05x05 - Mayan Underworld (Yucatan, Mexico)

[bunniefuu]

[bright music]

- [Art] This time on "Blue World,"

Jonathan visits a submerged
Mayan burial ground.

[bright music continues]

[water bubbling]

[bright music]

Meet Jonathan Bird,
[water sloshing]

one of the world's top underwater
nature cinematographers.

- Woohoo.
- Traveling the world

on assignment for all the major networks,

he is an Emmy Award-winning authority

on the underwater world.

In freshwater or salt,
reefs, wrecks, or caves,

Jonathan documents the
world beneath the waves.

Welcome to the "Blue World."

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[shark thumping]

[mysterious music]

- [Jonathan] 66 million years ago,

an enormous asteroid
tumbled through space.

Traveling 10 times the
speed of a r*fle b*llet,

this celestial m*ssile

was on a direct collision
course with Earth.

It smashed into Earth with such force

that it triggered earthquakes
and volcanic eruptions.

The impact threw a cloud of
dust into the atmosphere,

cooling the planet, and
k*lling the dinosaurs.

[mysterious music continues]

The impact crater is located just north

of the Yucatan Peninsula
in what is now Mexico.

Around the outer ring of the crater,

cracks formed in the limestone,

allowing groundwater to flow
through, eroding into caves.

When a cave ceiling gets
too thin and falls in,

you get what is known as a cenote.

[water bubbling]

The word cenote was
derived from the Mayan word

meaning sacred well, a source of water.

Fast forward to 2,000 years ago.

The Maya civilization
dominated Central America.

They built their cities near the cenotes

so they had access to fresh water

from what are essentially
super clean underground rivers.

Thanks to that asteroid,
there are more cenotes

in this area than anyplace
else in the world,

thousands of them running along the rim

of the ancient crater.

It's an incredible place for
some underwater exploration.

[light music]
To begin our adventure,

cameraman Todd and I fly
down to Merida, Mexico,

a city surrounded by thousands
of mostly unexplored cenotes.

Our first stop: Freedom Divers,

where I meet owner Jeff Shaw,

my host for underwater exploration.

Jeff?

- Jonathan.
- Hey.

- Nice to meet you, man.
- Nice to meet you.

- Welcome to Merida.
- Thanks.

Read to do some diving?

- Let's go hit some cenotes.

- All right, let's go.
- All right.

- We pile all our gear
into Jeff's pickup truck

and drive south.

[light music]

[rope thumping]

We stop along the way to pick
up his friend Aaron Diaz,

a local cave diving expert,

and a few of his local guides:
Elmer, Felipe, and Carlos.

[truck whooshing]

We drive out into the bush,

and the road slowly turns
into barely more than a path.

Eventually, the guides
get out and use machetes

to clear the brush for the truck.

[upbeat music]

At last, we reach Cenote Sha-An,

and the guides start setting up.

Looking inside the cenote,
I can tell you this.

I would not want to fall
in there by accident.

The surface of the
water is 15 meters down,

and the only way out would
be climbing a tree root.

This is gonna be an adventure.

[mysterious music]

Elmer, Felipe, and Carlos
are rigging some ropes

so that we can rappel down to the water.

[bright music]

Meanwhile, the dive team is getting ready.

[bright music continues]

This is a full cave dive with
all the gear that requires,

plus something extra.

This is one of the unique pieces
of gear we're using today,

something you don't
normally see scuba diving:

a climbing harness.

[harness whooshing]

[gear clinking]

[harness whooshing]

Ready to go.

Woo.

[upbeat music]

With the ropes all set
up, it's time for our team

to rappel down into the cenote.

Jeff goes first to demonstrate.

[upbeat music continues]

[person speaking in a foreign language]

[Jeff screaming]

- Next it's my turn.

While I have never started
a dive with a rappel,

I did learn to rappel in high school,

so it's all good fun.

[dramatic music]

[Jonathan cheering and laughing]

[dramatic music continues]

[water sloshing]

The trees that we're rappelling
down are actually roots.

They don't go down into the bottom.

Once they reach the water,
they stop with a gap underneath

that makes them look like
something out of a sci-fi movie.

[mysterious music]

It takes a while to get
everyone and their gear down

into the water.

The divers can rappel, but
all the tanks and cameras

have to be lowered carefully to us.

Elmer, Felipe, and
Carlos are working hard.

At last, with all of our
gear, we can follow the beams

of sunlight down into the cenote.

[mysterious music continues]

In the middle of the
cenote is a debris pile

principally made of the rock that fell

when the ceiling collapsed,

opening this cave to sunlight.

But towards the edges of
the cenote, it gets deeper.

Aaron leads the way to a permanent
guide line into the cave.

