MARK CONRAD, TIM CORWIN, BILL LEVINE & KEITH PRICE
Beginning on Sunday, March 11th, 2007 I conducted a six diving day group trip featuring outstanding cave diving sites. The intent of this ¨Featured Dive Site¨ group trip was to offer some of the best cave dives of the Riviera Maya. All four divers stayed at Villas DeRosa located at Aventuras Akumal. Mark Conrad lives in Houston, Texas, Tim Corwin lives in South Hampton, Long Island with Bill Levine and Keith Price residing in the Sacramento, California area.
We began diving on Sunday, March 11th with our first dive at CENOTE SAC XQUIN. This dive site requires an eight minute hike from where I could park the van located nine kilometers west of the village of Chemuyil. For me to pull this week off, several of the chosen dive sites would require the help of a sherpa. Luckily, I found a young man whose name is Joey Eastburn of Gulfshores, Alabama. His Father and Uncle have a WW II buoy tender vessel that has been converted into a diving research boat for College and University diving and science programs. For the past six months this vessel has been parked in the Puerto Aventuras marina. Joey was an invaluable and well-liked person in helping assist with the difficult logistics that some of the dive sites would require. This cave is shallow and was originally explored and surveyed by Robbie Schmittner and Gunnar Wagner. It was this cave site in 1999 at the far end of an 1800 foot/545 meter traverse where Robbie had surfaced at a cenote and came face to face with a huge jaguar cat that was drinking water. This standoff has become a local cave diving folklore legend. The cave offers huge, power passages that are immensely populated with an abundance of columns and a variety of decorations. I decided to start with this cave to set the tone right for the week. Our dive was nearly two hours long and everyone agreed it was a big winner. It was so far, so good for me in starting this week. When we returned to our entry point and began hauling our gear back to the van, Joey informs us that he saw a big jaguar up on top of the bluff. Of course, naturally, I questioned his sighting since I always wanted to see in the wild one of these magnificent animals with no success after twenty years. Here was Joey for his very first time in the Yucatan jungle witnessing one of these cats. I challenged him in every respect regarding size, the shape of the tail, the black fur, height, everything. He answered every question correctly and it convinced me it was no joke that he saw a for real jaguar. Damn, what a lucky kid, as I was very happy for him and wishing I was the sherpa and not doing the dive. I know that jaguars as all wild exotic cats create territories of huge dimensions. Though the area is seeing more human activity, it was satisfying knowing that these cats were still around and not deeper into the jungle.
We brought with us packed lunches and a cooler of water and soft drinks. After lunch, we changed our double tanks with new ones and I moved the van another kilometer down the rugged trail to do our second dive at CENOTE TUHS KUPAXA. Our dive plan was simple. We would swim 28 minutes to the ¨T¨ intersection; turn left and swim another 12 minutes and view the mastodon bone site that was marked with many of the INAH triangular markers. The plan was executed without a hitch and everyone was impressed with the cave. In fact, I believe the majority of the team agreed that this cave was the better of the two for that day. We returned to Villas DeRosa, unpacked, our equipment and prepared for our second day of diving.
MONDAY, MARCH 12th
At first, I was thinking we would dive CENOTE REGINA, but after careful thought five us would not be smart as the silt conditions would be horrible so, instead, I took the team to CENOTE CHAN HOL (CENOTE REGINA offers a yucky type entrance). When we arrived there was already a solo cave diver from Austria at the site who I knew from earlier years. No problems as we had a friendly chat and I explained our intentions. I was not diving as I divided the four guys into two teams of two. I explained the entrance and the two ¨T¨ intersections. Mark had dived this cave last summer. While they were making the dive, my mission was for Joey and me to deliver five sets of doubles to the Rancho Campe Sino where the outstanding SISTEMA DOS PISOS (Two Floors) is located. This ranch is owned by ¨Don¨ Roberto Canche Camara. The plan was to have some of the family members Sherpa in the doubles to the main cenote so that the team could make the afternoon dive. Though ¨Don¨ Roberto was not at the ranch, two sons were there, however, I quickly realized that the logistics would not fit the time frame for an afternoon dive as the distance to the cenote requires a robust 25 minute hike. I explain the plan to the boys that