This blows me away. It's like a fairyland. The surface of the water forms a reflective mirror as my video lights hit it. And stalactites on the roof of the cavern stick down from the ceiling which is in air into the water. So you don't see the tops of the stalactites. You only see the part of the stalactites that sticks down into the water. And with the water surface acting like a mirror, the effect is awesome. I'm using new 2800 lumen video lights and they really make a massive difference in what my camera sees.

Dreamgate is a bit off the beaten path and longer than some of the caverns that we dive. Cave divers dive for miles under the Yucatan Peninsula in the underground rivers between Cenotes. But normal divers like I am, are pretty much restricted to being within 200 feet of an exit from a cave or cavern. You'll see that I follow a rope through all the Cenotes that I dive, or we put down a rope as we go. At the beginning of the dive you'll see that I follow my certified cave diver (Willian) in through a very tight opening. Then I pull ahead and follow the rope through the Cenote so I can shoot my videos. There is absolutely no light in the caverns so I carry two 2800 lumen video lights and a dive torch as backup.

Dreamgate is a Cenote I won't forget soon. The formations as you'll see are incredible and what you see here is only about 15 minutes out of 2 dives where I shot over 90 minutes of video. I had a really hard time editing out all the good sections. The whole 90 minutes were wonderful.

Down the rabbit hole. This Cenote is way out in the Yucatan peninsula. Getting there proved to be a harrowing 250 kilometer adventure. ( More later). But this Cenote is also a bit different than the others that I've dived. Rather than a big open pit, you go down a narrow tube for about 90-100 feet. Then you launch off into a side tunnel where you'll find the bells. Going down the tube certainly isn't for the claustrophobic, faint hearted or beginning diver.
Once down through the somewhat mucky water and after the halocline (Where salt and fresh water meet.) area, the view of the bells opens up and makes it all wonderfully worthwhile. And if you've been through cave tours, you know that you walk on a path and look up at the decorations (what they call stalactites, stalagmites and columns) but you can't get very close to them. When diving Cenotes (most of which are much easier than this one) you simply float up so that you can be within inches of the formations. You get a super up-close look. And it's fabulous. Just be sure your buoyancy is well under control so you don't touch anything. After all these formations took thousands of years to form. A typical stalactite that looks like a straw or stick can take 100 years to grow an inch. You're looking at 1000s of years for these formations.

Last thing. To get to Hells Bells Cenote we had to head up north from the Rivera Maya and then cut inland on a dirt road for many kilometers. When we were close, a group of 8 men with a barricade of rocks was blocking the road. So we couldn't' get by. And they wouldn't let us pass. It seems the Mexican government wants to do something with their land and not pay them enough. So, after failing to convince them what good guys we were, we went back to the main highway, cut inland a few kilometers further and took back roads, dirt roads and paths that were barely wide enough for our truck to get by. We did see some of the wonderful Mexican rural countryside and small villages. But after several hours and over 250 kilometers (Including our return), we made it to the Hells Bells Cenote. I owe it all to my dive guide Willian's tenaciousness to be sure I got to dive Hells Bells. He's with Blue Life Scuba and he's awesome. Hells Bells is certainly a major bucket list dive.

I love squid. I love the way they swim. I love the way they change colors and I love the way they watch you. I'd been staying and diving in Bonaire with the Harbor Village Hotel and their in-house dive operation Great Adventures. It was my 3rd time with them and they are awesome.
I'd been asking if they could take me to a site with squid so I could get some close-ups. And, on our 3rd dive day, I ran right into more than a dozen Squid.
And best of all, I captured 2 in what I think was a romantic engagement. It was an exciting 30 minutes and I moved in and out of the Squid as I watched and videoed them and they watched me. Bonaire is an awesome island. It's right off of Venezuela, but it's Dutch and the hotel is great and the restaurants are terrific too. But best of all, it's just about the best shore diving in the world. And I dove right in front of the hotel every morning and went out on the afternoon 10 minute boat ride every afternoon. I even had some great night dives. But best of all, was this Dancing Squid dive.

