153 Minutes, 9000 Feet

Today's dive was a stage dive starting at Dos Ojos, to cenote Tikim Chi. I won't say a lot about this dive because most of the details are extremely technical. Stage diving is when you carry one (or more) extra bottle of air with you, to the left of your torso. The reason for "staging" on this dive was to extend our dive time beyond what we'd normally have in our two back-mounted air tanks. There are other reasons to stage, but this one was for the distance.

Tikim Chi is a whopping 4500 feet away from Dos Ojos. That may not seem like a lot to you, but try swimming that distance underwater with 130-150 lbs of gear! And I should mention there was a slight, but noticeable upstream current pushing against us.

I didn't realise the distance when we were first told of the dive, and didn't know it until I passed by two opposing line arrows which read as follows: "Dos Ojos - 3250 feet" "Tikim Chi - 1250 feet" Fortunately we had a break each way at a not-quite-halfway point, an air dome right on the main line. It was at this air dome that we stashed our stage rigs before the final push to Tikim Chi.

Of the six divers on the team, four made it to Tikim Chi. Two others who knew they may not have enough air before they started, called thirds and turned although they were a scant 150 feet or so from the goal. Normally we don't break up a team when a dive is called, but this had been discussed before we left the air dome and we were in effect two teams heading in the same direction. After a few minutes of quiet reflection at the Mayan Temple at Tikim Chi, we swam back. All six reconvened at the air dome before taking the 45 minute swim back to Dos Ojos.

When we initially arrived at Dos Ojos for our dive at 8:30am the place was deserted. We were the only ones there. When we returned on the dive to the West Eye three hours later, the place was packed with divers and snorkelers. There was even another team of three going in with double stages. Dos Ojos is a diver's playground. A bit expensive to visit, but well maintained and good facilities.