MOTHER of GOD – KAAN LUUM!
About six months ago I was visiting with Dennis Weeks at his home in Paalmu located three kilometres north of Puerto land. We were shooting the bull and having a couple of cold brewskies. Dennis made the comment about that he heard from some guy (he cannot remember who) that there is three deep holes in the Laguana Chumkopo that go to 300 feet. If you have a copy of my book …CENOTES of the RIVIERA MAYA … look on Page 84 and you see the Laguana located about seven kilometres south of Tulum on the east side. Well, back in 1995 – 96 I had heard a rumour that Dan Lins had dived a deep hole in this Laguana. I went to this place with my mask, snorkel and fins and it required a pretty lengthy hike from where you could park. It is a beautiful place! From the shoreline you have to walk about 50 meters through very shallow water before you reach any snorkelling depth. I swam further out and discover the visibility was not good, three – four feet. I swam further out and free dived and hit twenty feet a few times. Finally, I was discouraged with the visibility and satisfied it was just a rumour. In addition, I have a GOOGLE EARTH satellite photo of this laguana and nothing shows. WRONG! Thursday, June 14th I returned to the Laguana as during the past year or more the Laquana is slowly being developed by the EJIDO TULUM into a really nice family outdoor retreat. They have extended the road and placed a great layer of sascab (crushed limestone). They have constructed a gorgeous boardwalk extending 50 meters out into the Laguana with two sets of steps for easy entry. And I mean country club easy. They have constructed a beautiful (really) elevated, clean bathroom. They have constructed a huge palapa and at this time are building another boardwalk to it. They offer snorkelling vests and eight 1 & 2 person ocean kayaks are available. They are calling the place KAAN LUUM . They are building a huge parking lot, so I guess they expect a lot of business. I tell you what, this place is very tranquil! I arrive at 12:45 p.m. and I take my SUBMERGE PONY (My friend Smarty Jones) – using my new aluminium back plate harness on my back (it works great) and my best friend – Mr. John Turner (buddy bottle). I prepare my doubles with regulators, BCD Wings (2), primary light and a few primary reels. I get myself into the water with everything and perform a final gear check. Meanwhile, Joe T Cocker and DERKA (Kate Lewis’s new dog) are playing on the boardwalk having a blast. I begin scootering straight out from the T shape boardwalk end heading southeast (yes, I brought a compass with me). Motoring along the bottom from four feet in depth at the boardwalk I soon reach ten feet with the visibility not good and motoring very difficult. I reach twenty feet in depth and moving outward at a southeast direction. At thirty feet I sense something but I can not see shit. At thirty-nine feet/11.8 meters – wham – I hit clear water. And …. Mother of God .. I am at the top lip of a huge drop off and below me is that deep, dark void. Fantastic! The rumour is true and Dennis heard right. I was stunned and a very happy cave diver. So, I begin motoring clockwise and realize this is a pretty big hole. I stop and turn around and motor counter clock wise. That is when I find a vertical guideline coated with brown algae. All right! Time to begin the descent as I slowly let myself gently fall. At 79 feet approximate I hit bad visibility. Crapola! I realize I am now in saltwater and the water appears reddish. Tannic water? Nah, it does not make sense. I am waiting for hydrogen sulphide to appear but nothing. No smell, no taste. I keep descending as I can still see 10 – 15 feet. At about 100 – 110 feet the visibility becomes darn good. Halleluiah! Not bad as I can see eighty feet plus by my pathetic guess. I am still descending mostly at a vertical direction following the guideline. At 155 feet/50 meters I now can smell and taste hydrogen sulphide. No cloud layers and no stinging of my skin on my face. (My dive at Cenote Siete Bocas – Deep Blue located 13 kilometers east of Puerto Morelos during June, 2006 taught me a huge lesson of highly concentrated H2S – very dangerous). I keep falling. I hit 200 feet/60 meters and this puppy is still going. Wow! At 233 feet/71 meters I stop as I am at, actually past my personal limit on my trimix (20.9% 02 – 78% Nitrogen – 1.1% other stuff). I want to go deeper as I could see another 30 feet deeper and the guideline appeared to duck under a ledge. I think I saw the bottom but this wall may start to go at a slant. Anyway, I pushed this far enough and decided it is time to head up. I stop at 130 feet/39 meters and decide to motor along the wall horizontally to see how big this place is. I motor clockwise about 100 feet/30 meters with my pony and I see NO sharp curve to the right. I turn around and motor back to the ascent line and motor about 100 feet/30 meters counter clockwise. I tell you folks, this place appears to be mofo fricking big. I am impressed. I return to the ascent line and continue upward. I am now back in the fresh water with good visibility. At the 50 – 60 foot/15 – 16 meter range I decide to motor along the wall. I am motoring in a clockwise direction and there is a definite curve to the right. This wall is impressive. This whole place is a hoot! I am definitely motoring in a circle. Suddenly, I see a vertical guideline but it does not appear to be the one I followed earlier. I put a marker on it and continue my clockwise motoring. I come upon another descent line and I recognize it. Wow, two descent lines – cool. I continue motoring again clockwise. Yep, there are two separate descent lines. I turn around and motor counter clock wise. I am guessing this hole is 350 feet/106 meters in diameter. That means it gets much bigger in diameter as you go further deeper. This is all speculation on a very limited one dive. I return to my original ascent/descent line and begin my deco. The descent line is tied off at 39 feet/12 meters to a square rock right on the vertical edge. I also discover a very brown algae rope attached to a square plastic bottle. The kind you use to carry petrol. It is floating about two feet off the bottom. This bottle, obviously, was a surface marker at one time for the descent line. I completed my deco and reach the surface. The visibility the first forty feet/12 meters really sucks. Yes, I am 50 – 60 meters straight out from T shape boardwalk (dock). I spend the next hour scootering around the entire laguana. This is a big body of water. I am trying to figure if there is more than one hole. It appears not to be and my pony is running of juice. I pack up my equipment; collect the happy dogs and start driving back to Puerto land. I call Dennis Weeks on my cell phone and tell him my news. Dennis is excited and wants to plan an official trimix dive. I call up Sergio Granucci. I tell him my news and ask if he knew anything about this deep hole. Sergio always knows what is going on in the Riviera Maya (Well, not everything). He says he knows nothing about it. The hole is not listed on the Quintana Roo Speleological Survey deep dive list. Either this place has been a well kept secret or I just have not been keeping up with reading the USA Today newspaper. I will dive this place next Friday, June 22nd and Saturday, June 23rd and learn more about this exciting deep dive site! Stay tune for more news.
UPDATE:
On Saturday, June 23rd I returned to the Laquana Chumkopa The Ejido Tulum has finished the second boardwalk to the giant palapa located on the shoreline. I got there late Saturday afternoon and convinced the gate keeper to let me dive as they were thirty minutes from closing. My goal was to lay a survey line at the top of the saltwater at the 79 foot depth around the entire diameter of this giant hole. Mission accomplished. I surveyed 508 feet/154 meters of line. Wow! Much bigger than my initial guess of 350 fet/106 meters. I laid another survey line at the 20 – 40 foot/6 – 12 meter level but I did not have time to survey. I know I paid out more than 800 feet/242 meters of line. Wow, wow! This hole is big. On July 7th I will perform another dive laying a line at the 120 foot/36 meters level. Because of the depth and the anticipated size, that will take two or three dives to complete.