We traveled to Fairbanks and then Bettles Alaska to see the Aurora Borealis. Bettles is 35 miles north of the arctic circle and is only accessible by air. I think there are only about 12 permanent residents. We stayed at the Bettles Lodge with 8 or 9 other intrepid aurora enthusiasts. Since we were only viewing the aurora at night, they offered us a Flight Seeing tour of the Brooks Range and Gates of the Arctic National Park. The Brooks Range is the only East West Mountain Range in North America and it's stark, steep, razor sharp granite cliffs are legendary. But the trip went from interesting and beautiful to awesome when we landed on Iniakuk Lake, a frozen lake at a small wilderness lodge. If we thought Bettles was remote, this was unbelievably remote. This was what the arctic is supposed to be. The incredible arctic beauty of Iniakuk Lake blew us away. It was so white, so pristine and so beautiful, we really didn't want to leave. The place was deserted as the people were out doing whatever you do in the wilderness. So, we had it all to ourselves. Oh, and speaking of leaving, leaving was a challenge. Our wonderful pilot Kevin, had to dig the plane out twice before we could load up and get off the lake. No problem. He does it all the time. But for us it was an added blast. You'll see it all on the movie. The Flight Seeing Tour turned out to be a another true highlight of our trip to Bettles.

We've always wanted to see the Aurora Borealis, so we headed to Fairbanks Alaska and then onto Bettles Alaska. Bettles is a small roughly 12 person town that can only be reached by small planes with skis. There are no roads to the town. There's a small lodge there with a wonderful husband and wife team where you can stay and walk out the front door and see the aurora. There were about 8-10 of us there all wanting to see the Aurora. And, in Bettles, it's literally right over your head and in every part of the sky as Bettles is above the arctic circle. We had a wonderful time, great food and we got to see the aurora. All of us were excited about seeing the aurora and the group of guests were some of the most interesting people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.
What's really interesting is that the naked eye really only sees dancing wisps that look like clouds with just a bit of color. But your camera sees the full spectacle and it's really amazing. I took stills that I've turned into a time lapse video. The aurora was so active that it kept moving, so I had to keep moving my camera. It was over our heads, then to the north and then to the south. I had wanted to create a long movie of one scene, but the aurora moved so much, what I captured was a series of short groups of shots. It takes 30 shots per second to make a movie, so I was out in the snow at 2AM clicking the shutter. It was very, very cold but the sky was clear and it was a wonderful bucket list night. The Aurora was amazing.

We were on Holland American's Zaandam doing what they call 'Scenic Cruising'. Basically, they use the 1500 passenger ship to get up close and personal with icebergs and in this case narrow channels in Fjords to show us the best sights up close and personal, right from our cabin balcony. I used a suction cup mount on my Go Pro plus I was out on the balcony shooting with a Sony hand held. The ship spent several hours cruising down a dead end fjord. The Tempanos Glacier was at the end of the fjord. When we got to the end, we edged up to the glacier and the captain rotated the boat so that both sides got great up close personal views of this beautiful glacier. Note the deep blue parts. That's what happens as the ice is compressed at the bottom of a glacier. You can also see just how rugged the surface is as the glacier moves into the fjord. What a wonderfully beautiful experience. And what's really cool is that this was an unplanned addition to the trip when the weather and wind cleared enough for the trip to be possible for our large cruise ship.

