Cave Diving in Cozumel - Amazing

[Omicron]

I just got back from a week in beautiful Cozumel.  We spent a week soaking up the sun (and other things…) and being dive fiends.

We had a lot of fun reef diving.  The reefs are all that they are cracked up to be.  Without a doubt my favorite reefs were the Palancar Horseshoe reef and one called “Santa Rosa”.  The Horseshoe is impressive – HUGE coral heads, towers really, that you can swim around and over and between.  Very neat.  Add in millions of fish and some sea turtles and you have a great ocean dive.  Santa Rosa was fun because of the coral caves.  Some really good swim through tunnels that would shoot you out on the edge of a wall – you would come out of them looking down a 3000 foot drop – impressive to say the least.

The coolest thing about Cozumel diving is how easy it is – I couldn’t believe it.  The current is just right…you plunk overboard, drop down, and kick back.  You just glide on by the reef, occasionally twitching a fin to adjust your course.  I actually kicked back and sat like I was in a recliner for the majority of one dive.  It was great.  We popped up to the surface after hanging on our safety stop (those were even neat – you could still see some great reef life while hanging) and the boat was right in front of us.  Man, I could get used to this sorta thing…

The highlight of the trip was cave diving though.  I figured that as long as we were in Mexico, I could maybe dive some of the amazing caves I’ve heard about there.  I searched around online and found ScubaTony () as a dive guide.  This guy is AMAZING.  He runs a really good service – very personalized, very customized, very friendly and very good.  I would recommend him for ANY type of diving in Cozumel…he will get you away from the cattle boats and let your private group do the diving you want to do.

He told us about the cave on the island called Aerolito – also called “Systema Paraiso” because of it’s closeness to the offshore Paradise reef.  Aerolito is what you could a hidden gem…and that is a HUGE understatement.  Who’s ever heard of Aerolito?  How about Grand Cenote?  I bet the latter has more hands up….and that’s almost a crime.

Aerolito is a VERY short trip from San Miguel – about 10 minutes if there is slow traffic.  It’s on the road to the harbor and is visible from the road.  This cave system has over 14 miles of mapped tunnel!!  Our cab dropped us and our gear off, and we lugged it to the far end of the Cenote.  We were greeted by crystal clear water in the basin, and a very slight surface boil.  Now THIS was starting to look good.

Of course…we still had to wait for this goofy Tony guy to show up.  We were a little bit nervous about sitting around a Cenote with piles of cave diving gear, no tanks, and no previous experience with this guy holding a bunch of our cash – but we had absolutely no reason to be nervous.  At the scheduled time, Tony pulled in with a truckbed full of doubles and stage bottles.  Now this is really starting to look good

We talked with him for about a half hour, about the cave, who dives it, who knows it.  It’s pretty much a “locals only” cave.  No one else really dives it, because everyone else flocks over to the mainland.  Tony is actually currently working on re-surveying some parts of the cave, and exploring newer sections.  We did a dive briefing – our first dive was going to be to the Sulfur River.  As we were doing two dives on our doubles (double aluminum 80’s are the standard on the island…) we would be using stage tanks a little bit to ensure we had enough gas for both dives.

After the normal gear matching, gas planning and s-drills we descended into the cenote.  Tony was leading and he made the tie off and into the cave we went.  The first (of many) cool things about Aerolito is the halocline.  There is no-flow salt water on the bottom of the cave, and decent flow fresh water on the top.  Passing through a halocline is a trip and a half – worth the price of admission alone.  Have you ever tried those “drunk goggles” they make you wear to simulate trying to do tasks while drunk?  Kinda like that – every thing is all blurry and swirly, you can’t focus…and all of a sudden BAM! you are in a beautiful cave with great viz.  The cave had been formed both dry and wet.  We wound our way along the mainline, passing one of the MANY jumps.  The cave is beautiful – huge pieces of rock jutting out from the sides or the top, the swirling halocline above you.  There are albino brittle starfish all over the cave floor – these stars are endemic to Aerolito and Chankanaab.  They are REALLY neat looking – really makes you feel like you are in outer space, all these strange formations jutting out all over, sponges growing on the floor (those are neat..big puffy white sponges…), starfish moving their legs.  Totally surreal, and such a visual. 

