went.
For the final dive, we returned to the Aereolito system and took a different route this time. Again after careful review of the plan, we undertook several jumps, several of which were unmarked, as in “reserved so they don’t get messed up” and went to the Dead Zone. This turned out to be cave that was nothing short of spectacular. Wonderful decorations, a few restrictions and memories to last a lifetime. It was completely different from but equally as spectacular as the China Garden over on the mainland. Where the decorations in the China Garden are delicate and light in color, the decorations in the Dead Zone were mostly dark and more substantial. They were also arrayed in such a fashion that I could not afford to spend much time looking through my camera lens.
I am looking forward to going back to Coz, but now I will have an even harder time figuring out where to dive. I highly recommend German for his attitude, experience and local knowledge.
Tried to post some pics from my Mac, but I got frustrated for now as the Mac is new to me. I'll try and put some up later. If any Mac users have tips, I am all ears....
