Saturday, October 28, 2006
Thursday morning, October 26th we departed from Puerto Aventuras at 11:00 a.m. for an area in the jungle west of the Club MEAVA (formerly the Robinson Club) to dive CENOTE LA HERRADURA (Horse Shoe) discovered and explored by Sergio Granucci. This is a shallow cave system with 1254 feet/380 meters of line in it. Sergio gave me enough directions that I was confident I would find it. We drove due west on this newly constructed dirt road where many properties have been bought, divided and sold. We traveled nearly 12 kilometers and were told the road ends up at a huge lagoon. We had no success in finding Cenote La Herradura as Sergio said it was quite a large cenote. However, we were successful with the help of a Mayan elderly man who we stopped to help with his truck. In our questions looking for Sergio´s cenote, we were told about another cenote and somehow we found it tucked deep into the jungle from the jungle road. This cenote had a huge dry cave ledge that dropped 40 feet from the normal land topography. It was a place where local Mayans cooked food, acquired water and sought shelter from the rain or heat. We discovered ancient rock steps that led down to a pool of beautiful crystal clear water. We were able to walk in the shallow water further back into the cave that had an obvious flow of water. 200 feet/60 meters into the cave we found a huge dome ceiling and deeper pools of water. Using a mask and our lights, we free dive the pools and discovered definite underwater cave passages that held much promise for future exploration. Continuing our investigation from this cenote we found more recent made paths cut by machetes that led us to two more, huge cave ledges with the second one containing ancient rock walls that indicated they were used as traps for animals to hunt as they drank the water. We were confident we were the first outsiders to view these cenotes. All of us were quite satisfied that our day was a success though we did not find Cenote La Herradura or able to make a cave dive.
Friday, October 27th we traveled west on the Ejido Jacinto Pat land west of Cenote Dos Ojos to dive CENOTE THE PIT. During the past three months, sascab (crushed limestone) had been placed on a cut road through the jungle making it possible to get within 200 meters of THE PIT. We brought with us rope, pulley systems and carabineers to lower and raise our Eanx single 80´s, our 40 cubic foot oxygen bottles and our Trimix double 80 cubic foot tanks. We jumped the 25 foot/8 meter drop to the water with our doubles and lowered or travel gas and oxygen bottles. My mission was to dive the deep siphon side of THE PIT and see how deep one could view natural daylight. Bob and Ken wanted to dive the Cardea passage. I reached the end of a guideline to a depth of 223 feet/68 meters and could see the outline of daylight pouring into the cenote. It was obvious that where I was you could see at least another 25 feet/8 meters deeper. According to the map, the maximum depth possible is 256 feet/78 meters. Bob & Ken reached a depth of 300 feet where a ¨cookie¨ placed by Nicholai Toussaint was present. They saw the line for the By-Pass passage that leads into the huge Wakulla Room. Bob & Ken were very impressed with the size of the Cardea passage and THE PIT itself. It exceeded their expectations!
After the dive we shared our water and soft drinks with eight Mayan members of the Ejido Jacinto Pat who were busy cutting into pieces with chain saws the plowed over trees knocked down by the bulldozer machines clearing the road to THE PIT. In addition, they were thinning out the jungle surrounding THE PIT and informed us that in two weeks sascab would be placed on the cleared roadway allowing vehicles to be able to drive directly up to the Cenote THE PIT. Soon, all divers will have easier access to this amazing cenote and geological wonder.
Saturday, October 28th. Our mission this day was to dive SISTEMA DOS PISOS, which means two floors as this cave system has a shallow and deeper level. That was first discovered and explored by Gunnar Wagner and Robbie Schmittner in 1999. It is located 4 kilometers south of Cenote Cristal on Highway 307 on the Rancho Campe Sino (The Farmer) property owned by ¨Don¨ Roberto Canche Camara. The deepest depth in the cave system is 85 feet/26 meters and has 12,153 feet/3704 meters of explored and surveyed passages. The main cenote requires a 25 minute hike into the jungle from where you can park a vehicle. However, with great advice from Robbie Schmittner there is another cenote (of three) named Cenote Haal Ep (pig in Maya) that is a ten minute hike from where we parked our vehicles as we invited Dennis Weeks of Paalmu to join us for the cave dive.
