Cavezzzz, It Shall Be – Part Five – A King’s Passage – Tux Required

14 12 2013

Friday, December 13th, 2013 ~

Today’s plans had been altered, a little. Steve, Sander, and I went to Pet Cemetery. We hadn’t been here before, and our project plans were changed, so this was an excellent alternative. We loaded up our gear, and were on our way!

On the road in, we saw a couple of little Grey Foxes, playing…

I think this is the best road into a cenote, that we have ever been on. We brought our gear down the steep staircase and apparently, to the wrong end of the dock. The line was closer to the stairs, than we thought! We realized our mistake, and moved the gear to where it was “supposed” to go.

Blurry pic, halfway down the stairs.

Steve, going back to get some of the gear! It was pretty slippery.

We had two stages each, and planned on dropping one along the way, for our second dive (all calculations were made, and we would make sure they were correct, at our re-entry point). We found the cavern line, and followed it until the jump to the main line. We made a second jump, and dropped our 2nd stage bottles (the ones for our second dive). We made a jump to the Blue Abyss line, and eventually reached the King Pong restriction. On the way in, I didn’t need to “Superman” my stage bottle, but did have to on the way back out. What a beautiful cave!!! As we made our way through the gorgeous passage, the bottom just fell right out from under us, and there was a massive, blue pit. The Blue Abyss! We descended to around 100′, hovered for a bit, then ascended back up and out. What an amazing place to see!

We made our way back to our first jump line, exchanged our stage bottles, and confirmed our calculations. We had planned on going to The Dark Side Of The Moon, but it appears that some of the lines were different than the ones on our maps. The jump we ended up taking, DID take us to some really cool cave, so we were not at all disappointed. We found a pretty gnarly restriction, too.

Bottom Time: 3 hours, 26 mins.
Max. Depth: 106′
Water Temp.: 77F

Steve’s video, from our most awesome dive. I think this is my new favourite cave…

Back to the shop, unloaded, to resort, tacos with Peter and Manu, then back over to The Pub, for the MCEP gathering!

Pics are a little dark…

We all dispersed, and a bunch of us headed back to the resort, where we figured that we would check out the “Adult” side – In the times that we had been here, we had never ventured over to the “other side!” There seemed to be less going on, but we stayed and had some fun chats!

Saturday, December 14th, 2013 ~

We missed breakfast this morning, since we were a little late in getting our butts in gear. We jumped out of bed, got our stuff together, and ran out the door. Sander had waited for Steve. *Phew* 🙂

I decided to donate my scooter to the boys for the day, so Steve, Sander, Jan M. were going to scooter in Tux Kapaxa. I figured I would tag along with Stretch and Forest, and show them where the bones were!

We had quite a convoy, heading over…

We parked, then headed down to have a look.

Forest (who shall be known as Bodyguard #1) was awesome, and carried my stage down! Thank you, BG#1!
Thanks to BG#2, for bringing it back up!

We each had a stage, and took a bit of a short cut to the bones, instead of swimming to the T.

As we swam out, the other fellas passed us. We waved, as they went by. Once we reached the bones, we stopped so that Forest could take some footage of them… Or, at least he tried. His camera picked that moment to decide that it was tired. D’oh!

We carried on for a little while, then made our way back. We did have a lot of fun!

Thank you BG#1 and BG#2! You guys are the bee’s knees! 😛

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 55 mins.
Max. Depth: 41′
Water Temp.: 77F

After our dive, I waited for the other fellas to finish, while Forest and Stretch went to check out the well… (we all had a look, after)…

Other entry…

Back to the shop, unload, then to the buffet, with Kathryn and Laurynn!

We then met with Becki, Dan, Forest, and Stretch for a couple of bevvies!

Thanks to Santiago – AKA Jr. Cruise – for making our yummy drinks! He showed us his mad skillz, too!

Back to the room, where it was movie time! It seems that there was a Batman movie on, that we hadn’t seen before! To the Bat Cave!


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Cavezzz, It Shall Be – Part Four – Rabbit Holes and Haloclines

12 12 2013

Wednesday, December 11th, 2013 ~

The usual: Breakfast, then onward, to the shop!

I wonder who these guys are, in front of us? 😛

Everyone gathered and loaded up various vehicles, for the day’s projects.

Today, Kata and I had a few tasks to complete at Xtabay. We loaded up, and away we went. The roads were slick, thanks to the ongoing rain, but we made it safe and sound. There had been a few very scary-looking accidents, with the rain.

