Exploration And Finding New Cenotes
Cenote Darth Vader : Part one
I bungeed my sidemount tanks in place, and then started to work through my pre-dive checks. As I was about to descend into a completely unknown cenote, there was an additional level of excitement — that unique mix of anticipation and responsibility that comes with cave exploration. But then during my checks, I tested my short hose regulator with my face down in the water. As I inhaled, I got a mouthful of both water and air. The regulator was breathing wet, each breath also allowing water in. I couldn’t dive like this… but there was a new cave to explore!
The Search for New Cenotes
Finding a completely new cenote for diving is becoming increasingly difficult! Back in the early days of cave exploration in the Riviera Maya during the 1990s, cave divers (and explorers) were a much rarer breed. Nowadays with over 150 cave diving instructors in the area, and many many more certified cave divers, there is a lot more cave diving going on. With the development of the area, access roads into the jungle have made many more cenotes accessible and the possibility of finding new ones easier than ever.
If you are interested in how it used to be check out this classic exploration video of cenote Nohoch Na Cich (hope you enjoy)
So while access to cenotes is NOW easier, the effort to go searching for new cenotes where no one else has been becomes harder. Read on to find out about the discovery and exploration of not one but 2 new cenotes back in 2020!
Stumbling Across Darth Vader
In 2019 I had been diving a cenote I had found in the jungle out the back of Tulum. There were roads that had been put in fairly recently, making access to this cenote much easier than had been for the original explorer, the late Mr. Bil Phillips. I thought that perhaps there might have been other cenotes in the area, and having done some hiking around I had found a few others with line in them.
On this particular day, I decided to walk in the opposite direction, heading south in the hope that there might have been a cenote missed by other divers that way. And soon enough after some time hacking a way through the fairly dense jungle with a machete, I came to water! Unfortunately, this was an ‘aguada’: a shallow depression that fills up with water after rain and looks decidedly like a cenote. This area seemed to be full of aguadas, and as I continued along I found more. Each time there was hope that it was a cenote, but closer inspection and depth soundings with a big stick showed that they were about a foot deep each time.
This continued until I hit a ‘brecha’, a path running through the jungle. Following the path I saw another depression off to the side but this time things looked more promising. When I came out of the jungle, the depression was overgrown with plants and trees, but following it around I came to water. It was pretty tannic but looked deep enough to be worth getting into to check properly. I stripped down, grabbed my mask and torch out of the backpack, scanned for crocodiles, then hopped in. The water was a deep tannic red, with lots of tree branches, finding the way through. I free dove down and saw an entrance. Surfacing, after some excited breath catching I dove down again, this time following the wall, and the entrance looked even bigger! This definitely called for diving gear to be properly checked!
The Second Surprise
I packed up and started retracing my steps. Following the path back I noticed what looked like another small depression, and decided to investigate. Walking down the slope through the dense shrubbery, I was thinking ‘there is no way this could be another cenote’. But it was! A much smaller pool than the first, but again deep looking tannic water. It was time to freedive this one and check for potential cave entrances! I dove down through some pretty heavy hydrogen sulfides and saw what looked like an entrance. It was much smaller than the first but a diver in sidemount should be able to squeeze in. Packing up and hiking out, I reflected that the chances of finding one new cenote were low, but to find two in one afternoon was incredibly lucky! Now just to get back with dive gear and scout them both!
The Return
The return to dive the newly discovered cenotes was not as easy as I had hoped. While I had taken GPS points at both cenotes, there was no direct path to them. So this meant that hiking back with diving gear did not follow a direct line but meandered through the jungle, often going for the path of least resistance. Finally arriving I unloaded and prepared my gear, jumping into the water after the hot hike felt great!
I bungeed my sidemount tanks in place, and then started to work through my predive checks. As I was about to descend into a completely unknown cenote, there was an additional level of excitement. Until I tested my short hose regulator with my face down in the water. As I inhaled, I got a mouthful of both water and air. The regulator was breathing wet, each breath also allowing water in. I thought about my options: without a spare reg to switch out, diving into a cave with one working regulator was not an option. I could go back to town to get another, but that would take hours. I decided to take apart the second stage and see if there was anything I could do at the site.
Stay Tuned
Finding two new cenotes after hiking in the jungle around Tulum was pretty exciting.
Getting to the water with dive gear and being ready to dive, then having gear issues was super frustrating. Luckily I was able to solve the wet-breathing regulator issue.
In the next installment we will get into the underwater exploration of this cenote.