we would return on Thursday to perform the dive and gave him 500 pesos as a deposit. Upon returning to CENOTE CHAN HOL I find that two rental cars had arrived with three European cave divers in each vehicle and they had already entered the cave. Holy Christ; that meant there were ten cave divers in the cave at the same time though the solo cave diver had already exited. No problem with this cave as it has big passages but the minor restriction at the entrance had me concerned thinking about possible emergency exits. While Joey and I waited for our cave divers to exit, another Mexican solo cave diver arrived making it twelve cave divers in one day. What this the Grand Cenote? All my guys safely exited the cave and were bubbling with excitement as what they saw. They were impressed. Great, I was three for three on pizzazz cave dives. We ate our packed lunches and switched out our double tanks for fresh ones. I explained to the guys that we would dive CENOTE DOS PISOS on Thursday and not that afternoon. Instead, I was considering CENOTE MUCHACHOS of SISTEMA CAMILO. However, the gate was locked and no one was at the Rancho Santa Cruz. My second choice was CENOTE YAX MOOL, unfortunately, we discover the land had just been sold to another individual from Cancun a few days earlier and now closed to everyone, no snorkeling, no cave diving. This is the beginning of a growing trend with many of the cenotes as we lost CENOTE AKTUN KOH eight months earlier as a private snorkeling company got an exclusive use of that cenote and no more cave diving. Will the Riviera Maya become a zone of exclusive sights? Therefore, my third choice was CENOTE XANAAN HA located behind the village of Chemuyil. None of the guys have dived this cave before so my integrity of offering new dives remained intact. We arrived at the dive site, prepared and executed our plan. Keith and Bill would take the first jump to the left 700 feet/212 meters in and Mark, Tim, Mark and I would take the main line. Our target was to meet at the air dome located about 1400 feet/424 meters upstream. The plan worked and everyone enjoyed the cave though it is quite small in some places. I was relieved because two months earlier I brought two cave divers to this site and I got a message written on my notebook halfway into the dive -¨This cave sucks!¨ This group were happy cave divers and we all returned back to Villas DeRosa in great spirits.
TUESDAY, MARCH 12th
I had already made arrangements with Rubin and Louis at the Oscelote Dive Center at the DOS OJOS road entrance to make the dive at the CENOTE PIT. We paid our 80 peso entrance fees and drove west on the Ejido Jacinto Pat road past the CENOTES DOS OJOS and deep into the Maya jungle. Two kilometers and we reached the intersection to turn left or south. One kilometer further we came upon the future road that had been cut out of the jungle, unfortunately, no sascab (crushed limestone) had been laid by the Ejido. When that will happen is a guess. We parked the van and my pickup truck and we prepared our equipment for carrying the 150 meters to the cenote. Each diver had doubles, one stage tank with Eanx 32 and one 40 cubic foot bottle of oxygen. I was impressed how the guys helped with carrying gear though we had Joey and me as sherpas. While we were preparing our gear another group of divers showed up with a group leader and two couples. The two couples were using single tanks and were involved in an advanced diving course. They graciously waited for us to get into the water and begin our dive before they would enter the cenote. Once we had all the gear gathered at the cenote site, I explained how we would lower the equipment to the water twenty feet below from the cenote edge. I had brought with us our pulley gear and rope, however, the pulley and polyurethane rope already in place appeared safe enough to do the job. Two teams of two were formed with Keith and Bill one team and Tim and Mark the other. Bill and Keith were trimix trained in Florida through Larry Green as an example. Mark is trimix and rebreather trained. We agreed each team would pick their depth limit based on their previous experience and training. Once in the water, everyone helped each other with their gear, bubble checks were made, stage bottles/travel gas were attached, tank pressures to call the dive established and ¨S¨ drills were performed. Keith and Bill dived the Cardea passage while Mark and Tim dived the siphon passage. After decompression obligations were completed, everyone clipped off all the tanks and climbed out the path that exists for an exit. I was proud of Tim, Mark, Bill and Keith as they worked as a great team pulling all the equipment out of the water without being asked. All in all, the dive was completed safely and everyone was very impressed with this Wakulla size cenote.
