Part 1
Howdy folks just thought I would drop you a line and let the members know how our recent trip to the Cenotes of the Yucatan went. The trip was organized by Advanced Diver Magazine/Curt Bowen and was conducted over the period of January 5-16 2006.
This report is from my perspective and I will leave it up to other members of SB to make their own comments.
I departed Tampa at 0630 hrs on Jan 5 for Miami. Arriving Miami early I made my way to the joining flight gate and decided to have some breakfast. I was happy that the airlines didn't hit me for having a very large case with the new baggage regulations. They did get me for being over 50 lbs though and I had to pay the $25 spendoles which was not to bad.
Enjoying my breakfast members of the team made their way into the same restaurant. I moved over to sit with them and introduced myself and learned a little about who they were. Most of these divers were former expedition members but one our very Own Jeff Toorish was a newbe like me. Leaving the restaurant we made our way to the boarding gate when the waiter from the restaurant came over and thought that I had stiffed them for my meal. Yeah he failed to count the cash on the table and thought we gave him a extra big tip. Was this going to be the start of my trip and a omen as to how things were going to go? Thank God things were going to be better then that, I had only need wait and see.
After a short flight we landed in Cancun. I was very quick to get my baggage and clear customs, I pressed the switch got the green light and was clear to go. Our trip was now ready to start, well almost. The rental car company had some difficulty in getting us the vehicles we wanted. The one van was a sluggish gas eating turtle and as we would latter find out the third veh provided was not the Ford F150 as requested but a Chrysler mini van (Am I the only one to see a difference here?) At any rate all the vehicles were now loaded and we rolled off into the Yucatan's interior to a town called Humon. Enroute we had the pleasure of meeting members of the Mexican military who thought it best to search our vehicles before we ventured into the Yucatan. All set we left our hosts and some 4 hours later made it to a church which was to be our home for the next ten days.
Early the next morning after a wake up call by our Poppa Curt the entire team with translaters and guides set out to discover many of the cenotes and what laid beneath them. Not much turned up in the first few we checked out. My turn came as we were looking at our fourth for the day. Located in the backyard of a local Mayan I was lowered into the Cenote into four feet of water. I remember looking around and was amazed at the beauty of the formations of the stalagtites and the water's clarity. Taking care not to disturb the bottom I placed my mask on and lowered my face into the water. Before me were three distinct passages one to the north, one to the east and one to the south. I called for both my tanks. Once lowered I took care to make sure I had them clipped onto my sidemount. Its hard to control ones excitment at such a time. After all these were virgin caves. I decided to take the south passage first. I entered running my reel from the debris mound wondering what lay before me. I saw some blind shrimp and then entered a dome room with a air filled section. Continuing on I came to another dome that had a Bayan trees roots coming through the ceiling. On the northern side there was a silt filled passage that I believe led to the east cave passage. I decided not to push this route at this time. This dome room was the last section of the passage about 200 feet in. I returned to the cavern zone and on my way out came accross a human skull lightly covered in the black silt of the floor near the base of the debris mound. Making a note of it I continued onward to the East passage after relocating my primary reel. This passage winded in a southern route and had stalagtite formations throughout. It also had a couple of dome rooms as big and bigger then the south passage. About 250-300 feet of penetration this passage would end. In the south corner was the same passage I believed I saw from the South Passage. I would estimate the passage to be about 50 feet long. It was very full of silt and again I didn't push it.
Returning to the cavern zone one more time I entered the North Passage and yet again came accross dome rooms. This passage was a bit narrow compared to the others but the dome rooms were even bigger and much higher.
Leaving the passage I quickly completed the recce around the debris mound to see what else may be left to discover. The deepest point of this cenote was not much more then 25 feet. But it was my first ever vigin cave and my first Yucatan cenote dive. After raising the cylinders I was pulled out and convinced that this trip was worth every moment of preparation for it.
Next the team traveled to a location that took us into the bush to a ranchers cattle pen. The well here offered a little bit more of a challenge for entering. After clearing away some of the bush growth I repelled down into it. Deeper than the first one I remained attached to the repel line and placed my fins on my feet. Here I called for only one tank and once getting it rigged I went about conducting a recce. There were no passsages here that I could penetrate as the debris mound met with the cenotes walls pinching me out of what may lay ahead in a limited passage restriction. I did find several pots of different shapes. The larger ones were shaped like an egg and had handles on the sides, their shape suggested that they could not be self supporting. The others were smaller and more round bottomed. I could see that they could be left standing on their own. No passages found I made my exit from this well climbing or rather frogging my way out about 40 feet straight up and around the protruding lip to the wells walls.
