The Cave Mapping Adventure - March 2017 - Systema Aktun-Hu - Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Sunrise-Half Moon Bay, Akumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico-Photo: Alberto Nava

After having removed over 8 feet of snow from our driveways in Reno, Nevada, USA, since January First 2017 and enduring 3 flooding events within our home, my mental state came to a head with interned frustration about the 23 of February.  Being a wise and supportive soul mate, Kim took one look at me and said, “you need to go diving!”, “get out of here as you are driving me nuts and are doing yourself no good.”  Well, with those words said, it took me a whole 5 hours to organize and book a trip to the caves in Mexico. 

I had started putting out feelers to my global dive pals and I knew if someone was in Mexico, I could probably make a cave diving trip happen.  I contacted my good friend, Alberto “Beto” Nava of the Bay Area Underwater Explorers (BAUE) to see what he was up to.  Turns out, he was in Mexico and needed a dive buddy to do some work in one of the cave systems he has been working on since 2007.

Bags packed (200lbs in 4 pieces), away I went, at the airport 4:30am, 1 March!  I really had no idea what we were going to do as thorough communication in these situations is never really…thorough!  What I did know, is that I was going to dive with my JJ (closed circuit rebreather: CCR) irrespective of the weather here or there!  The last diving I did was in Lake Huron in November and if you followed my reports, you know how that was…cold, windy, subject to extreme water conditions and 35 feet of visibility. 

Landing, I had never encountered so many travelers.  Customs was packed like a "can of sardines."  Took me 2 hours simply to get through customs but by 8 pm I was in Tulum at the Hotel Tulum Inn and organizing gear for the next 4-5 days. 

2 March, I met Beto for breakfast at a little palapa on the main highway of Tulum, we had breakfast tacos and discussed the plan.  Here is where I got real excited.  In 2007, doing a dive from the cenote La Virgen, some 3000 feet to the south, Beto and his team found Hoyo Negro, a underwater pit approximately 200 feet (60 meters) in diameter and 190 feet (57 meters) deep.  Over the next several years, they would find things in Hoyo Negro that blew science, researchers, archaeologists and the world away!  I will let you do your own research with these links:

• Hoyo Negro - A Submerged Late Pleistocene Cave Site inQuintana Roo
• Proyecto de Espeleología de Tulum (PET)
• Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH)

Now you have some background and the plan was to continue working in this system, Aktun-Hu, with the goal of continuing the map survey work but on some leads (existing lines) in very difficult locations.  We spent the day getting gear assembled, tanks filled and familiarizing me with the process of “underwater map survey” techniques.  I was amped as I love working underwater. 

3 March, we made the 8 km (5 mile), 25 minute drive into the jungle and arrived at cenote La Concha (images on the New Millennium Dive Expeditions,Facebook page).  Entering the water we traveled about 1500 feet (450 meters) to our first line CU21.  Our goal was to get accurate information on this line.

 

Each line has an “initial” base tie-off point.  This would be considered “Station 1”.  Each place where the line is physically tied to the cave, be it on a rock of solid position, a stalagmite or some other sturdy cave feature,  a cave line station is created; goal… to gather data at each station. 

The first task at each station is to gather depth and compass coordinate (azimuth) information; coordinates are obtained directly on the station from the line leading into it and from the line leading away.  The photo below shows Beto gathering this information -

The next step is to notate this information in a notebook containing waterproof paper and yes...using a regular pencil.  The photo below shows Beto recording this data -

Once this data is recorded, then an accurate measurement from station to station is obtained.  The photos below show (top) Beto beginning to reel out the measurement tape and Sam behind holding the measurement tape,  and (bottom) Sam reading the exact measurement between stations. -

We “leap frog” from station to station gathering all this data and when we get to the end of the line, we exit the line, go back to Station 1, and prepare for the next phase of the line survey; measurement of cave width from each station, left and right.  

During cave width measurement, we begin again at Station 1, one diver maintains position at the station and utilizing either the measurement tape or an underwater distance sonar or both,  the second diver moves to the left or right, aided by an underwater laser pointer.  This laser pointer puts a point on the cave wall that looks like the furthest away from the station.  A measurement is taken at a point where the diver can safely, without damaging the cave, move to.  If the cave width is further than that diver can safely maneuver, then the sonar is utilized and both measurements are input onto the data sheet.  This is done on the left side of the station and again on the right side of the station and continues to the end of the line with this procedure duplicated over and over. 

