Media Luna & Puente del Dios,
Mexico (by Neil Peake)
Your
intrepid CHUMMERS converged on Rio Verde by various forms of transport,
some arriving overnight by bus from Matamoros, others showing up by big
metal bird via San Luis Potosi. I arrived in the morning at Rio Verde
and got a cab to the hotel. The place (Hotel Media Luna) is run by a great
guy called Ossiel Martinez. He runs the hotel, owns the restaurant and
club down the street, and is the only dive operator in town. Can't say
enough good things about the way he treated us, ferried us around, joined
in the general hilarity. His website is www.buceomedialuna.com , currently
Spanish only but should have an English version soon. He has a small museum
in the shop with mastodon skulls and arrowheads that he and his father
had fished out of Media Luna over the years. Very cool. The hotel was
nice but basic, pool and dive shop and a short drive from Media Luna.
Which is what we did once we'd checked in, gone for breakfast and geared
up. Media Luna is a series of springs at various depths between 110'and
70'. The water is crystal clear (at least until we started playing mudpuppies)
and 85 degrees. Nice. First dive we explored around the springs. The water
was pumping and bits of wood and sand were circulating in the wash. There
were a couple of other groups in the water, so the viz was already trashed
near the springs, so we trashed it some more - the springs ended up looking
like mud volcanoes. The sinkholes that used to allow you to traverse underground
between spring outlets had filled in so we couldn't do that. We then played
around in the petrified forest scattered around the springs. Lunch was
at Ossiel's hut on the hill behind the lake. Good stuff. Second dive was
back in the lake. This time we headed for the cavern that has been created
by the vegetation growing over the top of the water. Very pretty and with
some nice sunbeams coming through holes in the roof at the deepest section.
Ever made shadow bunnies underwater? Back out and back to playing in the
springs, then back to shore for some beers. Corona comes in "Familiar"
size. Ie, big beers. Yum. Back to base, shower etc, then off for dinner
at La Cabana, then Ossiel took us on a walking tour around town. We were
all pretty fried, and we did attempt to go to the Club Calypso but it
was closed. Hey, it was only Saturday night, you wouldn't expect any of
the bars to be open or anything. (Apparently Friday was some kind of special
day, so we missed the fun by a day).
Sunday,
we drove an hour out of town in the direction of Puente del Dios. This
is where the really cool photos were taken. Nice drive up through the
mountains, then down into the valley to the falls. Geared up beside the
train tracks and hired some schleppas to take the gear down the 200+ steps
to the waterfalls (and more importantly, to schlep them back up 200+ steps!)
Worth every cent. The pools are absolutely gorgeous - turquoise water,
78 degrees, excellent viz. We had to hobble over some rocks to get to
the entry point. So we drop down inside the cavern, which is more a large
swimthrough to where the falls are, number of other swimthroughs and lots
of dropped stuff for us to pick up. Think some people managed to collect
6 or 7 sets of goggles, snorkels, sunglasses etc - which they gave to
the sherpas. Up and under the big waterfall and there's a space in behind
that you can get into, plus a small cave that's above water so you can
sit on the surface in behind the waterfall. Very very cool. You can then
dive out and through the lower edge of the fall and get shoved around
by the flow. Nice! Once we finished mucking around in the falls and swimthroughs,
we surfaced and could swim up and under some of the other falls, taking
the gear off and getting a shoulder massage from the falling water, and
generally just having a blast playing like a bunch of kids. Then it was
back down and back through the tunnel to the first pool and back to our
exit point.
Dumped
the gear on our sherpas and then Ossiel, with a very innocent expression
on his face, asked if we wanted to jump into the pool. Sure thing, we
said. Up, round and down and now we're looking at a 40 foot jump into
the pool. 200 steps later, and a quick change into non-soggies, we're
at the bar beside the train tracks. Drank the bar dry (didn't take long,)
watched the train go past and squished a few coins on the rails. Back
to town, beer by and in the pool, played on the kiddies waterslide (better
bring a bucket), 4 grown men with a collective mental age of about 18,
and got our selves sorted for the off. Back to town and back on the overnight
bus (and sleeping pills). Matamoros by morning, then a pleasant afternoon
spent lounging in the bar on South Padre, 'ritas in hand, until we had
to head for the airport and back to soggy old Houston. This report was
provided by City of Houston Underwater Mariners (CHUM). They can be found
on the web at www.chumclub.org
Your
intrepid CHUMMERS converged on Rio Verde by various forms of transport,
some arriving overnight by bus from Matamoros, others showing up by big
metal bird via San Luis Potosi. I arrived in the morning at Rio Verde
and got a cab to the hotel. The place (Hotel Media Luna) is run by a great
guy called Ossiel Martinez. He runs the hotel, owns the restaurant and
club down the street, and is the only dive operator in town. Can't say
enough good things about the way he treated us, ferried us around, joined
in the general hilarity. His website is www.buceomedialuna.com , currently
Spanish only but should have an English version soon. He has a small museum
in the shop with mastodon skulls and arrowheads that he and his father
had fished out of Media Luna over the years. Very cool. The hotel was
nice but basic, pool and dive shop and a short drive from Media Luna.
Which is what we did once we'd checked in, gone for breakfast and geared
up. Media Luna is a series of springs at various depths between 110'and
70'. The water is crystal clear (at least until we started playing mudpuppies)
and 85 degrees. Nice. First dive we explored around the springs. The water
was pumping and bits of wood and sand were circulating in the wash. There
were a couple of other groups in the water, so the viz was already trashed
near the springs, so we trashed it some more - the springs ended up looking
like mud volcanoes. The sinkholes that used to allow you to traverse underground
between spring outlets had filled in so we couldn't do that. We then played
around in the petrified forest scattered around the springs. Lunch was
at Ossiel's hut on the hill behind the lake. Good stuff. Second dive was
back in the lake. This time we headed for the cavern that has been created
by the vegetation growing over the top of the water. Very pretty and with
some nice sunbeams coming through holes in the roof at the deepest section.
Ever made shadow bunnies underwater? Back out and back to playing in the
springs, then back to shore for some beers. Corona comes in "Familiar"
size. Ie, big beers. Yum. Back to base, shower etc, then off for dinner
at La Cabana, then Ossiel took us on a walking tour around town. We were
all pretty fried, and we did attempt to go to the Club Calypso but it
was closed. Hey, it was only Saturday night, you wouldn't expect any of
the bars to be open or anything. (Apparently Friday was some kind of special
day, so we missed the fun by a day).
Sunday,
we drove an hour out of town in the direction of Puente del Dios. This
is where the really cool photos were taken. Nice drive up through the
mountains, then down into the valley to the falls. Geared up beside the
train tracks and hired some schleppas to take the gear down the 200+ steps
to the waterfalls (and more importantly, to schlep them back up 200+ steps!)
Worth every cent. The pools are absolutely gorgeous - turquoise water,
78 degrees, excellent viz. We had to hobble over some rocks to get to
the entry point. So we drop down inside the cavern, which is more a large
swimthrough to where the falls are, number of other swimthroughs and lots
of dropped stuff for us to pick up. Think some people managed to collect
6 or 7 sets of goggles, snorkels, sunglasses etc - which they gave to
the sherpas. Up and under the big waterfall and there's a space in behind
that you can get into, plus a small cave that's above water so you can
sit on the surface in behind the waterfall. Very very cool. You can then
dive out and through the lower edge of the fall and get shoved around
by the flow. Nice! Once we finished mucking around in the falls and swimthroughs,
we surfaced and could swim up and under some of the other falls, taking
the gear off and getting a shoulder massage from the falling water, and
generally just having a blast playing like a bunch of kids. Then it was
back down and back through the tunnel to the first pool and back to our
exit point. 
Dumped
the gear on our sherpas and then Ossiel, with a very innocent expression
on his face, asked if we wanted to jump into the pool. Sure thing, we
said. Up, round and down and now we're looking at a 40 foot jump into
the pool. 200 steps later, and a quick change into non-soggies, we're
at the bar beside the train tracks. Drank the bar dry (didn't take long,)
watched the train go past and squished a few coins on the rails. Back
to town, beer by and in the pool, played on the kiddies waterslide (better
bring a bucket), 4 grown men with a collective mental age of about 18,
and got our selves sorted for the off. Back to town and back on the overnight
bus (and sleeping pills). Matamoros by morning, then a pleasant afternoon
spent lounging in the bar on South Padre, 'ritas in hand, until we had
to head for the airport and back to soggy old Houston. This report was
provided by City of Houston Underwater Mariners (CHUM). They can be found
on the web at www.chumclub.org