Using this cenote to enter the cave system has one drawback. The first 200 feet/61 meters is a very low and very silty bottom of organic and clay silt. With four of us divided into two teams, the third and fourth divers probable would have very poor visibility. As promised by Robbie, the cave would get better as we further swam upstream against an obvious flow of water. Robbie stated he thought this was one of the prettiest if not the most beautiful cave system of all in the Riviera Maya. That is quite a bold statement to make when you think of many other cave systems of quite impressive features such as Cenote Chan Hol, Cenote Calimba, Cenote Nohoch Nah Chich, the Gran Cenote upstream, Cenote Mundo Escondido, Cenote Tuhs Xubaxa Aktun (the Mastadon Cave), the Room of Tears and beyond upstream Cenote Carwash and the list goes on.
I got news for every body, this cave system was stunning in beauty. My regulator nearly dropped out of mouth as we progressed upstream. The limestone was uniquely carved out by the water drainage and the decorations were beyond being numerous as if in a forest. Everything was of the purest white color and no percolation. The further we swam upstream the larger the passageways became. You think you have seen the best of the best and then you dive this cave. Euphoric and spectacular do not justly describe what we saw. We swam what we calculated about 3000 feet/909 meters upstream as the average depth was 20 feet/6 meters. We encountered several permanent guide line intersections and one jump along the way and made it to Cenote Balam or what is known as the main entrance. We had not reached our thirds yet so we continued further a sort distance before calling the dive. We found an ancient Mayan pot though broken and we found the line that leads to the deeper level of this cave system.
While swimming back enjoying the beauty I was angry with myself not making the effort to dive this cave system sooner as I had been aware of it for the past eight years when Gunnar and Robbie first started exploring it. Folks, this cave system is worth every peso (80 pesos) if not more. It is a movie set dream come true!
After the dive, the four of us stopped by the Xibalba Dive center to find Robbie and sincerely thank him for his advice of using the closest cenote as our entry point despite the nasty first 200 feet/60 meters of passage. Then we drove to the Tulum Beach to the Mayan Grill Restaurant (formerly Nacho’s Latitude 20) to enjoy a platter of fresh seafood civiche and nice, cold SOL cervezas overlooking the beautiful Caribbean Sea.
I
Be SAFE and maintain,
STEVE
www.steve-gerrard.com
stevegerrard@cavediver.com
CELL PHONE: 9 84 127 1550
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Thursday morning, October 26th we departed from Puerto Aventuras at 11:00 a.m. for an area in the jungle west of the Club MEAVA (formerly the Robinson Club) to dive CENOTE LA HERRADURA (Horse Shoe) discovered and explored by Sergio Granucci. This is a shallow cave system with 1254 feet/380 meters of line in it. Sergio gave me enough directions that I was confident I would find it. We drove due west on this newly constructed dirt road where many properties have been bought, divided and sold. We traveled nearly 12 kilometers and were told the road ends up at a huge lagoon. We had no success in finding Cenote La Herradura as Sergio said it was quite a large cenote. However, we were successful with the help of a Mayan elderly man who we stopped to help with his truck. In our questions looking for Sergio´s cenote, we were told about another cenote and somehow we found it tucked deep into the jungle from the jungle road. This cenote had a huge dry cave ledge that dropped 40 feet from the normal land topography. It was a place where local Mayans cooked food, acquired water and sought shelter from the rain or heat. We discovered ancient rock steps that led down to a pool of beautiful crystal clear water. We were able to walk in the shallow water further back into the cave that had an obvious flow of water. 200 feet/60 meters into the cave we found a huge dome ceiling and deeper pools of water. Using a mask and our lights, we free dive the pools and discovered definite underwater cave passages that held much promise for future exploration. Continuing our investigation from this cenote we found more recent made paths cut by machetes that led us to two more, huge cave ledges with the second one containing ancient rock walls that indicated they were used as traps for animals to hunt as they drank the water. We were confident we were the first outsiders to view these cenotes. All of us were quite satisfied that our day was a success though we did not find Cenote La Herradura or able to make a cave dive.
