Mexico Part I- Diving Out Of Reality

Hola from Mexico! We have been here for 2 weeks now and have already travelled s lot of the country; around Quintana Roo and the Yucatan peninsula, and then across to mexico city which was a 2 hour flight. We have done lots of things, but I thought I would dedicate this post to the diving I did, in particular one dive, which has been a total life changer!
Our first stop was Isla Mujeres; a beautiful little island off the coast of cancun with turquoise waters and white sandy beaches (I came off looking like a right lobster!). We didnt dive here but we snorkelled an artificial reef called Manchones reef, where someone had placed a load of stone statues underwater to encourage coral growth.  It was pretty cool! This included about 100 scary looking statues of people, and 2 volkswagen beetles! Very weird!
We next took a few buses and a ferry to Isla Cozumel which was quite substantially bigger. Of course it peed dowm with rain from then on! All the roads, and the floor of our room, were flooded! There is the second largest reef in the world here, so we thought we had better do it. It was mesmerising. The coral formations were out of this world, creating almost cave like structures which we could dive in and out of. Also saw a few cheeky turtles!
Next stop was a beach town called Akumal where dad and chris met us. Its a turtle hub here! We did 2 dives and saw quite a few and got within touching distance. Turtles are just so incredible to watch ( see snap below of one of the cheeky guys I took)! It also continued to pee with rain here, oh joy.

Me and Chris diving innit.

Next stop was a little coastal town called tulum.  We stayed in a hostel that felt like you were in a jungle; they had built a load of wooden huts around palm trees, it was really cool. They gave us bikes and I managed to cycle twice with a flat tyre and didnt realise- whoops!
Here is where the diving becomes really interesting.
Basically, the whole area, millions of years ago, used to be underwater , and used to be a reef. Over time, it became land, and the reef turned into limestone,  a really porous rock. As the acidity from decomposing matter mixed with water, the limestone collapsed and formed these huge underground caves called cenotes. They're now filled with water and are connected by a big underground river, but from the rock formations inside they can tell they used to be dry as they are covered in incredible stalagmites and stalagtites. They're still discovering new cenotes all the time which is awesome.
We did our first 2 cenote dives in the famous Dos Ojos (two eyes). As you jumped in, the water was crystal clear and lit up by huge beams of sunlight; the visibility was around 400 metres! (When diving in the sea, 20 metres is considered good!). We dove around the cavesand saw some incredible formations, and a barbie doll being eaten by a crocodile. Standard.
The next day, me and Chris dove the infamous Pit cenote. It was a deep dive so the others couldnt do it. I will take a while to describe this one, because its the best, and most life changing dive I have ever done.
When we arrived at the pit, you wouldnt look twice; it was a dirty looking green pond no more than 10 metres wide, about a 6 metre drop from the ground; thankfully they built a ladder as before,  you just had to jump! We got our kit on and jumped in . Immediately, you knew this place was out of this world. The pit opened up into an indescribable room of incredible size. The water no longer looked murky green, but crystal clear blue, lit up by perfectly straight beams of blue light from the sun. We started our quick descent through the freshwater until we reached a thermocline; this is where the freshwater meets the saltwater, and mixes in a layer of about 1-2 metres in depth. The layer is like oil, and all youcould really see was a blurry line from peoples torches, it was very bizarre. After descending through this we entered the saltwater, which was 25 degrees; one degree higher than the fresh. This is where the true magnificence of the pit was apparent. We could see the cloud; like someone had dropped tonnes of milk and it sat in a perfect formation. The cloud is a big mass of white sulphur gas sitting at the bottom of the pit, a ghostly structure. We lined up at the back of the cloud ready to traverse through it,but it was soon apparent it was much, much more than just a white cloud. The gas had settled in distinct separate layers of different depths; some around a metre, some a few centimetres. You could dip up and down through them, sticking your head through the gaps, wisping the gas through your fingers and creating ripples with your torch. About half way through, there was a tree jutting through the gas, and the cloud was swirling around it like a vortex. It was truly haunting. A bit further on, there was another huge tree , where the gas created a ghostly thin membrane layer over it. A scene like a graveyard in a 70s horror film.
We then ascended back through the halocline and entered two caves which were hidden about half way up, which again had magnificent rock formations, packed with stalagmites and stalagtites. On our exit, we swam back out imto the middle of the pit, and could bask in its true glory (see below for a picture I took that gives it no justice). The sheer size and beauty, perfectly lit up by rays of sunlight, is imdescribable, and one I will cherish for the rest of my life. The pit is like a brilliant movie; im told you can only appreciate it fully a second or third time. I´m already planning my trip back in years to come.