We came up on jump number five and took it to the right – this is the Sulfur River.  When you look up at the ceiling in this cave, you see a sight that is out of this world.  The ceiling is kinda yellow…and also VERY white.  There is this hairlike, stringy, shockingly white moss growing on the ceiling.  The fresh water is flowing along the ceiling, making the moss wave in the flow.  The halocline is VERY thin and VERY pronounced.  Have you ever dove in a river, and looked up through the surface of the water?  That’s what it looks like here – it looks like you are looking up through the surface of a river into this strange world…but it’s just the halocline.  This part of the cave makes you want to swim upside down, and just stare for HOURS at the beauty of it.  At one point, the formations of the rock are just right that the fresh water flow goes down towards the floor and then back up to the celing, forming a “reverse waterfall”.  You have never seen anything like it.

We hit the T at the end of the river and turned our dive.  Tony gave me a custom OK signal as we turned and shook my hand – I think my eyes were popped out against my mask lens I was so excited

Our next dive was to the Passage of The Dead.  Strictly along the mainline.  More staring at starfish, occasional stalagmites/tites..all neat stuff.  We made our way along the mainline and reached a sudden crevice that went from the one bedding plane we were swimming through to the next, at about 55-60 feet of depth.  We made our way into the passage and entered into an entirely different looking cave.  That is the neat thing about Aerolito – it looks like it’s 20 different caves as you are swimming through it…different colors, different appearance of the rock, different looking formations – this cave has so many different looks.

When we made it into the passage of the dead, the floor is what you notice here.  It looks like…cheese.  Swiss cheese…with a lot more bubbles in it.  Imagine beer foam…magnified…and frozen.  That’s what the floor looked like.  The rock looked it had been aerated – millions of circular holes in it, throughout the rock bed.  Just so neat looking.  We swam through this small tunnel for a  while until we hit thirds.  We turned around and started swimming out of the cave again.

It was an AMAZING day of diving.  Aerolito is a hidden gem on the island – you could dive this cave for a week and never see all of it.  I’m surprised it’s not more well known, but that’s okay – it’s like having your own little cave system that you can dive and not be bothered. 

After the dive, we hit up a little restaurant for lunch and then finished off the evening at a little home restaurant (it’s literally run out of a family’s home – amazing food) for dinner.  The night was capped w/ cold beer and amazing vibes at a little local club – alright, maybe not so little…it was Senor Frog’s after all   It was a great trip!

[pink_fins]

Great report. Looking forward to pictures.

I am cavern certified and loved Grand Cenote the best of the 6 I dove when there in 2004. But this one sounded great too.

It was my first time with a halocline. and it was strange, like you said.  I had heard the guide talk of the halocline but forgot about it. Then I ran into it and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. (had a detatched retnia a few years back and thought it was happening again)
It's indeed cool

Any cavern area there ?

gail

 

[Omicron]

No pictures - I don't have an underwater camera

There is cavern as well - i guess he does cavern tours in this system too.

[Rik]

I'm glad you took advantage of the "Cenote's Experience"
Your observations on the halocline were right on, almost a cosmic cloud in water.
[glow=red,2,300]Cenote Diving is Inner Space![/glow]
My last experience in a Cenote was in February, in Puerto Adventures.
At one point while diving at 40 feet the water was so clear I actually raised my hand above me and waved it to see if the clarity I was experiencing was air or water! Hard to explain until you experience it!
Sounds like you discovered another gem in Mexico.
These are the reasons I took up diving, experiences that are hard to explain but amazing in themselves.
        Rik O+<

[dfreeman]

Jason has an underwater camera, but its name is Doug and he went to Bonaire instead of Cozumel.

Sounds like a super cave dive.  Might even tempt me to get the training.

Doug

[Omicron]

You are correct My camera was off swimming in Bonaire.

Good to see you are back.  A good trip I hope?

[dfreeman]

Great trip to Bonaire.  Will start posting pictures and a report in the near future.

Took 1,400 pictures.  Need to organize them a little.

Doug

[Omicron]

Good to hear