The Cenotes of the Riviera Maya
January – February News – 2010
My arrival back home on December 21st from Oahu, Hawaii was met with tragic news as I was informed that my 13 year old dog – Joe T Cocker – past away the day before. I was devastated as one of the reasons staying home all winter was to spend quality time with Joe as I knew his time was near. Losing a loyal friend is hard to deal with, however life does go on. Because of my current life style being away in Hawaii and in Guam, Korea and Japan, I have resigned to the fact that bonding with a new dog is impractical. Wow! I have had dogs since 1980. However, if that “special” dog were to ever show up, who knows.
In addition, I am preparing for my USCG Third Mate exams.
During Wednesday, December 23rd I dived with Rogelio Mier at Cenote Zapote located 24 kilometers west of Puerto Morelos. There are three cenotes within a close proximity and all go deep to depths of 180 feet, but no cave. What makes them unique is at the 100 foot levels there are overhangs as the cenotes bell out
creating a ceiling. The attraction is these Christmas tree or bell shaped stalactites or flow stone from the ceiling or wall. Some are quite huge and very interesting to observe.
I started cave diving with Stefan Dreesbach of Germany during the week of December 26th. We were supposed to dive for six straight days, unfortunately Stefan caught a horrible cold on the flight from Europe and we ended up diving for only three days. We did do two Submerge pony DPV dives at Cenote Aktun Hu checking out the Northeast tunnel as it connects into the Cenote Outland upstream area. We pony ride upstream Cenote Dos Ojos and explored the passage that leads to a cenote heading south from the main line. I wish I could have done more dives with Stefan. I celebrated the New Year’s Eve with he and his beautiful wife Silke at their condo in Puerto Aventuras overlooking the Caribbean.
During the same time period I was able to do a few Submerge Pony DPV dives with my friends Rogelio Mier Ortega and Gustavo Fragoso. We made two dives at Cenote Aktun Hu diving the main line and the Northeast Tunnel. They were super impressed with the size of this power cave.
On Saturday, January 2nd I drove up to the Royal Hacienda Resort and dived with the DIVE BALAM dive store owned by Rogelio’s brother Marco. This dive was with the Bull Sharks as from late November to early March Bull Sharks congregate in front of Playa Del Carmen. They are all female Bull Sharks and usually pregnant. For this dive we had 12 sharks show up with the largest 12 feet in length. My camera system was down, however Rogelio graciously loaned me his camera system so that I could take photos. Gustavo Fragoso works as the shark feeder as the tourist divers are lined up in a row and sit on their knees while Gustavo (from a safe distance) has a special made container that holds a supply of “cut up” fish. The sharks are drawn by the smell of the fish and blood. They swim and circle around and Gustavo presents the fish for them to take. I was able to shoot over 100 images and touch the sharks as they swam by. One shark bumped my fins looking for food. It was a great experience and I saw no aggressive behavior by the sharks. I realize that with some folks this shark feeding is controversial. My observations are that the tourist divers were at a safe distance and no risk. Gustavo handled the fish with proper care. As we know, interacting with wild animals has its risks. An example is the Killer Whale at Sea World in Orlando. The Bull Sharks were responding to the scent of food as behaved as if dogs looking for a handout. To check out the photos, go to my photo albums on my Face Book page.
On Sunday, January 3rd I started a complete cave diving training course with John Crcek of Comox, B.C., Canada. What an awesome diver and nice guy. John is a Commercial diver working for a company that has these huge fish farms. They grow a species of the Atlantic salmon that is genetically designed not to breed if they get loose. We are talking thousands of tons of fish grown within the compounds of huge net pens at sea. It’s amazing the amount of fish grown for human consumption. Because John dives almost every day, his diving skills were superb, a very safe attitude and he did not behave like a diving robot, but as a real person. So…I spoiled him. We dived a total of 1195 minutes of bottom time with dives such Cenote Caracol at the Labna Ha Eco Park, Cenote Calimba traversing to Cenote Bosh Chen and back; we dive to the BLUE ABYSS at Cenote Pet Cemetary, the Grand Cenote swimming way beyond the “Trap Door” and almost making it to Cenote Philbanny. The best dive was a stage dive at Cenote Aktun Hu swimming 6500 feet up into Tunnel E. What a great cave passage as it reminded me of Little River Springs in Florida but five times bigger. Like I always say….you show up prepared and you are “MASTER” of the BCD, you will be rewarded.