Soon we have passed into the
cave, out of sight of sunlight.

[mysterious music continues]

We swim into a massive chamber larger

than a basketball court.

The water is crystal clear.

[mysterious music continues]

At the back of the chamber,

a passageway leads into the wall.

As I approach, Aaron suggests I go first

to get some great shots without
anyone kicking up the silt.

I slowly head inside,
not sure what to expect.

This is what I love about cave diving,

so much adventure exploring the unknown.

And there is something cool about swimming

through a crack in the rock.

[mysterious music continues]
[water bubbling]

I lead the way into a gorgeous passageway

that almost looks like
a miniature riverbed

with pebbles paving the floor.

The white limestone walls
reflect my video lights,

making beautiful illumination.

[mysterious music continues]

[water bubbling]

[mysterious music continues]

In a few minutes, we
reach an intersection,

and I'm not sure which way to go,

so I stop and wait for Jeff and Aaron.

[water bubbling]

[mysterious music continues]

[water bubbling]

[mysterious music]

As we continue down the limestone tunnel,

we eventually emerge into a huge room.

I stop for a shot and
then Jeff leads the way

into the room, following
a permanent guide line.

[mysterious music continues]

The patterns on the walls are sculpted

by hundreds of thousands
of years of erosion

as the water has slowly
dissolved the stone.

The patterns actually remind me of the way

that ocean water dissolves
the ice of an iceberg.

[mysterious music continues]

Striations in the wall show
where the water levels were

in the past during ice ages
when the sea levels were lower,

so the groundwater was lower too.

In the past, this cenote
was either partially

or completely dry.

[mysterious music continues]

Following the guide line, we
progress into another room.

Soon we hit a dead end
and have to turn around.

This isn't a very highly ornamented cave.

There isn't much in the way of speleothems

like stalactites and stalagmites.

[mysterious music continues]

Heading back out through the tunnel,

I hang back a ways to get some shots

of Jeff and Todd ahead of me.

[water bubbling]

Working our way back towards the cavern,

Aaron removes a section of
line he laid on the way in,

then we make our way back
up into the sunlit waters

of the cavern.

[gentle music]

[water bubbling]

[gentle music continues]

Jeff has found a cow
bone in the debris pile.

It's not hard to imagine
an animal wandering

through the woods and accidentally falling

into this deep pit.

Near the bone, the skull,

complete with a few remaining teeth.

[mysterious music]

Finally we surface and now,

the hard work is about to begin.

Woohoo.

To get us back out of the cenote,

the guides lower a rope ladder.

That ladder's not long enough.

We're not sure if this is gonna work,

but hopefully it will,
because we're not very good

at climbing trees.

[dramatic music]

- This is hard work.
- It looks like

it will be easy to climb,

but I assure you, it's not.

First, Jeff heads up while Aaron tries

to keep it tensioned so it
won't flip around sideways.

[dramatic music continues]

Next, it's my turn.

Here we go. [laughing]

[dramatic music continues]

By halfway up, my arms are
burning from the effort.

[dramatic music continues]

Then it's cameraman Todd's turn.

[dramatic music continues]

It's slow going, but
eventually, we all manage

to climb out of the cenote
with sore arms to show for it.

- [Todd] I got it.

[air whooshing]

- Not all cenotes are small holes

with water way down inside.

[light music]

We take a walk through the
woods to a cenote so large

that it looks more like a lake.

And in a small town outside Merida,

we check out the town well,
which is just a cenote

with a tiny opening.

I would love to dive in there,

but they probably don't want a scuba diver

in their water supply.

Even today, the cenotes allow
access to clean, fresh water.

But to the Mayans, cenotes
were not just sources of water.

Cenotes were also believed to be entrances

to the underworld, and
therefore, pathways to the gods.

[rhythmic chanting music]

In pre-Columbian times,

the Maya people ruled Central America.

They built staggering cities,

which included massive
step pyramids as temples

to the Maya gods.

They performed rituals that they believed

would keep the gods happy

to ensure their good fortune.

The Mayans would often throw
offerings into the cenotes

to please Chaac, the rain god.

Sometimes those offerings
included human sacrifices.

Would it be possible to
dive in a cenote used

by the Mayans for human sacrifices?

That's where we're going.

Our team is piling into the truck

and driving back out into the bush

to visit a very special
cenote used by the Mayans

for human sacrifices.

[truck rustling]

We arrive at Cenote San Antonio.

The opening was enlarged
and reinforced at some point

to be rectangular, but this tiny opening

was once an important place to the Mayans.

So important that we had
to get a special permit

to dive here.

Once again, our guides set
up some pulleys and rope

to get us and our gear
in and out of the cenote.