Holland America calls it 'Scenic Cruising'. They actually cruise right up to icebergs, glaciers and fjords. We took a cruise to South America and the Antarctic and many of days we just cruised very close to some great scenery. Other days we got off to see penguins, mountains and more. But this video was shot from our cabin's balcony. It's amazing just how close we got to the things we wanted to see. I highly recommend this cruise as we saw a ton of icebergs, glaciers, fjords, penguins and more. The people were great, the food was really good and overall it was a terrific experience. We started in Buenos Aries Argentina and ended in Valparaiso Chile (Santiago)

Up really, really close to Magellan penguins and their offspring. This is the Magdalena Penguin rockery where every October, these beautiful Magellan penguins return to lay eggs and raise their young. The Magellan Penguins are really beautiful and have distinctive lines on their throats. Some of the babies still had their down and all in all were incredibly cute. We saw them swimming in the water, walking on land and in their burrows. They actually dig a hole for their eggs and to raise the young. You can't touch them, but they can touch you, and they really do walk right up to you. No need for extreme zoom lenses here. You take a two hour ferry to Magdalena island across the Strait of Magellan. Wow this is where Sir Francis Drake and Charles Darwin sailed. We spent some time playing with the Penguins and headed back to Punta Arenas, Chile to resume our cruise. Drakes passage is some of the roughest sailing in the world, and as we headed to the Antarctic, we sure saw some high seas. But, wow, what an experience, icebergs, penguins, glaciers and more.

We love waterfalls. And we were on our way to a cruise to the Antarctic so we planned a side trip to Iguazu falls. Wow. we only got to stay for one day, if you can, plan 2 or 3 days. But I've never seen anything like these falls. We love complex falls like Birney Falls, CA, or Panther falls, WA. We like bridal falls and massive falls like Niagara Falls. Well Iguazu Falls was like all the falls we've ever seen laid end to end to end. It was simply awesome. And it went on and on and on.
We walked the lower falls and then walked the Devil's Throat section. It was about 100 degrees and 100% humidity. I've never been so wet in my life. But it was worth every step. As you look at the video, you'll see some of the best parts. But I've never seen so much water coming over falls in my life. It looked like a massive flood tripled. But it wasn't evening raining. Spend 2 or 3 days if you can. The falls are complex. They are massive. They go on and on and on. Every angle is different. This is one of the world's wonders that's not overrated at all. We thought it was even massively better than we expected. Oh, and try to stay at the Sheraton in the park. You can sit on your bed and see the falls off in the distance. And, you actually walk right out the back of the hotel to view the falls. And it's in the jungle and we even had a monkey show up on our balcony. I wish we could have stayed another day. And I wish I had had the strength to walk even farther and longer than I did.

It was 6AM and we heard a racket on our room's balcony. We looked out and found a Monkey that had tried open our door, I guess to get to the room . He already had one Snickers bar and we watched as he peeled off the chocolate and ate the rest. Then he went down the building and left. We couldn't open the door or he would have left sooner, so I had to shoot through the glass and put up with the reflections. But it was a great 15 minutes and he sure left a mess on the balcony. This was shot at the Iguazu Falls Sheraton in Argentina in a falls view room on the 3rd floor.

Key Largo is the dive capital of the country. As you drive down from Miami, it seems that every building is a dive shop, a hotel or a restaurant. Which is a good thing as it makes the entire experience above the surface very easy and enjoyable.
But once you drop into the water, you know why you're there. There are awesome reefs, wrecks and other formations. I dove with a small dive company, Quiescence Diving, that operates boats that only take 6 people. That made the dives really easy, uncrowded and not rushed. It's a long way out to the reefs, so you've got about an hour boat ride. But the reefs are beautiful, the fish are plentiful and the colors and water are excellent. I had a great time. This video shows you the highlights from 2 tanks on dive day 2. There's another video with the highlights from dive day 1. I was on my way back from diving Andros Island in the Bahamas, so I didn't have much time in Key Largo. But I found it even better than the Bahamas, and a whole lot easier to get to, so, I'll be back.