On Sunday, January 10th and Monday, January 11th I had the great pleasure to teach a Side Mount specialty cave diving course for Mike and Mia Interrante of Brooklyn, New York. They owned the King’s County dive store in Brooklyn and had a mix group of divers staying at Villas DeRosa in Aventuras Akumal including cave divers, cenote divers and one student take his cave diving training from Fernando Nelson of Tulum. They both had the Oxychek Recon side mount harness & buoyancy systems that use the circle pillow design. I used my Dive Rite Nomad harness/buoyancy system. Mike and Mia were very prepared and fun to dive with. I do not consider myself an expert on Side Mount cave diving as teaching this course was a fun experience fine tuning my teaching skills as it was for Mike and Mia doing a great job with their equipment. We performed four dives and then they continued side mount cave diving the rest of their week with their cave divers. Our best dive was swimming to “The Chapel” in Sistema PonDerosa from Cenote Cristalino.
On Wednesday, January 13 through Friday, January 15th I taught another side mount for Bill Levine of San Francisco, California and Tim Corwin of South Hampton, Long Island, New York. Bill used my Dive Rite Nomad system while I use my Armadillo Harness system. Tim used an old Dive Rite Trans Pac harness with a Tec Wings BCD. Let’s just say that Tim had issues with his rig. We ended up switching to an Oxychek Single tank back mount BCD that helped considerably with the buoyancy and minimize a bulging BCD on the top. Our best dive was to the Southwest Sac Be passage at Cenote Cristal (Sistema Naranjal). We managed to do five dives and there is no doubt the guys learned much from the experience. I know I did!
Beginning the week of January 17th I began guiding cave diver Okie Soderholm of Finland. Okie and his wife Leena Vuorisala with their two sons (Age 6 & 4) are renting a condominium in Playacar (Playa Del Carmen) for three months (January 5th – March 31st). Okie was cave trained and certified at Sardinia, Italy by NACD Cave Instructor Thorsten “Toddy” Waelde who owns and operates the ProTec Dive Center on that beautiful Island. Leena had earned her NACD cavern diving certification with Toddy. The goal for Okie was to try to do as much cave diving as possible and for Leena to earn her Intro to Cave Diving training and certification and then see if she would continue with the Full Cave training program. Well…I decided I would immediately spoil Okie. He had already done several dives with NACD Cave Instructor Harry Gust. So our first dive was at Cenote Tuhs (Tux) Kapaxa where we used a stage bottle and traverse to the Cenote Sac Xquin area. The power size passages and the immense decorations really made Okie a very happy cave diver. We continued our cave diving with dives at Sistema Dos Pisos, Cenote Chan Hol, and several others. On alternate days I dived with Leena successfully completing her Intro to Cave Dive Training. Apparently, she was mentally abused in Finland with other courses that she had taken and was timid doing training drills and skills. However, with some TLC and gradually massaging her confidence she was doing everything asked as a true champion. So much that she eagerly wanted to continue with her Full Cave dive training.
During the week of January 24th – January 31st I had the great pleasure to dive with the Father & Son team of Peter and Anders Knudsen of Denmark. This was their third visit diving with me. Our goals for the week was to complete their PSAI Intro to Cave Instructor evaluations, Submerge DPV dive certain caves and swim dive other specified dive sites. That we did. We used double ponies and two stage bottles traversing from Cenote Dos Ojos to Cenote The Pit. Peter had already performed this dive with me in 2008 and wanted Anders to experience it. Anders was ecstatic about the dive as we performed superbly as a team. I used my 42 Amp “Bad Ass” Submerge DPV and it proved it could solely do the entire 20,000 feet dive and stay strong. I was impressed. We also Submerge pony ride at Cenote Aktun Hu motoring to the E Tunnel and making it past 8,000 feet in distance upstream. The guys were truly stoked on this cave passage and we scootered the downstream areas of Cenote Jailhouse. They loved the cobalt blue saltwater power passages. We dived Cenote Nohoch Nah Chich, Cenote Chan Hol, Sistema Dos Pisos, Cenote Dos Palmas (Instructor in-water evaluations) and Cenote Pet Cemetery to the Blue Abyss. All goals were achieved and the seven days of diving (no diving on Thursday) was a huge success!
During the week of February 1st I finally paid off and obtained my new 10’10” Stand Up paddle board. My crew mate on the vessel I work on at Pearl Harbor – Tim Goodrich – is an avid surfer and owns and uses three SUP boards. He convinced me that is the sport to pursue. Tim lives at the town of Haleiwa on the famous North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii with his beautiful wife and two sons. When Tim is home he daily surfs and paddles the waves of this iconic area. My first day with board was a disaster as I practiced in the marina. Standing up was a continuous falling back down into the water. Talk about frustration and questioning “why” I got this board. The second day I took my board to Cenote Manatee that offers a 300 meter run through the mangroves. At least I had some privacy and not being embarrassed falling. After about 45 minutes I started to see some success as I now could stand up, paddle and sometimes be able to turn around. I considered the session a success and drove home a happy guy. With my next session I continued with improvement. Each day I practiced I saw my confidence grow and being more consistent paddling. Now I am paddling the marina pretty good as the trick is practice. practice, practice. The winter has been unusually cold for the Riviera Maya (this winter has been brutal in the U.S. and Europe) and there have been days of not being motivated to practice. I love this Stand Up Paddle surfing and I hope to reach a level where perhaps one day I can race in competition. We shall see.
