Slow down and dive a little. A blog about cave diving in Mexico.

A Broken bed, Whale Sharks, A Pregnant Doctor and Injections, The Real Dive Life!

Where do I start?  Some time in the end of June, when I sat down into bed, I broke the bed frame.  I broke it right where my lower back rests while I am sleeping.  On top of that, add the fact that we were sleeping on a very tired mattress through which I could feel the springs.  I knew that the bed was broken but I kept using it.  My thought was that I could live with it, though it was really starting to bother me.

Then my parents came to town for a whirlwind tour of the Yucatan in my 4Runner.  Their visit and the accompanies stress eliminated all exercising for about two weeks.  Then we drove around the Yucatan at break neck speeds which was followed by some competitive whale shark snorkeling and photography.  The end result was that my back was completely messed up.   I had a lot of pain in the lower back and was unable to bend over.  I stretched and took Aleeve but nothing was working, it was getting worse by the day.

Now for the kicker, I was scheduled to take my CCR Hypoxic Trimix with Steve this week. I had been looking forward to it for a couple of years.  The whole reason I got the Meg was to dive Trimix.  I emailed Steve to let him know my condition and we agreed that mixed gas diving and lower back injuries sound like a terrible combination.   We decided to postpone class.  A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BUMMER!  But, it was the only reasonable and prudent course of action.  It would be awful to take a lower back hit because I was greedy.

It is really a kind of win for both of us.  I was nervous about taking the class this week and Steve wanted to get some exploration done.  I hadn't been putting enough time in on the CCR and I was planning to put a bunch of time on it in the week between my parents and my class.   With my back out of whack, I couldn't put the time on the unit.  Plus, I think the universe was telling me I needed to slow down a little.  I have really been packing in the training and not doing enough practice.  Now I have my reprieve.

And now we are at the needles part of the story.  On Friday, my back was killing me and I couldn't find a chiropractor or a masseuse to look at it.  I had two separate appointments, which resulted in no call no shows from the masseuse.  I blew off ice cream waiting for this guy.  The best Chiropractor in town, which at least 5 people referred me to, had broken his ankle.  And the next chiro doesn't work over the weekend.  So there I was, when Sol saved the day.  He suggested I go to the clinic where he went.  I complied and we stopped in.

Acupuncture needles in my back.We were seen immediately!  We entered the office and there was a very good looking small young girl behind the desk.  She asked if we wanted to do this in English or Spanish?  Which was immediately responded to by Sol, who was wearing a huge shit eating grin, with, "Your a doctor?"  She replied, "Yes, I am a doctor and I am pregnant. I have thirty years."  I asked, "30 years practicing medicine? You look great!"  She smiled and replied, "No, I have been practicing medicine for 6 years."   The consult went well, and she told me I needed to see a specialist and she wanted to get me out of pain.  She prescribed three injections and a three day course of anti-inflammatory.  I was nervous about both, but we talked about the drugs.  The injection is B12 and something else and the anti-inflammatory is just that.  I agreed to the course of treatment under the assumption she was going to give the shot.  Well, that isn’t how it worked out.  She left the room and brought back a nurse, who was a much older and rounder Mayan lady.  I got my shot and went on my way.  She gave a great shot, it just wasn’t the girl behind the desk.  That was the first needle.

On Saturday night, I needed to get my second shot.  I was informed that the pharmacy would give me the injection if I asked.  As it turns out, they wouldn’t.  I could buy my needle and my drugs there, but had to find someone else to inject me.  The pharmacy sent me to the Red Cross.  The Red Cross charged me $5USD or 50Pesos to inject me.  I skipped right to the front of the line.  It was surreal.  I watched the Para-medic prepare the drug.  It was two glass vials that needed to be broken open and mixed in the syringe.  Sol took a picture, which I will withhold.  And the medic laughed his ass off.  Needle number two down.