Key Largo is the dive capital of the country. As you drive down from Miami, it seems that every building is a dive shop, a hotel or a restaurant. Which is a good thing as it makes the entire experience above the surface very easy and enjoyable.
But once you drop into the water, you know why you're there. There are awesome reefs, wrecks and other formations. I dove with a small dive company, Quiescence Diving, that operates boats that only take 6 people. That made the dives really easy, uncrowded and not rushed. It's a long way out to the reefs, so you've got about an hour boat ride. But the reefs are beautiful, the fish are plentiful and the colors and water are excellent. I had a great time. This video shows you the highlights from 2 tanks on dive day 1. There's another video with the highlights from dive day 2. I was on my way back from diving Andros Island in the Bahamas, so I didn't have much time in Key Largo. But I found it even better than the Bahamas, and a whole lot easier to get to, so, I'll be back.

Fish Balls are amazing. You can get thousands of fish swimming together. It's a wonder they don't run into each other. Sometimes the fish are so thick that you can't see anything through them. In fact, if you are in the ball, you can see nothing but a writhing mass of undulating fish around you.
Sometimes fish balls are out in the middle of the reef and they form really neat geometric shapes. And you can actually swim around them. I was able to do this in Cabo Pulmo, Mexico with Jacks.
These Minnows were hiding in a giant crevasse. And there were millions of them. I've never seen so many fish in one place at one time. I'm not sure that hiding in a crevasse actually counts as a fish ball. But it sure was one to me.
What I was able to capture in my video is exactly what I saw as I shot them from above, below and as I swam through them. I also was able to catch some fish swimming through them as well. I was diving with a great guy, Ben, from Quiescence Diving. They run boats that hold just 6 divers, so it's never crowded and I asked if he could find me a reef with the minnow fish balls, and he did. I shot lots more video. But, I sure love the minnow fish balls.

First a note from Drew. I've never put up a 40 minute YouTube video, but this Cenote Dive encompasses all of the exciting things you'll see if you actually plan to dive a Cenote. You'll see close-ups of Stalactites, Stalagmites, coral reefs from millions of years ago, shells, beautiful reflections, even an enclosed Bat Cave and so much more. This is the best representation of what a Cenote dive is actually like. Each of my other 12 or so Cenote dive videos may have better reflections, more fairylike stalactites or more shells. But This side of Dos Ojos will get you to the Rivera Maya to do this yourself . Enjoy. Here's the Dos Ojos Story.

The Dos Ojos Cenote is one of the most popular Cenotes for Snorkelers and Divers alike. It's large enough to require two separate 1 hour dives to cover it. It's really beautiful with plenty of stalactites, stalagmites, columns and more. Do Ojos is named because there are two openings that look like eyes. But, I think you need to be in a helicopter to see the two openings. I did shoot a section that I've used as the thumbnail for this video that looks like two eyes to me.
I love diving Cenotes because I love caves and I love diving. The super neat part of combining the two is that unlike above ground caves where you usually walk an existing trail, often cement and stairs, when you dive a cave (Cavern) you are totally free to drift up to the top to be within inches of the stalactites, or descend to the bottom to see stalagmites. You can float within inches of all the decorations. It's an awesome experience.
The Cenotes are actually made from limestone that used to be under the sea. They are the results of millions of years of coral reefs being built. Then the land was raised above the sea, and underground rivers cut caves throughout the entire Rivera Maya. Finally, when water wasn't rushing through as rivers, then caves did what they all do and leaked water from above causing over hundreds of thousands of years stalactites, stalagmites and all the structures called decorations that form in caves. Then the land again sunk so that the Cenotes are now filled with water. All these marvelous decorations are preserved by the crystal clear 75 degree fresh water that fills the Cenotes. In deeper Cenotes often there is salt water at the bottom, but for the most part it's all clear fresh (almost) drinkable water. But don't as you never know what might have fallen into the Cenote and Died.
The Dos Ojos Cenote is very popular so the sediment you see in the water occurs each day because divers and snorkelers kick up sediment from the bottom and it takes time to clear out. As a diver it's very important to carefully manage your buoyancy so that you don't kick up sediment or float into the hundreds of thousand year old decorations. You need to be able to float and totally control your position in the water. I'm pretty good and by cave diver professional dive guide helped keep track of my buoyancy while I shot my video. Cenote diving is an awesome experience. It's limited to about 200 feet from an opening, but it really feels like cave diving, but without the sever risks. You'll see in the video an orange rope. We follow those ropes throughout the dive so we don't get lost.

