Deep Horizon Blog

April 27, 2008

MIFLEX HOSES

Filed under: Cave Diving — Steve @ 1:37 pm

MIFLEX HOSES

During the SUBMERGE Long Range DPV Course I taught for Anders and Peter Knudsen of Denmark, they showed me these Miflex hoses on their regulators that they have been using for the past two years. Apprently, these types of hoses have been around in Europe for the past years. I was impressed. Therefore, I contacted Joey Johnson at SCUBA TOYS Dive Store in Dallas, Texas and immediately ordered a set of hoses for my own regulators. Tommie Padalino of Dallas, Texas graciously brought them down for me on Saturday, April 5th.

The Miflex hose feature an external nylon safety braiding designed to resist the snags and abrasions that divers can often encounter. The Miflex hose with its XTREME double braiding also resists UV rays out of the water, thus extending the lifespan of the hose.

Unlike traditional hoses, the Miflex hose offers XTREME nylon safety braiding that is not simply pushed over the hose fittings. Instead the braiding is tightly bound and fixed to the hose core by stainless steel or brass sleeves.

I am really amazed with their durability and flexibility as you can actually tie knots into the hose without impairing the flow of gas or air. They come in varous lengths with colors of black, blue or yellow available.

RICHARD YOST

Filed under: Cave Diving — Steve @ 1:14 pm

RICHARD YOST

For Tuesday, March 25th and Wednesday, March 26th I continued diving with Richard Yost (59) of West Linn, Oregon the two-day NACD Apprentice Cave segment of the cave diving training course program. Richard is self-employed and has been diving for over 43 years logging thousands of dives. Richard is #120 in the ranks of the PADI Instructor corps, which is very impressive along with being an SSI Instructor too. Richard took his NACD Cavern and Intro to Cave Diving training segments in North Florida with Michael O’Leary of Lake City, Florida.

We spent Tuesday morning at the Aquanauts Dive Store classroom in Puerto Aventuras discussing equipment configuration and philosophies in addition with fine-tuning all of Richard’s gear. In addition, we went though a thorough discussion on jumps, gaps, permanent “T” intersections and protocols. For the afternoon we performed two cave dives at CENOTE DOS PALMAS working with trim & buoyancy, our first jumps and a lost line drill.

Richard was staying at the Moon Palace Spa Resort located on the north side of Puerto Aventuras with his wife and family members.

For Wednesday morning, we dived CENOTE CHAC MOOL swimming downstream to the Monster Room and viewing the impressive drip stone stalactite formation. On the return swim we practiced a touch-contact/share gas drill along with another lost line drill. After lunch in Puerto Aventuras, we completed our final dive at CENOTE TAJ MAHAL diving to the Chinese Garden Room and practicing a touch-contact/share gas drill through a minor restriction along with a mask-off drill plus two jumps and three “T” intersections. Richard’s confidence level dramatically improved with each dive and clearly demonstrated his competence with buoyancy skills and trim.

It was a great honor to dive with Richard. His enthusiasm for diving and concerns for correct safety reinforces why he has been an active diver since he was sixteen years old. Richard plans to return to the Riviera Maya in the fall of 2008 to complete his full cave diver training and plans to bring a few friends who share his passion for diving.

April 22, 2008

SUBMERGE LONG RANGE DPV COURSE WITH ANDERS & PETER KNUDSEN

Filed under: Cave Diving — Steve @ 9:50 am

SUBMERGE LONG RANGE DPV COURSE WITH ANDERS and PETER KNUDSEN

Continuing with my marathon teaching of March I had the outstanding pleasure to dive with Anders & Peter Knudsen of Hilleroed, Denmark beginning on Sunday, March 16th. This is a very talented and superbly trained Father-Son team. If all Fathers and Sons shared together what these two do, the world would be a much better place, as they are professionalism at its best. Anders (19) is a student at the Technical University of Denmark and has been diving for 7 years logging over 350 dives. Anders has earned his Open Water Instructor status with PADI, NACD Full Cave, NAUI Cave II, IANTD Trimix, GUE DIR Fundamentals and the DSAT Trimix Blender as certifications. Peter (41) is the CEO of his own company with a degree in BSC Engineering. Peter has been diving for 7 years logging over 350 dives with certification qualifications in Rescue, Nitrox, GUE DIR Fundamentals, IANTD Trimix and NACD Full Cave.

We began the week with an open water session at CENOTE MANATI on Sunday morning practicing all skills with stage bottles, towing a DPV, sharing gas, and using a reel. It worked out quite well with a great BBQ lunch at the CASA CENOTE at Tankah Beach, this lunch makes it possible for us to use the Casa Cenote parking lot for our dive. For Sunday afternoon, we dived at CENOTE CHAC MOOL for a traverse dive to CENOTE PASCAL and back. Everyone was satisfied with our first day as all goals were accomplished.

It should be noted that Anders and Peter both own the SUBMERGE N-19 DPVs, which is a lightweight 55 lb., nickel-hydride battery energy system. Unfortunately, it was unpractical for them to bring their machines because of the horrendous distance and they did not have a direct flight to Cancun. Because I have two DPV students for this particular course, that meant I needed six DPVS in total for the long-range goals. In the past when I had two students I was always lucky as they brought their own SUBMERGE motor and shrouds or I had access to the 5th & 6th SUBMERGE DPVs. This week, as I discovered the hard way, my availability of two more SUBMERGE AV-26 DPVs had dried up. Therefore, the only other DPVs I could obtain were an Oceanic Mako and the X scooter.

For Monday, March 17th we traveled out west of Chemuyil to dive the CENOTE TUHS (Tux) KAPAXA. Our dive was a success as we motored all of the huge power passages, viewed the mastodon and supposedly bear bones and worked on sharing air/gas drills. However, the logistics took its toll as the 130 meters/400 feet meter hump from he truck to the water as we were all exhausted carrying machines, stage bottles and our doubles to & from. We canceled any thoughts for a second session, which has made me make the final decision for sherpas for future courses. On our way back to Puerto Aventuras, we made it a point to stop at PIZZARIA LEO’s as both men had heard or read so much about it. They were not one bit disappointed.

For Tuesday, March 18th we dived at CENOTE MAYAN BLUE motoring the B to E to F to G to A tunnels and back. Anders and Peter were super impressed with the canyon features of the F tunnel and the pretty cobalt blue color of water that always exists in the saltwater passages. For our second dive we motored the entire A line past the Battleship Room and turned at the permanent “T” intersection that is on the way to CENOTE NAHARON (CRISTAL). I was shocked by our efficiency using the machines. On our way home we stopped at Oscar Y Lalo’s Restaurant located on Highway 307 for dinner and to review my entire SUBMERGE DPV workbook.

For our final three days we decided to use CENOTE DOS OJOS for dives to the LSD area, CENOTE THE PIT and to CENOTE KENTUCKY CASTLE. On Wednesday, March 19th we discovered a glitch as one of the stainless steel latches on one of the SUBMERGE hulls had broken off. This caused instant flooding of the machine so we aborted the plan for a double stage, double DPV dive to the LSD area. We improvised and used one DPV to motor up to the LSD line and install a jump reel and line and then returned. When we reached the cavern zone and open water area of CENOTE DOS OJOS EAST, it was an utter mad house. There were hundreds of people in the water. Do this, picture in your mind the scene in the movie TITTANIC after the vessel has sunk underwater and there are 700 people thrashing about. That is exactly how it was that day at CENOTE DOS OJOS EAST when we came back. It was a zoo!

I had brought my Nikon 100 camera system with me as we did have a plan for photos of Peter and Anders motoring on the SUBMERGE DPVs and that we did. My plan was to go down downstream for the photos, but to our horror there was so much silt in the water from the swimmers and divers in CENOTE DOS OJOS EAST that it became useless as all my shots were looking fuzzy. Once I realize this would not work, I decided we would go upstream. One thing I did discover and learn very effectively was using the Oceanic Mako DPV and shooting photos on the fly. I swear it works and I was getting great results. Moving to the upstream and having clear water was the magic as the photos on the screen were looking much better plus Peter and Anders were really in the groove as a team for the photos. I was super happy with the results I got. If you go to my home page of this website and scroll down to the SUBMERGE LONG RANGE DPV courses and click on to the next page you will see four of the photos I shot that day. The photo session saved the day, I think!

