Cozumel - Aerolito

[Luxrok]

Just got back from an awesome trip to Cozumel. Did some Cavern Touring with my OW friends and a great guide [rule #6]. We did the two lines at Dos Ojos. Plus an Intro buddy of mine and myself staying in the water at lunch time and milled around taking photos in the cavern zone. Very beautiful.

On Cozumel my buddy and I dove with [rule #6] who was an excelent guide and a great guy. I would suggest him to anyone who will be on the island and wants to do some caving. We dove Aerolito once with the guide and three times without him. Expirenced the halocline for the first time and had a generally great time. We found the line to the left by accident when I reeled us into the wrong entrance. We decided to turn the dive becuase it was getting nasty in there. We then did a nice dive on the main line to the right. We saw a ton of life inside the cave and some really beautiful formations. For intro divers, there is at least one dive on the island that I can confirm is intro level. Call/email [rule #6] and he will guide a nice safe dive.

I have to admit that the halocline was distrubing at first, it hide the line just feet away. But now I know what to expect next time.

I can't wait to get back down there and check out some more of the system on the island and the main land. Thanks to those who made suggestions a month or so ago. The trip was a great success thanks to our two excelent guides and my buddy.

So my report is that there was lot of stuff floating in the water but visibility was good. Lots of life in the cave and plenty of stuff to look at.

Hans

<<< PM Hans/Luxrok for his guide's contact info >>>

[zmcave]

I Love Aerolito! It's amazing the amount of life you get to see.
There is an interesting article in the last Nacd journal about Cozumel caves fauna.
I don't know if you guys got to dive at Tres Potrillos (close to Aerolito).
Very interesting cave in its formation, specially the entrance! Some pics from a trip back in January 2001:




safe diving,
Jose.

[Bill Rotella]

Aerolito, one of my very favorite. So full of life. Did you see "Sulpher Falls"? So cool, glad you enjoyed the dive.

Bill Rotella

[Luxrok]

We were only able to dive Aerolito becuase of time and logistics. My buddy and I are Intro divers, so we were using just about the only two H valve tanks we could find on the island. Actually, I think [Rule #6] has three H valves total. But I digress.

We did our first dive there after a full day of reef diving. We exited in the dark which was a wierd expirence. I got to the end of the line in open water and looked up and wondered where the hell was I? I couldn't figure out how to get out of the cave for a second. The whole time I was in open water in the cenote at the primary tie off. Just no sun to let me know there wasn't a cieling any more. Every dive something new.

With [Rule #6] guiding we made it past 4 jumps that we could see or were marked. (Not to worry we were firmly on the main line.) We did not make it to what I think is a jump at the end of the line. We made it about 21 minutes back into the cave. I am guessing 700-900 feet one direction. Who knows, I was just enjoying the cave. It was a very different expierence then diving Cow and Peacock, which is where all my previous dives had been.

On our own, our penetration was much shorter. We burned up some air on our little excursion into the wrong entrance and had to recaculate. And my emotional tolerance was much lower on our own. I will write in my log to look out for the features you are talking about. Can you provide a description of where to find the sulfur falls?

Hans

[JDostal]

Aerolito is AWESOME. I got to make a couple of dives in there about a year ago...very, very cool. Can you PM me who your guide was? Curious if it's the same guy I dove with

zmcave - your pics aren't showing up - I'd love to see them - could you double check them for me?

[zmcave]

oops, wrong link I guess.
here it goes again:




enjoy.