The Chikin Ha Cenote was a lot of fun. It's not far off the road, so it's easy to get too. And there's some snorkeling so my wife came along and snorkeled while we dove. Like the other Cenotes, it's made of limestone so in some places it's like diving a reef as you can still see the coral formations from when this areas was below the sea. Other areas are like collapsed tunnels so you're passing over, under and around giant limestone boulders. Plus there are several areas where light penetrates the cavern so you get the beautiful glows.

The Car Wash Cenote is one of the better known Cenotes in the Rivera Maya. The Cenote used to be used to wash cars, hence the name. It's right on the road, has a great parking lot and you don't have to drive miles on a dirt road to get to it. It's opening is right at the surface so you literally just climb in. It has a big pond type opening and there are lots of fresh water tropical fish in the open water part that you probably have seen in fresh water aquariums. You dive down and enter a long cavern with lots of formations and then return through the same cavern back to the opening. It's easy and very nice. It's not as exciting as Dreamgate, Pet Cemetery or Hells Bells, but it's different and certainly worth the dive if you have time.
You'll see some sediment which is caused mostly by the number of divers around. It mucks up the pictures a bit, but the dive is still cool. When diving caves (caverns) or anywhere really it's very critical that you manage your buoyancy so that you don't kick up silt from the bottom or float into any of the decorations or walls. Buoyancy control is really critical and I've been diving for years and mine is pretty good. But, my dive guide Willian, (The cave diving professional) reached over and adjusted mine to make it perfect to his standards whenever he wasn't 100% satisfied with my efforts. I was happy for his help as I was clearly focused on getting the best video. What's super cool in the Cenotes is that unlike when you walk though a cave and you're stuck on the path, in the Cenote, you can float up to within inches of the stalactites at the top, the decorations on the side or descend to the formations at the bottom. I shot close-ups in all the Cenotes unlike I could ever do climbing through above water caves.

The Taj Mahal Cenote is very cool. Like the other Cenotes, it's made of limestone with the requisite stalagmites and stalagmites. But, it's possible to view its original past because there are still lots of shells left intact in the walls. The area was original a giant reef which was under the ocean for millions of years. . Then it was raised up and rivers were cut through the limestone. Over hundreds of thousands of years, stalactites and stalagmites formed in the caves formed by the underground rivers. In Taj Mahal, you can still see the original reef sections. So, even thought we are above the ocean level, you'll feel like you're swimming by a coral reef. Then there are several lookup points where you see the blue and green reflections of openings in the roof. These are awesomely beautiful. There are even a few laser lights where only a laser like beam of light cuts through the water. Again. Awesome to behold. Cenotes are all 75 degrees and mostly clear fresh water. Some that are deeper can have a layer of salt water below and probably connect at some point to the sea.
This was a fun Cenote to dive. And just so you know. Cenote 'Cavern' diving is different than cave diving, even though it looks the same in the movies. As long as you stay within 200 or so feet of an opening, you're in a cavern. Beyond that, you enter a cave. It may be a distinction without a difference if you run out of air and you have solid limestone above you. But that's why you dive with computers, air gages and follow the ropes that have been laid down. I've now been down in about 12 Cenotes and people ask if it's scary. It's really not. It's calm. There are no sharks or animals that bite and I never enter areas where you'd have to squeeze through by removing tanks. I always resurface with close to 1000 pounds of air (You start with 3000 pounds) and never go beyond your personal comfort level. Oh, and never go alone. I go with a highly trained cave diver with spare tanks, who really knows what he's doing, just in case.

This is one of the best developed and easy to dive Cenotes in Play Maya. There's a building, bathrooms and easy stairs to the Cenote. It has a giant opening and easy stairs into the water.

