Day 4 – No Alberto…

3 12 2019

Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 ~

Today’s adventure led us to Nahoch. 250 peso’rinas, to get in.

Oren led today’s dive, followed by Chris, and then me, in the back. We had planned on going to the Alberto line, but ended up on the main line. Meh… all good. We were cave diving, so all was right in the underground.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming – A nice and relaxing backgas only dive, looking at pretty white cavezzzzzzz. I can get into that! Wait… I DID get into that! 😀

We swam for an hour, then made our way back.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 47 mins.
Max. Depth: 24′
Water Temp.: 77F
Avg. Depth: 15′

Tina, Chris, Oren
After Cavezzzzz happy faces

After the dive, Oren treated us to some delicious burritos! Burrito con pollow, con queso. So freaking delicious!

Back to the shop, chill at the condo, and then dinner and singing, at Cafe Ole. We were joined by Peter, Manu, Gus, Larry, Yiannis, Chris, Tina, Oren, Steve, Mike, Peter, Alessandra, and we even ran into Dennis W., who we haven’t seen in years.

Yay! Ale and Peter!

I sang a few songs, and the lovely Gaylita opted to open Thursday night singing nights, so that I could sing again before we left. Thank you, Gaylita! ❤ We had an absolute blast!

We didn’t stay too late, as we had cavezzzz to dive, the next day! 😀


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Day 3 – Seal It With A Dive!

2 12 2019

Monday, December 2nd, 2019 ~

Super Steve made us breakfast again, and we got moving to make our meeting. We met, we listened, we spoke, we laughed, and saw some more of our diving friends from all over the world. I really do heart our diving family.

I hadn’t seen Kirill in a while!

Oren, Chris, Tina, and I went to Otoch Ha for today’s Diving Goodness! Tina was our supervisor, and she was sure to pack along a whole bunch of bug juice. This site isn’t exactly the most tourist friendly place to wait, especially with all of the bibits. 

The path towards the other side. Not where we enter.

We brought our doubles down to the steps, where it’s easier to don them, before getting into the water, and geared up. It seems that Jorge has definitely worked his magic, and has perfectly installed and fitted my neck seal. No adjustments needed. “Nueve! Nueve!” Thank you, Jorge!!

The steps leading down to the cenote. We put our doubles on the edge of them, to make life easier.

We inched our way down to the cenote, where we got in, did our gear checks, and away we went. I led, followed by Oren, then Chris. We took the T to the left, and swam the downstream line. Nice and slow, see… *Enter Fred Flinstone reference*

Entry.

We had a nice, relaxing dive, and swam to the end of the line to another cenote. We hadn’t yet reached our turn pressure, but we turned back, anyway. We got back to the T, and had decided to swim 200 psi’s worth on the upstream line.

As we swam along, I had the worst leg cramp. I tried to suck it up, and keep going, but it got so intense, that I couldn’t take it anymore… despite me probably looking like I was imitating some of the local wildlife, trying to uncramp the cramp. I had had enough, and turned the dive. Pft… Ah, well… still a really nice dive, and the first time I had done it without a scooter. I needed the exercise, anyway. 😀

Nice and relaxing shake-out dive.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 17 minutes
Max. Depth: 38′
Water Temp.: 77F
Avg. Depth: 23′

Otoch Ha – After the dive.

Back to the shop, we went. We were in separate cars, and I’ll let Oren tell his story about being on the side of the road… *Snicker*

When back at the condo, we happened upon a big ass spider. It wasn’t quite the size of my hand, but it was close!!! The photo does not do it justice. Not one bit.

Not much else to say, except we enjoyed a cerveza and some chips and salsa, before having our leftover Chinese food. 😀

Enjoying a snack and beverage.


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11- Iguana Be Here Longer

9 03 2018

Friday, February 23rd, 2018 ~

This dive is brought to you by the letters LOL. After a long gap of not seeing Irene, we were finally able to dive together! We went to a Nohoch, for a nice, easy swim dive… for 3 hours. This was my last dive of the trip, since Steve and I have some gear maintenance to do, tomorrow. That, and dry our gear, pack, switch condos for the night, and maybe relax, a little.

Partial map of Nohoch…

I ran the reel, since I think I need some more practice. I tied into the main line, and our swim began. We jumped left, over to the Parker Line, where the cave has so many decorations, floor to ceiling. Such a beautiful cave, that I could spend so much time just gawking, and looking at absolutely everything. We traveled quite slowly, so that we could look at all of the gorgeous stalactites and stalagmites.

After dropping our stages (a bit early), we made another jump, followed along, going through even more decorations, and then to a T. We traveled left, went to the end, then returned, ogling incredible formations in the cave floor, and calcite sheets, before and traveling right. We arrived at another jump (right beside the line), which we followed upward, where we surfaced into a narrow, cylinder-shaped opening. Of course, we chatted, laughed, and watched a couple of bats flying around, above our heads. Back down we went, and came to a very organic part of the cave, with tree roots, and a silty bottom. We eventually turned around, and headed back.

