Campana
Guest
AKUMAL JOURNAL--CONTINUED.....PART TWO OF DIVING
Day 2: Mayan Blue. Mayan Blue or Escondido is part of the sistema Naranjal, or Place
of the Oranges. It is located three kilometers south of the village of Tulum on Highway
307, the main drag from Cancun (yuck) to Tulum and on. The ranch road goes for one
kilometer into the jungle from 307. Parking is easy and there is a 50 meter path which
ends in stone tables for gear setup. There is a 9 foot giant stride into the cenote, which is
small. The ladder was available for exit later. After Yayo provided an excellent line map
as usual, and the plan was made, we entered the cavern and cave zone. There are several
large rooms and a pronounced halocline but it was very easy to swim side by side with
your buddy and get above the salt layer. This is one of the coolest effects in cave diving,
and haloclines can be a miserable obscuring layer or a terrific optical illusion. Out of the
halocline, the visibility is the usual 300 feet, I guess. Roger writes unlimited in his log,
and this seems true. Unless you have experienced the gin clear water, its impossible to
describe except it appears that divers are in clear clean air. We followed the A line or
main line and penetrated around 1700 by my calculation, which is basically based on
either remembering what Yayo said or calculating based on time. Our objective was the
Battleship Room which we nearly reached, according to Yayo. Other tunnels in the
system are lettered B-F. The system, according to the briefing, at 64,000 feet, is one of
the longest. It may be surveyed even further now, but Steve Gerrard puts it at 64K. The
dive was great fun, and no equipment failed. The water temperature was 76 on my Aeris
Atmos Pro, 78 on my Uwatec bottom timer, which I trust more for some unknown reason.
My 5 mm wetsuit and cold water hood were very adequate, I never got cold. Drysuit
divers on the trip had a more difficult time suiting up, and S. had leaks around his neck
when he dipped his head. I was actually glad I didnt fool with a drysuit, I really like
wetsuits, especially with Aluminum tanks.
We entered the water at 9:48, maximum depth was 61 on my computers, we turned the
dive at 45 minutes, nearly all of us reaching turn pressure of 2200 at the same time. Total
dive time was 93 minutes according to my instruments.
Roger and I did valve drills in the cenote after the dive. This was a good habit that Roger
urged on me, I dont do them often enough, but he is one of those guys who does it right,
if you know what I mean. We did the proper type S drills as well, though not after every
dive.
Day 2, Dive 2: Aktun Koh (Pumas Cave). The road to this Cenote is 4 km South of our
headquarters at the area known as Puerta Aventuras. The rough road was typical, and
went for 2-3 km to the very end. The entrance was easy, a short walk Short easy stone
steps lead from a platform into the water, no giant stride needed or possible. The rocks
are not slippery, I found, though you cant tell by looking at them and it would certainly
possible to bust your butt if you got overconfident or complacent.
We planned a circuit dive which Yayo drew on the board. The cave was mixed, with
some highly decorated areas alternating with eroded Swiss cheese in salt water areas.
The decorated areas are truly breathtaking, and I allow my ability to hallucinate at will to
take over. I may see an area of tiny gnomes with pointy hats, I may see dragons breathing
fire, or I may see piles of intestines in the rocks. I just never know, but being a little
psychotic is an asset here. Our swimming pace was very, very slow. We had agreed the
night before to speed up through the dull areas, and slow down through the more
decorated ones, and we had begun to do this.
After 29, Ls second stage began burbling away, not too badly, but burbling nonetheless.
Her buddy signaled Roger and I that he and L would exit alone, but Roger waggled a
finger at him and said with his fingers in Cave-speak: No way, Jose. We agreed to exit
as a team, and that is what we will do. And so we did. Later, we figured out that her
second stage was adjusted a little too expertly by K and needed just a tweak of the wrench
to set everything right again. Anyway, after the uneventful exit, Roger and I snuck off......