Well I've always said that diving is like pizza. It's all good. Some is just better than others. I dove 6 dives at Cabo's Land's End in really murky water. The Visibility was really bad. But close up to the wall, I saw some pretty neat things, so it was worth the effort. I had come to dive Cabo Pulmo's giant fish balls marine sanctuary, which was a 2 hour drive in each direction from our hotel. I dove it twice and it was great. But I wanted to try Land's End too, as it was within sight of our hotel.

I've tried to recreate the dives in 4 videos. I've done it to share with my friends and family and for anyone who wants to 'experience' a Cozumel dive as it happened. Each has its own 'Best', but I think if you're planning on visiting Cozumel, these videos will give you a good idea of what you can expect to see. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are pretty much presented in the order I saw the fish as I dove. There's a 4th video that was so amazing I created a separate video called Turtle Luncheon. I saw a turtle and 2 large gray angels sharing lunch. Really blew me away. I hope it does it for you too.

From cool schools of fish, to turtles, to lobsters, to crabs, to close-ups of rays eating, you'll see it all in Cozumel. I particularly love the Queen Angels. The hardest part is eliminating all the good parts that don't fit. The coral is awesome, the different varieties of colorful reef fish will blow you away. It's pretty much point and shoot and you won't be disappointed. I was lucky to have a great dive master (Willian) from Blue Life Scuba to guide all my dives both in the Cenotes and on the reefs. I shot all of these videos with a Sony RX100ii. I also shot concurrently with a GoPro Hero 3 which I bolted to the bottom of the tray holding my dive camera as a log of my dives and I used two 2800 lumen video lights. Pretty easy to manage underwater and not overly expensive. Diving Cozumel is an awesome experience that I think should be on every diver's bucket list. It turned out to be even better than I'd hoped.

I've tried to recreate the dives in 4 videos. This is the 2nd video. I've done it to share with my friends and family and for anyone who wants to 'experience' a Cozumel dive as it happened. Each has its own 'Best', but I think if you're planning on visiting Cozumel, these videos will give you a good idea of what you can expect to see. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are pretty much presented in the order I saw the fish as I dove. There's a 4th video that was so amazing I created a separate video called Turtle Luncheon. I saw a turtle and 2 large gray angels sharing lunch. Really blew me away. I hope it does it for you too.

From cool schools of fish, to turtles, to lobsters, to crabs, to close-ups of rays eating, you'll see it all in Cozumel. I particularly love the Queen Angels. The hardest part is eliminating all the good parts that don't fit. The coral is awesome, the different varieties of colorful reef fish will blow you away. It's pretty much point and shoot and you won't be disappointed. I was lucky to have a great dive master (Willian) from Blue Life Scuba to guide all my dives both in the Cenotes and on the reefs. I shot all of these videos with a Sony RX100ii. I also shot concurrently with a GoPro Hero 3 which I bolted to the bottom of the tray holding my dive camera as a log of my dives and I used two 2800 lumen video lights. Pretty easy to manage underwater and not overly expensive. Diving Cozumel is an awesome experience that I think should be on every diver's bucket list. It turned out to be even better than I'd hoped.

I've tried to recreate the dives in 4 videos. This is Part 3. I've done it to share with my friends and family and for anyone who wants to 'experience' a Cozumel dive as it happened. Each has its own 'Best', but I think if you're planning on visiting Cozumel, these videos will give you a good idea of what you can expect to see. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are pretty much presented in the order I saw the fish as I dove. There's a 4th video that was so amazing I created a separate video called Turtle Luncheon. I saw a turtle and 2 large gray angels sharing lunch. Really blew me away. I hope it does it for you too.