On Sunday evening it was time for injection number three.  At this point, I was emboldened by our experiences.  So, we hit up the pharmacy for the supplies and we went home.  This time I mixed up the drugs and gave the needle to my wife, Allie, to inject me.  I wanted to save the $5 and risk of airborne staff that can be found at the Red Cross.  Allie had had two glasses of wine prior to being handed the needle, so she was a little nervous and so was I.  She pinned me and pumped my rump full of the drugs.  Everything went according to plan and needle number three was finished.  She did a great job!  I never expected my wife to need to inject me.  I guess that is one of the wonders of the self serve medical system here.

That brings us to Monday!  Today, I went in and had a consult with a physician, a real MD, who specialized in pain management and acupuncture.  We talked about my condition; he examined me and then prescribed a course of Ozone Therapy and acupuncture.  The Ozone is to resolve the herniated disk; the acupuncture is to relieve the muscle tension/spasms.  My homework is to read up on the Ozone treatment.  In the mean time, he stuck 12 needles in me making the count 15.  I had never done acupuncture before, so I was a little skeptical.  However, I have heard good things about it.  It didn’t hurt.  It did put me to sleep.  And it gave me a funny taste in my mouth like my body was detoxing.  I have another visit scheduled for Thursday morning.  I am not exactly sure how I feel about it, though I am willing to give it a shot.  I am going to couple it with a return to my yoga practice and some walking.

I am desperate to get active again.  I hate getting off the beam, acupuncture needles in my leg, and feeling like a slob.  I think I am going to dive this week a little, maybe 2-3 dives, nothing deep.  Though that will really depend on how my back feels.  As of tonight, it seems to be well on its way to recovering!  Hopefully, I will be in tip-top shape shortly.

Plus, Allie, Sol and I have agreed to start a training program to train up to running a half-marathon.  I don’t want them to get too far out in front of me.

Have you tried acupuncture or other holistic or eastern approaches to your pain?  How did it work for you?

Every once in a while I get nostalgic for wreck diving.  I have been trying to organize a trip to the Puerto Morelos wreck for weeks and no one wants to go with me.

I learned to technical dive by diving the wrecks off of New Jersey.   If you haven't dove the North East, by which I mean Long Island and New Jersey, you are really missing out.  Let me describe some of the finer facets of wreck diving in the North East:

• Get up at 3:30AM to drive 1.5-2 hours to the boat followed by a 1.5-2 hour boat ride to the wreck.  50% of the time I find out the trip is called at the dock, 25% of the time divert to tug or the Mohawk in 50ft of water, 25% get to the planned dive site.
• Heavy seas make me sea sick.  I am chronically sea sick.  I have been since I was a mate on my Dad's offshore boat.  One summer, I went to Gloucester, Mass to chase giant tuna.  All I was able to chase for a month was my ass to the gunnel.   Now, I take Dramamine and live with medicine head.  I have  a pretty good solution, one the night before and half of one in the morning.  Controls the sickness and the medicine head.
•  Pull on drysuit with enough under-garments for a two hour dive in 54'F water while sitting in the 90'F summer sun.  Forget to attach the pee valve correctly.  Bath in my own sweat before I get off the boat.
• Roll off the boat into a heaving sea.  Drag myself down the anchor and only realize I am on the wreck when my hand touches it.  Navigate like a blind guy in the muck for 2 hours looking for 2 lobsters I don't eat.  Bag em and give em away.
• On the ride home help Rob Infante shell a couple of dozen scallops.  Sleep for a while.  Start to plan next week's expition.
• Upon arrival, drive 2 hours in the hot traffic home.  Rise my Meg in a 33 gallon garbage pail.  Dry the gear on the lawn and in the yard.  Spend the next two days recovering.
• Calculate the cost for the weekend:  $50 Car Fuel, $125 Boat, $20 Tip, $10Food, Plus Rebreather Costs.
• Schedule it again for the next weekend.

