Room of Tears

Although it has been several days since my last cave dive, I am rewinding the clock a little bit to remind myself how much fun cave diving is. If all goes well I should be doing my next cave dives in a few days.

I feel I have been remiss because I talked about the Cuzan Na loop in Sistema Sac Aktun but on the same day of that first visit I also went to the highly famed "Room of Tears" in Sistema Aktun Ha. This beautiful picture is just one of many excellent shots. L-O-O-K at all the soda straw stalactites up on the ceiling. G-A-Z-E admiringly at the beautiful colours of each of the pillars lining this room. Room of Tears got its name (according to what I've read on the internet) because the first pioneers to visit the place were so struck by the beauty that they were literally in tears as they beheld it. Truly, this is a marvelous place and should be on every cave diver's "must visit" list after getting full cave certification.

The dive is not a particularly difficult one, or at least I didn't find it so. But the passage to get to the Room is quite narrow (qualifies as a Minor Restriction for a notable distance) and must be navigated at awkward angles in order to avoid doing damage to the cave. This was made extra complicated as all the members of our group were wearing and breathing from stage bottles for the dive. You can see from this picture how it felt to go through one of the restrictions. Now, if you're even the slightest bit claustrophobic, then try not to imagine doing this while under 80 feet of water and no easy way to turn around if you get the heebie jeebies. Also try not to remember that your only exit is 600 or more feet behind you! If you are considering this dive, make damn sure your buoyancy control is nigh perfect before you do it.

If you look closely in the picture you will see how this part of the pasageway has been shaved smooth by the passage of divers over time.