    

Once all this is done for a line like CU21, we exit the water with data sheets as depicted in the photo below.  

Once out of the water and back at a computer, those data sheets are meticulously input into mapping software creating a stick map and then a topographical map.

 

The image below shows line PRA28 (yellow) which we surveyed and was my favorite line of this adventure.  Curvy, tight, highly decorated and very intricate; a line we surveyed up to a restriction that we did not feel we could continue through with our existing equipment configuration.  If you look closely at the image you can count the some 30 plus stations surveyed.  

This image shows the stick map being enhanced to a topographical map showing cave widths [Note: this image was not from one of the lines we surveyed].  It is provided for a visual understanding.  

It was an exceptional trip!  During my 4 days of diving, we surveyed 8 lines and spent a bit over 15 hours underwater; Beto...thanks for the snacks during our dives. Our max depth was only about 45 feet (14 meters) so decompression was never an issue.  I came away with a new understanding of the cave systems that I have been diving since 2001. 

BUT...lets put some perspective to all this.  During my 4 dives and 8 lines surveyed, I would say that we surveyed about 1000 feet (300 meters) of line.  There is estimated to be 121,000 feet (36,300 meters) of line within the Aktun-Hu cave system and Beto?  Beto and his team have surveyed over 51,000 feet (15,500 meters) in efforts to create one of the most detailed and complete maps of this system ever!  THAT IS ALMOST 10 MILES OF SURVEY WORK!  

I was proud to support this massive effort in the small way that I did.  An effort that you will understand, if you can do the research from the links that I provided, is critical to protecting this system that was the resting place of Naia! 

4,5 & 6 March were much the same as we dove each day with the intensity and vigor as each day prior.  However, it was not all work, there was a lot of dive time in between lines and time for image therapy.  So here are a few.  I will be putting together a 3-4 minute video of these dives and it will be posted on our New Millennium Dive Expeditions Facebook page in the near future.  

Thanks for following the continuing adventures of New Millennium Dive Expeditons, its Project Baseline and Project Baseline: Lake Tahoe endeavors and myself.  Here are some photos with captions for you to enjoy... 

Insane "decoration".  These caves filled with H2O about 23,000 years ago...how long do you think it took for these formations to form?
Puts you in a position of direct respect for Mother Nature!

Draperies of calcite flows ending in stalactites. 

Just overwhelming!!!

And last but not least...one of me -

Until next time, be well and if you are not a diver, become one.  If you are a diver, dive often, dive safe and always, DIR!  

Abalone Diving, Secret Cove - Gualala, California - Mike B., Ian B, and Martin - 10-12 June, 2016

It is never an easy thing coordinating three separate lives to come together for a weekend adventure but Mike, Ian and myself, made that happen June 10, 11 & 12.  Our motivation?  The passing of our long time and dear friend Dana Durgin.  Dana lost has battle with cancer on May 22nd at 4:20am.  He was always on these types of adventures with us and in a Tribute to him, where ever he may be, we came together and on 10 June at 5:30pm, we headed for the Pacific to gather a few of the illusive NorCal Red Abalone.  

It was a marathon weekend.  Departing at 5:30pm our first stop was in the Auburn area along I-80 in California to Ikedas for burgers, fries and a beverage.  Satisfactorily full, we headed for Casa de Pavelka in Cloverdale; our 5 Star, and I mean 5 Star, accommodations for the night.  I digress briefly to introduce two other wonderful friends of Dana and ours.  Ron and Jane have been in my life since the mid 80's and I introduced them to Mike and Dana many years ago.  They developed a "hunting" adventure relationship over the years hunting lobster, pigs, deer, elk and other species of big game on the west coast.  Ron and Jane, being in Mexico for a family vacation, generously opened up their home for us to rest.  