And just for comparison, typical day of cave diving:

• Stop working at 2PM and assemble/pack Meglodon or side-mount gear.
• Dive 25-40 minutes to  dive site.
• Pay $8.00 USD to land manager.
• Pull on wet suit and pee in it.
• Dive for 2-3 hours.
• Drive to Puerto Aventarous and buy a Magna Classic ice cream bar.  They have the best chocolate shell.
• Arrive home and dump scrubber, clean loop, and deposit dive gear in the living room to dry.  It all lives in a laundry basket from Walmart.
• Calculate costs: $10USD Fuel, $8USD Entrance, $1USD Icecream, plus rebreath costs.
• Schedule it again for the next day.

Even with all the insanity of wreck diving, I still love it.  And if I lived in NJ, I would be going almost every weekend year round!  I am one of those crazy guys who goes out in Decemeber, January and February.

My favorite wreck is the USS San Diego.  I can spend hours inside that wreck.  I think my second favorite is the USS Algol and third might be the Northern Pacific.  Unfortunately, I only got on the Northern once, but it looks like it offers tons of opportunities.  I know this is a cave diving blog, however, I think most of us have a soft spot for some challenging wreck diving.  Which brings me to the reason for this post.  My friend Brandon recently got a new camera and published a very nice dive report of a dive on the Stolt Dagali.   A very cool wreck that is just a couple of miles from the USS Algol.  His photos really fired my nostalgia.   And from my recount, I am sure you can see why I misss it!

Your turn:

• Do you wreck dive?
• What is it like for you?
• What is your favorite wreck?
• What boat do you dive from?
• Know any wrecks here in the Yucatan I can go dive?  Must be something out there!

I came across some videos of Steve scootering and side-mounting while I was working on my daily cyber diving fix.  If you ever wondered why you might want a DPV, watch the first video below.  It is seriously like flying an X-Wing fighter through the Death Star!   The videos including scootering, surveying and side-mounting.

Mom & Dad, if you are reading this or watching these, they will give you a good idea of what is going on underground.

A Day in the Life of a Cave Diver: Part 1

A Day in the Life of a Cave Diver: Part 2

A Day in the Life of a Cave Diver: Part 3

Allie and I went for a tune up dive at Chac Mool on the Megalodon and she decided to bring the camera.   Which was sorely needed, becuase a cave diving blog with few photos of actual diving is pretty sad.  Now I have a bunch of new header images for you to enjoy!

Patrick, Katie, & Allie at Casa Cenote
Casa Cenote
Hans & Allie at Chac Mool on the surface
Hans & Allie at Chac Mool below the surface
Silhoutte of Hans in his Megat Chac Mool 1
Silhoutte of Hans in his Meg at Chac Mool 2
Silhoette of Allie at Chac Mool

Hopefully, next week I will be able to publish some photos of Whale Sharks.  We are heading to Holbox for some snorkeling this week!

Blue Abyss, Sistema Sac Aktun – Nohoch Na Chich Section

The Blue Abyss had become a little bit of an obsession for me.  I know that the joy is in the journey, however when I went by Protech and met Ron and found out he found it on the first try, I started to get a little frustrated.  Why could he find it and not me?  Well, the first reason was he had directions and I didn’t.  The second reason was, I was looking in the wrong part of the system for it.  It ends up that the Nohoch map has NOTHING to do with the way the cave is actually laid out.  Well, maybe “nothing” is a little over the top. The cave does trend in the direction that the map illustrates, however the passages don’t junction like the map illustrates.  I knew this was true, but I couldn’t believe it was as inaccurate as we found it to be.  I shouldn’t be all that surprised.

When I inquired about the map and the survey, the following was explained to me:

• The survey data of Nohoch was collected by a multitude of teams over a number of expeditions, trips and years.
• Some of the survey teams were inexperienced and used poor technique.
• The objectives of some parts of the survey projects were driven more by the profitability of the venture then the accuracy of the venture.

