Nohoch Na Chich (cave dive)

When people talk about the most beautiful caves to dive in the world they probably have some criteria in mind. Mine would include: multicolored formations, flowstone in all imagineable shapes and sizes including stuff I can't imagine, rooms with thousands of soda straw stalactites and walls that change character from one passage to the next. But when it comes down to it, there are probably five or so that most cave divers who visit the Riviera Maya will agree are the "best of the best." Nohoch Na Chich will undoubtedly be in that list.

For this dive, Glenn and I were required to contract with a dive shop that had a qualified cave guide on staff. Why? Apparently the landowners where the caves are situated are becoming more and more concerned about liability, both for themselves and for the caves. This can be a good thing, the caves could be better protected. But it is bad too: hiring guides is expensive and how much liability will be realised is dubious. In the end, the cave community suffers because many caves are now priced out of the reach of anything more than a one-time visit.

To make a comparison on price: our visit to Sac Aktun (including site fees, double tanks, renting a car, petrol and ferry trip from/to Cozumel) came to about $76 per person, two dives, using one set of doubles each. Protec, the company we dove with, required one set of doubles per dive and charged me for something I'd never had to pay for before: an air fill for each tank. This was in addition to the tank rental fee! Thus, the total came to $194 per person including the guide, transport, tanks, cenote fees and air fill, plus ferry trip from/to Cozumel. You can see why I bellyache about the difference in cost! Mind you, I think Protec is a really decent operation and I understand the need to make profit to stay in business. From a budget cave diver's standpoint, though, it looks like which caves we can visit is going to be a shrinking list.

Enough politics. Now about the dive.

Our guide for the trip was Dallas, a very pleasant chap with a British passport who calls Marseille, France home. We planned two dives in the upstream sections along different guidelines, making about two jumps on each dive. Access to Cenote Nohoch was by a narrow gravel road, typical and familiar to most of the cave dive sites in the area. On the way out we passed a white truck with tanks in the back; we weren't the first divers at the cave today. But it seemed like they were leaving rather early....



At the site we are greeted by the landowner representative and our fees are paid. Glenn and I are handed a sheet of paper in a protective sleeve which essentially read: "it has come to our attention that certain cave divers have take it upon themselves to change the lines and markers within Nohoch Na Chich. Let it be known that the landowners have not authorised such changes and anyone caught doing so will be banned." Apparently, the truck we passed earlier was none other than Steve Gerrard, and he had just been banned from Nohoch. Wish I were a fly on the wall half an hour ago!



Off we go. This cenote is more commonly used by AllTourNative Tours to do snorkeling. It certainly seems a nice place to snorkel but the star attraction is undoubtedly the cave system. And system it is! Dallas shows us a hand-drawn line map of the general cave plan. There are passages and jumps all over the place. A cave diver's paradise. Unfortunately, as is company policy, the first dive will be to a maximum penetration time of 45 minutes so that we can be evaluated by Dallas as to our buoyancy and competence. There are also some drills to do to demonstrate basic skills before the dive, but this is not unexpected or very noteworthy.



I will have to repeat what so many cave divers before me have already said -- Nohoch na Chich is an incredibly diverse cave with some of the most bizarre flowstone formations I've seen in the Riviera Maya. There are frozen waterfalls everywhere. Areas where the hundreds of stalactites look like upside-down pine trees, with spines all over. Complex rosettes in all shapes and larger than life.



*FLASH* *Flash* *flash* *flash* goes the camera, then *No Flash*. DAMN. The TTL card cut out again!! And I thought I had that problem solved. So, less than halfway into our penetration and before I could take pictures of the really interesting stuff, the camera is out of commission. I stow it under my arm and just enjoy the rest of the dive.

During the surface interval I madly tear apart the housing. Everything checks out, I can't find any water in the connectors that would've caused the problem. But I do have a replacement battery for the TTL card. Here goes, fingers crossed. Luckily, that seemed to solve the problem and on the next dive I make up for the first one by taking a whopping 250+ pictures!

Our 2^nd dive was to a different passage section, still upstream, but I requested a different plan to extend our dive time effectively by about 20 minutes. This involved shooting up one passage, backing up to the last jump, then laying a reel and taking that leftward passage. Both directions were spectacular, but the leftward jump was remarkable! The tiny room at the end of the line was barely big enough to fit the three of us. It was characterized by a perfectly flat ceiling but ringed by the soda straw stalactites that had been following us everywhere. Still pictures cannot do this room justice -- once again I wish I had video capability.

The dive ended at 105 minutes. A wonderful time and a great set of dives. Time to start saving pennies for another visit to this marvelous cave.

The question I have to ask myself now is, was it better than my favourite cave system, Sac Aktun? Maybe my answer will change as I think about it later, but for now the answer is "no." Sac Aktun still holds a special place in my heart, it seems to have more personality and more welcome-factor going for it.