For the afternoon our next mission was to dive CENOTE I-HOP and get everyone acquainted with the cave passage to the BLUE ABYSS. During the morning, I gave water bottles to a Mayan crew cutting timber with chainsaws (near where we were parked) for the landowner of CENOTE I-HOP and CENOTE PET CEMETARY. I truly believe in scoring points and good landowner relations. The timber was being used to build wooden platforms for CENOTE PET CEMETARY as the landowner was building a future commercial snorkeling site for that cenote. I paid him 800 pesos (100 pesos per diver per day) for the Tuesday afternoon dive and Wednesday dives I had planned at CENOTE I-HOP. I brought my pickup truck for one reason. To haul our gear over a very rugged road to eliminate about 125 meters of humping tanks. There was no way I could get the van closer but my truck behaves like a little tank and has proven itself to be a great workhorse. There was no way I or Joey would haul double tanks such a long distance and I promised the guys to NO extraneous work. Hell, we are all getting too old for this crap. I was able to get my truck within 40 meters of the path to the CENOTE I-HOP. Whew! It is smart to try to make things easy as possible. We prepared our double tanks and I showed everyone what the CENOTE I-HOP was all about. Basically, you walked into a dry cave that has a pool of water one meter deep. The permanent line is tied off above the water on a large rock above the water. You enter the water, walk about 10 meters and up you go onto 6 inches of water, walk two more meters and then back down into another deeper pool of water. I-HOP, get it? As usual and consistent, Mike Madden was a genius with clever names.
Our plan was to confirm information about the ¨true¨ route to the BLUE ABYSS. During October and December, 2006 and February, 2007 I had been using a route that I thought was the KING PONG restriction and I had written about these dives in my previous blogs. (Apparently, my blogger has really become a ¨hot¨ thing to read by many people including the competition – that is why I write the damn thing, to keep people informed) I was basing my assumption on the 1994 cartography map drawn by the talented Eric Hutcheson of Ocala, Florida. (Tragically, I was informed by several sources that many years ago Eric was involved in a terrible motorcycle accident and now lives in a vegetable state in a nursing home so I am told) Well, I got a great email letter from Alberto Navo known as Beto who lives in Burlingame, California (My sister and her family lived there for ten years). I have met Beto a few times in the past and he has always been a class act towards me. Beto had performed many survey dives several years ago in both the CENOTE I-HOP and the CENOTE THE PIT areas with Nicholai Toussaint (a former student) and several other friends including Alex Alverez. They have surveyed about every line that exists in these two regions. Beto politely questioned me on what was really the true KING PONG restriction. He thought the restriction I had been negotiating what was what they called the TANK ROLL-OFF restriction and was very impressed and amazed that we were swimming through this very tight hole to get to the BLUE ABYSS. Hell, I have taken photos of Stefan Dreesbach, Denis Burlage and Bruce O´Connell going through this very tight mofo. Beto graciously sent me stick maps of these areas to show there was an alternative route. I studied the maps carefully and came to the conclusion there was a hidden line (Damn, I hate it when people hide lines). This dive with my guys was to confirm this passage and for them to get better acquainted with the route to the BLUE ABYSS as we would dive the BLUE ABYSS the next morning using one stage bottle each. Therefore, we are now in water, the plan is well thought out and after performing all the pre-dive rituals we begin our mission. You swim through giant power passage for the first 800 feet/242 meters until you reach a slate that says ¨TO CENOTE I-HOP¨. The main line jogs to the left and there is a very short 120 degree jump to the right that takes you to the THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. However, if you swim straight there is supposed to be another line. I tied off my primary reel as I was mentally prepared for a very long jump. Sure enough, after about 80 feet/24 meters I see some scratch marks in the silt floor. I lay my line accordingly and swim between two large columns and the cave passage turns to the right at 2:00 O’clock. Sure enough, after laying close to 150 feet/15 meters of line I find the line that Beto was telling me about. This is the magic door to the BLUE ABYSS. I clip off my reel with the rest of the team behind me and we are on our way. We swim I guess 250 feet/75 meters when we encounter a minor restriction. This restriction is the real KING PONG restriction. Excuse me for yawning, this restriction was a pussycat compared to the TANK ROLL-OFF restriction. We could see why the name KING PONG evolved because lot of little columns had been knocked out by this curtain of a jail wall blocking the way through. Trust me; much was PONGED out to continue the exploration of the cave system. We continue swimming and I am really admiring the cave passage as it is really gorgeous. It is highly decorated and beautiful but big enough where divers cannot really harm the cave. That is always a concern with cave diving of protecting the cave but having the ability to see the cave. We finally reach the location where we meet the guideline from the TANK ROLL-OFF area and thirty feet/9 meters later we swim upon the jump to the final 300 feet/90 meters to the BLUE ABYSS room. No one has called the dive concerning volume so we push onward with me thinking we will make it to the BLUE ABYSS room. However, Mark calls the dive 200 feet/60 meters shy of our target. No problem as I was surprised we got this far. I was super satisfied that we can easily get to the BLUE ABYSS room the next morning with a stage bottle and have plenty of volume of air or gas to enjoy the BLUE ABYSS room. Fantastic! During our return swim I feel like a kid who has answered all the questions to the quiz. Finally, cave divers can see this magnificent place without using DPVS and traveling 9500 feet/2878 meters from CENOTE NOHOCH NAH CHICH. This dive is NOT difficult to do.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13th
