I love SCUBA diving. I haven't dived for eighteen months. I've missed it.

My wife Carla, my son Jonathan, and my daughter Rebekah decided to take a long weekend in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, partly for vacation, mostly for four days of diving. My son and I live for diving, my daughter loves diving, and my wife goes along with me, occasionally.

We arrived Friday night. The hotel had messed up the room arrangements. After an hour and a half and a couple twenties, we get a great room, we eat dinner, and we go to bed.

Day One, Saturday.

It rained two and a half inches. No sun and no diving. 

Day Two, Sunday.

Strong winds, big surf, the harbor is closed. No diving.

Day Three. Monday.

The harbor is still closed. We are persuaded to try cavern diving in a sink hole an hour inland and south. Our guide is a Spaniard named Juan Manuel. Really. He is a Cave Dive instructor. I like him. He provides verbal training, and some stern warnings. I wonder how my wife is doing.

We gear up and walk down a trail to the sink hole entrance. I've never dived this way. Normally we jump from a boat and sometimes we swim from the shore. We've never driven inland and hiked to the dive spot.

That's me (my back) in the foreground, and my wife and daughter by the water.

We jump in, get flashlights and one last briefing, and under we go. I've got to admit, the scenery is lovely.

Diving deeper, we are now forty feet under water which is another thirty feet under rock; altogether we are seventy feet down. I again wonder how my wife is doing.

Our guide points to some warning signs which form a picket-fence before the next bend. The first is amusing and to the point: Stop. Prevent Your Death. Go no Farther. It includes a cute little picture of the Grim Reaper.

The next sign is for the less literate. 

Our guide nods at the warning signs as if to fulfill some inner obligation. Then he swims on past. 

Like lemmings, we follow.

And let me tell you, it is worth it. We enter a cathedral-like cavern and all the travel hassle and dive delays are worth it.

Closest is Jonathan, next is Rebekah, and farthest is Carla. I love this picture. Just love it. And I am so proud of my wife and kids. 

I love this kind of adventure, and doing it with my wife and kids made it even better.

Below is my family after the dive, and below that are some more photos.

After all of it, my wife said she'd been fine. But I think she was glad to go back to the hotel.