Mexico Easter 2003 - Part 12: Tulum and cave snorkelling

15 April - The great 10 hour drive. Palenque, Chiapas via Tulum to Playa Bonanza, Quintana Roo.

Sadly, we left Palenque to to camp at the beach near Playa del Carmen. A lot of us were looking forward to this and so was I. It was 10 hours of driving. It might not sound huge, but it felt really long …

We got to Playa and saw the sand and I saw the sea, the white sand, the setting sun and I fell down into the sand and ran headfirst into the beach. It was simply stunning. We were only an hour from Cancun, so no more driving and we had 4 days of this beach. Everybody’s spirits were lifted so we cooked a fine meal and went back to our tents on the beach which faced the sea.

16 April - Xpu-Ha campsite, Playa Bonanza, near Playa del Carmen

When this morning found its beginning, I realised I had been lulled to sleep by the lapping waves. So fresh a sleep.

I opened my eyes and looked straight up at the beach without lifting my head, and it was peaceful in the sun and I smiled and then I smiled, and then I smiled again.

We left the campsite at 9 to go “cave snorkelling” at Hidden Worlds. This was going through tiny sections of the largest underground river system in the world. The diving is very dangerous because cave diving is for the serious professional (that’s the guide who takes us snorkelling), and any wrong turns, are we are lost in an endless labyrinth forever. Unfortunately, families of Americans arrived together in our morning reservation, we were told to come back around lunchtime. So Sybren decided we should do the ruins at Tulum instead for the morning. So here’s Tulum, where we also dipped into the turquoise sea by the ruins. Tulum was the last city to be built by the Mayan Empire. I sat and watched a giant iguana perched on a cliff along the gorgeous cliff hike.

We got back early to the van and I had lunch nearby which cost 120 pesos at the local mall. All this expensive humdrum is happening as we are getting closer to the ugly Cancun? Things getting more expensive like some sort of anti-Mexico gravity pulling us to the monstrous banos which is Cancun? I don’t know for a fact.

So we set off for cave snorkelling and it was some thrill! We got shaken and jolted in a typically Mexican bare-naked jalopy to underground cave systems, where there was huge stalagmites and stalactites growing from every angle. The jalopy’s moving parts were all on show, every bolt on that vintage engine. Florence was being a big baby and Toshi was over-reacting sometimes, which was so hilarious - our leader (a calm young Aussie guy) just had to have the patience to put up with us. The waters deep underground here are rich in carbonates, and there is no light, little life or fish can thrive, but still some do. Bats live in crevices up in the limestone moulded jagged ceilings and we had to be very careful not to snorkel into or past very sharp limestone edges. Around Quintana Roo and Yucatan, a lot of these cavern systems are uncharted and await dangerous expeditions by the best divers to map them, with equally hardcore diving equipment like double tanks.

Everything was expensive when we went to shop for dinner near our Playa campsite. We had to make do with Vanessa’s quesadillas tonight. I went for a long run on the beach to explore, and afterwards ran direct into the sea. We had an unusually active dinner (crazy and wild in other words), because we met lots of people, like a trek group with Dragoman renting the palapa next to us. They were people on a 2 month trek from Panama City to Mexico City!

In the evening, eating, we discussed the next few days, and Tosh and Ria had plans - Ria to swim with the dolphins - which most of us are going to watch, and Tosh to complete a PADI open water diving course. Sybren called up a friend of his - an Israeli diver/surfer/all round sharp guy called Elias. I had a conversation with Elias about my name, and I’ve had this many times before because Amit is a common Israeli name. When I write emails to new people, I would get a “Shalom” at the end of some of them! So this Elias, was very sharp, quick off the mark and probably an excellent diving instructor also. He gave Toshi and Ria a diving book to start reading, which Tosh kept reading until the mosquitoes were being a nuisance in the palapa. I had no space to put up Bob the hammock to sleep under the sky tonight.

Who cares? Life’s a beach.