The consequence of these factors is a wildly inaccurate map that adorns the walls of many shops and incorrectly informs the decisions of divers.  Now to be completely clear, none of the information about the actual survey is first hand to me, it is all second hand and I can not vouch for it.  I am just passing on what I heard.

What is first hand to me is the inaccuracy of the map.  The clearest example I can thing of is the fact that the map has the X Line terminating south of the jump to the Blue Abyss.  Which would mean, I should have made a right and headed north to the jump.  My experience is that it terminates to the north of it and you have to Jump onto the Diaz Line and make a left going south.

In any event, I am happy to report that Ross and I found the Blue Abyss with a little direction from Robbie Schmittner from Xibalba Dive Center.  We ran into Robbie on our way out to Pet Cemetery for another attempt.  In trade for a little information about how to find the Blue Abyss, I loaned him a regulator for the day.  I thought it was a worthwhile trade.  Ross and I took the Diaz Line through the King Pong restriction down to Blue Abyss.  It involved a total of three jumps and was a relatively easy dive to execute in side mount.  The passage from the Diaz Line to the Blue Abyss is tight, however it is negotiable in back mount.  When we arrived at Blue Abyss we had plenty of gas, so we took a little swim into the hole.  Let me tell you, “It is BLUE!”  I couldn’t believe it.  The color is breath taking.  Since that trip with Ross, I have been back 2 times.  One more dive with Ross, who has moved to Africa to run a dive resort and one dive there with Patrick and Katie.

In total it took me 4 dives to find Blue Abyss.  The first dive was with Allie and we were just scoping out the lines in and around Pet Cemetery, we traversed to I-Hop.  On the second dive, I was solo and I was less then 10 minutes from it.  I had swum to the end of the X Line and turned my dive believing I was somewhere other then I was.  The third dive was checking out a line off the X Line that went west, where I thought the Blue Abyss might be.  This was the dive that the guide line was cut on.  The fourth dive Ross and I found it based on Robbie’s directions.  The fifth dive, we confirmed the route via the X Line.  The sixth dive, I took Patrick and Katie to the Blue Abyss.

Here are some of my observations about cave diving to the Blue Abyss.

• The Diaz Line route is easier to negotiate in back mount, the passage is larger, the passage is more beautiful and it takes about 10 minutes longer then the X Line.
• The X Line route is a challenge to negotiate in back mount if not impossible.  I think this depends on your girth.  If you are a fat bastard, you might want to leave yourself and extra dive to confirm you can pass the restrictions.  There is more then one.  The first one is the gnarliest.  To pass it going in is easier then exiting.  Katie was the diver in back mount and she is really skinny, like 105lbs and 5’3”.  I haven’t tried passing it, however, I am going to drag the Meg out there and try it.  The route is about 10 minutes shorter in side-mount then Diaz Line.  In back mount that saving might be wiped out by a delay at the Tanks on Tanks Off restriction.
• Pet Cemetery is EXPENSIVE to dive at.  200 Pesos per diver.
• Pet Cemetary is a 15-20 minute drive into the jungle and Blue Abyss is 40 minutes from the Cenote.  If something goes wrong, you are a long way away from help.
• You must check-in and pay at Ruben’s dive shop.  It is on the right hand side at the entrance.  They need to know you are out there.

Finding the Blue Abyss in the Nohoch Na Chich section of Sac Aktun has been a lot of fun.  And I am looking forward to exploring the hole a little more.  I wonder where that line arrow jumps to?  In July, I will take my Hypoxic CCR class.  I am looking forward to some Trimix dives out there.  Thanks to all of you for tolerating my obsession and driving out into the jungle with me.