From cool schools of fish, to turtles, to lobsters, to crabs, to close-ups of rays eating, you'll see it all in Cozumel. I particularly love the Queen Angels. The hardest part is eliminating all the good parts that don't fit. The coral is awesome, the different varieties of colorful reef fish will blow you away. It's pretty much point and shoot and you won't be disappointed. I was lucky to have a great dive master (Willian) from Blue Life Scuba to guide all my dives both in the Cenotes and on the reefs. I shot all of these videos with a Sony RX100ii. I also shot concurrently with a GoPro Hero 3 which I bolted to the bottom of the tray holding my dive camera as a log of my dives and I used two 2800 lumen video lights. Pretty easy to manage underwater and not overly expensive. Diving Cozumel is an awesome experience that I think should be on every diver's bucket list. It turned out to be even better than I'd hoped.

So, we went to Cabo San Lucas and headed off to Cabo Pulmo. First we drove about an hour and a half on the highway. Then we were off on a somewhat paved road with lots of potholes and finally to a dirt track for the last 15 kilometers. 2-1/2 hours later we arrived in Cabo Pulmo. It's a wonderful desert spot complete with cactuses and sand overlooking a beautiful blue bay.

When we couldn't find the fish balls on the 1st dive day, I also wanted to dive the wreck where thousands, maybe even millions of fish congregate. There are so many fish, you just about have to push them aside to get near the wreck. Brightly colored yellow Snappers make up the biggest schools, but there are dozens of other types of fish too. And I was lucky to see them all. I saw Groupers, Angels, Parrot Fish, Puffers, and so many more. I edited my dive down to about 15 minutes of video. But there was no time that I wasn't surrounded by thousands and thousands of fish. Come join me on this wonderful fish adventure.

However once we were there, my dive guide confided to me that he hadn't seen a giant fish ball in some time. So, I begged the boat captain to find one for us and off we went. It took 2 days and 4 dives, but we finally dropped in on a fish ball. The water isn't super clear because of all the plankton that's what actually attracts all the fish. But, it was an awesome experience and I finally saw my giant fish ball. Oh, and along the way on one of my other dives, we dived the wreck at Cabo Pulmo and saw thousands, maybe millions of beautiful yellow snappers. And they were great too (on another video), but they just don't school like the Jacks. So all 4 dives at Cabo Pulmo were awesome. But, the fish balls were why I came, and I wasn't disappointed.

But, the 1st time I dove the Cenote, I was so entranced with the magical view that I didn't think about surfacing in the 2nd Cenote to see what it looked like on the surface, until after the dive when it was too late. Of all the Cenotes I've now dived, this one has the most beautiful reflections.

So in October, I ventured back to see just what was responsible for the unbelievable green reflections. As you'll see, I entered the Ponderosa, and followed our rope to the 2nd Cenote. What I saw as I slowly examined the beams of light, the reflections and finally, carefully surfaced into the other Cenote was how a murky, ugly duckling created an awesomely beautiful effect. Come take the dive with me and see it all for yourself. The surface begins at about 7 minutes and I go really, really slow so you can see just where the beams come from. Each leaf floating on the surface blocks the light. Each branch blocks the light Combine all things you'll see, plus plenty of bugs floating branches and twigs and you'll see just what creates this powerful lightshow.

I wanted to come back and redive the Pet Cemetery Cenote because it was my favorite Cenote on my first trip to the Rivera Maya. It has so much decoration, that it's like diving in a fairyland.

Anyway, here I am following the orange ropes that guide you through the Pet Cemetery Cenote and I'm seeing non-stop decorations. (That's what they call all the elements you see in a cave.) It was awesome. I just followed my guide and the orange ropes and we spent about 70 minutes diving the Cenote. It was only about 35 feet deep at its deepest and much of it was only about 10' deep where you could see the stalactites hanging in from above the water line. Watch for the ripples. And also watch for the occasional fish. There were a few fish in the Cenote as well. In fact, much of the water (it's fresh) was so clear, the movies look like they were shot above water.
Oh and if you get to the Rivera Maya, dive with Willian, from Blue Life SCUBA. I never could have accomplished this dive (and another 5 Cenotes plus reef diving in Cozumel) without him.