We each brought a stage with us, to use for the first dive, and then would use just our back gas for our second dive.

In our first 6 minutes, Kata had run the reel, we located the sensor spot, replaced the first sensor, and began to make our way to the second task point.

We swam through the Wizard’s Den (which is one of my absolute favourite rooms), through the Halocline Room, and then to our second destination. We still had stage gas left, but since we still had work to do on the surface, we decided to turn the dive.

Bottom Time: 46 mins.
Max. Depth: 46′
Water Temp.: 77F

We had brought “field equipment” with us, and worked on our “secret mission.” Ok, it wasn’t a secret, but it adds a little more fun to the story. 😀

Once we were finished, we had lunch, some laughs (speedo!), then went back down for our second dive.

As we were gearing up, it appeared that Agent Kata had an issue with her spg. Basically, it was pooched. Luckily, Kata had a backup, and I had a Sea Spanner, so all was well with the world, again. Away, we went.

We returned to the furthest point of our first dive, completed our mission, and carried on into the cave. We reached the end of the main line, so made our way back, playing in the halocline.

When we surfaced, there was quite a bit of rain. We were thankful for the palapa that provided us with shelter, while we got changed.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 25 mins.
Max. Depth: 47′
Water Temp.:  77F

Thanks for being my partner in crime, Kata!

Back to the shop, where we waited around for the truck to come back, to help with the unloading.

Then, to the resort, where Forest, Stretch, Steve, myself, Manu, and Peter went to the Grill restaurant – Awesome Empanadas (I think that’s what they were called)! The lemon dessert was one of few that I had on the entire trip, and it was absolutely incredible. 🙂

Thursday, December 12th, 2013 ~

After breakfast, we had to change some Canadian cashola into pesos, which took a little more time than we had figured. We finally made it to the shop, and myself, Steve, Kata, and Joakim were going to Temple Of Doom, today! We had some sensor business to attend to, and then some pics!

At breakfast – A juice rainbow!

We finally arrived at Cenote Calavera (meaning: Skull – named for three circular openings in the cenote), and as we went to check out the entry, I was surprised to see this rather large fellow, chilling in the sun. He was wary, but he didn’t run away. I think we both caught each other by surprise.

The walk to the water…

The opening…

There is a bit of a drop to get in, and since Steve and I hadn’t been to this spot before, I was a little nervous, on the drive. Once we arrived, and I saw it, it didn’t really seem like that big of a deal (which it wasn’t – it was pretty fun).

The ladder, to climb out…

They also had a couple of parrots, in the parking lot. One of them was very friendly, and the other was a little shy… at first.

Mr. Friendly…

The shy one was shy… until we were all gathered around him. Then, he was whistling and flirting with us. The owner said that he whistles when girls get changed… which we found to be true!

There were also a couple of bunnies…

…and a friendly dog (it was really hot out)…

We worked together, to put our stage bottles and Jo’s camera in the water, and finally geared up!

Kata ran the reel, and then Joe went in first, to film and take shots (although, Jo was in a few different spots, working his camera magic). There was quite a stretch of going through halocline, and since I was in the back end, I got to see quite a lot of “gasoline.” We reached the spot where the sensor was supposed to be, and Jo and I held our positions on the line, while Steve and Kata located it. Once all was completed, we carried on, and reached the end of the line. Jo took some shots and video on the way back, too!

Kata, running the reel, through the halocline. Steve, second; myself, third.
Photo by Joakim Hjelm.

Another view of the halocline. Kata, Steve, me…
Photo by Joakim Hjelm.

Bottom Time: 41 mins.
Max. Depth: 53′
Water Temp.: 77F
Vis.: A little tannic in the basin, but cleared up, inside – apart from the gasoline halocline. 🙂

Another shot, through the thick halocline. Kata, Steve, and myself in the back (in front of Jo).
Photo by Joakim Hjelm.

We surfaced, tied off our stages (which we still had usable gas in), and went over to the other line. I had a 100w LED light mounted to the back of my tanks, Steve had the Go Pro (with dual 24s), and Jo had his camera. Kata was in the front, then Steve, then me (lighting up the back), and then Jo (who moved around, a little). It was a lot of fun!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 3 mins.
Max. Depth: 58′
Water Temp.: 77F

We still had some gas to burn, so Steve, Jo, and I went back in to take some pics, near the Madonna stalagmite. Jo took the LED light from the back of my tanks, and I was hand-holding it, so I was able to move it around, a little. This was a really  neat learning experience, for lighting, for me. Having taken all of my shots with ambient light, I have a lot of lighting learning to do!