It might be hard to believe,

but this dive is even more
difficult than the last one.

There's no room for error.

We will only get one shot at this.

Our team suits up with only a vague idea

of what we're doing to
see on the other side

of that tiny hole in the ground.

[gear clicking]

We start with a meeting
to discuss our plan.

Because of the way this cenote was formed,

it is safer to be lowered
into it rather than rappel.

Aaron goes first.

Once he gets down there,

I can see just how far down that is.

I really don't wanna climb
a rope ladder out of this.

Listo.

As they lower me into the opening

and through to the other side,

I am swinging in free space as I descend,

spinning with the rope.

Rock climbing.

[Jonathan laughing]

Whoa, free flowing.

From down on the water,

Aaron turns on a light so I can see.

[ominous music]

The room in here is massive.

The ceiling is like a dome.

You could never climb out.

This cenote is a deadly trap for anything

that falls or is thrown inside.

[ominous music continues]

Soon, the guides lower
the rest of the team,

tanks, and cameras one at a time.

[mysterious music]

It's a very slow process.

Here comes my baby. [laughing]

By the time we start our dive,

I've been floating in the water
for more than half an hour.

I'm curious, though,
exactly how they're going

to get me out of here.

[ominous music]

But for the time being,

I am ready with a camera, lots of lights,

and my natural curiosity.

Aaron and Jeff lead us below.

[mysterious music]

The sides of the cenote are covered

in ancient dripstone
formations formed probably

during the last ice age
when sea levels were lower

and this cenote was at
least partially dry.

[mysterious music continues]

The walls are made of
sedimentary rock formed

from an ancient seabed.

All kinds of shells are stuck in it,

including this perfectly
formed sea urchin skeleton.

[mysterious music continues]

As we drop further, I focus
my camera on a jawbone.

It's the jaw of a horse,

which probably fell in here
by accident and drowned.

Nothing can escape this watery trap.

[ominous music]

[mysterious music]
Near the jaw,

I find my first trace of human presence:

a broken piece of pottery.

I have to get my head around the fact

that this is a pre-Columbian artifact

more than 1,000 years old.

Moving away from the walls
and out into the middle

of the cenote, I find a bone.

This is no horse bone.

It's a human tibia, the lower leg bone.

[ominous music]
And near it, the femur.

Humans are buried here.

[ominous music continues]

Not far away, a ghostly
sight: a human skull

resting peacefully next to a
perfectly intact earthen bowl.

At this depth, in fact,
there are human remains

almost everywhere I turn.

[ominous music continues]

Aaron directs me to a field
of human remains laying out

on the sand in plain view.

[ominous music continues]

A skull has its jaw sitting nearby.

[ominous music continues]

Of course, we don't touch
or disturb anything.

Not only is this a grave site;

it's part of an ongoing
archeological study.

We can look, but we
definitely cannot touch.

[ominous music continues]

There are easily dozens of bodies

at the bottom of this cenote,

and I have to wonder
what was happening here.

Were these people sacrificed to the gods?

Or where they simply people
who died and were buried here?

[ominous music continues]

What amazes me about this
place is the preservation

of the bones, which are
at least 1,000 years old.

If only these bones could talk,

what would they tell us about life

in the pre-Columbian Maya culture?

[ominous music continues]

Jeff and Aaron direct me to a
shelf on the wall at 90 feet.

There, resting peacefully,
the remains of two people.

Did they know each other?

Is their proximity a coincidence?

How did they get on this shelf?

All questions that will
likely never be answered.

[ominous music continues]

Nearby, a jaw with molars
that have cavities.

What can be learned of the ancient Mayans

from clues like this?

But not everything down
here is about death.

This cenote has some of the
most prolific cave fauna

I've ever seen, including
many blind cave fish

[mysterious music]

and a species of cave isopod
I've never seen before.

With the dive coming to an end,

we slowly ascend and finally surface

in the pitch darkness of the cenote.

That was the spookiest dive of my life,

and I'm definitely ready to get back

to the sunlit world above.

Elmer, Felipe, and Carlos
have to lift each of us

and all of our gear out
with a block and tackle.

It's hard work and these guys
are stronger than they look.

[gear whooshing]

[guides speaking in a foreign language]

- Hi, guys. [laughing]

Thanks for hoisting me up.

[guides laughing]

Merida, Mexico is not
particularly close to the ocean,

but a vast network of
unexplored cenotes nearby

and the rich Mayan history of the area

makes it one of the most
fascinating dive destinations

I've ever visited.

Without question, I'll be
back to explore more cenotes.

[mysterious music]

Who knows what secrets they
hold in their deep blue depths?

[mysterious music continues]

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