Of course, there was upside down swimming, giggling at helictites, and having an absolute blast. We surfaced with big grins, for such an awesome dive! Although, it sure was a lot of swimming. Next time, scooters! 😛

Bottom Time: 3 hours, 3 minutes

Max. Depth: 23′

Water Temp.: 77F

Avg. Depth: 13′

When we returned to the steps, we saw an iguana that appeared to be trapped against the back of the cenote wall. There was a person reading a book, waiting for other diver friends to surface, that said he fell in, and struggled to get to the far wall. Of course… we had to attempt to “save his life.” The book lady went and got a rescue swim floaty thing, that was for the snorkelers, and I gently pushed it towards him, trying not to scare him. He didn’t move a muscle, except his eyes. He seemed to look at me, and say… “Really?”

That didn’t work, so Irene suggested that I put my fins together, to see if he would climb on (laying on my back, which is easily doable in doubles, but slightly more challenging, with a stage). That didn’t work, either.

One of the snorkeling crew came over, wondering wtf we were doing, and says, “they can swim.” I’m such a dork…

Well, we did have some more laughs about saving the swimming iguana’s life.

This is a terrible photo, but the only one I have. Photo, or it didn’t happen!

We did have a most fun-filled day! Who says that diving is all serious business??

Totally whited-out faces, taken by the book lady (also known as the swim floaty thing provider), with our iguana friend in the background. Irene, we must dive again! Five years is too long!

We swam… here…

At least my last dive of our trip was a fabulous one! Until next time, amigos! 🇲🇽


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10- Rollin’ Down The River Run

22 02 2018

Thursday, February 22nd, 2018~

Today was dive with Weijie and David Day! I hadn’t seen either of them in a while, and joined them on their dive, in Eden.

Overlooking Eden, where the swimmers jump…

Water entry…

Weijie led the dive, I was #2, and David was #3. I don’t even remember the last time I did River Run. It may have even been during Cave 1, in 2008!

We swam across to the cave opening, descended, and Weijie ran that line. We jumped, T’d, played in the halocline, and poked around in a few different places. I had completely forgotten how nice the halocline was, in here! Also, how fun it is to swim in the gasoline mixture, behind Diver 1, and… sorry, David… I tried to stay off of the line, for you!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 7 minutes

Max. Depth: 47′

Water Temp.: 78F

Avg. Depth: 38′

It was a great time, coming back into a cave that I had forgotten how nice it is, with some friends that I haven’t seen in a while!

Thank you, David and Weijie!!!

Of course, I could not go without a photo of my other buddies, too! Nadine and Mike!

When we went for dinner, we watched two monkeys cross the road, in front of us. When they are walking, they seem much bigger than they appear, in the trees! We tried to get some photos. So neat!

We went to karaoke night, at Cafe Ole, where I met my new karaoke friends! Shannon was the host, who is fantastic. Juanita had her birthday celebrations, and Peter brought us some cake! I also met Ronnie, Klever, Emilie, Mel, Lynne, Dean, Chocky (I think), and a bunch of other really nice people. Gaylita runs a really fun place, and definitely knows how to make people feel welcome.

This day gets an A+!


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9- El Toh-Ho-Ho!

21 02 2018

Wednesday, February 21st, 2018 ~

Besides the fact that it’s February, 33C, and sunny, I swear, it feels like Christmas! Today’s dive had everything you could wish for: big rooms, small rooms, dark cave, white cave, cheese grater limestone, narrow passage, decorated ceilings, chocolate sauce, melted wax-like formations, calcite passage, passage with narrow columns, so many decorations, extreme restrictions, and even a very silty restriction.

Entry…

Today, Hilde took me to El Toh, which was absolutely amazing! We stayed on the main line, taking a few Ts, and made it to the 4th, where the passage became sidemount territory. The first two restrictions were fairly easy to swim through, even with a stage attached. The plan was to drop our stage bottles, before the third, since it would be extremely tricky to maneuver them through the next ones.

Next came the silt-out restriction. It wasn’t very forgiving, height-wise, and very silty. No way to avoid the silt, there. Hilde went first, and since I couldn’t see, to figure out the best way to pass, I waited for the “dust” to settle a bit, so I could at least see which way to slide through. I tried to follow behind, but my predicted movement was too narrow for me to get through. Once I had a bit more of a visual, I slid by. Yes, I did have the line.

The next restriction was a bit like a jungle gym. We fit the puzzle pieces, by maneuvering sideways, up, down, and around… not without taking a little bit of time to find the correct combination (at least, for me, ring my first time through it)!

There was also a halocline, at 38′, which was before the jungle gym restriction (not the actual name of the restriction, just my own interpretation of it). We went through it a second time, just before we turned the dive – it got rather “pinchy,” past that point!

On the way out, we were convinced that there may have been a bit of flow against us, as we swam. We weren’t sure if it was because we had been swimming for a while, or it there really was some resistance. My fin and glide had a bit less glide, on our exit. 😂

As we neared open water, you could see the daylight, which was absolutely beautiful, as we reached the cavern zone. Apparently, you don’t see that in the summer, due to the tannic water. Lights out, for a gorgeous swim to the surface. It will be hard to beat that dive!

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Max. Depth: 42′

Water Temp.: 77F

Avg. Depth: 21′

Happy Cavezzzzzz faces!

Hilde, thank you for being my buddy today, and for taking me on such an awesome dive!!!

w000000000t!

There may have been some relaxing on the patio, when I got back to the condo!


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