During the week of February 7th I dived with Robert McKenna of Skiatook, Oklahoma. Robert completed his Cave1 or Cavern/Intro to Cave Diving training with me in 2007. This week our goal was to complete his Full Cave dive training and continue with two extra days of guiding. We began on Sunday, February 7th with dives at Cenote Dos Palmas. Monday morning we were diving Cenote Calavera (Temple of Doom) and that afternoon Cenote Xunaan Ha. Let’s say that there were dives that got me wondering maybe Robert was not going to make it through this training. However, on Tuesday Robert starting to gel into a fine tune diving machine and we were able to expand the range of the diving sites. My Friday afternoon we completed dives at Cenote Chac Mool, Cenote Dreamgate, the Grand Cenote, Cenote The Pit and our final dives at Cenote Pet Cemetery to the Blue Abyss and the Dark Side of the Moon. I was very satisfied with Robert’s diving skills as he proved he could do what is necessary for technique and skills for safe cave diving. Robert was truly happy with the dives we performed. It was a great week of cave diving and a big success!
Beginning on Tuesday, February 16th I started guiding Dan Hartman of Cozumel and Okie Soderholm. I have been taking Dan cave diving for the past ten years.
Our first dive was at Cenote Xunaan Ha. We were the first divers and good thing as by the time we started our dive eight more cave divers showed up. What’s going on……over 300 miles of caves to dive and everyone shows up at this cenote? Our dive upstream was great as we got over 2500 feet in distance with the double 80’s we were using. This cave system is now over 96,000 feet of explored/surveyed passage. This past year these two young Italian guys – have been really kicking ass connecting the dots to other cenotes such as Cenote Palomita, Cenote Pitch, Cenote Chan Chemuyil Sur and others. Their web site is: www.filoariannadive.com/xunaan_ha.htm You can download their maps as it is quite interesting. That afternoon Dan, Okie and I dived Cenote Temple (Templo) as this was the cave I found a human skeleton with Tony Martin in 1994. There is a Maya Stone Temple located next to the dry cave as we were actually diving a sump. In fact, we had to crawl like pigs. INAH removed the human skeleton for study in 2006 as it was dated to be over 10,000 years old. On Wednesday we dived Cenote The Pit swimming upstream the shallow cave. Both guys loved this dive! That afternoon we tried to dive Cenote Luna Media (Half Moon) that is part of Sistema Aktun Chen at Rancho Alegre located behind Akumal, however the landowner was not home. We tried to dive Cenote 27 Steps, but access is closed from the power line road. It is now renamed Cenote Boo Tun and access is now from Rancho Palerma was closed and no one was home. So we called it the day. For Wednesday morning, we dived Cenote Mundo Escondido as it now reopened for cave divers. The land owner is Pepe Castro who also owns Cenote Dream Gate. The dive site fee is 200 pesos and you pay at the Dos Ojos Dive Center and receive a ticket. Directions to this dive site will be given. You will need a rope to lower and raise your equipment in the cenote shaft. Yes, it is a lot of work, but well worth it in my opinion. Dan and Okie loved this dive too! Thursday afternoon I took Leena Vuorisala to Cenote Chac Mool to begin her Full Cave dive course.
For Friday, February I was supposed to start a complete cave diving course for Greg Espicopia of New York City, however, he missed his flight to Cancun on Thursday night and he flew in on Friday morning. Because we lost a half day, it put a lot a pressure on Greg to catch up as we made eight dives over the weekend. On Monday, February 22nd Leena joined us and we spent the day at the Grand Cenote working on jumps and gaps. When the day was finished Greg and I came to the conclusion he was done as the stress and lack of diving experience for this level of training was too much. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to be PREPARED for cave diving training. Leena and I continued on Tuesday as we dived at Cenote Carwash swimming to the Room of Tears, the Room of Tears basement and the Alux area. Man, she kicked ass and her confidence level really zoomed up. That afternoon we dived Cenote Minotauro where she practiced sharing gas/touch-contact drills through minor restrictions. Wednesday we took the day off as it was a very crappy day with rain and an unusual cold front. Thursday, February 25th we dived Cenote Fenemono traversing to Cenote White River, which both are part of Sistema Aktun Hu. These cenotes have recently opened up for cave divers. The passage from Cenote Fenemono to Cenote White River is a huge power cave. You can do the traverse in 45 minutes and there is a third cenote close to White River. We observed a very large ancient Maya pot that is in the cave. Our second dive was entering at Cenote White River and swam upstream about 2200 feet in distance. This area becomes like swiss cheese as there were multiple lines throughout. The land owner is Eduardo Romano whom I’ve known for over twenty years. He is building an Eco Park with zip lines on the property. He has seven cenotes on his land and there are over 25 cenotes in this area. The Sistema Aktun Hu, as of February, 2010, has 98,000 feet of explored/surveyed passages containing 20 cenotes. What makes this cave system so special is the number of huge power passages and the “Black Hole” that drops down to 197 feet in depth. The “Black Hole” is an archeological gold mine with a huge animal skeleton and human skeletons. You can swim to the “Black Hole” 46 minutes upstream from Cenote Outland. For Leena’s graduation day we dived at Cenote Pet Cemetery swimming to the Blue Abyss Room and our second dive to “The Dark Side of the Moon”. Her performance was excellent. Now she can join her husband Okie for more cave diving during their last month living in the Riviera Maya.
