Cave Diving in Cozumel

Yesterday I went cave diving with German Yanez who is a cave instructor in Cozumel. We dove in two very different caves.
The first was Xcan Ha. This cave is basically a pit, the size of a football pitch with a bottom at 120ft. There is a debris cone in the center of the cave and we tied into this and swam around the circumference of the bottom. There were dead tree branches looming out of the cone. I was slightly surprised to see a baby crocodile, all curled up like a little sleeping dragon. I started to wonder about his mother and suddenly the blackness behind me seemed even blacker. Next we came upon a curled up snake. HUmn.. I'm thinking my mother would have liked this dive. My computer went slightly into deco and we'd planned 3 deco stops (2@70', 3@40' and 8@20' - all very conservative which I like). On the 20' stop German signaled for me to look up at the surface. The cenote water was colored brown by the tanic acid produced by decaying vegetation; it was close to 12 and the sun was pretty much directly overhead; the effect was pretty spectacular. The sun looked like a big ruby fireball, sending out beams of red through the water. I had 8 mins to admire this - very cool. On the surface I immediately grilled German about the crocodile and snake. I was assured both were dead (albeit recently), apparently the snakes fall in from the trees (quick scan of the overhead branches for potential jumpers - all clear), German went on to say that the cenote was only populated by crocodiles in the rainy season - ah ha I said 'you mean the rainy season that we are just in the process of coming out of?' I was assured that crocodiles in these parts were not man eaters like their African relatives and seldomly grew to sizes bigger than me (I'm 5'7"). OK this was enough chit chat for me. One of my more speedy water exits! After two yoga classes the previous day I found myself on one knee on the dock absolutely unable to stand up. Even visualizing one of my new dive buddies lumbering out of the undergrowth or falling from one of the branches overhead did not give me the strength to stand up on my own. DAMN - I had to be hauled to my feet by German:(
We had around two hours between dives, changed our gear over, pondered life and fought off mosquitos (one got me in the middle of my forehead - very attractive).
Then on to Aerolito. From the shore you can see that the water is full of white globules - this is sulphur. We saw a fire worm and sea cucumber. Both are albino and have adapted to life in the cave. There were also starfish and tinsy sponges - all white and gray. All of the creatures slithered away from our flash light beams - a little bit creepy. This dive also contained two of the worst restrictions I have come across to date (bear in mind that this was my second cave dive as a certified cave diver - so that is not saying much). German was leading and I watched him tootle onto his side and pull himself through a pretty small gap. OK I thought if this guy can get through there then so can I (I'm calculating body size here rather that expertise). So on I went - my tanks clanked a lot on the wall and I'd say I reached the very edge of my comfort zone. Still I just moved very slowly and made it through - checked my valves (Hans voice in my head reminding me to do this) and on we went. We called the dive at about 34 mins. I lead back through a terrain of much less visibility. I'd say down to about 12" through the restrictions. I could not really make out the shape of the cave around me but figured if the line was there I must be passing the place where I needed to be on my side. Felt a little bit stuck but resisted panic and took my time to relax and pull myself slowly through. All in all a pretty good dive. The cave reminded me of the bit in temple of doom where Indie is running away from the rock ball. It was pretty dark brown and looked like it had been hacked out of the rock by dwarfs rather than water and time. These caves are very different from those that I've dove so far. Not as pretty as the halocline filled, white walled, heavily decorated rooms in the systems on the mainland, but I really liked them. A bit like diving a New Jersey wreck after a Caribbean reef.
German is an excellent dive guide, very chilled and easy to dive with, also very experienced, which I like in a dive buddy. Hoping to do some more diving with him soon.