Bottom Time: 26 mins.
Max. Depth: 61′
Water Temp.: 78F

A video, done by Steve…

*NOTE* There are many more photos from this shoot, to come! I will make another post, when they are available! *END OF NOTE* 🙂

You can see more of Jo’s shots, here (you need to enter your e-mail addy, which is not a giant deal):
http://joakimhjelmphotography.instaproofs.com/store/ or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joakimhjelmphotography

Some of our gear!

From here, we made our way back to the shop, dropped our tanks, to the resort, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then met some of the gang at The Pub, then back to meet some more of the gang, then to sleep!

That sure is a lot of tanks for those guys to fill! Jorge and Eduardo, you guys are awesome! Thank you!


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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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Cavezzzz, It Shall Be – Part Two – Getting Ready

8 12 2013

Sunday, December 8th, 2013 ~

We made our way down to the breakfast buffet, where we met up with Manu and Peter! We chatted for a bit, then met at the shop, to DIVE!

Once at the shop, it took us a little bit of time to get organized. Jorge tried to help us find our bin, and we eventually found it (right under our noses, of course). Steve also brought in the motor for one of our scooters, that he had rebuilt, and installed it. Steve, Peter, Manu, and I went to Fenom for our first day of Diving Goodness!

Oh, look! A note, for me!

Steve had busted his flippy floppie, but was able to “fix” it, with a trigger pin.

As good as new!

I had forgotten how bumpy the ride was, to get to Fenom, but we made it. We had brought along two stages each, but only ended up using one, since we were a little late moving, and didn’t want to be too late for the MCEP meeting, this evening.

Little video…

When we arrived, we notice a big, grey truck. Hmm… This truck looks mighty familiar. I wonder if it’s John’s truck?

We brought our gear down to the water, and checked out the scenery.

We geared up, got in, and started our swim out. We passed by another couple of divers, who had finished their dive. I looked to see if one of them was John, but I just didn’t recognize the face through the mask! It wasn’t until we were almost past him, that I noticed, “John,” on his stage bottle. Doh! Missed you! We made our way to the “bones hole,” where there is usually a halocline to go through, to see them. Since the recent rains and flooding, a lot of the cavez have changed, and the halocline had been pushed lower, allowing really clear visibility, down to the bones! Manu ran a reel down the hole, and Peter took some shots of us, as we took turns posing with them. I am looking forward to seeing them! Peter also took some shots of us on the way out, and a couple of group shots, in the basin of the cenote. Steve was holding a 100w LED light, to light up the way.

We had a most excellent first dive of the trip, and were lucky enough to have some pictures taken.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 48 mins.
Max. Depth: 56′
Water Temp.: 77F
Vis.: Gin Clear

We packed up quickly, and were on our way. We were running a little low on fuel (we didn’t fill it up, since we were supposed to give it back tonight, and were giving it back with the same amount of fuel that was originally in it – next to nothing). We made it to the gas station near the shop, put a few pesos in, brought gear back, and then went straight to the MCEP meeting, for the project, which was to start the following morning.

We arrived, just in time! We listened to talks from Chris, Fred, Dr. Ed, and the Shawns. It was a great meeting! I think I will need to go back to school, to understand a few of the scientific explanations, but it was really amazing information!

Steve and I had to leave during the social part of the night, so that we could call to arrange the car swap (the fellow that answered the phone had no clue what we were talking about, and did not speak English – thanks to the concierge, for speaking to him for us). Ok… We shall deal with it, mañana.

BBQ night at the buffet, and a few bevvies. We also got to see some of Peter’s pics, on his computer screen! w00t!

Our plan was to go to sleep a little early, but as we were going up, Stretch was coming down to dine, so we joined him for a bit. Then… sleeeeeep!