For Thursday, March 20th we made sure all machines latches were in great shape and our plan was to motor to the LSD area. We got a late start that day as we normally leave for the dive sites at 7:00 or 7:30 A.M. After we departed my bodega and were driving on Highway 307 Chrissie Le Malliot and two GUE VII DPV course students in his truck and a second local pickup truck passed us. I had a hunch they would be diving the DOS OJOS cave system. When we pulled into the EJIDO JACINTO PAT entrance area, sure enough they were going in too. When I saw they were using CENOTE DOS PALMAS I warned Anders and Peter we would probably be seeing them again underwater. Because I knew DOS OJOS would be another day at the zoo, we took the road past the entrance area to the CENOTE DOS OJOS parking area and snuck around the backside so that we could park as close to CENOTE DOS OJOS WEST and enter the water at that location. It worked pretty good, however, we agreed we would still exit at CENOTE DOS OJOS EAST. After all the pre-dive checks and reviews we began our dive. I am not all happy with the X scooter. It does not have the power to pull a diver with two stage bottles and a second DPV. Peter’s first DPV was not behaving very well too. As we began the tie-off in the cavern zone to motor to the main line upstream that many cave divers call the AMAZING CAVE line (from the IMAX film called Journey to the Amazing Caves) and all the cave damage that occurred from that filming in the year 2000 we were suddenly passed by Chris’s DPV team. They zoomed right past us proud as peacocks. I just smiled as I figured we would be passing them later in the dive. As we motored up the main line I was surprised by the amount of silt particles stirred up by the first DPV team. It happens. At the air dome 2000 feet/660 meters we stopped. I was fairly frustrated by our time progress, as the X scooter did not have the muscle. I was verbally grumbling, which is normally not my style. Peter’s DPV propeller blades may have been installed incorrectly by me as we performed a complete breakdown and examination of the DPV blade, clutch and shaft area the day before. I suggested to Peter to move the pitch of the blades to 9, which made a big difference. Continuing onward we pass the first DPV team’s machines as they were all clipped to the permanent line along with their stage bottles. They were using only using one DPV compared to our two DPVs per diver. At 40 minutes DPV time we were at the jump to the LSD line and our jump reel was already installed from the day before probably surprising the first DPV team. They installed a spool. We park our first DPVs and our first stage bottles on the main line. Now we are motoring the LSD line with our second DPVs, but 1500 feet/425 meters less distance than I usually work with this area. We are about 700 feet/325 meters motoring in on the LSD area when we encounter the first DPV team who are now swimming. With so much cave to work with, I could not believe we encountered the swimming team in the only location on the LSD line where we could not pass. As we stopped and waited, I got the impression they did not see us from their behavior. Swimming teams always have the right away over DPV teams. We hovered patiently waiting when finally it was obvious they realized we wanted to get pass them. The swimming team swam further upstream the LSD line reaching a point where we had enough room for us to safely pass by. As we motored by Anders and Peter waved as they returned the friendly gesture. The amount of silt particles stirred up by the GUE team was impressive. Wow, I thought, they are human!

With one machine and one stage bottle each, our efficiency dramatically increased. The X scooter was now behaving in a more productive manner. Everything was now clicking the way it should be as we motored into the massive canyons and rooms of this very incredible area of the Dos Ojos cave system. I could sense that Anders and Peter were really enjoying the dive. Anders called the dive and I was satisfied they were able to see the majority of the LSD area. Our return to Cenote Dos Ojos was relaxing with no problems. Despite the poor overall efficiency with the first machines, the second half of the dive motoring into the cave proved to work very well and our results made all the hard work and effort worth it.

For Friday morning, March 21st I had all the tanks loaded for our final day. Peter came out to greet me from the Condo Suite they were using and asked if we could take the day off. Anders ears were acting funky (a common problem with many cave divers diving the cave systems) and I could sense Peter wanted a day of rest. I could not agree more as I will confess I was a tired puppy dog. Therefore, we took Friday off and it gave me an opportunity to get a few chores done though it turned out to mostly non-productive for me as it GOOD FRIDAY.

For our final day and graduation dive for Saturday, March 22nd would be the traverse dive to the CENOTE THE PIT. We arrived early to the CENOTE DOS OJOS to beat the crowds. We prepared all our gear and got everything in the water. Six DPV machines, six stage bottles along with our double tanks. This takes time and much effort. We are now in the water, having reviewed all safety checks when Anders informs Peter and I that his stomach is feeling sickly poo. OK. We decided to wait awhile and see if it would change and improved. I reminded Anders how cool this dive would be thinking that some psychology might help motivate his body into a better state of health. Anders made a final decision and bowed out saying it was not worth the risk. I tell you what, folks that was a very mature and gutsy call. For a young man to abort a potential great opportunity of experiencing a wonderful dive, it strongly proved he has a great head on his shoulders. I was impressed!

Peter and I made the dive to the CENOTE THE PIT. Our first drop point was CENOTE TIKIM MICH and we continued onward with the second DPVs and second stage bottles. I decided to use the Oceanic Mako as my second DPV as I wanted to see how I maneuvered the bedding plane areas. It worked great as I could hold the machine to the side and slip through these low areas without hurting the cave. The problem was, as Peter later told me, I stirred up enough silt with the machine making it more challenging for him. Whoops, sorry! We swam the last 14 minutes to the CENOTE THE PIT and we did not surface. We could see a group of divers on the surface going through a briefing with the Cavern guide and we waved at them and they waved back. Our return dive to CENOTE DOS OJOS was exceptional as the DPV machines purred like kittens and I did not have to use that X scooter. That alone made my day. After the dive, Peter explained to me and Anders how it was such a moving experience for him when he and I swam out from the balcony into the CENOTE THE PIT with our lights off from the cave passage and viewing the massive drop-off and the inspiring natural daylight filtering downward. If I remember correctly, Peter said it was most spectacular dive in his diving career.

It was a successful week for Peter and Anders and I learned more things to improve these SUBMERGE Long Range DPV Courses. Sherpas will now become part of the course logistics. Carrying the machines and stage bottles really wears down everyone. In addition, I am investing into more SUBMERGE DPV machines. I have the bodies for four 42-amp machines and four 26-amp machines. I just need two more motor and shrouds when I have two students and that is in the works to accomplish.

April 21, 2008

JON ARSENAULT & TRAVIS KERSTING

Filed under: Cave Diving — Steve @ 11:25 am

JON ARSENAULT & TRAVIS KERSTING

Beginning on Sunday, March 9th I continued my March marathon of teaching with the honorable pleasure of diving with Jon Arsenault (49) of Deer River, Minnesota and Travis Kersting (21) of Cohasset, Minnesota. Jon’s professional career involves with building maintenance technology. Jon has been diving for 20 years logging over 700 dives. His dive qualifications include Open Water Advanced, Nitrox and Ice diving certifications. Travis is a welder and fabricator and has been diving for 6 years logging over 100 dives. His qualifications include open water advanced and nitrox certifications. During this same week, I had Dr. Josh & Jen Leute of Port Washington, Wisconsin and Caleb Conley and Rich Rezanka of the Minneapolis, Minnesota area who dived as their own teams but followed my class around for several of our dive sites.

We completed 15 cave dives accumulating over 1138 minutes of bottom time. Our dives included CENOTE DOS OJOS, CENOTE CHAC MOOL, CENOTE TAL MAJAL, CENOTE VACA HA, CENOTE TORTUGA, CENOTE TEMPLE of DOOM (Calavera), CENOTE CHAN HOL, CENOTE CARACOL (LABNA HA ECO PARK), CENOTE PET CEMETARY II, and CENOTE TUHS (Tux) KAPAXA. Our dives include 14 jumps and 17 “T” intersections, 3 lost line drills, 5 touch-contact/share gas drills and the continuous practice with gas valve management, no mask, back up light exit, trim and buoyancy skills.

