A while back, I asked for suggestions about caves to hit while in Mexico. Now that I'm back, I thought i'd share some of my experiences.
Lodging:
I stayed in Chan Chemuyil at a friends place. This is a small neighborhood filled with americans and canucks primarily. We had breakfast in Chemuyil on most days (tortas and empanadas). The tortas were delicious and only 30 pesos :)
Weather:
It was quite hot and humid when I arrived on Nov 17. A week or so later, a hurricane passed thru on the west coast and brought a lot of rain...and essentially killed the humidity, so it was a lot more comfortable
Fills/Tanks:
We dealt with Easy Chango in Tulum. The prices were very reasonable for fills and rentals as required. Logistics were a bit of a pain in the ass. Not filling on the spot, no banks and filling straight from compressor. All nitrox fills from stick which you had to ask the previous day and pick up the next. For reference, I paid 100 pesos for rental doubles w/ air, 160 for nitrox rental. Air fills were 25pesos/tank. Cheap!
Diving:
Overall, the diving was phenomenal. Every cave had a different feel and vibe. I really enjoyed my dives except 2-3 which were disappointing (more below). We did a mix of small, large, bright, and dark caves.
Nai Tucha: Very nice cave in the jungle west of Chan Chemuyil. Access is through a guide with the key or getting the key from shops (did the former). During the system's exploration, a few palapas were setup at the entrance...now they have rotten away or boards taken away from the floor.
Dive 1, we went to see sloth bones and then the mastodon bones. A room past the bones was pretty neat (shallow and greenish water and highly decorated). RT 143
Dive 2 we played in tighter stuff, bypassed a sm restriction. RT 65
No primary line required.
Chan Hol: Our plan was to visit Dos Pisos...but nobody at the gate + locked. Plan B was to hit Chan Hol. The property is very nice, shaded. The cave entry is tannic for 20' depth. On the right side theres a shelf with mayan pots + bones.
Overall, the cave is very bright.
Dive 1 we went left which had a zig-zag path thru average sized tunnels and then it went big. Eventually it got smaller. RT 142
Dive 2, we went on the right which was smaller, lots of jumps all over the place. Some pockets were shallow with tannics which gave nice effects. RT 74
No primary line required.
Dos Pisos: We made it!. Beautiful cave that starts small ish for doubles and stage. Best to push in front at the beginning. Beyond the first 400' it opens up big. Very white formations, linear tunnels with side passages looping back to mainline. Decent flow. The floor is darker from upstream sediments. 55mins into the dive, you run into massive roots coming down from the ceiling and then a small air pocket with bats. Continuing further, you reach Dos Pisos Norte @ ~70mins. Just before that, there is a large room with deep offshoots going into salt territory and velcro rock which chockes off at a major restriction.
RT165 (tag along robbed me of another 45 mins to check the passages by the entrance..oh well). I highly recommend this cave. Id like to go back with scooter to reach DP norte and do the passages in the north area
No primary line required.
Naharon: This is the cave i was most anticipating because of its darkness....and was the most disappointed by :(
The entry is very very very dark. Cant see far due to tannins in the system. You need to use about 350' out of 400' reel to reach the main line just past the sign (up on the hill behind the sign).
Dive 1: headed as far as possible on main line, past chac's room which was interesting. It took ~30mins to reach Chac's room. Beyond that, the ceiling changes color and has mung growing on it. Neat in a way. On the way back, we check the halocline tunnel which was PACKED with critters (amphipods and crayfish). I dont thing ive ever seen such a concentration. There was also a halocline in there. RT107
Dive 2: Jumped on first jump to desconocido dome line and stayed on that line until turning at 35min mark. Interestingly, this section had a long of "insulation" similar to the insulation room at ginnie. It was everywhere for an extended period. Some of it was falling from ceiling and side walls which was cool to see as a "waterfall".
Overall, the visibility was not great in the cave and its quite big. The water levels are higher than usual due to the high rain this year. I'd check it out again if in a drought which hopefully would reduce tannic intrusion.
COOP One: This cenote is part of the same system as Nai Tucha (Tux Kupaxa which is part of the greater Ko'oox baal). The goal for the dive was to attempt traversing from COOP one to Tres Estrellas. We were close but no cake. The first 15mins of swimming was gorgeous. We jumped towards Tres Estrellas at a beautiful area with greenish water and stunning straws. RT 165
No primary needed
Tres Estrellas: This cenote is part of the same system as Nai Tucha (Tux Kupaxa which is part of the greater Ko'oox baal). The goal for the dive was to find our cookie from the previous dive to make the full connection. Lets just say it too forever because we started on the wrong line :) Overall, the cave was not as exciting as COOP one. To reach the cenote, you have a 400' walk and then stairs. It was raining good that day too.
RT 131
Mayan Blue: another cave that i was anticipating. It is connected to Naharon...so the viz was the same...disappointing. We dove tunnel A up to the Tee towards naharon. It took about 48mins to reach and was in the salt water layer. Turned it there and didnt bother with all the jumps i was hoping to do....i was annoyed :( RT 92
Primary line is required. 200 pesos entry
Grand Cenote: Dove the Cuzan Nah circuit and more. Past the circuit, we jumped south and kept going. THen there is an arrow marking a jump to the right....ignore the passage on the right and go left ish up a shelf and connect there. then it goes for a while on a small passage that is simply awesome! Turned the dive 75mins into the cave for a total of 164 mins. On way back, we checked out the main tunnel upstream and it had decent flow.
Primary line required. 200 pesos entry
Calimba: after diving Grand Cenote, we decided to check out Calimba/Kolimba. You need the key from Xibalba in Tulum and pay the 250pesos entry. This cave is quite neat as it twists and turn constantly with odd restrictions. The plan was to go to Box Chen...but came short. On the way, there were a few holes in the floor that would be cool to check out.
Primary line required because entry was murky. Entry 250 pesos.
ka'axaal tun: Small cenote in Chan Chemuyil...literally 300' from where I was staying. The pool was tannic and cleared 5' under. This cave was a little silt hole that is SM only. Quite a few of jumps and it EOL's 500-600' in. I spent almost 2 hours in there mucking around and came back with a huge grin....buddy didnt like it as much (brought him back out after 55mins!)
Primary required. No entry fee
Uxuxubi aka cenote balam: Finally the dark cave I was hoping for!! Its a pretty linear system that reminds me of ginnie and manatee w/o the flow. 65 mins in, you reach a Tee with change in direction which I believe brings you into a lake. The water was very tannic and we turned. From there I split from the team and took a few jumps and completed loops. I really enjoyed this cave!
No primary required. Entry 200pesos
Caracol: Unbelievable cave! Very nice park. It is located on same road as Nohoch + 2km further. The entry has steep stairs into a large covered cavern. We took the wrong line at first and wasted 45mins of the first dive
Dive 1: took wrong primary line, came back and found the main line! we stayed on main line for this dive. Very decorated, shallow. 1500' in there is an air pocket and cool tree roots. didnt make it to the connection back to the left offshoot due to 45mins wasted early on. On way back, we did 1 jump that is before the left offshoot early on. It was quite pretty. RT 129
Dive 2: went left at the first double arrows. More linear, few jumps. Swam to the connection to main line and went to the 2600' marker (from main line). Turned and checked out the side cenote which is more a funnel with small hole on surface. RT 124
I will go back to Caracol! amazing place. I will spend more time on side passages as there is lots going parallel to mainline.
Primary line is required. 200pesos entry
Muchachos: this cenote is part of sistema camillo. This is what you call BIG cave. We swam over 2500' in grand canyon like tunnel. I wish i had known about the black forest line. Apparently it is dark formations in big rooms. This is a scooter cave that would use a few stage and O2 at entrance
RT 100
Entry fee 200 pesos. No primary required.
Caterpillar: Small hole in the middle of a quarry. 2 primary dive to do here...upstream and downstream
Dive 1: Dove downstream. This section is much more restrictive and more decorated. Simply gorgeous. We made it to the major restriction and we were at our thirds. didnt get to attempt passing it. RT105
Dive 2: dove upstream hoping to reach the ho lee sheet tunnel. I wasnt sure how long it would take. It turns out you need a stage to reach the 2900+ mark and go HO LEE SHEETTTT. so no holy #### on this dive. The further you go in, the more the cave opens up. It definitely has a Jackson Blue feel to it. Id love to enter from bobcat with a scooter! RT102
Entry fee 150 pesos. Instructions how to pay are not very clear. You are supposed to pay at the yaxche mart in muyil. The 2nd day, the ejido met us at the quarry and gave us instructions.
Dreamgate: Friend introduced us to this cave which the entry is just before oscar and lalo restaurant on HW 307 (coming from the north). you enter a red gate and go through the property. When we arrived, the place was a zoo with cenote tours. We stuck to it and decided to stay and we were not disappointed. After following a cattle group in a tour, we found the double arrows on the gold line. The cave has every shade of brown on the formations and has a green water tint. Just awesome. We ended up in the deeper part which was salty and velcro rock...with the odd beautiful formation. Id love to check this cave again. so much to see. RT 113
Caterpillar: The return for Ho Lee Sheet. This time we came with a stage and a plan to reach the darn tunnel. After a 55-56 min swim, we reached the cookie stating Ho Lee Sheet and the water bottle asking for donations for lines!. At that point i knew we made it and could feel the room exploding in size. All i could think was HOLY FAWK, HO LEE SHEEEETTTTTT. We turned the dive 6 mins later even though i had a few 100 psis left to go :(. Entering this tunnel was the highlight of the trip! Id love to go back and go beyond + check out the various side passages. RT 117 (too short!)
Last dive of the trip...was debating between nohoch and minotauro. not knowing how to get to minotauro and a few friend recommendations...we hit up nohoch. I knew the place had large tunnels and big rooms...but what I didnt expect was the SM tunnels we took. We ended up in tight stuff that went left and right and had ginnie flow in small sm stuff. The ripples everywhere were just beautiful. We also had some major restrictions to deal with. at the end of the line, we got back to mainline....10' prior to where we dropped our stage earlier (i recognized the mound), so we traced our path back, took a few more jumps (went deeper and also to an air pocket). Once we reached our stage, we decided to explore the main tunnels. at that point we were 100mins into our dive. we putzed around in the big stuff, but it got repetitive quick and the visibility had a haze to it...so we couldnt fully appreciate it.
RT 184
Primary is required. Entry is 200 pesos
Overall, I am really happy with my first MX cave diving trip after doing 5-6 trips in Florida. I am not writing off Florida though. I truly missed the silt and clay from florida. I really appreciated the variety of caves in MX. Each had a different feel and vibe. 19 days in MX, 21 dives, 16 different cenotes, and 44 hours underwater...i got my moneys worth and then some. I now need to decide how i divide my vacation between MX and FL going forward.
