Kategorie: News
Construction work on the cenote leads to catastrophic results
The administration of the Tajma Ha cenote, one of the best-known cenotes that can also be dived by recreational divers, closed the cave in August this year to carry out renovation work. The renovation work was announced as "We want to make everything better". Details of what exactly was to be improved were roughly sketched out: A facility with a zipline and a jungle trail for ATV tours with several attractions was to be created at the cave with its crystal-clear water. All are intended as a new tourist attraction.
The cenote was originally named Taj Mahal by the original discoverers, as the cave system reminded them of the beauty and splendour of the famous building in India. The name was "Mayanised" over time to Tajma Ha, as Ha means water in the Mayan language.
Tajma Ha is located 3 kilometres south of Puerto Aventuras on the 307 motorway. 10 minutes from the entrance, a 3-kilometre jungle road leads to the car park.
Sediment layer covers the entire cenote
The cenote was reopened in November. The Cavern Tour - the dive for recreational divers - leads from this cenote via two other cenotes as a circuit.
The surprise was great when Dirk Penzel, instructor for cave and mixed gas diving, visited the "renovated" cenote and dived the circuit. Why? Due to the construction work, the entire cavern area was covered with a thick layer of sediment and is therefore no longer safe to dive for normal recreational divers. Any careless movement would immediately lead to a no-visibility situation, i.e. a situation that is not acceptable for a cavern tour for divers who are not trained in cave diving (recreational divers). The entire cavern tour in Taj Ma Ha is covered by a 3 to 5 cm thick layer of sediment (see also next video, details from minute 0:30).
The cenote has now been open again for certified cave divers for a good 3 weeks, but visibility is also severely impaired by the newly deposited sediment in the entrance area and the downstream section.
Dirk Penzel, owner of the diving centre "diving.DE Cenotes / cenote-diving.com" is frustrated: "The measures taken at Taj Ma Ha are a perfect example of what uncontrolled tourism - combined with corruption and greed - can do. This area is no longer safe for recreational divers. The sediment layer is so thick that there is no hope of improvement. The cavern tour in this once marvellous cenote is probably lost forever ... A swimming lake was planned for the Esmeralda cenote. The amateurish dredging work coupled with the nonsensical idea of creating a standing body of water - which would inevitably have led to heavy algae growth - has led to the destruction of this beautiful cave landscape."
The Cenote Esmeralda, the last of the three cenotes through which the former cavern tour led, was a very special jewel, as it was completely natural before the construction work and there were gigantic light shows to marvel at. In the following video, you can see the sad remains of the once untouched jungle landscape including the cenote.
Information about Tajma Ha on Taucher.Net
taucher.net/..cenote_tajma_ha