Day 2, Dive 3: Aktun Koh Downstream (I think). It is difficult to discern up from
downstream in these caves. There is so little flow, that I noticed Yayo using his flow
indicator, which consisted of a rather vicious flutter kick, just one stroke, and then he
watches the poof, no doubt calculating in metric units per second, the flow is thus
measured. So forgive me if I cant tell upstream from downstream, I was a little pumped
up on this whole trip and my feeble brain was on about 50% anyway, and I used that part
for safety. The most different aspect of this dive was the fact that only Roger and I
completed it, and it was optically very quiet. It seemed kind of, well, dark. It was also
very peaceful and I put down a little checkmark in the column of advantages of a two
man team. Roger had swum past the line, not seeing it, in the cavern zone, but I spotted
it and waggled him down with my light. We immediately got into some tight passages,
and entered a fabulous and dark halocline area; a medium sized brownish tinted room,
where we sailed above the ripples of the halocline. I started to hallucinate immediately,
and looked to my right and saw a beach, with waves lapping up on shore, and trashy
looking pieces of Styrofoam washed up, no doubt cast off a Puerto Rican freighter with a
load of pesticide bound for Ethiopia. Except we were under water, in a cave, and there
was no waves, no beach, no Styrofoam, no freighter, no pesticides. It was sort of a Zen
thing, you had to be there. We passed a tiny reach jump of about two feet. These are
placed by intrepid explorers who dont want a T, in case of a siltout or light failure, but
dont want to put in a gazillion jumps and gaps. In the dark, if one comes to the end of the
line, he just reaches out and finds the other line, which usually has an exit arrow close by.
At 400 psi used, we turned the dive as agreed, since it was a sneak in the first place. On
the way out, I noticed with no little satisfaction that the water was still clear, we didnt
disturb anything. I was feeling sort of cocky, and just then got the brilliant idea to turn
around in a tiny little area. I floundered around a bit trying not to touch anything, went
into full spaz mode, and cursed mightily into my reg.
Note: Do your safety stop at 20 feet in the crack, not at 6 after youre out of the crack.
Dive time on this dive was 37 minutes (hey, it counts). 43 feet was the maximum depth.
Again with the valve drills after the exit.
This was a very fun and educational day. I enjoyed the sneak dive, and the team felt good
about our determination to follow policy. K took a little ribbing about departing from
the four folks out rule, which just solidified the rule for future reference.
Next installment: Sacred Cows, turtles, busted ladders, and a blasted hole.........
Day 2: Mayan Blue. Mayan Blue or Escondido is part of the sistema Naranjal, or Place
of the Oranges. It is located three kilometers south of the village of Tulum on Highway
307, the main drag from Cancun (yuck) to Tulum and on. The ranch road goes for one
kilometer into the jungle from 307. Parking is easy and there is a 50 meter path which
ends in stone tables for gear setup. There is a 9 foot giant stride into the cenote, which is
small. The ladder was available for exit later. After Yayo provided an excellent line map
as usual, and the plan was made, we entered the cavern and cave zone. There are several
large rooms and a pronounced halocline but it was very easy to swim side by side with
your buddy and get above the salt layer. This is one of the coolest effects in cave diving,
and haloclines can be a miserable obscuring layer or a terrific optical illusion. Out of the
halocline, the visibility is the usual 300 feet, I guess. Roger writes unlimited in his log,
and this seems true. Unless you have experienced the gin clear water, its impossible to
describe except it appears that divers are in clear clean air. We followed the A line or
main line and penetrated around 1700 by my calculation, which is basically based on
either remembering what Yayo said or calculating based on time. Our objective was the
Battleship Room which we nearly reached, according to Yayo. Other tunnels in the
system are lettered B-F. The system, according to the briefing, at 64,000 feet, is one of
the longest. It may be surveyed even further now, but Steve Gerrard puts it at 64K. The
dive was great fun, and no equipment failed. The water temperature was 76 on my Aeris
Atmos Pro, 78 on my Uwatec bottom timer, which I trust more for some unknown reason.
My 5 mm wetsuit and cold water hood were very adequate, I never got cold. Drysuit
divers on the trip had a more difficult time suiting up, and S. had leaks around his neck
when he dipped his head. I was actually glad I didnt fool with a drysuit, I really like
wetsuits, especially with Aluminum tanks.
We entered the water at 9:48, maximum depth was 61 on my computers, we turned the
dive at 45 minutes, nearly all of us reaching turn pressure of 2200 at the same time. Total
dive time was 93 minutes according to my instruments.