Friday, October 27th we traveled west on the Ejido Jacinto Pat land west of Cenote Dos Ojos to dive CENOTE THE PIT. During the past three months, sascab (crushed limestone) had been placed on a cut road through the jungle making it possible to get within 200 meters of THE PIT. We brought with us rope, pulley systems and carabineers to lower and raise our Eanx single 80´s, our 40 cubic foot oxygen bottles and our Trimix double 80 cubic foot tanks. We jumped the 25 foot/8 meter drop to the water with our doubles and lowered or travel gas and oxygen bottles. My mission was to dive the deep siphon side of THE PIT and see how deep one could view natural daylight. Bob and Ken wanted to dive the Cardea passage. I reached the end of a guideline to a depth of 223 feet/68 meters and could see the outline of daylight pouring into the cenote. It was obvious that where I was you could see at least another 25 feet/8 meters deeper. According to the map, the maximum depth possible is 256 feet78 meters. Bob & Ken reached a depth of 300 feet where a ¨cookie¨ placed by Nicholai Toussaint was present. They saw the line for the By-Pass passage that leads into the huge Wakulla Room. Bob & Ken were very impressed with the size of the Cardea passage and THE PIT itself. It exceeded their expectations!
After the dive we shared our water and soft drinks with eight Mayan members of the Ejido Jacinto Pat who were busy cutting into pieces with chain saws the plowed over trees knocked down by the bulldozer machines clearing the road to THE PIT. In addition, they were thinning out the jungle surrounding THE PIT and informed us that in two weeks sascab would be placed on the cleared roadway allowing vehicles to be able to drive directly up to the Cenote THE PIT. Soon, all divers will have easier access to this amazing cenote and geological wonder.
Saturday, October 28th. Our mission this day was to dive SISTEMA DOS PISOS, which means two floors as this cave system has a shallow and deeper level. That was first discovered and explored by Gunnar Wagner and Robbie Schmittner in 1999. It is located 4 kilometers south of Cenote Cristal on Highway 307 on the Rancho Campe Sino (The Farmer) property owned by ¨Don¨ Roberto Canche Camara. The deepest depth in the cave system is 85 feet/26 meters and has 12,153 feet/3704 meters of explored and surveyed passages. The main cenote requires a 25 minute hike into the jungle from where you can park a vehicle. However, with great advice from Robbie Schmittner there is another cenote (of three) named Cenote Haal Ep (pig in Maya) that is a ten minute hike from where we parked our vehicles as we invited Dennis Weeks of Paalmu to join us for the cave dive.
Using this cenote to enter the cave system has one drawback. The first 200 feet/61 meters is a very low and very silty bottom of organic and clay silt. With four of us divided into two teams, the third and fourth divers probable would have very poor visibility. As promised by Robbie, the cave would get better as we further swam upstream against an obvious flow of water. Robbie stated he thought this was one of the prettiest if not the most beautiful cave system of all in the Riviera Maya. That is quite a bold statement to make when you think of many other cave systems of quite impressive features such as Cenote Chan Hol, Cenote Calimba, Cenote Nohoch Nah Chich, the Gran Cenote upstream, Cenote Mundo Escondido, Cenote Tuhs Xubaxa Aktun (the Mastadon Cave), the Room of Tears and beyond upstream Cenote Carwash and the list goes on.
I got news for every body, this cave system was stunning in beauty. My regulator nearly dropped out of mouth as we progressed upstream. The limestone was uniquely carved out by the water drainage and the decorations were beyond being numerous as if in a forest. Everything was of the purest white color and no percolation. The further we swam upstream the larger the passageways became.
You think you have seen the best of the best and then you dive this cave. Euphoric and spectacular do not justly describe what we saw. We swam what we calculated about 3000 feet/909 meters upstream as the average depth was 20 feet/6 meters. We encountered several permanent guide line intersections and one jump along the way and made it to Cenote Balam or what is known as the main entrance. We had not reached our thirds yet so we continued further a sort distance before calling the dive. We found an ancient Mayan pot though broken and we found the line that leads to the deeper level of this cave system.
While swimming back enjoying the beauty I was angry with myself not making the effort to dive this cave system sooner as I had been aware of it for the past eight years when Gunnar and Robbie first started exploring it. Folks, this cave system is worth every peso (80 pesos) if not more. It is a movie set dream come true!
After the dive, the four of us stopped by the Xibalba Dive center to find Robbie and sincerely thank him for his advice of using the closest cenote as our entry point despite the nasty first 200 feet/60 meters of passage. Then we drove to the Tulum Beach to the Mayan Grill Restaurant (formerly Nacho’s Latitude 20) to enjoy a platter of fresh seafood civiche and nice, cold SOL cervezas overlooking the beautiful Caribbean Sea.
I trust ALL is well.
Be SAFE and maintain,
STEVE
www.steve-gerrard.com
stevegerrard@cavediver.com
CELL PHONE: 9 84 127 1550