Diving, Lake Alchichica - Oct 2004
October 2004
I love Alchichica. There's a lot of fruitcake stuff written about it. Apparently it's 700m deep. Its a UFO airport, there is a monster and strange lights can be seen in the depths.
This was my second visit to the infamous lake, and once again we were inundated with equipment problems. See pictures of my last vist to Alchichica in 2003 here.
The goal of this trip was to take photographs of Taylors Salamander which can be seen below.
Failure of the electric pump meant Luis had to use a "scuba pump" to inflate his matress.
Alchichica is not, contrary to some information sources, either bottomless or 700m (>2000 ft) deep. It is in fact 64m deep at the deepest with an average depth of 36 M (>100ft) It is however the deepest natural lake in Mexico. Some cenotes are deeper but cenotes are not lakes they are entrances to the aquifer.
Thanks to Gustavo Martinez, whose father's family is orginally from Alchichica, I now know that this is a "mojonera", a legacy from the times before the 1910 revolution that served as a boundary between two haciendas.
Supposedly more saline than seawater. I wasn't convinced this time. Tasting the water it tastes salty but not more than the ocean. With some refining of weight in the end I used about 3 quarters of the weight I would use in the ocean.
Alchichica's salinity makes it a very special ecosystem. It is home to a fish "Poblana Alchichica" that is listed as being in very serious danger of extinction. "Poblano Alchichica", not suprisingly, only lives in Lake Alchichica.
Puneet proudly presents that the 'Alchichica Rabbits' that he and Jens captured.
Preparing for the afternoon dive and dealing with endless equipment problems.
Here I am about to enter the water for my night dive, the goal of which was to photograph the Salamanders.
By night the lake is teeming with life. The goal of my dive was to take photographs of this very peculiar amphibian which I believe is called Taylor's Salamander. The external gills (lungs?) that can clearly be seen in this picture are an amzing link between water and land
Post dive. Time for a few beers and a campfire dinner. Just perfect!
The Alchichica crater rim with Pico de Orizaba in the background. The highest volcano in Mexico.
Jens cuts wood ready for the evening fire.
Patty and Luis by the fireside. Instead of burning fireproof wood, we brought wood with us this time.
Through the whole dive I must have seen 40 Salamanders from a few inches to almost a foot in length. The water is layered distinctly with thermoclines and at about 100ft deep visibility drops to about 5 ft. The larger salamanders are found in the deeper colder water.
Liliana driving off. I had to walk out so we could distribute the weight of the diving gear over the car.
