Cenotes
My third underwater talk will not be available until April ‘21 but I’ve released details now because I know camera clubs like to make bookings well in advance.
Although 90% of the talk is complete I’m delaying launch to allow me to include material from a trip I have planned to the Dominican Republic to photograph humpback whales (Feb ‘21). Covid may yet cause it to be postponed - but I’m really hopeful it will go ahead.
If you’d like an idea of the content take a look at the video below.
Here’s the video of my cenote adventures last August. Hope it gives you an idea of what a magical experience it was. To literally “fly” through caves & emerge in crystal clear jungle pools was unforgettable. Hope you enjoy it.
This image is probably the lowest quality image I’ve ever posted on my website but I absolutely love it. It comes from my cenote diving trip last August.
This dive is known as “El Pit” & whilst the name might be uninspiring the dive is anything but that. With a stunning 100-foot pillar of light illuminating the halocline and gas cloud layers, the effects of the illumination in this underwater cave really have to be seen to be believed. There’s a reason why it’s known as the “Dream Dive” around the cave diving community - on sunny days, the light show in the vast cenote is absolutely mesmerizing. And there, right at the bottom, is a well preserved fallen tree to give scale & context to the image.
One of the most eerie places I’ve ever dived for sure.
I’m finally getting around to processing some images from my trip to the Mexican cenotes last August. A cenote, (pronounced say-noh-tay), is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of the limestone bedrock which then exposes the groundwater underneath. They are especially associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.
You may have heard gruesome stories surrounding the fact that they were used by the ancient Maya for sacrificial offerings - this is true and many human remains have been found in them. But the ancient Maya believed the cenotes to be much more than simply a place to deliver their sacrificial dead. They considered them to be the portal to Xibalba, their Netherworld. Given all the knowledge that we now know the ancient Maya possessed, they no doubt also knew, or at least suspected, that the thousands of cenotes are interconnected, forming an underground labyrinth of tunnels. It was these tunnels I was diving in last August.
It’s a surreal form of diving - you enter in an open cenote, often crowded with tourists, but led by your expert guide (& boy does he need to be expert) you follow the tunnels. Think of majestic caves with stalactites & stalagmites & I was effectively flying through them! And then, as if by magic, we’d pop up in another open cenote, often in the middle of the jungle & inaccessible by foot. The water is pure & crystal clear because it’s been filtered through the bedrock - providing you don’t disturb the bottom this is some of the best visibility a diver will ever experience.
Initially I found it disconcerting to know I couldn’t surface if I had a problem, but I soon settled and proceeded to enjoy an amazing three days. Here’s a couple of images - more to follow plus a video over the next week or so.