I am sorry that I haven't posted anything in 20 days.  I have been very busy with work and dive related activities.  In the last 20 days I completed the following: took a cave survey class with Steve Bogaerts, played safety diver in Bacalar for a free diving contest, dove at Temple of Doom, Nohoch Na Chich main entrance, dove at Grand Cenote Down Stream, found the Blue Abyss, dove at Xtabay, shot some cavern silohuets at Chac Mool, did some live survey work at the Pit and trained for and played in my first ever soccer tournament!  To say the least it has been busy.

So all this activity has created a bunch of material for Quiet Diver.  I will do my best to get it out there for you.

Hans

On Wednesday, I took off from work early to dive Casa Cenote. Casa Cenote is about 10KM south of Dos Ojos. The spring pool is just inside the barrier beach and is surrounded by mangroves. The water exits the cave into the swamp, collects in a 20 foot deep pool and then goes back under the road and out to the ocean. I arrived around 3PM and the place was nearly deserted except for a couple of open water divers and snorkelers. I geared up and entered the water, I was never asked for an entrance fee. I think it is normally 40 Pesos. The spring dog legs back into the swamp. It must be a 500-1000ft swim into the swamp. Then it branches; I chose the left branch. At the back of the pool, I found the cave entrance. I made my tie offs and entered the cave. The entrance is tidally affected and there was a strong current moving perpendicular to the cave passage, it was pretty weird. I found the line on the floor of the cave and tied in. The guide line is floated off the cave floor with pieces of Styrofoam. Casa Cenote is a beautiful cave. There are lines everywhere! I took rights at the first three T’s I encountered and turned my dive at 51 minutes. By the time I turned, I started to hear the voices in my head. I had gone far enough. The trip back included recording all the jumps and T’s for a stick map and a lot of percolation. Visibility was reduced most of the way back to the entrance.

One thing that should be noted is there is a T/Jump that might be confusing; I ended up marking it with a NDPM. There is a junction where the main guide line is wrapped around a rock. About 3 inches away on the same rock, a branch line terminates, however, neither line touches each other. I guess this is a T, using the rock as the connector. In any event, just be aware. (Edit: Patrick has informed me it is a “reach gap”.)

When I reached the head pool, I did a little exploration under the road out to the ocean. I ran about 300-400 feet of line off my primary reel before I got spooked and decided I had enough for that day. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to find when I got to the ocean side and I had been in the water for more then 2 hours. Total run time was 131 minutes on side-mounted AL80. I am going to make a couple of trips back to Casa and find my way out to the ocean.

Casa Cenote Take Two!

I had such a nice dive the first time I went to Casa I decided to go back for another dive. This time it was Allie, Katie, Patrick and myself. First of all, I think Casa might be on the small and silty side for a team of four. Patrick was the number four diver and told me he didn’t see anything the whole dive, on the way out, as team leader, I confirmed his observation.

Second, the cave was a totally different beast the second trip! The conditions were significantly different. The first trip was on a slack tide and the water in the cave system, once I was beyond the brackish zone, was still and crystal clear on the way in. Visibility was excellent and unrestricted.

The second trip was on an outgoing tide. The flow out of the cave was significant and the water was a murky mix, like we had been stirring up a halocline. This was my first coastal cave and I hadn’t really taken into account the differences between tides. Wow! Most of the dive was spent in reduced visibility, maybe 10-15 feet. Sometimes it was less. The swim out was definitely less, maybe 5 feet at times. On the swim in we were a couple of minutes slower to each junction, I attributed this to the team size and the out going flow. On the trip out, we didn’t even need to fin for some sections; we just steered ourselves as we enjoyed the flow.

When we arrived at the head pool, the current was ripping. Patrick and I took a quick dip to check out the entrance to the downstream side, and I was surprised at the strength of the siphon. Divers be warned, the outgoing tide really creates a nasty siphon. I could imagine it being very stressful to try and exit the under the road section.

After our dive we walked across the street to enjoy some hamburgers and drinks on the beach. From the restaurant, we could clearly see the boil on the surface where the system must end. It took all my restraint to not take a swim out to the boil to check it out.

Casa Cenote from Another Angle

Allie has written up our cave dive at Casa Cenote at her blog: mexico-or-bust.blogger.com.  You should check it out becuase there is a really awesome photo of me modeling my purple side-mount helmet.  Plus, she has some really beautiful pictures of the Cenote.

At some point, I asked Steve where I should go diving. He asked if I had been to: Casa Cenote, Temple of Doom or “the cenotes across from Xpu Ha”? At the time, I had to answer no to all three. It dawned on me how many obvious places there are to dive here. Drive down Highway 307 and stop at the places with a Cenote sign and ask to dive. If they allow it, that is a place to dive. Of course, there is risk in trying to dive without a guide. First, the adventure might be a complete diving bust. You might pay your entrance and find the location undivable or unrewarding! Second, you may not get very far at all once in the cave. The first time I went to Car Wash without a guide, I spent the entire first dive looking for the main line. Luckily, I have the opportunity to waste time driving around looking for a Cenote or swim around looking for the main line. If you are a visitor, you may not have the same luxury. Plus, I love to explore! And for me, even if there is line in the cave, every dive to a new site is exploration. How do I enter the water? Where is the entrance to the cave? Where does the line go? What is the geology?

If you are coming to Mexico and you are looking for a guide or someone to dive with, email me at: hans@quietdiver.com. I will make sure to hook you up with the right people! Having a guide will save you a ton of logistical work and will ensure you have a fulfilling trip. I know guides that specialize in rebreather cave diving, side-mount diving, exploration, dpv, extended range, deep diving, and I even know someone with an excellent boat on Cozumel. The guide will arrange tanks, transportation, food, entrances, sorb and any other special needs you might have. The same applies if you are looking for an instructor. I know it sounds like a pitch, it sorta is. I just don't like to read posts from people on CDF or The Deco Stop that didn't enjoy their trips.

I wanted to dive Cenote Angelita since I learned about it a couple of years ago.  Each time I would visit Mexico, I would get talked out of going by the people I was with.  The logistics of going to Cenote Angelita are comparatively challenging.  And I know the locals/guides, have gone a million times and find it a bore.  So, when I found a poor sot that was willing and wanted to go, I was super stoked.  Olly is a buddy of mine who was a local open water instructor and has now gone back to England.  He had Cenote Angelita and Gran Cenote on his bucket list.  So we scheduled them for a sunny Sunday.

As soon as I knew I was going, I had to tap into the network and find out the details.  I learned from a good friend, Pietro of Karst Diving, that Cenote Angelita is 17KM out of Tulum and you have to visit Don Pablo in Tulum to pay your respects and fees, collect the key and get a Nota de Permiso.  Now I was starting to see why the logistics might be challenging.  As you may know, I don’t speak much Spanish and I didn’t know where the Don lives.  To find Don Pablo, Pietro drew me a map of the south end of Tulum.  I was looking for a Mayan style house across the street from a furniture store and around the corner from a church.  The map was beautifully illustrated in a Word document.  Pietro gave me rough verbal directions to the Cenote.  Luckily, they only included one road and two sweeping turns to the left.  With the directions firmly in hand, I figured things would go somewhat smoothly, Olly speaks Spanish.  He passed the test to get his FM3 visa, right?

Sunday morning dawned and as a precaution, I asked Allie to translate a couple of phrases for me:

• Querria la llave para Angelito?
• Puedo tener una nota de permiso para entra?

I wanted to make sure I could communicate to the Don what I wanted.  I figured those two questions would get me as far as I needed to go.  The only problem would be if the Don decided to answer with anything other then, “Si!”.

Olly and I drove all over Playa to pick up his assorted pieces of gear.  Just as I was about to pull out of Playacar to head south, I realized the map, my tables and translations were missing.  We looked in the car for a couple of minutes then went back to my place to get them.  They were on my desk in the last place I looked for them.