We had several highlight dives during this week. On Friday, March 14th we were planning to dive CENOTE AKTUN HU. However, because of the feud between the landowner and the two investors with the Eco Park, this particular day they wanted 450 pesos per person. That was too much as it would kill my budget and the ATV machine had a flat tire. We opted to dive CENOTE OUTLAND. In one week’s time the landowner had installed a gate and lock, therefore that idea was killed. I decided the hell with it we drove over to CENOTE PET CEMETARY II and we dived to the Blue Abyss. With Josh, Caleb and Rich as one team and Travis, Jon and I as the other team, everyone was stoked on this dive. In addition, the new wide and professional stairway was nearly complete for an easy entry into CENOTE PET CEMETARY I. For Saturday, March 15th, we dived CENOTE TUHS (Tux) KAPAXA with a stage bottle accumulating close to 170 minutes of bottom time. We viewed the Mastodon Bone site, which has become very popular. However, the big victory was finding the big animal bone site that Gunnar Wagner had showed me back in 2000 and 2001. I am almost convinced this was a bear as I have been reading other sources of information that bears did roam the Yucatan with the Mastodons.

Everyone considered the week a huge success as Jon and Travis saw plenty of great places, more than most folks do. Their skills were excellent and it was a pure joy diving with them.

MATT CHONKA & KYE KENNEDY

Filed under: Cave Diving — Steve @ 9:44 am

MATT CHONKA & KYE KENNEDY

Beginning on Sunday, March 2nd I had the pleasure to teach a complete cave diving course for Matt Chonka of San Marcos, Texas and Kye Kennedy of Kyle, Texas. Matt works as an Environmental Health Technician and has been diving for 18 years logging over 200 dives. Matt is NAUI Instructor #46299 with qualifications in Nitrox, Rescue and Dive Master. Kye is a Police Officer for the San Marcos Police Department. He has been diving for 12 years logging over 2500 dives. Kye is a NAUI Open Water Instructor along with qualifications for teaching Nitrox and a DAN 02 Instructor.

We completed 18 dives accumulating over 1107 minutes of bottom time. Our dives were at CENOTE DOS OJOS, CENOTE TAJ MAHAL, CENOTE CHAC MOOL, CENOTE TEMPLE of DOOM (Calavera), CENOTE ABEJAS, CENOTE 27 STEPS, CENOTE MINOTAURO, CENOTE CARACOL (Labna Ha), CENOTE NAHARON (Cristal), CENOTE ZACIL HA (Luke’s Hope/Carwash) and CENOTE OUTLAND. We performed 3 lost line drills, 8 share gas/touch-contact drills including 4 minor restrictions, 12 jumps and 12 permanent “T” intersections along with the various skills with gas valve management, mask off, back up lights, trim and buoyancy.

While we were diving at the LABNA HA ECO PARK on Thursday, March 6th we used the zip line that is set up at the dry cave cenote during our lunch break diving CENOTE CARACOL. I foolishly dared Matt to not use the brake pole on the zip line as he descended the wire cable at a very fast rate of speed. The rubber shock absorber for the stopping point at the end of Matt’s descent snapped and poor Matt crashed very hard into the limestone wall. Man, Matt was lucky as I was too as he suffered only a nasty abrasion and a torn T-shirt. It could have easily been much worse. Matt is one tough Texas boy.

The highlight dive was on Saturday, March 8th at CENOTE OUTLAND that is now part of SISTEMA AKTUN HU as we used a stage bottle and swam upstream finding the jumps to get into the AKTUN HU area. It was a great honor diving with these two excellent divers. Matt and Kye stayed a few extra days diving with the AQUANAUTS DIVE STORE diving on the reefs, one night dive sight seeing the local area. As with every course I teach or divers I guide, I presented a photo CD for both men as I was able to capture over 200 images of them in action during their 10 day visit.

April 12, 2008

SUBMERGE LONG RANGE DPV COURSE WITH KEN ASHER

Filed under: Cave Diving — Steve @ 12:31 pm

SUBMERGE LONG RANGE DPV COURSE WITH KEN ASHER

For Thursday, February 21st I flew to Texas for a quick trip and returned to Mexico on Saturday, February 23rd.  Flying in from Washington D.C. on Saturday morning, February 23rd was KEN ASHER.  Ken is Consultant with a company of 24 employees who advised other companies with their financial strategies.  Ken has been diving for 23 years logging over 500 dives.  He is trained through IANTD with the Inspiration Rebreather, NACD Full Cave by me and several other IANTD Technical diving courses.   I had left my truck at the Cancun International Airport for Ken to pick up and drive to Puerto Aventuras.  I flew into Cancun around 7:00 P.M. Saturday evening thinking I would take the Riviera Maya Aeropuerto bus to Playa Del Carmen.  However, Ken was a huge Saint as he returned to the airport to pick me up.  Thank you Ken!
 Our goal was six diving days using the SUBMERGE DPV machines in the cave environment.  I have put together quite an extensive personal workbook for these courses and I am still tinkering with them to provide the best dives.  For SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 24th, we arrived at CENOTE MANATI located on the Tankah Beach at the Casa Cenote Restaurant at 8:30 A.M.  The purpose of this location is it provides a unique cave environment without a top at is has a 300 meter/1000 feet spring run through the mangroves as it is an exit point for the huge SISTEMA SAC AKTUN, which was once the exit point for the formerly SISTEMA NOHOCH NAH CHICH.  They were connected nearby a year earlier.  With this 300 meter/1000 feet spring run, we practiced step by step using the machine(s) with first becoming comfortable with them then use a stage bottle, two stage bottles, towing a second DPV, practice sharing gas and other potential problems that could occur using these machines in the caves.  It is the perfect place to begin DPV training for the cave environment.
 

After we successfully completed the session, we had a great Texas BBQ lunch at the Casa Cenote, which is part of reward for using their parking lot for my truck.  After lunch, we drove back to my Bodega located at the front entrance to CENOTE CHAC MOOL to reload with fresh tanks.  For our first dive in the cave we motored upstream to CENOTE CHAC MOOL to CENOTE PASCAL in a time of 21 minutes, which is 3600 feet/1090 meters in length.  We motored back to CENOTE CHAC MOOL as Ken’s performance was right on.  For a second dive, we motored 13 minutes downstream to the Monster Room and practiced sharing gas on our return trip.   For our first day, I could not ask for anything better from Ken and quite satisfied with the results.
 

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25th


While our physical stamina was still fresh, we traveled eight kilometers west of the village of Chemuyil to dive in SISTEMA TUHS (TUX) KUPAXA.  The challenge was humping the DPVs and the stage bottles 125 meters/400 feet from where I can park my truck. I have rigged Dive Rite Aluminum back plates which have a slot for a cam strap to carry the DPVs on your back.   The reward of this dive site is motoring this huge power passage cave.  On this particular dive I noticed that a few lines had been cut back from where they were originally were located, which meant Sheriff Buford had been in town.  That means he had something he was trying to  hide.   One of my first dives in this cave with Gunnar Wagner in the year 2000 was where Gunnar showed me a huge animal bone site, which is not the Mastodon bone site.  I viewed it twice during that 2000 and 2001 diving with Gunnar.  Since the access to this cave system has now become much easier I could NOT remember where that particular bone site was located.  Now I had a clue that I would further check out on future dives.
 Overall, the dive a big success as Ken easily was gaining confidence with the SUBMERGE DPV machine and become more proficient with its use.  Because of logistics, we decided this would the only dive for the day as humping tanks and DPV machines took its toll and time.   This has now got me seriously considering using sherpas for future DPV courses.  Luckily, it was a beautiful, cool day in February.  Do not consider May, June or July.

