Juan Carlos in the Cenote by Cathy Ulrich
For this week’s photo challenge, I chose a shot I took while diving in the Cenotes on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Peter and I did several guided cave dives with a certified Cave Diver – Juan Carlos seen in this photo. It was an amazing experience. This shot was taken during our surface interval between dives. We came up from the first dive called “Dream Gate” and dashed through the jungle, batting off mosquitoes to this small hole in the ground with the tip of a ladder emerging from the hole. Juan Carlos climbed down the ladder and as we’re continuing to bat mosquitoes who are winning at that point, I hear his voice coming up from the bottom of the ladder: “It’s okay. Come on down. You’ll really like it. Trust me!” So we did – and here’s what we saw…
These caves were the source of fresh water for the ancient Mayans. A huge underwater cave system that they viewed as the womb of Mother Earth. You can see roots of trees that have made their way from the roof of the cave into fresh water at the bottom as well as stalactites hanging from the top of the cave. This shot was my interpretation of “Illumination” because this beautiful place lies hidden in the dark until we turned the light on…
LargeSelf 
Reblogged this on ram0ram note book.
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Thanks for the reblog, ramOram!
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What a magical photograph made more so becuase of the history that accompanied it. You truly inspire me with your photographs Cathy, this is something I may intergrate into my own website later. Although I will not be able to match your skill.
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Thank you, Athena. I love photography and I’m so grateful to have a place to share some of my favorites…a benefit of blogging that I hadn’t considered when I started the blog. Thanks so much for stopping by to comment. I always enjoy your perspective. Hope you have a great weekend.
Hugs, Cathy
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Wow, gorgeous! You’re so adventurey! I made that word up just now just for you, in fact! 🙂
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Thank you, Jennifer! I like that word, I’ll take it! 🙂
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What a wonderful interpretation of illumination, Cathy! Like you said, beautiful places lay in the darkness, hidden until we turn on the light. Absolutely lovely, and more color variations on the stalactites than I would have thought too! Thank you for sharing! Hugs, Gina 🙂
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Gina,
Thank you so much! Yes, the color variations were amazing. Peter and I were reliving the experience earlier today and he laughed about it, too! He said: “We probably wouldn’t have descended that rickety ladder if we weren’t trying to get away from the mosquitoes! And then Juan Carlos’ voice in the darkness (think reverbing in the bottom of the cave) “You’ll really like it!” Still makes me laugh. Have a great weekend, dear Gina.
Love,
Cathy
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Oh, this is so cool, Cathy. How lucky for you had this experience and could snap a photo. It’s gorgeous!
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Thanks, Amy. We had been scuba diving and I had my underwater camera with me – Juan Carlos specifically told me to bring it and I’m so glad he did. It was such a magical spot!
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Yes, magical! That describes it well.
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Hey did you change you blog?! I like it. Change is always good.
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Yes, I did. Twice, actually. I tried a white on black theme – but I found that the text was too hard to read. I wanted something that would showcase the photos better and I think this is a good compromise. Thank you!
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It’s true that the black brings out photos better. This is perfect for you.
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That’s incredible! I’ve always wanted to do something like this. Love your sense of adventure.
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Thank you, Jen. It was one of the most unique and exciting diving adventures I’ve ever done. One of these days I’ll post some photos of the caves where we were actually diving.
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Another super cool shot in a super cool place, Cathy. The tree roots look wild and when I looked at your shot before reading the text I did wonder, “Are those trees?” Off-the-wall question: do you recall what it smelled like in there?
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Actually, it’s a very interesting question, V. I think one would expect it to smell extremely musty or moldy in there, but it didn’t. Just, kindof fresh – maybe a little bit of a “mushroom” smell from decaying plant matter, but it was a fairly large cavern and the water is very clear and fresh.
From what I’ve read about the Cenotes, the water is like an underground river that flows through the Yucatan, so it’s not stagnant at all. What is fascinating is there are places in the caves, especially the ones closer to the coast where salt water meets the fresh water – called Heloclines. We went through an area on one of the dives where this occurred and the water became very fuzzy looking (through our masks, of course). Juan Carlos had warned us that this might happen so when we swam through it, I remember how cool that was.
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Really enjoyed this Photo
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Thank you, Bruce!
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That is STUNNING! What an interesting and varied life you lead!!
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Thanks, Denise! It was an amazing experience!
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Cathy,
This could be the most amazing photo I’ve ever seen. I am putting this on my list of places to go. Thank you!
Red
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Thanks, Red! It is a remarkable place. This Cenote was way back in the jungle – Juan Carlos took us in a truck for several miles on dirt roads to get to the opening of the caves for the scuba dives. But there are many beautiful Cenotes closer to the coast. You can either scuba or snorkel and the group that employed Juan Carlos was called “Hidden Worlds.” They’re just south of Akumal, Mexico. This really was the most memorable dive experience I’ve ever had.
Cathy
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Beautiful picture and I absolutely loved your description as well 🙂
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Thanks so much, Vyv. It is an amazing and magical place!
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