Tulum has been great and I have been busy, pretty much since I
arrived here. I was meeting up with a
friend for a night and we played drinking games and got drunk...something I
haven’t done in awhile...I was pretty good at not drinking after my Birthday lol.
This means, Saturday was a write off and we just chilled by the pool but I
ended up befriended two of my dorm mates and we planned to do a day trip on
Sunday (the next day).
We were going to two Cenotes and the Tulum ruins. We rented bikes from the hostel and rode to
the first Cenote in 10 minutes.
Calavera.
This one was on my bucket list. I had seen it on Instagram and looked it up
and put it on my list of things to see in Tulum. It was a great way to start the day. It was a smaller one but really pretty and
refreshing though the fish were hungry and we got nibbled on. There were holes
that we could jump through into the water...the boy took that opportunity I
just took video of it. Water and heights
aren’t my thing and together they are more challenging for me.
The Grand Cenote
This was beautiful but very touristy. We went in on the less busier side and swam
through a covered but it got a little cold as we were shaded so we went to the
other side. There were bats up above and some birds. One part of the cavern roof came low and the
bats were moving...”vamos.” I said to
the guys, I wanted out of there quickly and out of the bat attack zone, I am not a fan.
When we got to the other side, there was a rope going into a
covered area that was pretty dark and I wasn’t sure about going into it but I
followed the guys in.
They had snorkels and
masks so they were looking around underwater. “Here,” said Marc. “Try with my mask.”
“HOLY FUCK.” I said
bringing my head back up. I was totally
not expecting what I saw. There and areas that lit up with
the sun. It was so beautiful and made
for some great fun and photo ops. We
were there about two hours and even got to swim with some turtles.
were
stalactites
Next we went for lunch as we had had a full morning of
swimming in Cenotes and still had our visit to the Tulum ruins ahead of us.
Tulum Ruins.
These were impressive!
The area in which they are is massive and it looks like it’s own paradise,
it almost has a jungle feel to it. Every
which way you look you can see the buildings or tops of them peeking up through
the palm trees in the distance. We ended
up running into Raphael so he joined us and we walked down to the beach
area. If it hadn’t of been covered in seaweed
it would’ve been much better but the different colours of the seaweed from a
yellowy orange to a black red gave it an interesting look.
We maybe were there an hour –could’ve been less – and decided to leave as we were exhausted
from our full day. The heat and riding a bike are really not my
favourite things in the world together and my butt was sore as they are not the
greatest bikes in the world but It was a great day!!!
The next day Raphael and I planned to go to Dos Ojos - a
very well known cenote – and Marc and James were goint to Chichen Itza.
This time we had to take a collective, this great bus system
– minivan system – that pretty much takes you were you need to go – even to
Cancun – for super cheap. It makes traveling around easy and affordable.
Dos Ojos
To be honest I wasn’t that impressed with Dos Ojos. It is two cenotes – dos ojos meaning two eyes
– and they are both kind of covered and with lack of sunshine using a mask and
snorkel really wasn’t as exciting as the Grand Cenote. Plus, it is not cheap to go, they charge a lot of money so I was disappointed
as I had been told this was the best one.
Raphael liked it but I told him the underwater view was much better at
the Grand Cenote.
I was already not impressed by the amount of money it cost
us...considering once you are in and have paid you have to pay for
transportation as the cenote is still 3km away and the guy scammed us.
He said it’s a rate of 100 pesos so the more people we have
the cheaper it becomes for us. So
Raphael found two more people. We were
then told if we find more than four people he was still going to charge us 25
pesos per person. I looked at him and
said “you really like to scam people don’t you?” “it’s business.” He replied. “You’re just an
asshole,” was my response and Raphael laughed.
“Okay, let’s get a guided snorkel tour.” I said, I didn’t
want a disappointing day so I decided to give in.
Then, it all changed.
It was us and a really nice young Italian couple and we had
a great time. It was amazing. The
underwater caverns, the stalagtites and stalagmites. We could sometimes see the divers with their
flash lights. I had only seen things
like this on Planet Earth with David Attenborough.
I of course was the only one wearing a life jacket but I was
worked about getting tired, though sometimes I took it off to swim a bit lower
and use my light to look at the caverns.
“Okay,” said our guide. “Now into the bat cave.” “Oh perfect! I love bats!” I said
sarcastically.
We had to swim in a line and go through very narrow hangings
of stalagtites. You have to be careful
not to really touch them or bang your head so you have to look in the water and
look above you. However when you look in
the water it was completely different.
It seemed narrow and small above us but was deep and beautiful below
us with more caverns. Then we entered the bat cave and I was not
scared at all...in fact, I found it very peaceful. The bats were tiny and just sleeping upside
down. You could see guano in some spots,
and sometimes they would fly around but they never came close to us. The cavern was big with a high ceiling but
again underneath us was a different world.
We stayed in there for a bit admiring the world of the caves. Then we followed our guide around the
outskirts of the cave. He stopped under
some smaller stalactite formations. You
could see the moisture droplets at the tip of the limestone which over time
will form the stalactites. This is
something I have only seen in my favourite episode of Planet Earth – Caves. It was amazing to see this first hand and I
was quite excited.
When I looked down and saw the divers I really wanted to be
down there with them and enter into the caverns.
When we returned from our dive I asked if I had to be
certified to do the dive and I was told yes.
There was a girl there and she said, you can get certified with Koox
(pronounced Koosh) in three days and then do a dive. Tell them Ayla sent you. I was so inspired but my snorkel I felt I had
to do this. It has been on my bucket
list for 8 years. It was now or never.
When we returned I located Koox in my map app. It was an 8 minute walk from the hostel. I signed up to get my PADI certification then
and there.
Now when doing your PADI training your confined dives are
usually done in a pool however, my confined dives are in a cenote.
I was nervous my first day..it’s a lot to take in. However, no one else signed up so it has just
been me and my guide Justine who is amazing!!!
She has been so great and really patient with me as I freaked out a
little my first dive. It took me three
times to get down but I finally did it.
The cenote didn’t look like much from up top but it was really awesome
below. You can see the roots of the
trees coming through the overhang of the rock which looks like flat ground when
you are above. There were huge fish
bigger than my cat and lots of little fish, I even saw a crab on my second
dive.
My first day was 1 dive and day two was two dives and it was
exhausting. With all the safety
exercises I had to do and my first dive of the day being two hours I was
exhausted during the second dive so we had to cut it short.
When I got back I went straight to sleep for a few hours,
got up for dinner and went back to bed.
I was feeling awful, my head was spinning and I felt like I was in water
when I was in bed. I was feeling a bit nauseous
– didn’t help I was hungover. I went to
sleep, woke up early for classes but still was not feeling 100%, I actually felt hungover. My head was still spinning. I knew that I needed to feel confident when
doing my dive and the fact that I am stressed out about it I wasn’t in any
condition to dive today. When you are
not confident or 100% mistakes happen so we postponed my dive until tomorrow
morning but I still had to write my written exam.
I studied all day by the pool and headed to the dive school
for 5:30pm. Justine and I went to a
restaurant, did a review and then I wrote the exam. 90%!!!
So I am happy with that. We
talked, I had a nice pasta dinner and she reassured me about the dive
tomorrow. Plus I am going to have a dive
buddy tomorrow.
So tomorrow is the big day!!! I do my dive and I am nervous
and a bit stressed, but I trust Justine and the knowledge she has given me in
the past few days. My dive tomorrow also
means I cancelled my flight home hahahaha.
I am just staying an extra week and will be home next weekend I promise.
Wish me luck!!!
-
My Beautiful Life -
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