For our afternoon dive we motored the SISTEMA PONDEROSA cave entering at CENOTE CHIKIN HA.  We traversed through several cenotes as this cave system has multiple exit points.  We surfaced at several with CENOTE KANTUN CHI as our furthest point.  This cave provides more challenges with the machines.  At one point 400 feet/121 meters upstream from CENOTE KANTUN CHI my fin strap caught the guideline then came loose.  Suddenly, I saw Ken’s primary light flashing away and I immediately knew what happened.  I broke the damn number 18 twisted guideline.  I turned around and motored to where Ken was as he had one end of the guideline. I grabbed the other end and I tied the ends together.  A small inconvenience but a great experience for Ken as shit does happen.  Luckily, it was not a very silty area.  As Ken wrote on his log sheets that I require for and training courses, he commented how the cave was becoming smaller and more challenging.  Our dive time was 90 minutes.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25th
 For today’s dive we would enter at CENOTE JAILHOUSE (known as LAS PALMAS) in the beautiful SISTEMA NARANJAL cave.  We got an early start and were there by 8:30 a.m.  I am glad we did because two more cave diving teams showed up as they were cave divers from Europe diving out of Robbie’s  Xibalba Dive Center.  This cenote traditionally has green algae in the water limiting the clarity and a small opening.  To make things smarter and safer, I swam on our oxygen bottles into the cave and clipped them off near the ¨T¨ intersection and I swam Ken’s DPV to the same location as Ken obviously was not familiar with this entry point.  The purpose for this dive was to experience more power passage before we moved to the double DPVs beginning the next day.  Once we were inside the cave with our machines and stage bottles, we motored downstream the main passage.  The first 800 feet/242 meters is the shallow fresh water passage that is stained dark from tannic acid surface intrusion.  This requires some skill with the machines to negotiate as Ken did great!  Once you are below 55 feet/16 meters you enter into the salt water zone and the cave walls are bleached white and the water becomes that liquid soft blue color.  The cave passage becomes this incredible vertical canyon features and is truly an amazing site to witness.  We stopped at two animal bone sites for Ken to view and on our return portion of the dive we stopped and parked the machines and swam about 500 feet/151 meters into this very gorgeous passage.
 

On our way out, Ken’s primary light failed.  OK, but I thought that was a little bit unusual for an HID primary light to fail 50 minutes into the dive.  Ken pulled out a backup light out of his DUI Commercial grade dry suit thigh pocket that was basically dead.  I gave his light (not Ken) my middle finger hands signal meaning the light was screwed!  Ken’s second back up light was equally pathetic.   Now I was really pissed off!  I gave Ken one of my backup lights to use.  We exited the cave and terminated the plan to motor upstream a short distance to another beautiful saltwater passage.  My other concern for the exit was encountering any of the other two cave diving teams, luckily, the first team had jumped to the short cut to the power cave passage and the second team had not entered the water yet.  After our safety stop and we reached the surface, one of my first questions to Ken did he forget to charge his primary light.  He claimed he charged it and I knew that some of Mary Miller’s electrical outlets in the Condo suite where Ken was staying in can have their issues.  We decided is was the power charger for the HID light and a computer chip that is in the charger that perhaps did not allow the battery to get a charge.  However, it was really the back up lights that I was truly annoyed with.  I take great pride with cave divers being self responsible and being self sufficient.  I refuse to treat adults in my training courses as if they are children. Other cave Instructors treats their students as robot children.  I treat you with respect.   Adult cave divers must be responsible for their gear at all times.  Ken uses twist on/off lights.   Because he parks them in his thigh pocket, the lights obviously gets turned on without anyone noticing they are on during his dives. This was Ken’s excuse.   Lights need to be checked before every dive.  Therefore, I went into my lecture (God, I hate doing responsibility lectures) about the investment of time (seven days diving in Mexico), the financial investment of flying to Mexico, accommodations in Mexico, food in Mexico and blah, blah, blah and then you let a little bull shit gear thing almost ruin or ruin a great dive?   Folks, that does not make any sense.  Anyway, I think I was making my point a little bit more that it deserved and I think Ken was getting pissed off.  In fact, I still think he is.  However, the remaining three days, Ken’s gear was flawless and no issues.  And to be fair, I am no angel myself as I have had my equipment issues in the past as a few people can attest to.  Hell that is why we call cave diving an equipment intensive underwater activity.  Oh, the solution for Ken’s back up lights because he prefers to keep them in his thigh pockets is to use mechanical switch type lights, which Ken has done.  This case is closed and let us move on!
 

After the dive we had a great meal at Oscar Y Lalo’s Restaurant on Highway 37 and went through the entire work book discussions.


THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27th
 

Today we dived CENOTE AKTUN HU using two DPVs each and two stage bottles each.  Today’s dive site fee (it always fluctuates) was 200 pesos each and with the use of the ATV machine.  I invited Lena Ericson and Connie LoRe to tag along so they could experience this cave as their own team swimming.  This would be the last time for me using four DPVs at this cave site as loading two sets of doubles, four stage bottles and four machines required two trips with the ATV machines was logistically demanding and I was getting pretty darn tired.   Yes, sherpas for future DPV courses was becoming a much better idea.  Once we finally had everything in the water and we went through a thorough pre-dive check, we embarked on our dive with Ken towing his second scooter and me towing mine.  The goal was the C tunnel.  We stopped at 3500 feet at 28 minutes at an intersection, parked our first machines, switched to the second one and proceeded into this incredible canyon passage.  About seven minutes earlier I had a buoyancy issue at a shallow point of the cave that I confess I caused a little bit of cave damage.  I was very disgusted with myself.   After 15 minutes, we reached a point where using the machines was not possible and we continue on passing Lena and Connie swimming on their way out.   This cave passage was magnificent!   We reached the end of the line, turnaround and swam back, picked up our second DPVs and motored back to the first DPVs and first stage bottles.  We motored out of the cave passing Connie & Lena again as they were swimming.  Total time was 108 minutes.  It was definitely good practice for Ken, however using a second DPV at this cave site was not practical.  You live and learn.  Ken’s comments on his log sheets stated the cave was perfect for scootering and I quite agree. As I said before, this cave is the largest power sizes passages for such long distances in the Riviera Maya.  Truly, it is amazing!
 

After we packed up the truck we stopped by the LABNA HA Eco Park along with Connie and Lena to visit with our friends Sergio Granucci and Pep Linares.  Wow! Sergio and Pep were really doing great as several vans were parked with over 30 customers enjoying the facilities.  I was impressed.   In addition, Sergio has gone back to charge 200 pesos for cave divers, yes!  I really love diving CENOTE CARACOL but the prices Sergio and Pep wanted during the past eighteen months was way too high for anyone really to afford and enjoy.  I immediately told the guys I would be out for dives with my clients during the next few weeks.
 

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29th
 

Today we arrived at 7:30 A.M. at CENOTE DOS OJOS.  I have learned to get at this site very early to void the zoo getting equipment into the water.  We planned for the double DPV, double stage dive to the awesome LSD area. Our goal was 10,000 – 11,000 feet/3030 – 3300 meters from CENOTE DOS OJOS EAST.   We would use the two stage bottles each and not touch the back gas in our double 80´s.  We motored for 38 minutes DPV time and made 1500 feet/454 meters approximate into the LSD line.  My choice in where we stopped to drop the first DPV and the first stage bottle was not my best choice.  It was a flat area and nothing really to damage, however the floor had a very thin layer of dark clay silt.  Ken’s challenge was the hovering trying to deploy his first stage and first DPV.  Let us say the silt was disturbed, nothing bad but it can be better.  We continued on with the second DPV and second stage as our speed and efficiency increased dramatically because of less drag.  In fact, our efficiency was excellent as we were making superb progress based on thirty+ plus dives into this area.  We got so far that we were very close to 60 feet/18 meters in depth and the saltwater percolation off the ceiling was giving me a concern. We definitely had passed the furthest point in all my previous dives.  We called the dive at 32 minutes on the DPVs plus the saltwater percolation was becoming potentially bad and that is not good following a string by feel pushing a DPV machine this far back into the cave.  That is not what I wanted to do with a DPV student.  Not cool!  Therefore, 38 plus 32 equals 70 minutes on the machines times 175 feet/53 meters times 70 minutes equals 12, 250 feet/3712 meters distance.  Subtract 1200 feet/363 meters as we were not doing that the first 38 minutes and you roughly calculate 11,000 feet/3300 meters in total distance in penetration from the starting point.  Our exit was more efficient and super enjoyable as we had a total time underwater of over 150 minutes.  I know Ken was stoked with the dive.
 

SATURDAY, MARCH 1st
 

Our final dive was back at CENOTE DOS OJOS as Ken wanted to motor to CENOTE THE PIT.  As stated before, this one of my favorite DPV dives along with the LSD area.  It is much more challenging as there are a few areas of the cave passages that demand the best from the pilot.  Ken had already proven he was a very good pilot.   Our dive was three hours plus as we parked our first DPV and first stage bottle at CENOTE TIKIM MICH.  We got there in 39 minutes.  It is second half of this traverse where you swim and push the DPV machine through a bedding plane area as that we did.  The last 500 feet/151 meters before reaching CENOTE THE PIT it is best to park the second DPV and the second stage bottle because it is not good in damaging the cave or the equipment.  The swim is twelve minutes.  I usually have cave divers turn off or cover their primary lights the last 50 feet/15 meters as emerging from the cave balcony into the CENOTE THE PIT with the natural day light dripping into water is a very religious experience.  At least that is what folks who have performed this dive with me have said many times.  Ken’s comments from his log sheets stated that the CENOTE THE PIT was truly beautiful.  I agree.  Our return to CENOTE DOS OJOS EAST was almost text book perfect with no problems and motoring the main passage downstream from CENOTE TIKIM MICH was a memorizing and peaceful piece of time in life.  This is where you really realize that despite the tremendous costs in investing in these machines, maintaining them and the logistical challenges of carrying and preparing for these types of dives it is all worth it.
 

During the week I think I did more than my usual amount of grumbling.   Yes, I think using SHERPAS is the smart thing to do for future courses.  Overall, I was extremely pleased with Ken’s performance using the SUBMERGE DPV machines despite the one day of frustration at CENOTE JAILHOUSE.  Ken’s last three days was a great example of the caterpiller emerging into a beautiful butterfly.

That evening Ken and I drove up to the Cancun International Airport for me to pick up my two cave diving students Kye Kennedy and Matt Chonka of San Marcos, Texas who were starting their cave diving training in the morning.  Ken’s girlfriend was flying in at the same time and he wanted to pick up a rental car as they had romantic plans staying down on the beach in Tulum for three days.  I think Ken was continuing on with his cave diving.
 

TOM GRENIER, DONNA KINCAID & ROBERT McKENNA

Filed under: Cave Diving — Steve @ 12:27 pm

TOM GRENIER, DONNA KINCAID & ROBERT McKENNA
 

Monday morning, February 18th I was at the ferry dock in Playa Del Carmen at 7:45 A.M. to pick up three students for the NACD Introduction to Cave Diving course.  They were Tom Grenier (50) of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Donna Kincaid (48) of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Robert D. McKenna (51) ofº Skiatook, Oklahoma.  All are very active open water divers who frequently travel to Cozumel for their diving trip vacations.  Tom is a Petroleum landsman who has been diving for 30 years and logged over 1000 dives.  Tom’s training certifications include YMCA Open Water Instructor, PADI Dive master and NACD Cavern diver.  Donna’s professional career entails marketing petroleum natural gas products and has been diving for ten years logging over 350 dives.  Her diving training certifications include PADI Open water, Nitrox and the NACD cavern diver.  Robert is a Geologist and has been diving for 30 years logging over 800 dives with training certifications including PADI Open water, Nitrox and the NACD Cavern diver. All three wanted to continue with their training with the purpose to experience diving in the cave environment and see if this is a direction to pursue for the future.  That is why the call the course Introduction to Cave Diving.  Their cavern diving course Instructor was German Mendoza Yanez of Cozumel who I certified as a NACD cave diver in 1993 and we have been friends ever since. A year earlier Lena Ericson and I spent a few days diving with German in the caves of Cozumel.
 

Waiting at the ferry, Tom, Donna and Robert exited from the ferry and we went through introductions and immediately walked to my truck parked on 10th Avenue.  We traveled down to Puerto Aventuras to use the Aquanauts dive store class room.  I explained it would be a very long day as we would spend a good portion of the day with the discussion and hands on set up of the equipment, attitudes and philosophies with cave diving.  Everyone had read my new book, PSAI´s Cavern Diving – Safe & Fun. We completed six cave dives beginning at CENOTE DOS OJOS late Monday afternoon.  Luckily, the group was staying at Mary Miller’s Condo Suites, which helped with convenience as we did not get home Monday night until very late.  For Tuesday, February 19th we dived at CENOTE DOS PALMAS as it has an easy entry point and not crowded with divers and snorkelers such as CENOTE EDEN or CENOTE CARWASH.  For the final dives we dived at CENOTE CHAC MOOL as it allowed us to be closest to Playa Del Carmen as the group wanted to return to Cozumel on Tuesday night.
This made our time usage the most challenging I have experienced in quite awhile.  The main emphasis was becoming proficient with the buoyancy control and trim and the psychological challenges of the cave environment.  Tom had two brief issues with the caves and overcame them in quite a surprisingly and successful way.  Tuesday morning at CENOTE DOS PALMAS was the session of frustration whiles that afternoon everyone pulled together and we two great dives of success particularly with the buoyancy control.  I have seen rabbits pulled out of hats because after Tuesday morning I was considering folding the deck of cards.  However, good communication and telling it like it is, I think brings the best out of people.  The best certainly showed for the dives at CENOTE CHAC MOOL.
 

For Tom, Donna and Robert, they definitely proved their worth and there is no doubt many questions were answered and more questions evolved.  Their enthusiasm and positive attitudes made the difference.  We accomplished our goals with the skills with the reels, safety drills such as the lost line, touch-contact/safe air and most important gaining confidence with the overhead environment.  It was an honor and great pleasure diving with these folks from Oklahoma.  I know they learned much.

April 11, 2008

MURRAY CAMPBELL & CAMERON WARNER

Filed under: Cave Diving — Steve @ 7:29 am

MURRAY CAMPBELL & CAMERON WARNER
 Beginning on Monday, February 11th, it was my pleasure to teach a cave diving course for Murray Campbell (43) of Balzac, (Calgary area) Canada and Cameron Warner (25) of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.  Murray is an Electronic Technologist and has been diving for 10 years logging over 250 dives and acquiring the PADI Open Water certification, TDI Advanced Nitrox and the GUE Fundamentals course. He enjoys diving wrecks and ice diving.  He and his wife and family were staying at the DREAMS RESORT located four kilometers north of Tulum.  Cameron is and works as an active PADI MSDT Instructor with over 2000 logged dives with technical training in extended range and trimix.  Cameron was renting an apartment with his girlfriend in Playa Del Carmen for a few months to seek new opportunities and enjoy the beautiful but ever changing Riviera Maya and Playa Del Carmen life style.  We began our day at the AQUANAUTS Dive Store classroom located in the marina in Puerto Aventuras.  All paperwork and orientation was completed and dived straight into the discussion of equipment configuration philosophies within the concepts of today’s cave diving community.  Most was basically a review for both men as they were very well prepared with the current trends.  I was impressed and it made my responsibilities that much easier.   I enjoy going through the ten principles of common sense with what works, can work and probably is stupid to consider or try.  Divers who think with their brains are exactly the attitude I look for in successful students.
 

We completed ten dives at CENOTE DOS OJOS, CENOTE CARWASH, CENOTE VACA HA, CENOTE TORTUGA and CENOTE CALAVERA (Temple of Doom) from Monday late afternoon, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Murray’s diving skills with buoyancy and trim was almost flawless as I equally impressed with his attitude and enthusiasm.  Cameron was surprisingly as good and a pure joy to dive with.  We practiced with all procedures in fixing problems, emergencies, and preventing problems.  On Thursday afternoon, Murray was satisfied with what he experienced that answered a few questions for himself.  He earned the Introduction to Cave qualifications.  Cameron wanted to continue as he had plenty of time to work with because of him living in Playa Del Carmen.
 

For FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15th Cameron and I dived CENOTE CHAN HOL and CENOTE ZACIL HA (known as Luke’s Hope in the SISTEMA CARWASH cave system).  We practiced with multiple jumps and ¨T¨ intersections along with sharing gas/touch-contact drills through minor restrictions.  CENOTE ZACIL HA has transformed itself into a country club atmosphere as the land owner (member of the Ejido Tulum) has constructed top quality wooden decks, ladders, palapas, equipment preparation tables and bathrooms.  What was once a tranquil tiny water hole in the jungle has dramatically changed into almost a fantasy world? Cameron’s ears were really beginning to give him problems and we decided to take Saturday & Sunday off to give his ears a break. 

Our next dive was on Wednesday, February 20th as we dived CENOTE AKTUN HU.  For this particular day we were charged 250 pesos each and we had our personal use of an ATV machine.  Our dive using one stage bottle was awesome as we swam way into the ¨C¨ passage.  I could not ask for a better dive from Cameron.  After the dive we hiked up a cut road into the jungle and looked at CENOTE OUTLAND, which is now connected into SISTEMA AKTUN HU.

