The Cenote and the Crocodile

Photo by Christopher Paul High

One of our heart-stopping Mexico adventures was when we decided to stay a night not far from the growing town of Bacalar, located on the lagoon side on the southern end of the coastal state of Quintana Roo, which is on the Caribbean side of the Yucatan Peninsula.

My husband Marty, our daughter Bella, and I had been traveling in our pick-up truck pulling our tiny RV along the southern coast of Mexico for a few weeks and had just come into Quintana Roo. We needed a place to stay for the night. In our ‘RVing in Mexico’ guidebook, we read about an RV park located down a dirt road just before Bacalar that had been dubbed ‘The Goat Farm’.

That run-down place had hook-ups for electricity — some workable, some not — and a central water source, but no place to dump waste, which discouraged any long-term stayers. We saw that the place was a large field with a smattering of trees and was occupied by a herd of goats — hence the name of the place — grazing on vegetation that could have been misconstrued as grass.

A small wooden shack with a metal roof sat in the corner near the entrance where, we assumed, the goat herder and RV park caretaker lived. The trees that were scattered about made the campsite pleasant for staying a night or two, especially if one was lucky enough to find a space that had working electrical hook-ups and a tree. We paid, found a workable space with a tree, and parked.

It was late afternoon and we thought a swim would be relaxing after our day’s drive, so walked across the road to Cenote Azul. Cenotes are scattered all over the Yucatan, since the peninsula looks like the Swiss-Cheese-of-Limestone, with large holes, or caves that fill up with rainwater and seeping seawater.

I had read that to swim in a cenote, people shouldn’t wear any kind of lotions or creams that contain chemicals, because that would poison the fish and other eco-life. Or negatively affect the sea monsters that lay in wait at the bottom when an unsuspecting soul jumped in, I thought when seeing the one we were to swim in, which was surrounded by limestone and greenery.

Photo by Earth

The sun above had to filter through the treetops, which did not provide enough light source to show the water’s clearness or the azul color, making it look black instead. That, to me, made it look more frightening than inviting, which also enhanced my vivid imagination. And so, after climbing down into the murk and I started to feel fish nibbling at my feet, being unable to see beyond my legs, I half expected a sea creature to join the nibblers if I swam further than the edge of the hole. I stayed near the ladder to be able to quickly climb up and away to safety if I felt a snout or a bump bigger than a minnow.

My heart felt as if it was on speed being in that black water, and I couldn’t understand why Marty and Belle were so unconcerned. They seemed to be having such a good time splashing around in that dark abyss. Don’t they know they’re alerting the creatures of the deep? My mind’s creative powers were revving up.

With my mind creating possible sea creatures, while I clung to the ladder, I became too skittish to stay in that dark pit any longer. I climbed out, keeping a close eye on my loved ones who were scoffing at my fears. I didn’t want them to be sorry if it turned out that I was right, because that kind of sorrow could be catastrophic. Yet I felt a sudden urgent need to scream at them to get out and to hurry. Unfortunately, I had no valid reason to give them other than my clenching stomach and my pounding heart.

To add to my consternation, Marty yelled out, “Hey, darlin’! Watch this!” and flipped over to dive down into the bowels of Hell.

“Nooooo!” I cried. “Marty!”

“Dad’ll be okay, Mom. Quit worrying!” Bella called out as she kept swimming around the area where her father had disappeared.

As time ticked away, my panic rose with each passing second. I could hardly breathe.

“Bella! Can you see your father?” My voice was cracking, along with my sanity.

Bella began to look a bit alarmed herself and yelled, “I’m going down to find him,” and dove down just as I screamed, “Please, no!”

I ran for the ladder.

Just as I was ready to dive into the water from the middle rung to save my family from my imagined fate, both Marty and Bella’s heads popped up, gasping and sputtering. I nearly swooned with relief.

Marty was obviously excited, trying to talk while also trying to catch his breath. He stammered, “I was down there way longer than I expected. That was so exciting!”

Pant pant pant.

“I thought I saw some big thing move down there, but couldn’t tell what it was for sure, since it was so dark.”

Pant pant!

“When I realized I’d be needing air fast, I couldn’t pursue it. But I’m so excited about being able to stay down so long! Aren’t you proud of me?”

More panting!

“Bella dove down, too! Wasn’t that great!”

Pant! Pant!

Photo by David Clode

With all his panting, he seemed to have caught his breath enough to be able to keep rambling and not giving me a chance to chastise them both for their foolish acts, and for scaring the shit out of me. But seeing how proud he seemed of his achievement to show off his underwater skills, I thought that I couldn’t chastise either of them. At least at that moment.

I was ready to make a comment when my eyes grew wide, and I let out a scream instead, “Get out now!” I yelled.

They both looked at me in disappointment from my not recognizing their proud feat, until I screamed, “Look behind you!”

Both Marty and Bella turned to see where I was pointing.

“Oh, shit!” was their simultaneous exclamation upon seeing the snout and large eyes silently swimming toward them.

“Hurry!” I commanded breathlessly, my fear escalating. I held my breath watching the snout creep closer behind their feet that were kicking furiously as the two were trying to get to the ladder. They grabbed the wooden sides and practically flew up the rungs.

At that moment, my feelings of relief overpowered any thoughts of me being right when they made it out in time. It scared the hell out of me to think of them, and me, being in the water with that thing. But I did feel a sense of comfort from knowing my intuition had been accurate. After all, my intuitive reliability was crucial to my peace of mind. I didn’t want to see myself as just another imaginative, hysterical female.

Those were my thoughts as we ran like hell across the road.

When we reached our safer haven and Marty and Bella started talking about the experience, Marty said he thought that the aquatic reptile might have been a caiman or some other species smaller than a crocodile, and maybe not as threatening.

Whatever, I thought. Even if that croc or caiman might have been really small, it was still a croc and still very dangerous in my mind.

I just hoped my heartbeat would settle down to a normal level soon so that I could talk about the incident without freaking out. That was definitely one of the more gripping experiences of our travels, and I hoped it was the last. That kind of mental and emotional stimulation, I didn’t need.