Today was the day for the BLUE ABYSS room! However, Mark bows out as he is exhausted. Before this trip he had traveled to the TRUK LAGOON for two weeks of exotic diving and, in addition, he participated in training course with rebreathers in the Houston area. I highly respect a man who knows his limits. Besides, he made it clear he would come back and use me as a personal guide to the BLUE ABYSS room in the future. For the dive I put myself and Tim on double 104´s filled to 3000 psi/210 bar. That eliminated two stage bottles. For Keith and Bill, no problem as they have used stage bottles many times. We arrive with my truck behaving as a champ. We prepared for the dive and Robbie was outstanding with his services. Again, we performed our pre-dive rituals and we began the dive. We do the jump and reach the KING PONG restriction. I coached Bill and Keith to unclip the stage bottles and push them through. Bill does exactly what I had asked, however, Keith swims through the restriction with the stage bottle on him. I must say I nearly lost my second stage regulator in disbelief as he pulled that stunt successfully and impressively. Another question answered for the future! The real KING PONG restriction is a PUSSY…….CAT! And so you know, Keith is 63 years old. (He turned 64 a few weeks later)! We continued another 250 feet75 meters and Bill and Keith signal it is time to drop and clip off their stage bottles. It was not a bad performance but it was somewhat comical to watch. However, they did the job successfully and we continued onward. We are now on the final 200 feet/60 meters before the BLUE ABYSS. There is one final minor restriction to negotiate, which I must admit in our pre-dive planning I did a poor job of explaining it. Tim’s body is not like – tiny and skinny. I could sense that Tim was not mentally prepared for this restriction; however, with my determined coaching Tim handled the restriction like a pro. He had no choice. We reach the BLUE ABYSS room and I do nothing but let the cave do the talking …GRIN, GRIN, and GRIN. This is strictly a bounce dive where everyone chooses the depth they are comfortable with. Tim is conservative, Bill is reasonable and Keith was determined that China is his goal in life. OK. Now we begin our ascents back to the 40 feet/12 meter level, however, Keith is using a VR3 (or whatever name that is attached to it) computer designed by Gary Sharp (a former student) and Kevin Gurr of the UK. This is the fourth time I am diving with people in this room using this particular computer because it behaves almost too conservatively and it drives me fricking nuts. Do not get me wrong as I think it is an outstanding bulky gadget and I really do love it. However, it is programmed as a machine to read the data it is given. With the depths fed into the machine it treats the ascent as if you been there since the year 1999. Christ, we have a 50 minute swim back at 35 – 20 feet/11 – 6 meters level back, where is the common sense in life. Cave divers should quit treating life like programmed, military robots and use the brain folks! It is a gift from God. (This is not criticism towards Keith) Tim, Bill and I are waiting for Keith at 40 feet/12 meters who is still much deeper following his VR3 computer as if it were the American Idol TV show. All of us are approaching our two thirds volume and it is time to go home. I swim down to Keith convincing him with the use of one finger pointed at one object. Keith got the message and joins us with our return swim back to CENOTE I-HOP. We re-negotiate the restriction and our swim back was relaxing and the cave scenery exhilarating. At the surface, everyone is bubbling in excitement about the BLUE ABYSS room. I now think everyone is beginning to understand completely my objective of diving featured dive sites as the guys made it clear they were blown away about the dive.
We eat our packed lunches and switch our gear to fresh double tanks. For our afternoon dive we re-enter CENOTE I-HOP and swim the main line for about 600 feet/181 meters where there is a short jump to the right. This is a shortcut to THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON area and eliminates about 500 feet/151 meters of swimming if we were to use the second jump to the right.
The dive is fun, relaxing and the decorations and speleothems are incredible. Is this the best cave dive in the Riviera Maya? Our dive is two hours with the depths 35 feet/11 meters or less. The guys were impressed! After the dive we pack my truck and we are losing daylight. I successfully get my truck out and Tim drives my truck and I drive the van back to VILLAS DEROSA. I could sense everyone was exhausted as I was too. I pulled the day off without any glitches and everyone very satisfied with what we witnessed and experience – cave diving at its best.
