2017-12-27: Exploring Caves in Cozumel

This morning we arrived in Cozumel, Mexico. It was another later arrival and we didn’t arrive until 10:00am. There were four other ships in port with us today. Similarly to yesterday, we woke up and had some breakfast at the buffet restaurant, Cabanas, before returning to the room and getting ready for the day. We headed down to the D Lounge to check in for today’s tour. Jim and Linda did not join us for the tour today so it was just the four of us. We were doing the Amazing Secret River tour.

Around 10:00am we headed off the ship and lined up along the dock where we met a couple of our tour guides. They gave us wristbands while we waited for the rest of our group to get off the ship. We walked over to a ferry that was docked at the pier and headed to the mainland. Around half an hour later, we docked in Playa del Carmen. We regrouped on land and were broken up into smaller groups. Each smaller group was then escorted to a bus. We had 12 people in our group.

After a 20 minute bus ride, we arrived at Rio Secreto, or Secret River. Half the ride was along the highway and the other half was along some very bumpy dirt roads. The dirt roads reminded us of our travels through Africa. The secret river is an underground river that was discovered about 10 years ago. They’ve mapped about 40 kms of the river system so far. It follows a cavern system that is only a few feet below the surface. The caverns are made of limestone and are full of stalagmites and stalagtites. The water is drinkable. They test it every couple of months and use it as an emergency water reserve should something happen to the main water supply.

We were introduced to our river guide Paola and were taken to get geared up. We were not allowed to bring jewellery, cameras, sunscreen, bugspray, or any loose items with us. We put all our gear in the provided lockers. We were given a wetsuit, life jacket, water shoes, and a mining helmet. We had a quick shower and then went for a hike through the jungle.

It was about a five minute walk to where we gathered for a quick ceremony. This was a Mayan area. The Mayans believed in the tree of life and that there are three levels to the world. The sky, the earth, and the underground or underworld. Since we are going underground, we performed a quick ceremony to ask permission from the Mayan Gods to enter the underworld.

We went down a set of stairs and entered the caves. We walked and swam for about a kilometre along the river and explored the caves. It was an amazing experience. There are times you can walk upright and other times you had to swim with barely enough room for your head between the water and cave roof. As soon as we entered the cave, we saw a bunch of bats flying around. There are also crickets, spiders, and fish that live in the caves. The water is a green colour and the rocks are beige and brown. There were roots that were running from the trees above ground into the caves looking for water. Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. There was a second guide that followed us through the caves and took our photos at various locations. After about an hour and a half in the caves, we climbed a set of stairs back up to surface.

We took off our gear and changed out of our bathing suits before buying the photos and having some lunch. They provided us with a Mexican lunch including rice, beans, chicken, soup, and tamales. It was pretty tasty. We had a few minutes to check out the gift shop before boarding our busses back to the ferry.

Once we were back in Playa del Carmen, we had 45 minutes to explore the shops along the pier. We didn’t find any souvenirs we wanted to purchase so we met up with our guide after the allotted time and hopped on the ferry back to Cozumel.

The ship was supposed to be in Cozumel at 8:30am originally but they had to change the arrival time to 10:30am. Because of that , we didn’t get back to the ship until 7:00pm which means we missed dinner in the dining room. We headed up to Cabanas for the buffet dinner.

After dinner, we went to the main theatre where they were showing Disney’s new movie Coco. It was a cute movie. It was pirate night on the ship so we made a quick stop at the room to get the bandanas they left for us and headed up to deck 11 for the pirate party. It started off with a pirate show including Captain Jack Sparrow. He had a fire gauntlet which launched fireworks into the sky for a spectacular fireworks display followed by a pirate dance party. It was close to 11:00 by this time so we let the kids dance to a few songs before we headed back to the room for the night.