Roger and I did valve drills in the cenote after the dive. This was a good habit that Roger
urged on me, I dont do them often enough, but he is one of those guys who does it right,
if you know what I mean. We did the proper type S drills as well, though not after every
dive.
Day 2, Dive 2: Aktun Koh (Pumas Cave). The road to this Cenote is 4 km South of our
headquarters at the area known as Puerta Aventuras. The rough road was typical, and
went for 2-3 km to the very end. The entrance was easy, a short walk Short easy stone
steps lead from a platform into the water, no giant stride needed or possible. The rocks
are not slippery, I found, though you cant tell by looking at them and it would certainly
possible to bust your butt if you got overconfident or complacent.
We planned a circuit dive which Yayo drew on the board. The cave was mixed, with
some highly decorated areas alternating with eroded Swiss cheese in salt water areas.
The decorated areas are truly breathtaking, and I allow my ability to hallucinate at will to
take over. I may see an area of tiny gnomes with pointy hats, I may see dragons breathing
fire, or I may see piles of intestines in the rocks. I just never know, but being a little
psychotic is an asset here. Our swimming pace was very, very slow. We had agreed the
night before to speed up through the dull areas, and slow down through the more
decorated ones, and we had begun to do this.
After 29, Ls second stage began burbling away, not too badly, but burbling nonetheless.
Her buddy signaled Roger and I that he and L would exit alone, but Roger waggled a
finger at him and said with his fingers in Cave-speak: No way, Jose. We agreed to exit
as a team, and that is what we will do. And so we did. Later, we figured out that her
second stage was adjusted a little too expertly by K and needed just a tweak of the wrench
to set everything right again. Anyway, after the uneventful exit, Roger and I snuck off......
Day 2, Dive 3: Aktun Koh Downstream (I think). It is difficult to discern up from
downstream in these caves. There is so little flow, that I noticed Yayo using his flow
indicator, which consisted of a rather vicious flutter kick, just one stroke, and then he
watches the poof, no doubt calculating in metric units per second, the flow is thus
measured. So forgive me if I cant tell upstream from downstream, I was a little pumped
up on this whole trip and my feeble brain was on about 50% anyway, and I used that part
for safety. The most different aspect of this dive was the fact that only Roger and I
completed it, and it was optically very quiet. It seemed kind of, well, dark. It was also
very peaceful and I put down a little checkmark in the column of advantages of a two
man team. Roger had swum past the line, not seeing it, in the cavern zone, but I spotted
it and waggled him down with my light. We immediately got into some tight passages,
and entered a fabulous and dark halocline area; a medium sized brownish tinted room,
where we sailed above the ripples of the halocline. I started to hallucinate immediately,
and looked to my right and saw a beach, with waves lapping up on shore, and trashy
looking pieces of Styrofoam washed up, no doubt cast off a Puerto Rican freighter with a
load of pesticide bound for Ethiopia. Except we were under water, in a cave, and there
was no waves, no beach, no Styrofoam, no freighter, no pesticides. It was sort of a Zen
thing, you had to be there. We passed a tiny reach jump of about two feet. These are
placed by intrepid explorers who dont want a T, in case of a siltout or light failure, but
dont want to put in a gazillion jumps and gaps. In the dark, if one comes to the end of the
line, he just reaches out and finds the other line, which usually has an exit arrow close by.
At 400 psi used, we turned the dive as agreed, since it was a sneak in the first place. On
the way out, I noticed with no little satisfaction that the water was still clear, we didnt
disturb anything. I was feeling sort of cocky, and just then got the brilliant idea to turn
around in a tiny little area. I floundered around a bit trying not to touch anything, went
into full spaz mode, and cursed mightily into my reg.
Note: Do your safety stop at 20 feet in the crack, not at 6 after youre out of the crack.
Dive time on this dive was 37 minutes (hey, it counts). 43 feet was the maximum depth.
Again with the valve drills after the exit.
This was a very fun and educational day. I enjoyed the sneak dive, and the team felt good
about our determination to follow policy. K took a little ribbing about departing from
the four folks out rule, which just solidified the rule for future reference.
Next installment: Sacred Cows, turtles, busted ladders, and a blasted hole.........
ut:
