Cavezzzz, It Shall Be – Part Three – MCEP Project – Yax Chen/Ox Bel Ha

10 12 2013

Monday, December 9th, 2013 ~

Today was the beginning of the Mexico Cave Exploration Project (MCEP), at Yax Chen – Ox Bel Ha. Since the daylight only lasted until about 5pm, we needed to get an early start. Quick breakfast at 7am, and straight to the shop, for a 7:30am gear gathering, then load up!

Winding path to the water, at Yax Chen…

Steve and Sander were a team, using the RB80s and scooters. I was buddied up with Jan M., to do some sediment trap removal/replacement, using a stage and scooters. I had never done sediment traps, and although not hard, was really “cool” to be a part of. We also repaired a part of the line that had been broken, past the “L-Shaped” cenote. Thanks to Jan, for his expert line repairing demo. It’s been a while since I have done it.

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 4 mins.
Max. Depth: 42′
Water Temp.: 77F/78F
Vis.: A little murky, in the first two sections, but cleared up, as we went further into the cave.

I am very thankful that I did not see the crocs that were apparently in the water.  I have an issue with crocs, other than the plastic ones, on my feet.

Heleen and I!

Tim and I hung around to wait for Steve and Sander. They had a 4 1/2 hour run time.

As we packed up, it appeared that we had a flat tire. No doubt, from the jungle road at Fenom, yesterday. Thank goodness for the RB80 (my tanks had gone with the CINDAQ truck). 🙂

We weren’t sure if it was a puncture, or if bouncing through the jungle, just made it flat. We kept calm, and carried on…

We returned to the shop, unloaded, and headed back to the resort. Dinner and cocktails! We were also able to meet a superhero, by the name of “Super Rafael.” He was telling us about the magic show that they were putting on.

Of course, the video had to be dark, so that we didn’t give away Super Rafael’s true identity…

What a blast!

Tuesday, December 10th, 2013 ~

Breakfast, then to the shop… er… change the flat tire. Thanks to Forest and Stretch, who helped us to get to the spare tire out… which was flat. We hobbled to the gas station, put some air in the tire, and we were finally on our way. Thank goodness for zip ties, too. 😉 We finally made it to the shop, loaded up, and an extra thank you to Manu and Peter, who organized my gear and scooters! We were finally on our way.

Today, we were back at Yax Chen. Jan M. and I were going a little further than the previous day’s dive, and had a few more stations to remove/replace sediment traps. We had developed a routine in doing them, so we were able to do it in less time. We also wouldn’t have line to repair (we didn’t think we would).

Steve and Sander were on RBs again, too. There were fewer of us at Yax Chen today, since there were other team members performing other tasks, in other systems.

We could really feel the flow at our sediment traps. It wasn’t bad, but more than in the beginning sections of the cave. We could easily hold our positions while working, with a couple of fin kicks. It was definitely not St. Lawrence River or Florida cave flow, but it was noticeable.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 46 mins.
Max. Depth: 38′
Water Temp.: 77F/78F
Vis.: Same as previous day. Clearer, the further back we went.

We loaded up all of the gear, then hung around to help out Steve and Sander to bring their gear back, and finish loading the CINDAQ truck. From there, we went to Tulum, where we got our tire repaired.  We gave the fellow extra, since he was so good, fast, and incredibly affordable!

Thanks to Constança, for being a great Shore Manager!

Steve and Sander, after their dive.

Once at the shop, we unloaded, and while Steve and Sander were cleaning their RBs, I went with Jo, to The Pub! There were about 20 of us, and Steve came by when he was finished at the shop.

Back at the resort, Steve, myself, Manu, Peter, Stretch, and Forest went over to watch the famous Fire Show! I remembered it from last year, and it was awesome!

We looked at Peter’s photos, then to sleep!


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Categories : 2000 + 13

A Ride At The Park – So It Seems!

5 09 2012

Monday, September 3rd, 2012 ~

Scooter time! So, I guess I have been behind in my Bloggy Thing posts, so this one slipped through the cracks. I do know that we did the dive, as I do have photographic evidence.

Centeen Park…

I am sure that we traveled upstream, and dropped into the channel, and I also know that there were freshwater jellies along the way. The visibility has been absolutely horrible this year, so I do know that we didn’t see much, apart from our buddies beside us, and whatever was directly in our path.

Bottom Time: 1 hr., 52 mins.
Max. Depth: 102′
Water Temp: 73F
Visibility: Cruddy

Me, with some serious neck burn…

Mike and Jen…


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Categories : Twenty 12

Goin’ Back To Connie…

26 08 2012

Saturday, August 25th, 2012 ~

Today, I was hangin’ with Jenni M and Andy, and we went to join in on the SOS (Save Ontario Shipwrecks) Dive and BBQ! When I arrived, Jenn and Andy were already there, and the majority of the SOS folks had gone up to the Wee Hawk, to drift down to the Conestoga. We decided to get in at the Connie, and have an easy go of it. Jenni M was going diving!!! 😛

We geared up,  got in, did gear checks, and down we went. I figured that doing a nice, shallow wreck would be a good opportunity to bring my camera along!

I have not been on this wreck in about 7 years, and it was neat to see it again.

Looking up through the broken stern…

Jenni M, New Diver Extraordinaire!

Andy, giving the moose ears!

A view of the stack, that you can actually see above the surface of the water.

Fancy meeting Luc here!

Lookin’ good, Jenni M! Yes, I think this should be a hair commercial…

We even saw a little pike in the weeds, that did not seem to care that we were there.

We made a few passes of the wreck, dodging the current at the bow, and checked out some of the fish spots (where they were hiding from the current).

Bottom Time: 37 mins.
Max. Depth: 20′
Water Temp.: 75F
Visibility: Not horrible, but the camera made it look much better.

It was then time for BBQ! SOS had reserved the pavillion and the BBQ, and we had all brought goodies to share. Luc was the “Le Chef,” and I have to say, that he did a fantastic job. Thanks, Luc!

Look at that spread! That homemade choco cake was fan-freakin’-tastic!

We had a most excellent day, and thanks to Trista, for putting it all together!

Please become a member of Save Ontario Shipwrecks! Take only pictures, leave only bubbles!

>>Click Here for SOS website<<


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Categories : Twenty 12

First Jodrey Dive Of The Year

4 07 2009

Saturday, June 6th, 2009 ~

We had arranged for a handful of us to take a boat out to the Jodrey, seeing as the water temperatures were warming up nicely. It turned out that no one else was able to make it, so Steve and I had Jeff’s small boat all to ourselves.

We made our way over to customs, waited to be tended to, then went over to the “tie up tree.” We put our deco bottles and scooters in the water, and geared up.

We splashed in, drifted to the “cliff,” and dropped down to the wreck. We didn’t see much until we got right down to the wreck, which was not a good sign. We made a couple of turns around the bow, swam through the crane a few times, then swung around the bow again. The current was absolutely ripping around a part of the bow, and felt like it was going to flip me over at one point. Next time I’ll stay closer to the wreck, around that part, like Steve did…lol…

We came up the crack in the wall, did our deco, scootered back over to the boat, and ascended. Although the visibility was absolutely horrible, Steve was able to get some decent footage. The camera saw more than we did!

Bottom Time ~ 77 mins.
Avg. Depth ~ 165′
Water Temp. ~ 55
Visibility ~ 5′
Current ~ Freakin’ ripping

Steve, after the dive…

Me, after the dive…

After getting back to the dock, clearing customs, and unloading the boat, we headed up to the ice cream shop for a treat. When we were pulling out, we saw a collection of older cars in the Thousand Island Cruises parking lot. Some cool stuff!

I guess they had a little more horse power than ours…

So… it was a gorgeous day on the river, we had the Jodrey to ourselves, had ice cream, and saw some old cars. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday at all!


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Categories : Diving In 2009!

Brockville ~ July 5th & 6th ~ 2008 ~

7 07 2008

Steve and I headed down to Brockville on Saturday morning, to meet with friends, and go for a dive on the Daryaw. We were diving off of Stefan’s zodiac, and leaving from Mallorytown Landing. We arrived a bit early, and met up with a bunch of other friends, who were also heading out to the Daryaw on their zod, from the Henry Street Boat Launch ~ Steve S., Mat B., and finally got to meet with Greg Mossfeldt. When we got there, there was a huge freighter going by. It was definitely empty, as it was moving pretty quickly, and was sitting very high out of the water…

We chatted for a while, then headed over to Mallorytown to meet with Sean M., Martin R., and Stefan M. En route, we made a stop at Timmy’s, where we also ran into David H., Alan, and April. 😛

Steve, Martin, and Stefan…

The zodiac was pretty cool.. It was an 18′ boat, with a 90 hp, 4 stroke engine.

What I thought was great, was the stainless steel bar down the middle of the boat, where we were able to stand up all of our doubles on either side, and strap them in.

The Daryaw is about 11km from where we launched, but it really didn’t take long with this zodiac.. Holy smokes, does it move! We got to the mooring line, and tied off beside our other buddies, who were just about to drop in. The surface current was absolutely freakin’ ripping, and we had to put in a pull line, to make it over to the mooring line. Steve, Sean, and I were going to drop in first, do our dive, then man the boat while Stefan and Martin went down.

We geared up and in we went. Holy smokes… that surface current was absolutely nasty! Without the pull line, we’d have been picked up in Cornwall, I’m sure! This is one wreck, where you really do need to use the line to descend ~ The current is just way too strong to fight it on your own. We hand over handed it down, taking it slowly, and tucked in behind the wreck, where you are sheltered from the worst of the current. We went in for a peek of the coal chute, came back out, and checked out the holds. There is an air pocket in the second cargo hold that we also went in and said a quick hello to each other. You don’t breathe in here, but you can remove your reg and talk. Your voice changes a bit with the pressure as well. We left the pocket, and poked around a few places for a bit, then went over and drifted down the keel, and back up. The ascent was a bit easier than the descent, but you still had to use the line most of the time. When we surfaced, we were greeted by about 4 or 5 other boats tied off to the two moorings, and another zodiac tied beside ours (a rather nice one at that)!

Bottom Time ~ 62 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 82′

Water Temp. ~ 67 ~ Wet Gloves~ w00t!

Vis. ~ 25′ – 30′

When we surfaced, it seemed that Martin had ripped his neck seal, and was a little bummed out. Steve offered his suit to him, so that at least he hadn’t driven all the way from Quebec not to dive! Luckily it fit.. with little extra room in the turbos, but he was very grateful.

They dropped in for their dive as we manned the boat and relaxed in the sunshine. Did I mention that it was an absolutely beautiful day??? 😀

Stefan and Martin also had a good dive, and we headed back to shore. It seems that I got a little bit too much sun!!

Steve and I then went to see our friends, Kris and Jess. We sat around and chatted for a while, then Kevin dropped by as well, so I could give him Martin’s suit to repair. Steve and I ended up staying over, and Kevin made the drive back to Ottawa.

Sunday morning seemed to come early, and we met Stefan at Centeen Park at 8:30am. We were going to swim out to the Gaskin! We got in the water, did our predive checks, flow checks etc., then off to the Gaskin we went. It took us nearly 20 mins. to swim to the wreck, as the current was a lot stronger than usual. The current also gets a bit stronger at about 20′ off the wreck. We made it there, did a couple of turns of the wreck, then drifted off. We saw some really neat bottles, and a lot of periwinkles… there was also quite a bit of boat traffic, that we could hear. We drifted back to the entry point, where we saw the little black bass from last week, and about 100 of her little babies swimming in a small cloud. If I was a fish, I’m not sure I would have placed my eggs right near the entry point of a popular watering hole, but I guess she knows best. 😛 We debriefed and exited.

Bottom Time ~ 69 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 69′

Water Temp. ~ 67

Vis. ~ Stinky

We were meeting more friends for an afternoon swim to the Gaskin, and all I could think was… “uh… scooter time for the next dive.”

Our friends started to arrive one by one… Mat B., Ritchard F., Greg M., Steve S., Carmen C., Rick, and Mat’s wife and doggy too! The dog really wanted to come on the dive too…lol…

We chatted for a while, and watched as another giant freighter went by…

After our 3 hour surface interval, we dropped in with everyone. Steve and I had our scooters, and Steve was going to film everyone too!

Ok… we felt pretty dumb as we were going out… We would stop along the way to get footage of everyone, and the current was almost non-existent. How dumb do we feel now?  The current did pick up at the wreck, but not nearly as strong as it had been in the morning! Ah well… playing with the scooters is never a bad thing, anyway!

We gallivanted around the wreck for a while, got some footage of everyone going through the wreck, then headed back in search of a purse that we had found the previous week. After searching and searching, we finally found it. We thought Steve had put it in a barrel, but the barrel ended up being some rolled up carpet.

On both dives, we saw a ton of really big arsed fish! There was a school of Perch that I hadn’t seen before, and a bunch of super-sized carp. There were two that kind of freaked me out, when they came right up beside me, and were inches from my face! Man, those things were big!!! I think Steve got some footage of the Perch.

Bottom Time ~ 89 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 69′

Water Temp. ~ 67

Vis. ~ Stinky

I think we may have convinced Ritchard that he needs a scooter!

The whole gaggle of us, less Ritchard, headed over to Timmy’s for some sandwiches and great story-telling.

It’s really fantastic to hang out and dive with everyone on such a beautiful sunny day!

Here’s Greg and his cool car!


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Categories : Diving Chronicles Of 2008!

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