Mexico – Day 8: Barbie Line and Bat Cave

Early this morning my watch notified me about unusual vital signs again. This time only because I hadn't slept eight hours, though. My alarm woke me at half past seven.

Oxygen was back in the normal range at 96. My body must have thought: ah, THIS is where all the oxygen is, when we flew from altitude down to the coast. I had set the alarm because we had a 9 o'clock appointment at the dive shop I had picked out. And spoiler: it is by far the most professional dive shop we have ever been to. Which makes sense, since they are tech divers and cave divers.

With tech divers it turned out to be a bit like approaching, say, weightlifting for the first time. From the outside it always looks somewhat intimidating and everyone involved seems deadly serious. But as soon as you stick your head in and show genuine interest, it is really just a group of nerds who are incredibly passionate about their subject and want to share all of it with you with real enthusiasm.

When we arrived at the shop everyone took a great deal of time for us. We went through our previous experience, filled in forms of course, and were then kitted out with equipment. My partner was fitted with a backplate and wing straight away, plus proper tech fins (RK3). They offered them to me too, because I was watching so curiously, and I said yes immediately. Spoiler: they were fantastic. 😌 Then we loaded the truck and drove to the entrance of the Dos Ojos cenotes. On the plan: Barbie Line first, then Batcave for the checkout.

I had imagined we would mostly dive around the edge of the area where the snorkellers are at the surface. But it actually went far deeper into the cave system than I would have thought. Always with the mandatory 60 metres to the nearest exit and daylight, of course, so never complete darkness. Our dive guide mentioned that the second group tends to push those limits a bit, and was therefore especially strict about us sticking to the rule of thirds from cave diving. That means you turn around once you have used a third of your gas, so that in the end you still have a third left for emergencies. I liked that a lot. And my partner did in fact hit the first third slightly before the actual turn point, so we turned around. After a short discussion, my partner decided to sit out the second dive. So our guide and I went into the Bat Cave alone. After a relaxed surface interval with sandwiches and fruit, naturally, as diving demands. Except that the infrastructure here was rather more developed, with showers and toilets.

The second dive was properly stunning as well. And when we surfaced a bit past the halfway point inside the eponymous Bat Cave, I was largely speechless, which doesn't happen all that often. Overall it was just thoroughly enjoyable with our guide, who is so incredibly nice and professional and cool. After packing up our gear we drove back and talked a bit about tomorrow. My partner will probably have a relaxed day with a book and a massage, which gives me the chance to aim for the advanced cenotes our guide suggested for me. I am already a little nervous about that, but I am looking forward to it too. In any case, I already have the feeling that I really need to find a good dive shop at home and would love to take a more technically demanding course. Our guide recommended GUE Fundies. I had of course heard of it before and always thought it might be a bit too serious for me, but actually, maybe not.

We spent the rest of the day, the afternoon, here by the pool, writing postcards, drinking beer, and today we are cooking something for ourselves. Our apartment is quite well equipped, as it happens.