Deep Horizon Blog

Today I was diving with Dr. Harry Hicks who is a former student from 1996. Harry and his wife Linda usually spend 6 – 10 weeks in Akumal enjoying the pleasures of life and giving the opportunity for Harry to cave dive at his leisure.

I have been wanting to dive this cave for the past five years, however access to the YAKUL CALETA was limited or closed for cave diving. This cave system was discovered and explored by the late GREG BROWN who died of natural causes on February 27th, 2006. It is the third deepest cave system in the Riviera Maya at 226 feet/68.5 meters and has over 6600 feet/2000 meters of surveyed line.

First, I had to gain permission from a land owner to have access to the YaKul caleta. With the help of my friend – PABLO DIAZ – part owner and manager of the Akumal Dive Shop – I was able to get in contact with OSCAR CONSTANDSE who is owner of the XEL HA tourist attraction along with partial owner of X’CERET. We called Oscar on his cell phone and I had a great conversation with him. I was given an unlimited permission to use his land on the Caleta to dive SISTEMA AAK KAMIN. Fantastic!

Therefore, Harry and I made the dive. We found the main entrance to the spring and I found the permanent guideline about 200 feet back into the cave. The lines were covered with marine growth but still in good, safe shape. As we swam along following the guidelines, I used my hands to clean off as much of the marine growth. I figured we swam along 2000 feet of guide lines, however no success finding the deep section. Near the end of our dive, I finally found a guideline heading south against a spring flow and in the direction where I suspect I will find the deep section. Most of the passages are 20 feet or less.

I am planning my second dive for the third week of September. It is NOT a pretty cave but interesting enough to warrant more dives to learn more about this cave system.

August 8th & 10th, 2006

It was these two days I spent with Jay & Dalma Fryden from the Houston, Texas area taking them on four cenote dives. On August 8th we dived Cenote Chickin Ha and Cenote Chac Mool with lunch at THE PUB in Puerto Aventuras. I was able to shoot a few photos underwater at Chickin Ha. On Thursday, August 10th we dived the Grand Cenote and Cenote Dos Ojos with a great lunch at Natcho’s Latitude 20 Restaurant on the Tulum beach overlooking the beautiful Caribbean.

Jay and Dalma were stunned by the beauty and clarity of the cenotes that confirmed what they were being told by many divers. We capped off the last day with a relaxing sit with refreshments and fries/chips at Oscar & Lalo’s Restaurant on the peaceful beach overlooking the beautiful Soliman Bay.

I downloaded over 130 photos of land & underwater photo shots and presented them on CD. Jay is NSS-CDS Intro to Cave certified by Chris Copecky.

I had planned this trip to Cozumel for two weeks as I wanted to visit with German Mendoza Yanez who is an “active” Cavern & Cave Diving Instructor. I have known German since 1993 when I certified him as a NACD cave diver. German was living in Akumal and working for Arturo Orozco at the Akumal Dive Center at that time.

My last visit to Cozumel diving with German was in 1999 as we explored together along with Magnus Amstrong the CENOTE BAMBU. This cenote was basically a hole in a swampy area with bamboo trees growing around it. We found a maximum depth of 175 feet/53 meters with very little cave passage and very soft walls. It is a type of dive you dive it once and be done with it. It was not very exciting though it had a few interesting characteristics.

For this trip I wanted to take my truck over to Cozumel on the TRANS del CARIBE ferry from the CALICA loading ramp located one kilometer south of X’CERET. This ferry service for trucks and cars started about two years ago as I had heard nothing but good things about it. They now have two ferry ships 350 feet/106 meters in length operating six trips daily that costs about $60.00 USD each way. These ships were bought over from Denmark. These ferries are a tremendous improvement from the old vehicle ferry from Puerto Morelos that took six – eight hours to cross.

I chose the 8:00 A.M. ferry on Thursday morning as I arrived at 7:05 A.M. to get in line for loading. I was amazed that they could load double-tandem tractor trailer rigs as three of them were loaded with a mix variety of other trucks, pick-up trucks and cars. We departed at 8:05 A.M. as the journey across the channel took 85 minutes. At the same time, Lena Ericson was taking the people ferry from Playa Del Carmen to the ferry dock in San Miguel. Our plan was to meet at German’s new location for his YUCATECH EXPEDITIONS & MANTA SPORTS dive store. It is located at the corner of Calle 3 South and 5th Avenue next to the AQUILAR HOTEL or one block from the Coffee Bean store or two blocks from the water front roadway.

