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Kasey playing fish in Grand Cenote
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Whatever the pictures look like, the real version was better. Blue/ turquoise water warm enough to swim comfortably in, for a little while anyway.
A brief 6 day jaunt to the Yucatan Peninsula for a history lesson, diving, snorkeling, and not a lot of relaxing.
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| Last day heading out taking in one more town-Puerto Morelo. |
Getting here was fairly fast and painless. Flight from DIA to Cancun was about three and a half hours. A rapid exit from Cancun to avoid Spring Break type folk. Picked up a rental car which is only recommended if you plan to move from place to place. I think next time we may try to stay in one place and venture out each day from there. If you get a car make sure you get all of the information like: Do you need two types of insurance and is the tax rate 25%? You may find that your $100 rental car ends up costing more like $400. Either way the water is still blue.
We recommend heading straight to Tulum, bedding down and finding some nice people to take you diving in a cenote. This will most likely not be a Mexican or Mayan. Probably a dirty, smoking Frenchman that has cave diving certs. Mexican authorities will only let you go with a certified guide, which is good when you can't readily access the air or land. We found a nice dude named Andy (not French) from North Carolina. Check him out on Facebook 1-800-CaveDive. We paid $100 bucks each for two dives. I am not sure what the going rate is however that seemed very fair.
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| Some highlights were: Big turtles |
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| Coatimundi??? KC's favorite |
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Old Mayan Ruins... as opposed to new ones? I have a theory that some of these were thrown together 20 years ago for effect.
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| Our first $10 burrito. Shocking I know, times are a changing. |
It seemed almost more expensive to eat and drink in Mexico. HHHmmm... I sometimes wonder about the lack of running water in some of the facilities, but I still feel great! Maybe over-rated?!
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KC sits after a run around the COBA ruins and up this thing.
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We ran while lots of people got rides from the bike guy above. They ride in jeans. We recommend seeing COBA. It seems more rustic and less contrived than Tulum Ruins.
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| Gravity test in COBA. |
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| Organic swing. |
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| Hanging with danger on crocodile pier. |
Lagoon time where all the guide books said there would be a nature preserve with a big visitor center and a lot going on. I guess it is no longer there. We did see a few other folks wandering in search of this mysterious place too.
This cenote we found on accident. Nobody was there and it was super creepy. It was in the middle of a huge mangrove forest and had a sketchy swamp walk for access. I was afraid to go in but KC insulted my masculinity and so of course I went in first. I am still scared. I thought we would find a body for sure.
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KC sits atop a cenote.
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| Tulum Ruins |
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A chicken sits next to us as we eat...you know what.
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Stormy beach
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Any chance to swim through an obstacle, note I had to ditch my SCUBA tank for speed.
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KC returns from the depths.
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Random people.
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| KC in Casa Cenote. Endless coolness. |
Cenotes are where fresh water is obtained in the area. They are open holes that are for the most part all linked together by underground system of caves and rivers. Exploration of the cenotes are still very much going strong. Mapping of these only started in the late 80s and early 90s.
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| On the surface after what seemed like a million miles of swimming. |
Unfortunately we couldn't get any pics of the cavern dive because our camera is not sufficient to be submerged in more than 10 feet of water. But here is a link to some photos that mirror our experience.
Thanks for reading.