Arriving in Cloverdale at 11pm, we bunked down for the night and rose early Saturday morning.  Looking for a breakfast, we found Zinis Diner and enjoyed a great meal. Fueled up the Dodge and headed for Gualala via Stuarts Point/Skaggs Spring road; about the twistiest, up and down, narrow road we have ever been on but by 10:45am, we were parked at the gate to our Secret Cove.  

The lock to the gate is always precarious but Ian got it open and we walked out to the water to assess the conditions. Below is what we saw...! 

A water state calmer than I have personally seen in the past 6 years of visiting this location and skys as you can see...clear to the horizon.  We wasted no time; Dana was overseeing and we knew that Dana would not let this last long if we procrastinated; so we did not.  We organized our equipment, had a conversation with the local Abalone Legend, Abalone Jones, got his graces and hit the water. 

The abalone were plentiful.  We could have limited (3) in about 10 minutes.  In fact, my first dive I saw three keepers within 3 inches of each other.  I could have pluck, pluck, plucked and brought them all up and been done but they were 8's (7 inches is legal) and I was hoping for more of a challenge in search of larger Abs; after all we had 20 mouths to feed the next day.  

El Nino has been kind and the water?  Warm!  No thermometer but I would estimate the high 50's. Beautiful conditions.  We did dive after dive looking for the perfect specimens.  After about 2 hours of absolute perfect conditions and bliss, we exited the water with our respective catches and prepared them for transport to Reno.
  

Mike to my right and Ian to my left; Father and Son

Once back to the truck, we reminisced about our times with Dana, the past 2 hours in the ocean and how we could have gotten a bigger ab, the beautiful day, the friendship we have all had for over 30 years! A realization of the blessed friendship, adventures and importance in each others lives we have had for over 3 decades! All the while, Dana sitting on the cliff and watching three of his most valued friends, flounder in the waters of the Pacific Ocean.  

Not much more to the story save, we arrived back in Reno on 11 June at 10:30pm, 29 hours following our departure; 13 hours of driving, 8 hours of relaxation and sleep at Casa de Pavelka, 5 hours at and in the ocean and 3 hours of stops because the "brawn" of the group had overactive bladder and needed Ice Cream!  

12 June, 8pm, our adventure would be complete as we had all our families, Dana's sister and her family and a few other friends of Dana over at 3 pm where we prepared over 20 pounds of California's finest Red Abalone and by the graces of our loved one, recently departed, consumed it all in his Honor.  Dana C Durgin 1948 - 2016, we will endeavor to do this annually but know...we miss you my friend! 

The Cave Systems of the Riviera Maya - October 2014

October 2012 was our last visit to the Rivera Maya.  Time sure passes fast when you are as blessed with family as Parker and myself.  I hope that you take a pause in your busy life and make some time for an adventure of your own.  I know that Parker and I will make every effort to continue our underwater exploits as we mature in the years ahead; of course, "mature" defined by us is no where consistent with those of our wonderful wives that support us on our annual escapades under the ground in the area between Akumal and Tulum, Mexico, known as the Riveria Maya!  

The planning always begins about 6-9 months in advance and before we know it, we are moving through airport security with equipment and gadgets that no TSA agent has a clue of which it is used. That planning put us in Cancun, Mexico, the busiest airport in Central America (27 million passengers annually) at 4 pm to find Immigration EMP-friggin-TY!  10 minutes and we were waiting for bags.  15 minutes and we were at the shitty car rental counter of National (which like all car rental agencies in MX consistently can not deliver the vehicles promised!).  By 5pm we were heading south in our Chrysler Mini Van of which we would beat to crap on the dirt jungle roads;  we asked for a Jeep; they said we would have one; they lied.  Oh well, won't stop us.  After making our ususal stops along the way for tanks, groceries and supplies, we got to our Casita at about 7:30pm.  Opened the door and it was locked...it is never locked.  Usually the door is open and the key is inside.  Guess things changed.  After logging onto the property, Luna Azul, wireless and activating my Spanish Translator App, we gave communication with the night security a try.  Clave (key)?  No yo se! ( I don't know)!  Just about that time, Parker ran into a vacationer, he spoke English and told us where to get the key.  While Parker was fetching the key, I opened up the registration email and had I read the last paragraph, we would have been in the room by 7:35pm vs 8!  The one thing in life that is for sure, change in always inevitable.  

