News
Where’s Ellen? Part Four…
Ellen is cave diving in Tulum 😉
Tulum might be on your bucket list for diving the beautiful cenotes where sunlight penetrates the sinkholes and creates stunning sceneries. Guides take people in these caverns the whole time but the exact definition of a cavern dive seems a bit stretched to me. In some areas daylight is 60 meters away, try swimming that distance in an ‘out of air’ scenario…
To feel safe entering the underworld and be there for my offspring in the future, I embarked on a RAID full cave course last year and once I mastered the skills I was allowed to enter this stunning underwater wonderland which literally sometimes takes my breath away, but…in a good way!
This year I returned to maintain my skills with UK cave instructor Garry Dallas (Simply Sidemount & Simply Tec) and after a few days I felt confident to go on a dive with Explorer Robbie Schmittner.
For decades Robbie’s been passionate discovering new cenotes, caves and passageways and his aim is to find the connection between the different systems discovered today and explore new ones, making the underwater world in the Yucatan the biggest cave system in the world. Last year he found the connection between Sac Actun and Dos Ojos and his quest for the near future is the connection to Ox Bel Ha.
Robbie spoiled me and our two days in the jungle will be hard to forget. The first day was pretty off the beaten track to Yab Yum for a stage dive which brought us to a giant pit where I felt like skydiving or soaring through space. (The image of a man in black signaling me to enter the dark side will be imprinted in my brain forever).
On the second day we were guided through one of his explorations from 1999: Dos Pisos. The diversity of speleothems and even underwater tree roots, some dissolved within the calcite drips, makes this a world where your imagination is tickled and it reminded me of an eerie fantasy world where nymphs were about to appear.
Cave diving is not for everyone but chances are that those who take that plunge are pretty hooked on it.
If you’d rather explore by the seat of your pants, you can follow Robbie on Instagram @Robbieschmittner. Explore through his eyes, it’s a stunning world!
Find out more about Ellen and her photographic adventures at www.ellencuylaerts.com.
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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