Showing posts with label Nohoch-Nah-Chich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nohoch-Nah-Chich. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate (shown in frame grab), petrified waterfalls, a gaping mouth, a fence of columns, ... are but a few of the many wonderful formations to be seen in Nohoch Nah Chich along the main line.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Nohoch Nah Chich
This time we hit the primary upstream line and followed it for 67' till another much smaller cenote, at which point, having used up one third of my air supply, I called the dive. Again we passed some pretty fabulous formations sculpted by time beyond imagination. We stayed underwater two hours, using only about half of our doubles air. Many more hours could be spent just to have a quick look down the many side lines branching off everywhere. This one truly is a giant maze!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Nohoch Nah Chich
For my one hundredth cave dive my wish to marvel around in the giant bird cage got fulfilled, despite nobody really knowing the exact layout of this cave. But as I dived this system once two years ago, I still kind of had an idea where to look for the start of the permanent line*.
First though we had to find the cenote's entrance gate somewhere along highway 307 north of Tulum. Despite Nohoch's relative fame & popularity, none of the locals were able to help us out, but again memory served me well: the access road is the same as for Caracol!
From the parking & gearing up area it's a hot walk down to the 24°C cool water. Equipment checks done we submerged and went looking for a line, which we found at the end of the cavern zone and followed till its end barely 26' later, requiring us to close a gap to another line passing by just a few meters away. On my sign we went left, passing a domed cenote then approaching another brighter one. Both with snorkelers? Too much human activity for me so we swam back, shortly checking out the right section after the gap, thereby finding ourselves immediately in a fabulous area of petrified waterfalls.
This wonderful cave system is amazingly vast and very very shallow, averaging around 5m depth, thus allowing for extended dives of up to two hours on just a set of doubles.
* After talking to Robbie from Xibalba, who alas wasn't there when we got going, I found out that there are actually three upstream and one downstream line, and that by going left at the gap we indeed most probably made a circuit back to where we'd started.
First though we had to find the cenote's entrance gate somewhere along highway 307 north of Tulum. Despite Nohoch's relative fame & popularity, none of the locals were able to help us out, but again memory served me well: the access road is the same as for Caracol!
From the parking & gearing up area it's a hot walk down to the 24°C cool water. Equipment checks done we submerged and went looking for a line, which we found at the end of the cavern zone and followed till its end barely 26' later, requiring us to close a gap to another line passing by just a few meters away. On my sign we went left, passing a domed cenote then approaching another brighter one. Both with snorkelers? Too much human activity for me so we swam back, shortly checking out the right section after the gap, thereby finding ourselves immediately in a fabulous area of petrified waterfalls.
This wonderful cave system is amazingly vast and very very shallow, averaging around 5m depth, thus allowing for extended dives of up to two hours on just a set of doubles.
* After talking to Robbie from Xibalba, who alas wasn't there when we got going, I found out that there are actually three upstream and one downstream line, and that by going left at the gap we indeed most probably made a circuit back to where we'd started.
[ entrance fee: 150 Pesos ]
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Cave dive in Nohoch Nah Chich
I finally got to dive Nohoch Nah Chich! The name means "Giant bird cage" in Maya. It used to be an off-limits system for Aktun dive center and others not belonging to a certain cave clan. However, things have changed, and whoever is willing to pay 150 Pesos is now allowed to enter this vast underground system.
We left a bit late this morning, but Nohoch is only a short 10' ride up north from Tulum (the entrance road is marked with a sign for cenote Caracol and the Labna Ha exploration), followed by a bumpy 6' of dirt road into the jungle. The cenote's entrance is, just like Grand cenote, a collapsed roof. Wooden stairs lead to the water.
Though there's actually not so much daylight seeping in, the cavern's snorkel area is quite big, and many tourists are brought in by truck loads. A real money making machine for whoever owns this piece of land.
Fully geared up, I stumble over the rocky path towards the stairs, located on the far side of the cenote's opening, and as usual, I'm really happy to splash into the cool water. Bubble check over, Nadia leads the way in, towards the permanent cave line that starts way into the cavern zone. I'm second, followed by Olli.
15' into the dive we jump off to the left. Now we're truly in the cave, away from the cavern zone's busy commotion. Nohoch truly has some wonderfull passages. The ceiling's low, but the tunnels are very wide. Full of slender columns. Sometimes there're so many of them it looks like a fantastic rain forest. After 28', we encounter our first T and go right.
Some of the formations seem to be taken out of fairy tales. Our planned dive time being 2 hours, I had to take my less powerfull but long burning light with me and unfortunatly I can't take pictures with that one :o( Too bad too sad. We pass a big petrified waterfall. After 43' we pass yet another T and go left till the end of the line. Nadia closes the gap and goes left, but not for long as Olli calls the dive shortly after.
I've barely used 50bar, thanks to Nohoch's average depth of only 5m! Still, we're one hour from the entrance. Slowly and carefully we swim back. Most of the formations are extremely fragile and damage by less cautious divers is alas clearly visible in some passages. Total bottom time 117'.
We left a bit late this morning, but Nohoch is only a short 10' ride up north from Tulum (the entrance road is marked with a sign for cenote Caracol and the Labna Ha exploration), followed by a bumpy 6' of dirt road into the jungle. The cenote's entrance is, just like Grand cenote, a collapsed roof. Wooden stairs lead to the water.
Though there's actually not so much daylight seeping in, the cavern's snorkel area is quite big, and many tourists are brought in by truck loads. A real money making machine for whoever owns this piece of land.
Fully geared up, I stumble over the rocky path towards the stairs, located on the far side of the cenote's opening, and as usual, I'm really happy to splash into the cool water. Bubble check over, Nadia leads the way in, towards the permanent cave line that starts way into the cavern zone. I'm second, followed by Olli.
15' into the dive we jump off to the left. Now we're truly in the cave, away from the cavern zone's busy commotion. Nohoch truly has some wonderfull passages. The ceiling's low, but the tunnels are very wide. Full of slender columns. Sometimes there're so many of them it looks like a fantastic rain forest. After 28', we encounter our first T and go right.
Some of the formations seem to be taken out of fairy tales. Our planned dive time being 2 hours, I had to take my less powerfull but long burning light with me and unfortunatly I can't take pictures with that one :o( Too bad too sad. We pass a big petrified waterfall. After 43' we pass yet another T and go left till the end of the line. Nadia closes the gap and goes left, but not for long as Olli calls the dive shortly after.
I've barely used 50bar, thanks to Nohoch's average depth of only 5m! Still, we're one hour from the entrance. Slowly and carefully we swim back. Most of the formations are extremely fragile and damage by less cautious divers is alas clearly visible in some passages. Total bottom time 117'.
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