Security at Angelita is questionable at best.  I was instructed to remove EVERYTHING from the car and just leave it open.  If I didn’t leave it open, it would be opened by force.  When we arrived in Tulum, we stopped by Xibalba, and left the last couple of extra items like our tool box, cell phones and wallets.  Thanks Robbie and crew!  We drove through Tulum looking for the Don.  When we were on the prescribed block, the directions turned out to not be as precise as I hoped.   Olly asked some locals where the Don lived.

When we found him, he was sitting at his table with a compadre and two 40oz bottles Sol beer.  It turns out there was a mob of OW divers at Angelita the day before, and the Don was kicking back celebrating.  The Don was sufficiently drunk and almost unintelligible.  We asked for the key and he tried to tell us, “Tienen llave”.  Of course, neither Olly nor I could make out what he was saying for the first 15 tries.  He then asked who the Guia was, and I responded in the affirmative.  He put his hand out and I handed him some money.  He took the money and never offered us the proper change.  He just pocketed it and then took 15 minutes to write a very deliberate 7 word Nota de Permiso.  Olly and I just stared at each other patiently, trying to not laugh.  Neither of us were brave enough to challenge the Don with our Spanish.  Once we had the note in hand, we bid farewell and abandoned any hope of recovering change.  We were just excited to have the sliver of white paper with his signature.

The Cenote entrance was exactly where it was supposed to be.  We handed the note through the gate to the land manager.  He stared at us for a minute and then opened the gates.  We were finally there!

Cenote Angelita is a 5-10 minute walk into the jungle.  Once you are at the water’s edge, you need to scramble down a muddy root covered slope to the water.  This can be a challenge with a couple of bottles.  You can giant stride into the water.  Exiting you have to use a rope that has been there for the last 10 years and pull yourself out.  No easy feat after spending a bunch of time at the bottom. Remember, DON’T DROP ANYTHING!  It will go to the bottom, some 180 plus feet below.

Olly and I geared up and in the process ran into Marcia, he was teaching Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures, he pointed out the four foot crocodile sitting on the broken surfboard sunning itself.  We entered the water and did a lovely 181ffw dive.  The Hydrogen Sulfide cloud is very cool!  It was a little broken up because of all the divers in the water earlier in the day but a thrill none-the-less.  The dive went according to plan and during deco we toured the entire Cenote.  Angelita was worth all the work.  However, when I go back, I am going to go earlier in the day.  I would like to get to the cloud before it is disturbed by divers.

With Angelita in the bag we returned to the car to find everything safely intact.  The couple of Pesos I left in the console as an offering were still there.  On our way out, the gatekeeper requested a ride back to Tulum, which we obliged.  The rest of the day was filled with eating half a chicken each at Pollo Bronco and then a very nice cavern tour at Gran Cenote.

All and all, it was a lovely day with a very good friend.  We will all miss you Olly.  Hopefully, you will come back soon.

When we talk about cave diving, we usually refer to diving upstream or downstream. Upstream and downstream refer to the commonly accepted direction of the flow of the fresh water in the cave system. Here in Mexico, that direction is from inland to the sea traveling perpendicular to the coast. That knowledge is so ingrained locally that the government includes it in its planning documentation. If you take a look at the image (Click it.) of the slide, you will notice red arrows pointing to the coast. The arrows represent the government's official position on the flow of water around/under Tulum. It is also important to note that there are two versions of the urban planning documents issued by the local government. One issued in 2005 and one in 2007. If you look closely at the 2007 map you will notice the government has included stick maps of the local cave systems. This is a promising sign, the government is starting to incorporate cave survey data.

The problem is there is no empirical evidence to support the current common belief. There is anecdotal evidence that would support those hypothesizes, however it seems it may be incorrect.

