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

The no cave diving streak is officially over.  For the second day in a row I went cave diving!  I wasn't sure where to dive, then I spoke to Nando and Patrick and found out they would be at Taj.  That was all the convincing I needed.  As independent as I would like to believe I am, I do really enjoy the social nature of diving.  Just being at the same Cenote with friends, even if I am not diving with them, is good enough for me.

The plan was to revisit an area of Taj Ma Ha that I hadn't been to in 3-4 months.  This time in sidemount with the idea of looking for sidemount sized passage.  I went down stream on the white line.  The white line runs from Cenote Taj Ma Ha to Cenote Scarada.  The swim time for that traverse is about 30 minutes.  I think the average depth is about 25 feet.

In any event, I swam to the double arrows and jumped to the right.  This jump is just a minute or two short of Cenote Scarada.  A minute or so after the jump, I came to another line arrow.  I tied my reel in and started to poke around looking for the jump.  My first attempt netted me a dead end with zero visibility that required me to navigate turned 90'.  Once I backed out of that mess, I found the jump.  It isn't really in a logical place compared to the arrow.  The jump is beyond the arrow to the left.  There isn't a straight shot from the arrow to the jump, I guess they want to hide the jump a little.  The end of the line has a big red arrow and is hard to miss once you see it.

That line is the sidemount passage I was looking for.  It could be done in backmount, but it would be a big mess.  The cave is complete swiss cheese and there is a lot of really fine white silt and little bits of cave falling down everywhere.  Just my percolation made a real mess of the first part of the passage.  The passage continues to twist and turn and takes you up through a lot more swiss cheese.  It was a lot of fun to dive.  The line continued where I turned.  Not sure if I am going to go back, it seems really unstable back there.  All that swiss cheese rock just gives me the jitters.

I am grateful for the explorers that came before me, however, sometimes the line I find is in the weirdest/worst places.  It is almost like they weren't thinking when they ran it.  This line was particularly bad.   I can't really imagine how they surveyed it.

During most my training with Steve he has stressed one major topic: "line laying and placement".  We spend a lot of time discussing how and where to place the line, what type of tie-offs to use and why.   The idea is that a well placed line will be enjoyable and efficient to survey as well swim.  He told me that the more line I put in and the more I look at line, I will start to notice good line and poorly laid line.  Well, he is right.  I saw some poorly laid line today.  It wasn't dangerous, but it wasn't the cleanest either. End of rant.

After I turned the first part of the dive, I spent some time exploring the rest of the area.  The line I originally jumped onto looped  back the same starting point.  There is another line arrow out there, but I couldn't find the jump.

Sometimes I think, "Nahhh... don't go to Taj.  It is so boring."  Then I go and find out there was another section I hadn't been too.  It is amazing how mch diving can be done at one site and still not see all of it, or experience all of its personalities.

Today, Allie and I finally got out cave diving.  It had been 15 days since my last dive and I felt really wonky!  The original plan was for Patrick, Katie, Allie and I to go to the Cenote off the dirt road past Chemuyil.  Unfortunately, Patrick came down with a bacterial infection, so that left just Allie and I, which turned out to be a real blessing.  I love to dive with my wife and it is nice to go some place new with her.

The site is called Cenote Xunaan Ha, which the Cenote keeper translated to Water Goddess.  To find it, take the first right down the dirt road after Chemuyil. You will pass what looks like a nuclear test site housing development gone wrong on the left and a fork in the road.  The turn in will be on your left.  Drive down the nicely maintained road to the parking area.  Don’t worry there are plenty of signs advertising it on the highway and on the road.

The fee for entrance is 40 Pesos per diver.  The walk from the car to the water is about 150feet.  The Cenote is gorgeous.  One side is all rock and the opposite side is a peat swamp.  The water is clear and the people are super nice.

It took us longer then normal to gear up and once I was in the water, I found that my HID didn’t ignite.  I was bummed, but we had additional lights in the car.  I got another light and we finally got the dive going.  The upstream entrance is pretty obvious.  The main cave line is in the day light zone.  At first I looks like it is going to be a challenge to find the line, but after a minute it appears in the open, plain as day.

The striking thing about this dive is the beauty and the number of options.  There were lines and line arrows everywhere.  It is just right to backmount and Allie and I really enjoyed it.  Max depth was 30 feet; average was around 25.  We turned the dive after 900psi and about 40 minutes.  There was definitely some flow exiting the cave which sped things up a little on exit.

The cave is in good shape.  It is sort of like Minotauro upstream.  I am going to make a couple of more trips back.

When we got back to open water Allie exited and I stayed in to take a look at down stream.  Down stream looks like it is going to be a serious challenge.  It starts out as a cave through the peat swamp.  The bottom and right hand wall are lime stone.  The ceiling and left wall are mud/peat.  There are roots everywhere and it is silty! Kind of scary, I kept wondering when it was going to collapse on me.  The cave looked like it terminates, but there is A LOT of water moving through there.  On my second inspection, I saw that it doubles back on itself and then drops down through a very serious restriction.  It is a siphon so all the percolation and my lack of skills blew it out pretty quick.  I stuck my head in the hole a couple of times and it looks like it is going.  I heard that it is a no-mount restriction but do-able.    We will see.  Maybe I will send the super skinny Patrick ahead of me to inspect it.

Overall it is a lovely new site that is cheap and will require a handful of trips.  It offers plenty of side-mount and backmount opportunities.

My buddy in NJ, has finally received his side-mount Prism.    Check out how slick it looks!  He says he has a little more tweaking to do to make everything thing streamlined.  I can imagine how much time will really need to be invested in getting something so cool exactly right.

He has posted a very cool video of him diving it at Dutch Springs.  Notice all the exposure protection?  If you take a look at his rig, he is wearing his bailout/diluent on one side and the rebreather on the other side.  There is a sphere of 02 at the bottom of the canister.  Overall it is looking very very slick.  Rob, you are a rock star.  Now tell us how it dives!

The interesting thing about side-mounting the rebreather is that it handles the one cylinder or two cylinder for bailout question.  Now you only need one to balance you, the unit is the other.  If you need more bailout, then you just wear them like you would side-mount stages.  And it just looks so much easier on his back.  Of course there are many other benefits, but I am not going to go through them today.

Rob, answer me this, our hungry readers want to know:

• Where are the counter lungs?  Are there 1 or 2?  Looks like they are in the standard position....
• How hard is it to shut down the O2?
• How is work of breadth in the different orientations?  I know I end up in some strange ones in side-mount.
• I wonder what the kitting up procedure is like on the boat?  I have tried to mount my side-mount bottles standing and it can be a real PITA.  I wonder if the same is true about the ccr?
• I wonder how much weight he added to balance that big steel cylinder?

So many questions!  Maybe I will try and score a visit with Rob in September, when I am home.  I would love some detailed photos and answers!

If you have any questions, let me know.

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.