SINKHOLE HEAVEN
It’s just overwhelming — there are so many sinkholes here that we will never be able to dive them all. Each time we go back out to my accountant’s ranch in Yucatan, the area impresses us more. At first, Vince and I were a little less excited to explore sinkholes (as opposed to caves) but in the past few trips they have begun to fascinate us. You can drop down to 65 meters in some of these places and not see the bottom. Diving without a floor in sight feels like flying, and after free falling along decorated walls and through dancing light beams, I can definitely say I am hooked. Plus this give us an excuse to buy rebreathers!
(Literally staying on a ranch.)
THE AREA
Visiting the state of Yucatan feels like traveling back in time. The moment you clear the border of Quintana Roo, the atmosphere changes. Vince said it perfectly, “every day feels like a Sunday.” The towns are relaxed, the people warm, and everything moves sleepily. Shops still still close for siesta, and we literally watched the cows come home on the ranch before curling up in hammocks outdoors. It’s a completely different atmosphere, and a welcome change to the hubub of Quintana Roo.
(When your accountant leads a double life. . . .)
SCOUTING SINKHOLES
Scouting sinkholes in the Yucatan is a different process from searching for cave dives in Quintana Roo for several reasons. The first is the heat. If you think Quintana Roo is hot in September, just you wait. The middle of the Yucatan is significantly hotter and more humid. It’s simply not possible to drag tanks to a site before cutting a path and planning out the logistics. It’s too hot to do more than one thing per a hike. In addition, many of the sinkholes require rope work and pulleys to descend, all of which needs to be planned out after visiting the site for a quick look at the situation. And of course, there is no way to tell how deep a sinkhole will be once it bells out underground, so it’s impossible to plan gas mixes in advance. At least one scouting dive has to be done just to get an idea of the depth. As a result, on each trip we ideally do one deep dive, one shallow dive, and scout some holes for the next expedition.
(One of two new sinkholes we saw on our trip)
RESULTS
This trip was just a short 2-day jaunt to Yucatan, so we didn’t get to do as much as we would like. The first day we made one deep trimix dive at cenote Ucil/Uxil (scroll down until you find it) to the depth of 65 meters. Uxil is not a new site, nor our discovery. The cenote has bright blue water, black and white walls, and very unusual dissolution patterns forming jagged edges at 65 meters. We could see a halocline below us at 70 meters because there were bottles floating on it, and we could see a ledge where the sinkhole bells out below that. This place has huge potential for tec diving.
The second day we followed Ruben around as he hacked through the jungle to show us a few new sinkholes for out next trip. They are both lovely! I plan to return this weekend with longer ropes!
Going down down down in Uxil
New cenote #1
The coolest accountant ever
New cenote #2