Because of my very busy schedule, my final dive with Cameron was on Thursday, March 27th at the beautiful CENOTE SAC BE HA (now connected into SISTEMA TOH HA).  We swam upstream negotiating three ¨T¨ intersections and one minor restriction. On our return swim four minutes from the cenote we jumped to an offshoot line and swam this passage for 400 feet/121 meters.  Our total bottom time was 100 minutes.  We were planning to make a second dive but my brand new battery for my 10 watt HID primary light ran out of juice.  

On Sunday, April 6th Cameron and his girlfriend flew back to Scotland in preparation to move to the island of Mallorca, Spain in the Mediterranean Sea and purchased a dive store to own and operate.  It was a great honor and pleasure to meet and dive Cameron along with Murray Campbell.  Both men are excellent divers with great common sense attitudes and a positive enthusiasm, just the way I like it.  I wish Cameron great success in his new adventures in life!

April 10, 2008

MARY MILLER’s CONDO SUITES

Filed under: Cave Diving — Steve @ 7:31 am

MARY MILLER´s CONDO SUITES
For cave or open water diver’s, finding accommodations at an affordable rate can be sometimes challenging.  Most decent places can be $150.00 or more a night.  I am recommending Mary Miller’s Condo Suites as they are $75.00 per night.  There are two suites located on the ground floor of the LA COSTA CONDMINIUMS directly on the Puerto Aventuras marina.  They offer air conditioning, complete kitchen, outdoor deck area and a living/bedroom combined area with queen size bed and futon.   The condos can handle a maximum of three unless kids are involved then perhaps four.  Many cave divers have used Mary Miller’s Condo suites for their diving vacation visit.  Mary lives in Durant, Oklahoma and to contact her;
Cell phone is:  589 – 916 – 8259
Email address is:    millerm5644@sbcglobal.net

KEN BOSKO and BOB THORPE

Filed under: Cave Diving — Steve @ 7:20 am

BOB THORPE & KEN BOSKO

On Thursday, January 31st, 2008 my friends Bob Thorpe and Ken Bosko flew into Cancun from Detroit, Michigan.  They knew I was teaching a complete cave diving course and I was unable to pick them up at the airport.  However, these guys have been through the procedure before on previous trips with catching the direct Riviera Maya Aeropuerto Bus to Playa Del Carmen and then hiring a taxi cab for the short 18 minute ride to Puerto Aventuras. The bus is 80 pesos and the cab is 140 pesos.  They knew the drill to avoid an expensive taxi ride from the airport to Puertoland.  When I got home that Thursday night, they had already settled into the 001 Condo Suite of the La Costa Condominium building.  I had already sent them by email my 10 day proposed diving agenda.  They were psyched and ready for another great diving adventure!

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1st, 2008
 

For Friday, February 1st we performed a stage dive at CENOTE CHAN HOL (which is now part of SISTEMA TOH HA) that totalled over 160 minutes of bottom time as we explored several offshoot lines and viewed several archaeological sites.  It was a great dive and, incredibly, no other cave divers showed up as this cave has become quite a popular cave system for cave divers.
We had lunch in Tulum at the popular Don Cafeto Restaurant.
 For the afternoon, I had a planned obligation to fulfil, therefore I suggested to Bob & Ken to do an OCEAN dive from the shore swimming from the entry point in front of Jim McClure’s home across the street from my La Costa Condominium building.  They jumped on that opportunity like a flea on Joe T. Cocker.  They swam 50 minutes out to the wall in front of Puerto Aventuras (1.1 kilometres) to a depth of 200 feet/60 meters breathing on trimix gas (of course, using a travel gas of Eanx 32 to the 120 feet/36 meter depth).  On their return swim they enjoyed the beautiful reefs located in front of Puertoland to off gas the nasty inert gases they absorbed into their precious and fragile bodies. They were quite impressed with how easy it is to dive in front of Puerto Aventuras from the shore providing it is relatively calm seas.   This day was very calm.
 

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2008
 For today we performed Bob & Ken’s first DPV dive in a cave at CENOTE CHAC MOOL.  Both men have has much experience using the SUBMERGE DPV machines in Lake Michigan.  The transition to the cave environment would be a piece a cake for them as they easily proved it as we traversed from CENOTE CHAC MOOL to CENOTE PASCAL in 22 minutes.  We carried a stage bottle to answer the question for a DPV failure as the distance between the two cenotes that is 3600 feet/1090 meters.  Our return ride on the ponies was 21 minutes to CENOTE CHAC MOOL.  For a second short dive we motored to the Monster Room located 1600 feet/485 meters downstream in twelve minutes.  On our way back I had Bob and Ken practice sharing gas while motoring.  It was a great morning session.  For lunch, we went back to the Puerto Aventuras marina for the world’s best cheeseburgers at Richard’s Restaurant.
 

Our afternoon dive we drove south to the Labna Ha road to check out a cenote that is now accessible by vehicle.  A week earlier Lena Ericson and I had checked out this newly constructed road.  As it turns out this cenote is called CENOTE RALLE and maximum depth of 17 feet and nearly 1100 feet/333 meters.
 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2008
 

Today’s dive was to use the SUBMERGE ponies on the wall in front of Puerto Aventuras.  We would use double 80´s with Trimix, single 80 with Eanx 32 for our travel gas and a 40 cubic foot oxygen bottle.  We entered the ocean in front of Jim McClure’s home.  The seas were a tad rough but we safely managed to get all the gear into water without being damaged.  Once we were underwater it took us sixteen minutes to motor out to the wall and we headed south against the current with our depths ranging from 200 – 230 feet/60 – 69 meters.  The plan was to cruise the wall at these depths for 20 – 23 minutes.  We began our return to shallower depths at 22 minutes.  The highlight of the dive was observing a school of sailfish swimming 50 feet/15 meters above us with their dorsal fins fully extended.  That was an awesome sight!  Bob and Ken were completely stoked as we hugged the massive wall observing giant barrel sponges and plenty of black coral.  For our decompression obligations, cruising the shallow reefs was fun as I showed the guys all the best locations.  What was really impressive were the huge schools of tropical fish swimming amongst the stag horn, pillar and elk horn coral.   At Jim’s cave we tried to find ERNIE the green moray eel, but for the first time in five years he was not home.  After completing our deco, we motored to the proper underwater channel that would take us straight back to our entry point.  Everything went according to our plan and Bob and Ken were very HAPPY divers as motoring on a deep wall dive is really cool to do.For the night we all had great rib eye steak dinners at Richard’s Steakhouse with Lena Ericson, Connie LoRe, Pablo Diaz Lavin and his beautiful wife Nayeli.  It was a very fun evening.
 

MONDAY. FEBRUARY 4, 2008
 For this day I had requested from the guys the opportunity to drive south on Highway 307 all the way to the Maya town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto as five kilometres further south I had a Google aerial photo of seven small lakes.  I was curious to see if any potential for caves was possible.  In addition, it appeared to be quite an impressive hydrological drainage area.  We left at 7:00 a.m. for the two hour drive and manage to get to the largest lake by 9:30 a.m.  It was a beautiful view but no evidence of any cenotes.  This particular sight would be an awesome location for vacation home.  It was at the fifth lake that we found signs leading us to a cenote that had a wood dock.  I volunteered to jump in with my mask and fins and lowered my UWATEC Smart Pro computer attached to a string from my primary stainless steel Ralph Hood (Undercurrent) reel.  I got a depth of 65 feet/19 meters.  I decided it was worth putting on my doubles and diving the cenote.  While I gearing up a group of five young local folks showed up all enjoying the enhancement of SOL cerveza.  They quickly informed us that there a crocodile in the cenote.  I said that was no problem as the only thing that disgusts me were the slimy ass gaytors of Gainesville, Florida.  Hey, a loyal Seminole is a loyal Nole!  Using the ladder from the dock I carefully got into the water, performed all my equipment checks and began my descent.  I reached a depth of 70 feet/21 meters with a cave opening that only went back 40 feet/12 meters.  No underwater cave system and no crocodile.   When I reached the surface, there was Ken posing for photos with our new five amigos being goofy as he can be (Just kidding Ken!).  I got dressed back into my street clothes and we packed up my truck and said goodbye to our happy friends.
 

