The Dive Evangelist

After the dive at The Pit Jim, Scott, Polina, and Paul went to see the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Tulum. I elected to stay behind instead of acting as a hobbling sea-anchor to everyone’s sight-seeing. “Hell,” I figured, though I had been excited from the first inception of the trip to visit them, “They’re ancient ruins. Pretty good chance they’ll be here when I come back.”

I will be going back. In November, in point of fact. Paul will be running another trip down there just after hurricane season and I am all in.

After the first dive, no… after the first five minutes of the first dive I knew that I was going to be spending huge portions of my vacation time over the years of my life visiting this little point on the globe.

The caves of the Yucatan are like none other anywhere in the world. There are places where underwater caves do have decorations from having been dry at some point, but no where else in the world can you find a cenote every ½ mile or so. No where else is there such diversity in landscape to the caves, sometimes within a single cave system.

What’s more, the jungle is vast. Somewhere in there are countless cenotes into which no diver has ever splashed. Jim, over the course of the week, speculated often on how marvelous it must be to discover something new, to see something no human has ever seen before in its perfect, completely undisturbed even by exhalation bubbles, absolutely natural condition. Mustn’t it?

I asked Paul during some ride, percentage-wise, how many of the cenotes he thinks he’s dived in the Yucatan since his first of a zillion trips down in the mid-80s.

“Oh,” he thought for a second, “Maybe around 1%.”

I know cave diving isn’t for everyone. It’s very gear intensive. It’s very skills intensive. One must be perfectly comfortable in situations that may make another hyperventilate just to think about. There are no pretty fish nor vibrant reef colors.

On the other hand, every year thousands and thousands of non-divers go snorkeling in places like Grand Cenote or in Hilario’s Well. The delicate beauty of the ancient rock formations is captivating on such a deep, primal level to people. I would speculate that it is humbling and comforting to be in the presence of such earthy antiquity. Just as the Mayans worshiped these places, so too are we moderners drawn to their serene beauty as though the planet herself is embracing us to our very caveman roots.

Should you find yourself in the Riviera Maya sometime in the near future ask the dive program at your hotel or nearby shop about a cavern tour. If the mood should take you to enjoy a peek at such things with even more intensity contact the National Association for Cave Diving or the National Speleological Society's Cave Diving Section, or visit your local dive shop and just ask. I swear, I was positive I would claustrophobically be unable to get any further than the door until I took a cavern class.

Also, if you should find yourself anywhere near Playa del Carmen anytime soon, you absolutely must… MUST visit my new favorite restaurant on planet Earth.

An alux (ah-LOOCH) is a sort of Mayan leprechaun, a spirit of the forest, cenote, farm, field or… cave. The restaurant Alux is built into a dry cave in the middle of the town of Playa. From the street it is just an unassuming gate, behind which is a staircase carved into limestone. The cave in which the restaurant is arranged is still forming in parts, with roped off areas of mineral pools or still-dripping stalactites. Other than the main dining room and the main lounge area there are a dozen little dining and lounge tables built into very private grottos throughout the cave system. The extraordinary ambiance is matched by the deliciousness of the menu.

Nancy, the owner of the Villa DeRosa drove us there Saturday night, before it was time to go home.

“What better place for dinner with a bunch of cave divers?”

She could have just left the question mark right after “dinner.”

Though, be prepared: if you order an after-dinner coffee it will take 15 minutes to make and involve several liquors being poured from condiment boat to condiment boat as streams of gentle blue flames like a genie’s light.

And so after diving and after dinner and after a final night’s sleep hearing the Caribbean lapping at the beach only yards from my pillow it was time to fly home.

Drat.

Good think I’m going to Bonaire in a few weeks, or I just might’ve been depressed.