On Sunday night, February 28th I am flying to Miami, Florida for as three day trip. I must get a physical examination and drug test for renewing my United States Coast Guard Mariner license, pick up more goodies from Rodney and Suzie Nairne at Submerge DPVs in Jupiter, Florida, find my brother who is missing and deliver books to my shipper and pick up four more rolls of GOLD LINE in Englewood, Florida. I return Wednesday night, March 3rd.
I will be home for another two months as I am booked for most of those weeks with students and clients.
SAFETY NOTES.
I received four more $100.00 donations for braided nylon GOLD LINE for the Riviera Maya from Danny Allen of New Hampshire, Chuck Cleland of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, Dr. Jim A. Pickar of Springfield, Pa. and Rick D Brohman of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The following people have made donations:
Danny Allen $200.00
Rick Brohman $100.00
Ron Carmichael $ 50.00
Steve Clabuesch $50.00
Charles Cleland $100.00
Steve Gerrard $500.00
Darryl Harris $ 50.00
Dan Hartman $200.00
Jim Horvaka $ 50.00
Dr. Harry Mariniskis $100.00
Michael Munduno $ 50.00
Dr. Jim Pickar $100.00
Dan Orr $ 50.00
Richard Yost $100.00
Total so far: $1700.00
If you wish to contribute money to this cause for SAFETY please send your donation to:
STEVE GERRARD
2828 South McCall Road
SUITE 32
ENGLEWOOD, FLORIDA 34224
There is GOLD LINE ready to replace the old gold line upstream Cenote Carwash. However, Dennis Weeks – NACD Regional Safety Officer/Coordinator informed me that he extended the line closer to the cenote, as approved by the Q. Roo Safety Officer Committee, only for it to be cut back by Cave Diving Instructor Bil Philips. In addition, twice the line from the Paso De Lagarto passage at the Grand Cenote has been brought closer to the main line by Dennis (from 70 feet to 25 feet), as approved by the Q. Roo Safety Officer Committee, only to be cut back by Bil Philips. Also, Bil has admitted to Dennis that he has vandalized over eighty safety line arrows by cutting the tips off. The joke in the Riviera Maya is “what is the point”? The answer is “There is no point”. Anyway, Dennis is trying very hard to convince Bil that is actions are detrimental to the safety for cave diving in the Riviera Maya.
On positive observations for SAFETY for cave diving all the offshoot guidelines that were positioned with a very short distance to the “main line” in Cenote Chan Hol have been cut back to a reasonable safe distance. In addition…a #45 braided white nylon guideline was installed for the entrance line into the cave system and the minor restriction was enlarged for safer entry and exit.
Braided white #36 nylon guidelines have been installed to replace twisted #18 guidelines in Cenote Minotaura and Cenote Taj Majal by cave divers living in Playa Del Carmen.
The 10 inch jump from the main line circuit of Cenote Minotauro to the Cenote Estrella offshoot guideline has been cut back to a safe 12 feet.
These actions are examples of showing that cave divers are stepping up to the plate and making positive actions for safety for everyone to enjoy the beautiful cave systems of the Riviera Maya.
Cenote Aktun Koh is open for cave diving after 2:30 P.M. if the gate is unlocked.
On a sad note, there was a diving fatality at Cenote Chikin Ha with student participating in a cave diving training course during the Christmas week. Apparently, the student was participating in drills in the cavern zone and suddenly passed out. The two other students were taken to the surface and the cave diving Instructor returned to bring the victim to the surface. An ambulance was summoned and the victim was taken to the hospital in Playa Del Carmen and pronounced dead. No autopsy was performed. No investigation or report was made by the Quintana Roo Cave Diving Safety Officer Committee.
Thank you and be SAFE!
STEVE GERRARD
La Costa #103
Xel Ha Avenue
Puerto Aventuras, Q. Roo
77750 MEXICO
stevegerrard@cavediver.com
www.steve-gerrard,com