DAY ONE - began at about 8am (in our minds) but really 9am local - daylight savings time hadn't started there yet.  Took us about 2 days to get the right time.  Anyway, after a nice breakfast on our resort beach

The view from "Breakfast on the Beach"!

we headed north in our Jeep Patriot or similar Chrysler Minivan piece of shit (with the engine light on of course) to find our tanks.  We were successful after some additional Spanish speaking efforts - we are definitely getting better communicating with the locals.  Then after a brief stop at the money exchange, we began our journey about 30km south to Grand Cenote (just west of Tulum on the road to Coba.  The cave system for our first day.  A system in which we are very familiar and a open cave system that would allow us to "shake-off the rust" after being on a 24 month cave-diving hiatus.

It is now noon and we are just arriving at Grand Cenote.  This is truly one of the more developed cenotes in the area and after paying 200 pesos to enter (used to be 70 and that was expensive...my god, inflation effects every land) we set up our equipment, carried our support equipment down to the waters edge-in this situation, a nice dock at the bottom of a nice stairway, right on the waters edge. Walked back up to our equipment table, wriggled into our wetsuits (man they must have shrunk!), hoisted up our double tank rigs and headed back down to the water.  

Now true to form, Parker has to make a very special, "we have arrived" statement just prior to his entry...I am in the water waiting.  He steps toward the entry ladder, stepping on the end of a 2"x 8" deck plank and he breaks the deck and damm near falls into the water potentially busting himself up good but fortunately he catches himself and prevents injury.  Now I must digress.  In 2001 on our first visit, this deck was made up of 2-3 inch logs banded together and Parker steps on the deck in just the right way, his entire leg slips through and he is stuck up to his knee with full equipment of 100 plus pounds on his back.  We have to get a log to pry him out.  Then in 2003, on the final day of our advanced cave class, he trips walking to cenote Muchachos, again in full equipment, and hits the ground crushing his eye socket on a rock.  We move slowly now!  

We enter Grand Cenote, 1pm and away we go for our first dive.  Dive One - This was planned to be a  mainline dive with one jump, off the mainline, to the Paso de Legarto line with double tanks (doubles) only.

Cenote entry deck right at waters edge - very common in the popular cenotes.  

We wanted to have an easy, simple, relaxing first dive.  We wanted to get our "cave diving chops back" in good form before progressing into more complex dives.  After Parker's stunning entry, we did our dive checks and drills, descended and attached our mainline reel onto a stalagmite in about 30 feet and headed into the cave.   After about 12 minutes on the mainline, Parker deployed our jump spool (line) and lead us to the Paso de Legarto line where he tied off and we then continued up into this passage way leading to several great cave junctions, most notably the Lithium Sunset line and the cenotes, Calimba and Bos Chen.  However, today was not for us to leave the Legarto line, but to simply work with on our team skills, our cave awareness and our gas pressure which we use only one quarter of our gas for entry when we are diving a two man team in doubles.  After about 40 minutes, at an average depth of about 35 feet, we turned our dive and exited the cave leaving all our lines in place for Dive Two.

Cave formations typical of all caves we dive; here is a wall of Stalactites, Stalagmites and Columns

Dive Two we would retrace our earlier dive along the same lines except for this dive we would use a Travel Stage bottle which would allow us to extend our distance and time, while using the rule of "thirds" for our distance into the cave.  After 60 minutes of swimming, we exited in 45.  Why?  Well when cave diving is it safest to begin your dive in the upstream direction against and water flow.  If you were to begin your dive with the flow and forgot that you were being carried further due to the water flow and the ease of swimming with the current, you might find yourself too far into a cave and with too little gas to exit alive.   We like to exit alive so we begin all our dives upstream.  What we found was the flow this day, due to some heavy rains, was quite strong.  You really do not notice it too much swimming in because it is subtle but coming out, we usually get anywhere for a 20-25%  reduction in swim time; welcomed I can assure you.  105 minutes later and after a primary light failure (mine), we exited the cave, cleaned up all our lines and exited Grand Cenote.  The last we would see of her for the rest of the trip.  She served her purpose and did not let us down in beauty and challenge.

