BBC - Cave divers explore the Yucatan?s underwater world

[Judi Durber]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05299m7  clip from main programme


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08r78bv  Full programme - Forests of the Maya from Mexico Earths festival of Life

 

[Fulk]

Shame these wild-life programmes aren't backed up by proper science. For instance, they said that limestone is porous; also that limestone is soft (he's obviously never tripped up on a limestone pavement).

Then ? such and such a monkey 'was designed' for something or other; no, it evolved.

Some bird 'was designed' for catching bats; not, it evolved to catch bats.

'The gods are smiling (or some such rot) this year, as the rains have come'; OK, so it's tongue in cheek. But why do they kow-tow to superstitious nonsense?

'It's a remarkable fact that the water in the cenotes "flows"'; well it would, wouldn't it? Otherwise it would just rise up and flood the whole place. Although I accept that it's remarkable that it flows over what seem to be very long distances.

'Salt water is heavier than fresh water'; no, it's denser.

Perhaps the most remarkable fact about the underwater caverns was totally ignored ? that they are full of formations, which means that at one time they must have been above water.

 

[Judi Durber]

Fulk: Today at 09:42:13 pm ? Perhaps the most remarkable fact about the underwater caverns was totally ignored ? that they are full of formations, which means that at one time they must have been above water.

So has the water risen or the ground sunk?

 

[Fulk]

Well, I assume that water levels fell in the last Ice Age when lots of water was locked up as ice, as a result of which sea levels fell, and the caves formed with air in them. Then when the ice melted sea levels rose again.

 

[Mrs Trellis]

I've been to Dos Ojos Cenote complex which is connected to Ox Bel Ha , the other Yucatan giant system. This was just on a tourist holiday to Tulum. Highway 307 runs down from Playa del Carmen to Tulum and passes en route many cenotes open to the public - including Cenote Manati (ex Casa Cenote) which was on the film. The Mayans also used cenotes for making human sacrifice, usually of virgins.

The exploration parks of Xel Ha & Xplor also use the resurgences at the Caribbean end and include buggy and boat trips underground. It's a bit like Gulliver's Matlock Bath but warmer. There is a show cave Rio Secreto up near Cancun which runs eco tours - the formations are spectacular. Fun for all the family.