We make it to... Cenote Princessa!!!

We were privileged to have the opportunity for a second dive from Pet Cemetery, because Aquatech had enough doubles available. I think everyone went on the second dive except Connie, who took a well deserved break from the rest of us "customers."

The dive plan this time was to go about 50-60 minutes from Pet Cemetery to a small infrequently visited cenote called "Princessa," not so much to see the cenote but to see the amazingly decorated passageways near it. I still count reaching the cenote as my goal for success, though.

One of the dive shop owners near Dos Ojos who leads tours of the Pet Cemetery cenote and cave system is Luis Leal. He led our group of four (myself, Sandra, Jim and Doug) and gave us quite a briefing before we went. "Keep line awareness - there are a lot of side passage lines and they terminate very close to the main line." "Watch for my cookies on the way out, we will also be doing several jumps." "On the way back if you are in passage where there is clear water, you probably made a wrong turn."
This last comment is with respect to how the cave reacts to the passage of divers. Our air bubbles rise up and hit the ceiling. Not gently as you might think, but abruptly and turbulently. The ceiling (which hasn't been dry in over 10,000 years) gets hit with the rush of air and particles break off and fall in our passing. This is called "percolation." Depending on the composition of the cave and how often divers pass it (along with some other factors) the return through a passage where percolation occurs can be minuscule to totally blinding. In this case the passage we were taking is not often dove, but the percolation will be just enough to see the entire way back. So if I take a wrong turn, the clear water will be a very clear indication I'd done so.

I mention all of this because the responsibility of going back the right way... was on my shoulders. I was caboose again the way in, so I'd lead the way back out. Let me just say that although my line awareness was spot-on, having the percolation always in front of me was comforting.

Getting to the Cenote Princessa was straight-forward. Well, not really. There were three or four spools and three "T" intersections, if I recall correctly. That's quite a few by the way - lots of opportunities for a wrong turn. We got to Princessa in 47 minutes. The best part of the dive was about 100 foot of passageway not far from Princessa, a most incredibly decorated room absolutely filled with stalactites, elephant ears and pillars in pristine condition!!! It was so beautiful it puts Room of Tears in Car Wash and the Cuzan Nah loop to shame! It may have been the most beautiful section of cave passage I have ever seen in my life. There was one formation which looked like a huge chandelier made up of evenly sized elephant ear stalactites. Oh, I wish I had a camera with me... still or video, I'd have used it there. Next time, next time.

The only problem on this dive... my ears! No surprise. After forcing an equalize in Blue Abyss they were naturally cranky about doing another dive with rollercoaster depth changes. Well, the pain was mild and tolerable but it did make me concerned about diving the rest of the week. (Two more days of cave dives, by the way.) I wasn't the only one with ear problems, two others suffered in varying degrees. As I write this, four hours after exiting the water, my ears seem fine so I am optimistic about tomorrow.

Luis is a great cave diver and leader. I look forward to diving with him again at this site someday.