Another team member Rusty conducted the next series of dives. Following the days exploration off we went back to Humon to our church home. A quick meal and then out and about to see the town square and what the local people were doing. Humon is a very active town at night.
end part 1
Howdy folks just thought I would drop you a line and let the members know how our recent trip to the Cenotes of the Yucatan went. The trip was organized by Advanced Diver Magazine/Curt Bowen and was conducted over the period of January 5-16 2006.
This report is from my perspective and I will leave it up to other members of SB to make their own comments.
I departed Tampa at 0630 hrs on Jan 5 for Miami. Arriving Miami early I made my way to the joining flight gate and decided to have some breakfast. I was happy that the airlines didn't hit me for having a very large case with the new baggage regulations. They did get me for being over 50 lbs though and I had to pay the $25 spendoles which was not to bad.
Enjoying my breakfast members of the team made their way into the same restaurant. I moved over to sit with them and introduced myself and learned a little about who they were. Most of these divers were former expedition members but one our very Own Jeff Toorish was a newbe like me. Leaving the restaurant we made our way to the boarding gate when the waiter from the restaurant came over and thought that I had stiffed them for my meal. Yeah he failed to count the cash on the table and thought we gave him a extra big tip. Was this going to be the start of my trip and a omen as to how things were going to go? Thank God things were going to be better then that, I had only need wait and see.
After a short flight we landed in Cancun. I was very quick to get my baggage and clear customs, I pressed the switch got the green light and was clear to go. Our trip was now ready to start, well almost. The rental car company had some difficulty in getting us the vehicles we wanted. The one van was a sluggish gas eating turtle and as we would latter find out the third veh provided was not the Ford F150 as requested but a Chrysler mini van (Am I the only one to see a difference here?) At any rate all the vehicles were now loaded and we rolled off into the Yucatan's interior to a town called Humon. Enroute we had the pleasure of meeting members of the Mexican military who thought it best to search our vehicles before we ventured into the Yucatan. All set we left our hosts and some 4 hours later made it to a church which was to be our home for the next ten days.
Early the next morning after a wake up call by our Poppa Curt the entire team with translaters and guides set out to discover many of the cenotes and what laid beneath them. Not much turned up in the first few we checked out. My turn came as we were looking at our fourth for the day. Located in the backyard of a local Mayan I was lowered into the Cenote into four feet of water. I remember looking around and was amazed at the beauty of the formations of the stalagtites and the water's clarity. Taking care not to disturb the bottom I placed my mask on and lowered my face into the water. Before me were three distinct passages one to the north, one to the east and one to the south. I called for both my tanks. Once lowered I took care to make sure I had them clipped onto my sidemount. Its hard to control ones excitment at such a time. After all these were virgin caves. I decided to take the south passage first. I entered running my reel from the debris mound wondering what lay before me. I saw some blind shrimp and then entered a dome room with a air filled section. Continuing on I came to another dome that had a Bayan trees roots coming through the ceiling. On the northern side there was a silt filled passage that I believe led to the east cave passage. I decided not to push this route at this time. This dome room was the last section of the passage about 200 feet in. I returned to the cavern zone and on my way out came accross a human skull lightly covered in the black silt of the floor near the base of the debris mound. Making a note of it I continued onward to the East passage after relocating my primary reel. This passage winded in a southern route and had stalagtite formations throughout. It also had a couple of dome rooms as big and bigger then the south passage. About 250-300 feet of penetration this passage would end. In the south corner was the same passage I believed I saw from the South Passage. I would estimate the passage to be about 50 feet long. It was very full of silt and again I didn't push it.
Returning to the cavern zone one more time I entered the North Passage and yet again came accross dome rooms. This passage was a bit narrow compared to the others but the dome rooms were even bigger and much higher.
Leaving the passage I quickly completed the recce around the debris mound to see what else may be left to discover. The deepest point of this cenote was not much more then 25 feet. But it was my first ever vigin cave and my first Yucatan cenote dive. After raising the cylinders I was pulled out and convinced that this trip was worth every moment of preparation for it.
Next the team traveled to a location that took us into the bush to a ranchers cattle pen. The well here offered a little bit more of a challenge for entering. After clearing away some of the bush growth I repelled down into it. Deeper than the first one I remained attached to the repel line and placed my fins on my feet. Here I called for only one tank and once getting it rigged I went about conducting a recce. There were no passsages here that I could penetrate as the debris mound met with the cenotes walls pinching me out of what may lay ahead in a limited passage restriction. I did find several pots of different shapes. The larger ones were shaped like an egg and had handles on the sides, their shape suggested that they could not be self supporting. The others were smaller and more round bottomed. I could see that they could be left standing on their own. No passages found I made my exit from this well climbing or rather frogging my way out about 40 feet straight up and around the protruding lip to the wells walls.
Another team member Rusty conducted the next series of dives. Following the days exploration off we went back to Humon to our church home. A quick meal and then out and about to see the town square and what the local people were doing. Humon is a very active town at night.
end part 1