Driving back we stopped at a Mayan village located 4 kilometres east of Highway 307 hoping we may luck out and find a local known cenote.  For me, it is always fascinating observing the many small villages throughout the Yucatan seeing how people have lived for hundreds of years.  Back in the town of Felipe Carillo Puerto we toured several neighborhoods.  Now we were on our way back to Tulum and I was desperately thinking in where could we make a dive that would be something new for us.  That is when my light bulb went off in my head and I thought of CENOTE X´KEKEN.  This very small cenote was first dived by Halario Hiler back in 1987 and was further explored by Steve Keene and Sue Sharples.  All reports said the cave was small and did not go far.  It is located one kilometre south of the village of Jose Maria Pino Suarez on the east side of Highway 307 very close to the road (Beyond the new guard rail for the highway).  I do not know who the land owner is but a year ago the property was being used as a commercial nursery.  Now the land is abandoned and over grown.  Basically, it is a hole that you must climb down into a small dry chamber. Luckily, is not difficult and you can do it with double tanks.  A stone wall has been constructed around the cenote and a PVC pipe has been placed through another very small hole down into a pool of water just big enough for three cave divers.  There is an upstream and down stream passages with a maximum depth of 28 feet/8 meters.
The reports were fairly correct as I found the cave interesting but nothing to excite the Pope.  The upstream had several leads with no line in them. After the dive I suggested to Bob & Ken they may want to return to this cave as I felt they may have potential for further exploration.  A week later they did return but all the leads looped back into the main passage.  Oh well, if you don’t go, you won’t know!  After we packed we stopped in Chemuyil for PIZZA LEO at Leo’s Pizzeria as it always a great place to enjoy the end of another great day.
 

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2008
 Today’s dive was at SISTEMA SAC XIQUIN located near SISTEMA TUHS KUPAXA.  We got a late start as I had to take of some business in Puerto Morelos as my friend Captain Kirk Scott had sold his sailboat during the weekend and I volunteered to get his personal belongings shipped back to the United States.  I owed Kirk a big favour and Bob and Ken were gracious to allow me the time to take care of delivering all of Kirk’s belongings to the Custom Agents for in Puerto Morelos for shipping to Port Everglades in Florida.
 

I consider this cave in my top five in beauty and decorations.  The only negative thing of this cave is the five minute hike humping your gear.  SISTEMA SAC XIQUIN has over 5747 feet/1741 meters of explored passages by Robbie Schmittner and Gunnar Wagner.  We swam in six minutes to the second ¨T¨ intersection and turned right.  If you swim to the left you traversed 1800 feet to another cenote.  We swam another 7 minutes and at this ¨T¨ intersection we turned left.  This passage makes a turn to the right and you swim into a huge room.  The passage ends 800 feet/242 meters later.  The decorations and formations are stunning!  We swam back to the ¨T¨ intersection and followed his line for 500 feet/151 meters as it becoming very small and uninteresting.  We returned to the third ¨T¨ intersection and then back to the second ¨T¨ intersection and then to the first ¨T¨ intersection, which is three minutes from the exit.  We decided to swim this line for 600 feet/181 meters and we encountered a fourth T¨¨ intersection.  Our dive was two hours and the guys were very pleased with what we saw and experienced.  My fun was constantly swimming up to Ken and switching off his primary HID light.  The first few times he could not figure out what was going on but then he figured things out.   It was a hoot watching his puzzlement in why his light was turning off.  I love being a prankster.
  After the dive, we drove into Chemuyil and you guessed it.  Pizza Leo’s and refreshments for another great day of diving!
 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6th, 2008
 

Today’s dive was at CENOTE SAC BE HA. This is a very pretty cave system that is now connected into SISTEMA TOH HA, which is now at 75,108 feet /25,899 meters and connected into 13 different cenotes including CENOTE CHAN HOL.  This cenote is located two kilometres north of CENOTE CHAN HOL on the west side of Highway 307 on RANCHO LUUM before you approach the curve on the highway.    As stated before, this cave area was explored and mapped by Nadia Berni and David Seiff who were married on Monday, March 24th on Tulum Beach.    We had a great dive as we swam downstream and upstream becoming more familiar and learning this cave.  I got a kick out of the variety of names written on the white directional line arrows such as storm, pig killer, new visa, therapy, reconstruction, strong coffee, eastern block, story of my life, cat killer, rear door, caraval, SEAT???, roots, Sahara and many, many more.  There were no wasps to deal with on this entry as before in January and Bob & Ken were thoroughly impressed with this cave.
  For the afternoon we planned to dive a new cave system called SISTEMA AKTUN HU – the Iguana cave. I have already posted on my blogger about this new cave system.  Basically, the first two exploration dives were through Labna Ha with Sergio Granucci and Pep Linares with a few paying customers.  I had written that Alex Alverez of the Aquatic Tulum Dive Center, who is always very polite and a great guy, had paid the land owners money to explore the cave as was told to me.  Further talks with Alex and with Beto Navo (another polite and great guy) is the exploration being conducted was by invitation by one of the land owners and that problems had arisen between the Labna Ha camp and the land owner(s).  I had met two of the land owners out of three.  One is Alex Chimal whose phone number is 984 – 132 – 68 25 and the web site is HTTP://TAMAKIS-RIVIERMAYA.COM.  Alex is a very friendly fellow who encouraged divers to come and dive the cave.  A few weeks later I met another land owner who lives in Cancun, however I do not know his name and he was very unfriendly and seemed to want no part of divers diving the cave system unless you want to pay a lot of money.  The bottom line is there disagreement between the land owners on what to charge and blah, blah, blah.   It is too bad as this cave is definitely is a great cave dive.  I will further elaborate in more posts later.  Bob, Ken and I had a great dive and were very impressed despite the fact we humped our double tanks out to the cenote, which is a 8 – 10 minute hike.  This particular day the ATV machines were not available.  The dive made up for the work.  On our way home, we stopped at the new location for OSCAR Y LALO´s Restaurant.  They are now located directly on Highway 307.  The old location on Soliman Bay was badly damaged from storm surge from Hurricane Dean of last year.  The Constance family now want to develop the land for condominiums and that is why the restaurant was moved out to Highway 307.  Too bad as that location was one of the last places where one could enjoy the ocean and enjoy a great meal and refreshments and no view of a resort or hotels.  The good news is the food is still great and Lalo has really made the ambiance of the new location inviting and comfortable.
 

Speaking of great little restaurants and little hotels on the beach, I am very sad to report that the great CAFÉ DEL MAR and Hotel located on Xpu Ha Beach next door to the Catalonia Tulum Spa Resort (formerly the Casablanca Resort) is now permanently closed.  Leon managed a great place, which was always nice to have an excellent meal directly on a great beach with pleasant things to view and enjoy.  Many cave divers have stayed at the DEL MAR HOTEL including several of my students and guest cave divers.  The property owner is planning to develop the land into a big resort/hotel, of course.  The paradise of the Riviera Maya continues to erode away each day.
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7th, 2008
 

For today, we used the SUBMERGE ponies for a traverse dive from CENOTE DOS OJOS to the CENOTE THE PIT.  I love doing this dive.  Though Ken and Bob did a deep dive (280 feet/84 meters) in the CENOTE THE PIT on their previous trip in October 2006, this DPV dive would provide the excitement for their pony riding skills.   We made it to the CENOTE THE PIT in 94 minutes.  We surfaced with no other divers using the dive site.  This cenote is growing in popularity as the access is slowly becoming easier.  I am almost able to drive my truck all the way to the cenote. I am sure the EJIDO JACINTO PAT will put down sascab and smooth out the roadway for allowing vehicles to be able drive that last 600 feet/181 meters.  The Ejido has now constructed a wooden deck at one side of the cenote edge.  Now they need to build a quality set of stairs.  Our return journey back to the CENOTE DOS OJOS was really smooth and enjoyable with a maximum time of 199 minutes underwater.  Bob and Ken´s skill with the SUBMERGE DPVS was very impressive and they were quite happy with the dive.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8th, 2008
 Today was something new for us.  We signed on with Dennis Week’s AQUANUATS dive store to do a boat trip to the newest rage for diving the ocean in the Riviera Maya.  That is diving with the BULL SHARKS located in front of Playa Del Carmen.  There were nine paying customers including my neighbor Jim McClure.  Apparently, during the past few years it has been noticed and recognized that a population of bull sharks hang out in the 80 – 100 foot/24 – 30 meters depths.  The theory is the sharks are attracted by the electrode magnetic buzz of the electrical power cables that are laid across the channel to Cozumel from Playa Del Carmen. OK, I will buy that.  There have been enough dive operations using this particular area bringing fish bait and chum where the sharks will swim in to investigate and sometimes take the food.  Our Dive Master was the awesome Luis who works for Dennis.  The plan was for the nine of us to form a semi-circle on the sand floor at 80 feet/24 meters (yes, Hogarthian perfection of buoyancy control went to hell) and Luis would have a plastic bag of bait to lure the sharks in.  Now mind you, Dennis has this great video of a previous dive of the Bull Sharks really coming in for the bait food.  Therefore, everyone in our group was psyched with anticipation.
 

The ride on the boat was thoroughly enjoyable as the weather was perfect and the seas were very calm.  It was memory trail for me as back in the late 80´s, Dr. Les Willis would take me on reef dives along the coast from Paalmu (ScubaMex Dive Store) and there was NOTHING but jungle, not even Puerto Aventuras.  Now, it is really not that bad.  Soon as you get north of the AVENTURAS SPA resort it is mostly jungle except for the CALICA PORT and the tourist family adventure spot of X¨CERET.  Of course, then you hit the PLAYACAR 14 resorts zone where it is wall-to-wall beach umbrellas.   Just beyond the pier for the ferries for Cozumel we see this huge mega-yacht that definitely is over 330 feet/100 meters long.  I immediately assumed it belongs to the golfing legend star Greg Norman from Australia as I knew he has a huge yacht and he was scheduled to play a golf tournament at the new mega resort called the MAYAKOBA, which is an exclusive resort for the elite, whatever that means.  Hell, most GUE divers think they are elite.  However, it belongs to the billionaire CARLOS PERALTA QUINTERO who is owner and President of the IUSA Corporation, which is a huge electrical/telecommunications company. He was vacationing in front of Play Del Carmen on his yacht called the ¨PRINCESS MARIANA.  This boat is seven stories high and has two heliports, one tender yacht and a fleet of Ski-doos.¼br />  OK.  We reach our destination directly in front of Playa Del Carmen, which to me makes no sense why these considered man-killer sharks are lurking in the local waters unbeknownst to all the tourists swimming in the water from the beaches.
Luis prepares us and presents a great dive plan that basically follows everything I previously have said.  We enter the water as a group entry, we descend in what I think is pretty darn good visibility as I could immediately see the bottom.  We reach the sandy floor and form our semi-circle.  Yes, I did bring my Nikon 100 (now pre-historic) digital camera with my Light & Motion Titan U/W housing to take my first photos in the ocean with this particular camera system.  I had so much fun just taking photos of Bob & Ken on their knees waiting for a shark(s) to show up as this was clearly against everything they know about excellent buoyancy control.
 

After twenty minutes and no sharks I am beginning to feel this whole charade is a rip-off.  Diving at a depth of 82 feet/25 meters, my no decompression profile was not looking like the most appealing situation. (Yes, everyone was breathing 32% Eanx) Suddenly, we saw a seven foot/2.1 meter shark appear from 40 feet/12 meters, but no closer.  Cool!  A shark is a shark, yes?  It swam by from a distance and made two passes before disappearing.  Then another shark appeared or it could have been the same one but it did not stay long.  I was using my 12 mm – 24 mm wide angle lenses and getting a photo of the shark(s) was almost useless.  What was intriguing was the multitude of trigger fish swimming around.  They were like pesky mosquitoes flying about.  In fact, they were becoming quite annoying as they swam around your face and poor Luis had to constantly beat them off from taking the bait food.  I had heard that a tourist open water diver had got his face mangled by a trigger fish a few days earlier in the Playa Del Carmen area.  In addition, we had several remora fish swimming around that I took as a good sign for sharks to be in the area.  Then our third and last shark appeared and it was close to 10 feet/3 meters.  It came within 40 feet/12 meters and had a three foot/one meter cobia (folks in Florida call them ling) trailing behind it and a nice size remora.  This was good. I was able to get three decent photos.  After 38 minutes, it was time to ascend to the surface to do our safety stops.  In my opinion, the sharks not swimming in closer to the divers was a little bit disappointing.  However, the potential for this type of dive to become better is definitely wide open.  If the consistency of divers showing up with bait food, the sharks will come closer and I was told there are good days when, in fact, the bull sharks do come closer to the divers.  Now, some folks say that feeding sharks is not a cool thing to do and I understand that.  In addition, some people say bull sharks are dangerous.  It was a fun dive and witnessing these magnificent animals is quite a rush.
 For our second shallow dive we parked the boat directly in front of X´ceret and had lunch and refreshments.  This drift dive was really good as we were diving Barracuda Reef.  The reef is in 35 – 45 feet/10.3 – 13 meters and comes off the sand floor 10 -15 feet/3 – 5 meters with many overhangs, caves and plenty of tropical fish.  I went crazy with my camera praying that my strobes would last the entire 70 minute dive.  I got a great photo of a sea turtle munching on soft coral with Bob in the back ground.  Bob got a better photo of the turtle with me in the back ground.  This turtle showed no fear.  I saw two green moray eels, however they were shy for the camera.  Overall, I rate Barracuda Reef excellent as I was very impressed.  Overall, it was a fun day and Bob, Ken and I were quite satisfied with what we experienced.  Hopefully, this proves that I do dive the reefs and the ocean.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9th, 2008
 

Today we dived CENOTE DOS PISOS doing an underwater photo shoot.  This dive site is located on the RANCHO CAMPE on the west side of Highway 307
six kilometres south of Tulum.  The family have made more improvements of their new road and now it is only a three minute hike from where you can park your vehicle to the furthest downstream cenote called CENOTE PIG.  The photo shoot was very successful despite one of my main strobes not firing.  However, with digital photography, you can easily adjust from two to one strobes manipulating the power of the strobes, the F stops and the positioning of the strobe.  I got enough good shots of Bob & Ken to make the effort of the dive worthwhile.  As stated before, I think this cave is one of the prettiest in the Riviera Maya.  In addition, it is a gold mine for photo opportunities.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10th, 2008
 

Today we dived CENOTE VACA HA with the intent to traverse to CENOTE TOUCHA HA (also known as CENOTE ZAPOTE).  Our goal was to leave a slate with a cute message on the wood platform of CENOTE TOUCHA HA for the land owner Richard Molesky to read.  Richard has his restaurant in Puerto Aventuras and owns the STOP n´ GO mini super in Tulum near the intersection of Highway 307 and the Coba Road.  Richard bought this property from DON CAMILO in 1995 and has transformed it into an impressive ranch.  He has created a huge spider monkey compound for rescued monkeys, a very nice Mayab deer (little white tail deer) compound and a lagoon with ducks that now has a few resident crocodiles (the ducks are not happy).  In addition, he has a stable with many horses.
 

CENOTE VACA HA was connected into the SISTEMA TOUCHA HA cave system four years ago.  However, the cave passage from CENOTE VACA HA is quite small and has much clay silt but is doable with double tanks.  At least, that is what I told Ken and Bob.  To make a long story short, we failed to make the traverse as we made it to THE STADIUM ROOM but had to turnaround with our gas supply.  Oh well!  However, our return swim in the small passage was by Braille as we probably had two too many divers for the team.  Let us just say it was a type of dive that Mr. Guideline really becomes your best pal.  It was an interesting dive to complete 10 days of diving with Ken and Bob.
  Though this was my last day diving with Bob and Ken they did have three more days of their two week visit.  I had a cave diving course with two students starting on Monday morning.  Overall, Ken and Bob were quite happy with their diving with me. For the fourth time, they said this was their best trip yet and I am confident I will make their next visit better.  It is always a great pleasure diving with Bob Thorpe and Ken Bosko.
 

Powered by WordPress