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ARRRiba! Cavezzzz, It Shall Be – Part One – Getting There

7 12 2013

Well, it had been a while since we had been to the cavez (“a while,” can be defined as any time between the time we get home, and the time we leave again – whether that be one week or one year), and we had been looking forward to this trip. Two weeks of CAVEZZZZ! I will break up the Bloggy Thing Entries into a handful of parts, so that you aren’t reading this one for the rest of the week.  🙂

Saturday, December 7th, 2013 ~

Steve’s Dad picked us up, and took us to the airport. Steve and I both happened to be randomly chosen to go through the full body check machine, and Steve’s zipper triggered the scanning device (since I don’t actually know what it is called, I shall call it the scanny thing). We knew that they would want to go through our carry on luggage, since we had plenty of dangerous-looking dive gear in it.

Once we got through, we went to Timmy’s, to have a bite to eat. Normally, I do not drink coffee, but today was a French Vanilla kind of day. The nice lady did not even charge us the “up-charge,” to have it, or for Steve’s donut to muffin upgrade. Thank you, Timmy Lady!

The nice Timmy Lady is pictured below, on the far right.

Since we had a bit of time before our flight boarded, we went through some DPV Cave gas planning, which made us a little thirsty, for some Booster Juice.

Thank you for sharing, Jose Bautista!

Of course, I had to be a bit of a dork…

On the plane, we watched a couple of movies. I watched something with James Gandolfini and “Elaine” (I still cannot call her Julia), then Turbo, and an episode of 2 Broke Girls.

It was a little squishy in the middle seat, but I did meet a fellow named, Kevin, who was celebrating his 50th Birthday, and had never been to Mexico. His wife and kids surprised him with the trip, and were also joined by his sister and brother in law. The Captain had been tipped off, and announced his Birthday on the radio. The entire planed joined in to sing Happy Birthday, to Kevin. 🙂

We arrived in Cancun about 30 minutes early, and the gate that we were supposed to use was being occupied. We had to wait…and wait…and wait… Not a huge deal, but when one has to use the facilities, and has to wait… It’s a long time…

We finally got to another gate, got our luggage, and proceeded through to the luggage lottery button. For those that have not been to the Cancun airport, you get your luggage, and on your way out, you have to press the “magic button!” If you get a green light, you are free to go. If you get a red light, you must proceed directly to jail… Ok, not jail, but they go through all of your luggage. I usually get to press this magic button, and usually get a green light. Not this time… RED! Doh!

We dragged our luggage over to the inspection table, and they started with Steve. Steve had his RB80 in his luggage, which they immediately asked its value, what it was, and had to decide whether or not we had to pay a tax on it. The fellow went to his manager, came back, and told us that it was ok. *Phew!* Another lady came to the table, and started to go through my items. She went through one of the bags, and told us that we were ok to go through. Thank you, nice lady! 🙂

Once we went through, there was a fellow that came to us, that told us he was taking us over to the spot where the “Easy Way” (car rental) people would be. We were trying to keep up with him, and ask him if he was with Easy Way, but he was on a mission. A scamming mission. He told us that he only works for tips, so I gave him a Toonie (dumb-ass), and we realized that this was the complete wrong spot (yes, we have done this many times, but this guy got us). Steve went to find the “real” guy, while I watched the luggage. *Sigh* At least we were only scammed for a toonie.

We were joined up with another couple, George and Donna, who were also in the van, going to the car place. Very nice couple.

When we arrived at the car rental place, we just happened to run into Chris, Tracy, and her folks. They were very sad to be leaving this wonderful place, but congratulations on your cave course, Chris!

I switched from my sneakers to my flippie floppies! Ahhhhhhh… Much better!

Of course, we had confirmed that we needed a hatchback, and we watched as the last Golf (the car that we had requested) went out of the rental place. They wanted to give us a sedan, which does not work for diving with scooters. They gave us a neat little Nissan sport van (7-seater, but not nearly the size of our mini-vans), but they were going to come and meet us at our resort the next day, to replace the car with a smaller one. At least we were on our way!

Arrived at the resort, had some champagne in the check-in line, dumped our luggage, and noted that our toilet was broken. Doh! At least they came to fix it, pretty quickly. We headed for the buffet, where we had to christen the day with a couple of Daiquiri De Fraisas!

…and a Daiquiri De Mango!

We then met up with Stretch and Forest (and some other fellow, who shall remain nameless)… 😛

We eventually moved over to the lounge chairs, where we sat on the beach, and just enjoyed.

Back in the room, we noted the little sign, by the fridge… I think it’s wrong – I was a little tired…

I also couldn’t even imagine throwing our beverages…

That was enough excitement for one day! Tomorrow, there shall be CAVEZZZZZZZZZZZZ! 😀


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