THURSDAY, MARCH 14
Today’s dive is at SISTEMA DOS PISOS (Two Floors) and we are entering at the main cenote called CENOTE BALAM (Jaguar). In my previous dives I had always entered at CENOTE HAAL EP (Pig) as it is the furthest downstream cenote and the closest to where you can park a vehicle. However, that cenote still requires a 10 minute hike and the cave passage at the beginning is 300 feet/90 meters of low, silty conditions before you reach the great stuff. However, with five cave divers in total I decided it was best to have the tanks carried in on Monday and we would pack our back plates, regulators, BCD wings, reels, wetsuit, gauges, mask and fins into dive bags that each of us could carry. The hike took 27 minutes and we could see benches and tables built in 1998 for Gunnar Wagner and the Aktun Dive Center (now extinct) when he used to offer dive expeditions to this site. Everything was rotten. We prepared our tanks, entered the water, do our pre-dive rituals and off we swim on the line that will take us to the downstream section, which is considered the best of the cave. Because I had only dived this area once before I did not take the left at the first T intersection that would take us downstream. Instead, we found ourselves swimming upstream and I realized I boo booed. However, the cave was looking outstandingly awesome so I decided to keep swimming. I was impressed. Maybe this was better than the downstream? We swam thirty minutes in and when the cave started to appear to get to small for five of us (divided into a team of two and a team of three). So I called the dive though we only used 500 psi/35 bar swimming in. We return back to the CENOTE BALAM and I now figure where to go for the downstream section. Therefore, we recalculate our volume and perform a second dive downstream. We get about 1200 feet/335 meters into the gorgeous downstream and the dive is called. These dives worked out great and I was totally thrilled with the results. On the way out, I checked out another line that I figured it went to the deeper section. Sure enough, I quickly hit 86 feet/28 meters, yes, there are two floors. After the dive we eat our lunches, relax and slowly pack our dive bags. There are no doubt the dives were big winners for my guys. We hike out of the jungle, load the van and I would retrieve the tanks in a few days. Honestly, I was in no mood for a second dive as I was tired puppy dog. I suggested to the guys that we end the day since it close the three O’clock and stop at OSCAR Y LALO’s for snacks and refreshments. No one argued and off to Soliman Bay we went to enjoy a great ocean view ambiance and great food and spirits. This was a great move as the camaraderie as a team clearly showed. Everyone was having fun and that is what it is ALL about folks, enjoying life and having FUN! Cave diving is supposed to be fun and not a chore of war.
FRIDAY, MARCH 16
Our last day of diving of a great week of cave diving! Our dive site is CENOTE JAILHOUSE of the SISTEMA NARANJAL. The day before on our way to OSCAR Y LALO’s I stopped in Tulum to get the key to the gate and pay the 400 pesos fee. Don Rafael was a happy guy! We arrive at the CENOTE JAILHOUSE at 9:00 A.M… We prepare our equipment and I draw out a complete stick map of the upstream and downstream sections of this impressive cave system. The entrance is not pleasant as it is a fairly small pool of water and the visibility will change quickly with two teams of cave divers entering the cave. Everything is carefully explained. We gather at the T intersection and swim upstream as there is a beautiful deep section that once had a human skeleton and a bat skeleton. INAH (Mexico’s Archeological/Research Institute) had removed the bones a few years ago. The human skeleton was carbon dated to be over 10,000 years old according to Jeronimo Aviles. However, the cave itself is very impressive. It is crystal clear, blue water, white walls type of passages. There is one place where an offshoot line can take you to 125 feet/39 meters that is stuffed full of charcoal, evidence of human activity when the cave was dry. Someone had a bonfire weenie roast? The dive was performed successfully and safely. With the dive completed we decided that would be the last dive of the trip as both Mark and Tim were flying home the next day. I was one happy guy to offer six days of great cave diving for four wonderful guys. Mission accomplished!
That evening I picked everyone up with my truck and we drived to Chemuyil to enjoy a great PIZZA LEO a LEO’s PIZZA. I wore my Pizza Leo’s polo shirt given to me as a gift a few weeks earlier. It was a fitting tribute to end a glorious week of great cave diving!
Will I be offering more “Featured Dive Sites” in the future? You bet I will as there are many more sites that few cave divers have seen. The best of the best is always my goal to share with other cave divers. Contact me if you have a sincere interest.
A big thank you to Bill and Keith for signing my GUEST SIGN-IN on my web site! I really appreciate the kind words.