{"id":28914,"date":"2025-02-01T00:01:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T08:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=28914"},"modified":"2025-01-19T08:24:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T16:24:22","slug":"dos-ojos-cavern-dive-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/02\/01\/dos-ojos-cavern-dive-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Dos Ojos Cavern Dive – Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Mike Huber<\/h6>\n

Introductory Disclaimer:\u00a0 So as I have been writing these blogs the last few years it\u2019s quite enjoyable and therapeutic to literally vomit out the stories without having pressure to place any bullshit spin or embellishments (they really don\u2019t need any embellishing). I take pride in highlighting my successes, but also annotating my shortcomings and owning them through my writings. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

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My main purpose of traveling to Mexico was tacos, but diving was a close runner up as a reason to visit this incredible country again.\u00a0 Diving over the past six months has almost replaced my addiction to motorcycling, making it yet another bad decision as a hobby choice.\u00a0 For those of you that have read my previous diving adventures will fully understand this.<\/p>\n

\"\" I am currently on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and much of this land was created from a giant asteroid.\u00a0 That would be THE giant asteroid that created the Ice Age and killed off the dinosaurs.\u00a0 With this massive disruption in this area, the ocean floor was lifted in a strange way that created cenotes.\u00a0 These essentially are old caves that are now flooded with fresh water.\u00a0 There are about 5,000 of these cenotes throughout the Yucatan Peninsula and they are quite magical.\u00a0 Having to mark my checklist off (I\u2019m making this list up as I go, by the way, as a month ago I couldn\u2019t tell you what a cenote was) scuba diving in one of these seemed like it would be incredible, and it was. Sorta.<\/p>\n

In Thailand I had done a few swim throughs.\u00a0 Not even caves or caverns, but about 20 meters.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t something I ever enjoyed but it wasn\u2019t the worst experience, either, so I wasn\u2019t quite sure how I would feel during a 52-minute, \u00bc-mile dive through my first cenote.\u00a0 Upon arriving and seeing the other divers in the crystal clear water with the sunlight mysteriously peering through the overgrowth of old forest above the cave, I instantly was put into a state of awe based on how beautiful it was.\u00a0 After donning our scuba gear and jumping into the cenote, the cool water was quite refreshing from the heat and humidity in the jungle above us.\u00a0 After a few minutes of joking around and performing a buoyancy test, the five of us were ready to begin exploring this cenote underwater.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long before the beautiful glowing natural light was absorbed by darkness.\u00a0 We had nothing but our small flashlights and a string along the bottom to guide us for the next hour. As we swam along there were stalagmites and stalactites on either side of us.\u00a0 Some were so old they had formed natural columns in the still crystal clear and dark water we were slowly navigating through.<\/p>\n

We were about 30 minutes or so into the dive when I noticed my heart began beating quite rapidly.\u00a0 It was beating at a rather uncomfortable rate.\u00a0 I tried to shake it off as mentally I felt great, but it seemed to be getting worse.\u00a0 With my heart now beating faster, my breathing also began to increase.\u00a0 I knew I had plenty of air as I am religious on checking my oxygen levels (see my previous diving blogs) so I did what I could to dismiss it, but my mind wouldn\u2019t allow me to shake it off.<\/p>\n

With all this going on I began to float to the surface.\u00a0 Normally this would just be frustrating and I would have to close my eyes, exhale and I would sink back to the level I wanted.\u00a0 The issue now, though, is there was no surface.\u00a0 There was only the cavern ceiling.\u00a0 If I hit the cavern roof, I would probably hit my head and it would possibly be a \u201clights out\u201d situation.\u00a0 I did not want this. We were in a semi-single-file line (although I was a bit more elevated than the others, in several ways now that I think about it).\u00a0 There really was nothing or no one I could reach out to for help.\u00a0 What were they going to do? Give me a hug? \u00a0I was on my own here and as with previous situations, I had the rest of my life to determine how to resolve this mess and get my head (and more importantly, my body) under control.<\/p>\n

It took a couple of minutes to do just that, and a short while later I was enjoying the cave, being super calm and relaxed.\u00a0 It felt like coming out of an intense psychedelic trip and realizing that you are on the other side of it (and a stronger person for having undergone the experience).\u00a0 Then, it happened again.\u00a0 Not quite as intense but enough for me to mentally note that this sort of diving wasn\u2019t for me, or at least it wasn’t for me at this particular time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As we neared the entrance of the cavern where we started from the shimmering neon green light of the sun causing the water to glow and seeing the other divers floating gently above me was a beautiful sight.\u00a0 My first cavern dive had been logged and as I surfaced I looked to me new friends around me and simply said \u201cWell, that was quite a trip.\u201d\u00a0 I chose not to do the second cavern dive that day (for obvious reasons) but I am looking forward to my next dive in a few days.\u00a0 That dive will include close encounters with bull sharks.\u00a0 Until then I am long overdue for a couple of cold Tecates and some much-needed tacos.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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