On Friday night, Allie and I had the opportunity to go to Akumal and watch a handful of presentations given at the Centro Ecologico Akumal. There were a number of very interesting presentations, including: one on the dry caves of the area, one on the benefits of GIS, the formation of the local caves and one on the movement of water at Car Wash.

The talk about Yucatan cave hydrology and geochemistry was given by Patricia Beddows, a Research Fellow at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON, Canada. Patricia has been traveling to Mexico to study the caves for at least 10 years. Last year she and a team of volunteers performed a dye tracing experiment at Car Wash to determine the flow of the fresh water there. I believe the results are remarkable.

Before I go any further, she has so far performed one dye trace at this particular site Car Wash. Therefore, the results she shared can only be representative of the water flow conditions in the cave at that time. She mentioned that repeat dye tracing may show somewhat different results.

The experiment consisted of deploying two markers. She deployed one dye in the Cell Block section and at Cenote Luke’s Hope (Cenote Zacil Ha). Both sections are upstream or inland. The expected result was that both dyes would be detected at Cenote Carwash. However, what actually happened was quite startling. The dye that was deployed in the Cell Block section, just stayed there. It never really passed the restriction heading downstream towards the coast. So it would seem that at the time of the experiment, the water was not flowing from upstream to downstream as we all believe it does.

The dye that was released at Luke’s Hope also did something remarkable. It moved relatively quickly down to Cenote Carwash, this was expected. It also moved into the Room of Tears section, this was not expected.

It seems that the fresh water is not moving from upstream to downstream at Carwash. The new hypothesis is the water is entering the system from a perpendicular path from the North and then moving down stream and out of the system south. It is also blowing water into the Room of Tears section.

This is import for a couple of reasons. The first is resource planning. If the government assumes the water is moving from inland to the sea in a straight line, they will plan things like dumps and well fields accordingly. However, if the reality is the water is moving unpredictably; then there is a chance those plans will create a public hazard, such as contaminated drinking water.

The second reason it is import is, it means you and I are using the wrong terminology. There was some discussion at dinner about changing from talking about upstream and downstream to inland and coastal sides of the system. We wouldn’t want to be inaccurate when briefing our dives, right! You know how important it is to be accurate in your briefings, don’t you? So get out of the nineties and your halogen lights and into modern times, it will be Costal and Inland from now on.

Lastly, the term upstream gives the impression that the flow will be working with you to assist you in exiting. When in reality, it may be working against you as the finding suggests. For example, when exiting Room of Tears. I bet you never considered that the Room of Tears might be a siphon. A very weak siphon, but a siphon. I can think of at least one place in Nohoch where there is a strong current against you when exiting, where common knowledge would indicate there shouldn’t be water moving against you.

Naturally, you should now ask, “Why isn’t the fresh water moving the direction of the cave?” The answer is equally interesting. In the last million and a half years or so, the sea level has dropped substantially from today’s levels at least 3 times. It was during one of these low periods that the cave system was formed. No one is really sure during which low period the caves formed. Therefore, the caves were formed during a period that had significantly different geomorphic forces at work then are at work today. When the cave was formed, the water did move in the direction of the cave. It was the eroding force that formed the cave.

Today, sea levels are much higher and the caves are full of water. The movement of water beneath the ground on the Yucatan is controlled by: the tides, the macro geologic formations and hydrostatic pressure from inland. (I consider the local caves micro when compared the to entire Yucatan.) The caves we dive are just happy accidents from the ancient past that provide us with hours of enjoyment. It is my unscientific opinion that Patricia’s findings suggest the following, “where the fresh water does flow in the direction of the cave, it is a coincidence”. It is my belief that the Yucatan is too porous and large for the relatively small cave passages to have meaningful effect on the macro movement of the water.

Patricia’s presentation was a call for further research. Every year, as more caves are mapped and more research is completed, we learn more about our favorite dive sites. Sometimes new information turns our commonly accepted knowledge on its ear and forces us to consider that our world is ever more complicated and beautiful then we expect.