Due to the lateness of our start and not having the right time on our clocks we found ourselves starting our vehicle around 5pm.  We were invited to a wonderful beach side dinner with some great friends also visiting the Riviera Maya.  By 6 we had completed the task of dropping off tanks for fills and were back to the Casita for quick showers and then an evening of great tacos, conversation and friends...Thanks!  Marsha and Alberto.

DAY TWO -  began with a bit  more organization under our belts; tanks located, pesos in hand, gear checked out.  We headed down south of Tulum to KM marker 216 where the cenote of Chan Hol was located.

Cenote Chan Hol - About 10 feet in diameter;  entrance - 3 feet below surface -below wall above the right ladder rail

Chan Hol is a beautifully decorated cave about 10 km south of Tulum, Mexico. Since this is one of our favorite systems, we planned to spend a long day here.  First exploring the western part of the system and then explore north.  As you see in the picture, the cenote is quite small and once you are ready to descend, you gently secure the cave line in your right hand, drop about 3 feet to the rocky/silty bottom, give one kick and you are now on a steep slope leading into the cave.  Your visibility for the first 10 feet is zero, that is why you are gently holding the line but after about 20 seconds of descent, then you descend below the silty aspect of the entry and the clarity becomes magnificent.  Where we find ourselves is in this big room where the mainline connects to a looping line that travels a 150 foot diameter right back to the room we are in.  From this loop, we then make our decision and mark the line appropriately based upon our dive plan.  

This first dive, as I mentioned, we were heading west so when we hit the loop, we took a left and began our dive.  Not being dissapointed by the beauty and clarity of the system, we traveled in for 60 minutes against some minor flow and exited in 46 minutes.  A great dive and considering there were 3 dive teams of 3 ahead of us, we never ran into a soul sans 20 minutes into the dive as they were exiting. 

The second dive, was for us into unknown territory so we just took our time.  When we hit the loop line, we took a right and followed that line for about 6 minutes until we jumped up to our right onto the Babylon line which is the largest tunnel of this section of Chan Hol.  Once we got to the end of the Babylon line, we turned and headed back to its beginning.  Once back, we replaced our jump line onto another non-named tunnel in this area, reset our depth, time and gas calculations and ventured in.  Neither the Babyon line or this No-Name line were as beautiful as the western part of Chan Hol, but beautiful just the same.  Once we came to the end of this No-Name line we turned for our exit.  After 90 minutes, we returned to the cenote and exited the system.  Two really wonderfully visual and fun dives.  

Just a couple interesting side notes on this day, first, being that day one usually shakes out any equipment problems, I found that my 6 hour light was only working for about 2 so I had to carry a second primary light.  Usually each diver carries one primary light and two smaller, much less powerful, back-up lights [each diver carries 3 lights on all dives ] but for the rest of the trip, because our back-up primary light was of a brightness between our main lights and our smaller back-up lights, I decided to carry 4 lights, both my big main light that worked for about 120 minutes, the back-up primary light we take on all trips in case something like this happens and my two normal small back-up lights.  Second, remember the 3 teams ahead of us during the day and the fact that when you descend you gently hold the mainline leading down into the system?  Well these teams were inexperienced cave divers being lead by local guides and they managed to break the main entrance line twice going down!  Thankfully the guides were very responsible and fixed the lines immediately and we were able to enter and exit without any sort of inconvenience. Still makes you a bit nervous having that type of experience in a cave ahead of you but again, we only saw them once at the beginning of our dive and on the exit of theirs.

As we packed up our gear, its now about 3pm, we formulated our plan for the rest of this day.  Very status quo with one exception, we needed to get some pesos.  So we headed to Tulum to get cash at the bank, learned that the local police hate it when you park directly in front of the bank with the car running and learned that you have to have your passport to get cash from the bank!  This was new as we usually get cash from the street money exchange vendors and they never even ask for ID but guess that is why the street vendors have a poorer exchange rate!  But after this small financial adventure, we dropped tanks, organized equipment, repaired where necessary, showered and ended the day at Pizza Leo's one of the finest Italian eateries on the Riviera Maya for some incredible seafood lasagna.

Pizza Leos - Chymuil - Sorry about the crappy photo!  Great Riveria Maya Italian!