I arrived at German’s store at 9:45 A.M. as Lena was standing in front of the shop speaking with German. I had six sets of doubles for Lena and I and all our cave diving gear plus my photography equipment. German was almost finished loading his truck with his gear and a guest cave diver – Brad Reynolds who lives in Austin, Texas. Brad has been cave diving for several years being certified through NACD Cave Instructor Benja Sacristin over on the mainland. Brad was on a one month vacation renting an apartment a few blocks from German’s dive store. Our first dive site was Sistema Aerolita.

SISTEMA AEROLITA DE PARASIO

This dive would be my second visit to this very interesting cave system. My first time was in 1997 when I performed a dive with Michael Menduno and Chuck Jones. We did a photo shoot with my Nikonis V camera system to be used in one of last issues of the excellent AQUACORPS Technical diving magazine. It was this dive where I was shown the sulphur falls, a really weird but dynamic biological formation in the cave system.

This dive today, our plan was to make a jump to the first left offshoot passage, make another jump to the right into a deeper passage (55 – 60 feet/16.6 – 18 meters), make a right at a “T” intersection, pass straight through another “T” intersection and make a second jump back to the main line further into the cave system. German chose these passages with the idea it would provide the best photo opportunities. We followed the route as carefully drawn out on our notebooks and I did my best to shoot some photos. I found it challenging as (1) I was not familiar with the cave passages, (2) the halocline was annoying and (3) the visibility was OK but the wall and decorations were very dark stained by the geologic time of tannic acid in the water. Despite these obstacles, I manage to capture a few good images and the dive itself was fun and highly interesting.
This cave has many life forms as German believes he has found another new species.

Sistema Aerolita is reported to have over 60,000 feet/18,181 meters as the first explorer was Mexico’s mot famous diver – Ramon Zapata. A variety of cave explorers have laid into the cave system including Jeff Bozanic, Chuck Jones, Andris “Sharky” Labarthe, Tom Morris, Steve Omeroid, Wes Skiles and Dennis Williams. I am told by Sharkey (who is my outstanding lawyer) that there is one potential passage still being pushed towards the SISTEMA QUEBRADA located 5 kilometers to the south.

Sadly, a new marina will begin construction in a few months located at the mouth of the caleta with the Caribbean Sea. What affect this new development will have on the cave system remains to be seen.

SISTEMA QUEBRADA – Cenote 1 KM

We returned to German’s dive store for German and Brad to switch their gear to a new set of doubles. This opportunity allowed me to get an hour charge time on my strobes as I had checked into a hotel room at the AGUILAR HOTEL located next door. For $40.00 I got air conditioning, TV, refrigerator, hot water showers, swimming pool and the room was very clean. For lunch, Lena got everyone a bag of burgers, french fries and soft drinks to eat on the fly.

We drove south on the “new” coastal highway and parked on the east side of the road a German had a path to take us nearly 300 feet/90 meters through some rugged low lying jungle. This cenote is a small pool of tannic water that was originally discovered by the “late” Dennis Williams. My first dive in this cave system was March, 1987 from the ocean entrance diving with Dustin Clesi. We were part of a cave diving safety conference that Parker Turner had organized during two days held at the Cozumel Archeological Museum building to help better inform the local divers the hazards of cave diving.

That late afternoon, our dive plan was for German to take us on a new passage he recently explored and installed about 2000 feet/606 meters of line that featured some nice cave decorations. It average about 20 feet/6 meters in depth. German informed me that the halocline would be a problem and the speolothems would be stained dark brown. After our matching, bubble check and review of our dive plan, I was about to descend first when Security Officers from the CHANKANAAB NATIONAL PARK arrived followed by two Cozumel police officers. They were asking what we were doing as I found that quite odd to ask as it must have been very obvious what we were doing. German informed them who he was and that he had permission to dive the cenote.

After everyone was able to descend through the zero visibility and into the cave passage, German led the way. Again, I found the conditions quite challenging with the halocline, dark stained features and easily created percolation. Twenty-five minutes into the dive my “leak alarm” in my Light & Motion Titan housing started flashing like a Christmas tree. Yikes! I was nearly in tears as I imagined seeing the salt water fill my housing destroying my $1200.00 USD Nikon 100 camera. However, I kept my cool and gingerly carried the camera housing pointing up and accepting the fate that “no mas” photos would be happening. After about five minutes, the lights quit flashing and I saw no water in the housing. The camera and strobes were working fine and I was really puzzled what caused the alarm to off. Anyway, I continued taking photos with no further problems.

German called the dive about 40 minutes into the dive. We all had plenty of air. Taking photos on the return swim was almost pointless because of the percolation. German did indeed find a nice passage with several areas populated with beautiful decorations though stained a very dark brown. I thoroughly enjoyed the dive, relieved that my camera system did not flood and having an opportunity to see another part of Sistema Quebrada.

The cave was first explored during the mid 1980’s by Ramon Zapata. Most of the extensive exploration was conducted by Jeff Bozanic, the “late” Dennis Williams, Steve & Judy Omeroid, Parker Turner with over 31,500 feet/9545.5 meters of surveyed passages. This past year, an episode of “DIVE DETECTIVES” TV Show with John Chatterton featured Jeff Bozanic and Steve Omeroid in determining how ancient Mayan artifacts got so far back into one section of the cave system. If you dive the cave at the ocean entrance you will find a huge school of glass minnows and tarpon. Beginning in September – 2006, German will be granted the concession rights for cave diving into this cave system, meaning German will be responsible for all cave diving activities.

SISTEMA CROCODRILLO

The next morning – August 3rd – our plan was to depart from German’s dive store and travel to a Paradise Beach Swimming Club.  On this property are scattered three small ponds, actually cenotes surrounded by beautiful lush green grass, coconut palm trees, and with tall reeds and lily pads permeating the water. This entry was a joy compared to Cenote 1 KM the day before. German showed us the particular cenote we would be entering as we reviewed the proposed dive plan. It would be another low or no visibility descent into a large passageway. German made it clear that this cave system was larger in size and more highly decorated. He was correct. We would swim upstream and make about four different jumps. About 250 feet/76 meters into the cave system, German showed us this beautiful colonial Spanish figurine.

There was no doubt that the cave passages were larger and definitely much easier to take photos. At first, I was having difficulties with my camera shutter not working. The frustration in my mind was beginning to rise. After about ten minutes I finally figured it out as somehow the automatic focus on my camera got bumped on, probably from all the vegetation tangled around my camera housing descending into the cave system. You cannot use automatic focus in a complete dark void such as a cave environment. I quickly switched it over to manual focus and my camera system starting behaving normally, much to my relief. This cave has oodles of formations though stained a dark brown color from tannic acid. There was much less halocline to deal with making the photography more successful.

This cave system was my favorite of the three. However, I must be fair as I have seen only small portions of the Aerolita and Quebrada cave systems. German called the dive on time swimming in and we retraced our way back picking up the spools and reels placed at the various jumps we had taken. During several points of the dive I was able to capture some nice images of German and Lena swimming along the cave passages. At the cenote entrance, German showed me two crocodile skulls, three prehistoric Mayan pots and a wooden log tool believed to be used by the colonial Spanish to skin crocodile hides, thus the reason for the crocodile skeletons. I captured all with my digital camera system. What a reward to complete a dive!

I asked German how did he find this cave system? A friend told German about the small cenote. It was plugged naturally with organic debris accumulated over many years. A few years ago, Cozumel had one of those all day, several days of rains. It was this natural act of nature that virtually uncorked the hole from the huge volume of water trying to drain itself through the cave system to the ocean. It basically blew all the organic debris out of the hole and exposed this beautiful window to the underground aquifer. Theb friend informed German of the new opening. He has been a superb supporter for the cave diving exploration and allowing all cave divers the opportunity to use his property and dive this stimulating cave system.

To this date the cave has been explored and surveyed with 9087 feet/2754 meters of passages by Gerardo Aizpuru, Alex Alvarez, Juan Carlos Cartiilo, German Mendoza, Mateo Gutierrrez, Raul Rangel and Diego Romo. The maximum depth is 57 feet/17.2 meters. The first explorers were German and Diego Romo.

After the dive we were able to use the outdoor showers cleaning ourselves and our exposure suits as it was a beach swimming club with most customers from the cruise ships. We returned to German’s dive store to put away his and Brad’s cave diving gear. Once that task was completed we headed to one of German’s favorite restaurants – The Candela – for a late afternoon meal of excellent food and fine refreshments. We were having such a good time with the camaraderie that I blew off taking the 4:00 P.M. ferry back to Calica and waited for the 8:00 P.M. ferry. The return trip back to the Riviera Maya was flawless and completed the two day adventure. I was very satisfied with the success of the dives and the photography. German Mendoza was a perfect host.

GERMAN MENDOZA YANEZ.
YUCATECH EXPEDITIONS – located at Calle 3 Sur
and Avenida 5, beside the Hotel Aquilar.
Business Phone: 987 872 5659
Cell Phone: 987 100 3190
www.yucatech.net

CENOTE SIETE BOCAS – 7 MOUTHS

Puerto Morelos – August 1st, 2006

This cenote I became aware of during April, 2006 as the last time I was out in this area west of Puerto Morelos was in June, 1999 diving with Marike Jasper and Jeronimo Aviles. We dived another cenote called TRES BOCAS or Three Mouths. I had heard this was a popular cenote for divers in the Cancun/Puerto Morelos area and I wanted to check it out.

Cenote TRES BOCAS is 127 feet/38.4 meters deep with several large stalactites hanging from the ceiling; one measuring over 50 feet buried into the silt debris cone floor. That meant we could not confirm it was a stalactite or column. It was a very nice dive with crystal clear water. There were three openings from the surface of the land to a large air dome with one opening large enough to build wooden steps down to the water. The only drawback with this dive site is it requires an eight minute walk from where you can park your vehicle.

On Wednesday, April 5th I drove west on a dirt road, which is one kilometer south of the traffic light in Puerto Morelos. This road travels beyond 22 kilometers into the jungle. The reason I drove out this road was to reconfirm the distance and see if I could find Cenote TRES BOCAS again. My have things changed in seven years as everything else in the Riviera Maya. At the 18th kilometer on the road, right or north side was a large sign advertising 7 Bocas (mouths) or known as DEEP BLUE. Wow, this is new. I follow the signs, paid 50 pesos and drove on a rough trail about two kilometers into the jungle. Here I found the jungle had been pruned back and someone was developing this place into an outdoor adventure site as they were advertising miradoor trees, chicle camp, Mayan vestigos, camping and cenote diving. Many paths were being made with sascab gravel, palapas being built and sure enough, I counted seven holes into the ground. The largest one had wooden steps down to an underground pool of water with a small platform and one surf board floating on top. I was impressed and I intended to return the next day to dive it.

Back out on the road with my truck I still intended to move on to Cenote TRES BOCAS. However, ½ kilometers further west I discover another outdoor adventure site called BOCA del PUMA or the Puma Mouth. Their sign advertised bird watching, chicle village, zip line, rappelling, snorkel and cenote dive. I parked my truck and walked the dirt road into the property. Approximately 660 feet/ 200 meters in I saw where they had developed a tower for a zip line and a further 100 meters I found the cenote for diving. Actually, it is a dry cave with rock steps that leads to a large pool of water. The water is crystal clear and no doubt goes down deep. One of the workers of the property walks up and offers to turn on the lights inside the cave powered by a generator. He tells me this cenote is something like 100 feet/30 meters deep. I am beginning to seriously doubt that this dive site could be called a safe cenote dive. However, my intentions are to return the next day and dive and confirm the depth and configuration.

I am still trying to reach Cenote TRES BOCAS when I come upon another sign on the left or south side of the road promoting a cenote called VERDE LUCERO. I turn left and drive through the gate and travel about 300 meters. Here I find a few palapa buildings and one block building. I park my truck and I find a person who is taking care of the property. He leads me to the cenote. It is a large circular cenote probably 300 feet/90 meters in diameter with a twenty foot/6 meter drop to the water. There are wooden steps leading down to the water. I could see the top of a debris cone that I estimated to be 17 feet/5 meters deep. The water was greenish. The property care taker had no information to offer me on maximum depth or if there was an underwater cave. Again, my intentions were to return the next day and confirm the depth and answer questions.

Finally I made it to Cenote TRES BOCAS, which is 20 kilometers west of Puerto Morelos. I did not walk and look at the cenote since I was already familiar with it.
I considered the day to be a big success as finding three cenotes to dive made it all worth while.

The next day did not arrive until August 1st as I continually keep myself quite busy. I drove north on Highway 307 from Puerto Aventuras about noon and arrived at the Cenote SIETE BOCAS. Two workers were working on a palapa as I asked permission to dive the cenote paying 50 pesos for the dive site fee. I prepared my equipment at my truck, walked over to the entry way and descended down the wooden steps. I jumped into the water, picked up from the platform and clipped off my “buddy” bottle making sure everything is working properly. My intent of the dive was to confirm the depth as told by one of the land workers, which a little over 100 feet/30 meters. I begin descending following the east side wall expecting to find a guideline, however none is found. Above me I could see the brilliant daylight filtering through six of the seven holes. The visibility is very good. Following the wall downward, I carefully watch my depth gauge. At fifty feet/15 meters I see below what appears to be the cenote floor. Great, everything is proceeding as planned. At 96 feet/29 meters I hit saltwater mixed with hydrogen sulfide (H2S). I notice my face is stinging figuring it is the saltwater. Then I realize there is no floor as there are many leaves and organic debris floating in this saltwater zone. Ah, the appearance of a false floor from above. I descended another 15 feet/4.5 meters and see the visibility has become much poorer. I decide to ascend back above the 96 foot/29 meter level back into the fresh water. I wanted to tie-off a guideline to use as a reference point. I ascend to 78 feet/23.6 meters and decide it is best to swim around the perimeter and see what I can find. Sure enough, on the west side of the cenote wall I find a knotted, braided guideline following the wall horizontally. This is good as I am hoping to find something showing divers have been diving this cenote. I follow it for about 40 feet/12 meters when it abruptly ends. On the string was a yellow arrow directional marker pointing back. On it was the letters INAH, which is the Mexican Government archeological organization. I immediately think this may belong to Jeronimo Aviles who lives in Puerto Morelos.

I decide at this point this is a good tie-off place because there is a rare formation securing the end of the horizontal line. So far, all the walls of the cenote are very smooth. I tie-off my guideline and begin my descent. I pass the 96 feet/29 meters level back into the saltwater and hydrogen sulfide. My face begins to sting, however that is always normal me for when diving saltwater, though, I must admit this was a little bit more intense. Descending the wall, carefully watching my gauge and my guideline I pass the 130 feet/39.4 meter. Wow, this cenote is going deeper than expected. The visibility is only about 15 feet/4.5 meters. I notice my lips beginning to feel numb. I decide to descend further because I really wanted to confirm the depth and hoping this was simply a hydrogen sulfide layer as like in Cenote Angelita 10 kilometers south of Tulum. At 155 feet/50 meters, no bottom, no improvement in visibility and no clear saltwater zone.

My lips were totally numb, my face still acutely stinging, the facial muscles around my eyes were aching and I was now feeling nauseated. My eyes felt as if they wanted to shut down. I was in trouble. I remembered an email story written by Matt Matthes of Playa Del Carmen several years ago where he and a friend were diving a deep cenote in the State of Yucatan (Merida) near the Gulf of Mexico. They descended into the cenote and came upon hydrogen sulfide of an intense level. After 10 minutes into the dive they were experiencing the same symptoms as I was now. They immediately ascended and got out of water. That is exactly what I did as I concentrated on reeling my guideline and ascending. I was really praying that my symptoms would not get worse. I got back into the fresh water and the stinging sensation began to reside. However, my lips and facial muscles were very numb and I still felt queasy. I reached 15 feet/4.5 meters level for my safety stop and all my symptoms were withdrawing. At the surface with a total time of the dive at 22 minutes I distinctly knew I got myself into a highly concentrated area and dangerous level of hydrogen sulfide. I floated at the surface for about 10 minutes angry that I had put myself into a dangerous situation not because of the depth; because I should have known better to back off once I felt that stinging sensation on my face. That was a clear signal of the high concentration of H2S. You learn by experience as this was my first time encountering this kind of environmental hazard. This cenote will be designated a dangerous dive site unless diving 90 feet/27 meters or less. In addition, I will return within the next few weeks with Sergio Granucci and from a depth of 90 feet/27 meters we will plumb for the bottom using a fiberglass tape with a lead weight and utilize my ScubaPro sonar gun to try to hopefully determine the actual depth of this unique cenote.

I walked up the wooden steps and returned to my truck. I was feeling much better. By the time I was dressed back into my street clothes and all my equipment put away I was feeling 100% great. So good, I decided to continue on with my planned day. I drove my truck to the Cenote PUMA de BOCA site and they were closed. Scratch that dive. I next drove over to Cenote VERDE LUCARO. They were open with many local people swimming and enjoying the later afternoon hot day. I prepared my equipment, got into the water and confirmed this cenote with a maximum depth of 66 feet/20 meters, very clear water below 15 feet/4.5 meters. There was no cave or cavern area; strictly an open water dive, circular in circumference with a dramatic debris cone. I was able to recover for the land-owners two plastic chairs, a few kid-size shoe fins and one 5-gallon plastic bucket. My questions for this cenote were completely answered.

A week later I was speaking with German Mendoza in Cozumel and I was telling him about my incident at Cenote SIETE BOCAS (Deep Blue). He informed me that he has encountered the exact same thing in a deep cenote in Cozumel. In addition, he said that he had heard that Jeronimo Aviles had a similar experience in a deep cenote near Puerto Morelos. That information supported my theory that Cenote SIETE BOCAS was being dived by Jeronimo. Unfortunately, I am having a difficult time contacting him as he is spending the summer months playing with the Great Whale Sharks of Isla Holbox.