Underwater Marriage Proposal!

I met Josh Ginsberg on my morning dive (same one with Mr. Shark, see below) and asked if I would be available in the afternoon. What for? "I'm going to ask my girlfriend to marry me on the afternoon dive" says he. That was way too cool for me to pass up.

Off we go, things are off to a slow start as the usual current over Reef de Paraiso is either uncooperative or missing. Anyway, off to the water we go, though I was introduced to the lovely lady (I'm sorry I don't recall her name) I hadn't made any mention about the camera or what was up. Big surprise, you see. I planned to play it cool on the reef until I saw something was up and then casually approach while getting photos.

The set-up was near perfect. Josh writes on his brand new slate "I love you more than anything in the world" and shows it to her. (I take a picture.) He takes the slate back as she looks at me confused... What is up with this photographer? and writes on the other side "Will you marry me? YES NO" with circle one implied. Of course she circled YES and he pulls out a ring, fits it to her finger, they hug, even pull out their regulators and kiss!! (really sweet) and are spending the whole dive together holding hands. I can't begin to imagine what she's thinking all this time.

The reef was asleep other than that, the really fun stuff like pelagics, eels and scorpionfish just weren't around today. But for one happy couple this will be a dive never to forget! I burned a disc of all the day's photos and gave them a copy of these great memories.

Shark Encounters II

Yes, time again for another "No spit, there I was!" story. Well most of you have probably heard by now about last week's dive adventure where we came across a small-ish sized shark at Caracolillo Reef... and I watched (in horror and humor) as divemaster Mariano took his regulator out of his mouth and then proceeded slowly to [almost] bite the shark's tail! (Pictures don't lie!)

Well, this story is Shark Encounter part Deux... this time on Dalila Reef, an area similar in topography, depth and fish life to Caracolillo. Merrily going about our business, on our radar scopes shows up The Mother of All Nurse Sharks! And this one wasn't bothering to hide under anything (it was too big to be scared of anything); it was out in open view in the sand! Now, this thing was BIG. And WIDE. I would guess it was a good 7 to 7 1/2 feet long.

Today I chose to take the wide angle in the open ocean, after having good success with it in the last cave dive. I've got it set at widest angle and I'm slowly trying to frame the whole shark in the viewfinder -- big shark means I don't have to get too close, right? -- so I get it framed and *flash* *flash* go some very nice shots of this monster. Then I look away from the viewfinder and find I'm only 2 feet away from it! Hooboy! Niiiice shark. Time for some slow adjustment of my proximity. Well, truthfully, I'm not daunted or the least bit concerned... maybe I should be as its clearly the largest one I've come across.

Mariano then drops down in front of this beast and I swear they must be having a staring contest. Mariano would have lost, sharks don't blink. *flash* *flash* more good shots. Okay, thinks I. It's my turn to impress the rest of the dive team. Took the regulator out of my mouth and heeere I go for the bite! Well, this shark spooked a lot easier than the last one and it really didn't want me that close to its tail. It zipped around 180 degrees and pretty much passed right under me, teeth first, and disappeared. *flash* more pictures *flash*.

Great photo-op day.

What Is Cozumel?

Ah, but I must digress. What/where is Cozumel and why am I here?

Isla de Cozumel, "Island of the Swallows" in Mayan. This tiny island is off the eastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Its economic success is primarily due to two different tourist-based industries: cruise ship travellers and scuba divers. The latter are a funny bunch, they stay on the island sometimes for months at a time and spend lots of money, but they don't buy many trinkets and aren't big nighttime party animals. The cruisers (I refer to them as those Bote People for short) are probably a bigger source of income for the economy in general. They're only here for eight hours of the day, but they come in droves six days a week, probably as many as 20,000 people per day. And they're rich and they buy lots of alcohol, trinkets and tours. The people of Cozumel welcome all of us with open arms.

Living on Cozumel is not something I ever considered until it happened. My company was having an all too rare slow period due to the holidays and there turned out to be nothing pressing at home that needed my attention. So at the end of our annual 3-week stay (it usually starts a week or two before Thanksgiving) Tracey and I looked at each other and said, Why Not? Thus began our new extended adventures. It will be just short of four months when we finally leave in February.

What's surprising is that even during high season (December to February) there's still plenty of vacancies here. That may have something to do with 2005's two record setting, highly destructive hurricanes. Or maybe not. Whatever the reason, finding inexpensive digs is not hard if you don't mind doing some legwork. Speaking a little bit of Espanol doesn't hurt one bit either.

When people find out about how long we've been here, one question invariably comes up: "What in the world do you do for a living?" usually followed by "How do you manage to travel for such a long time?" Those who know us know why (and since you're here you probably know too). But in case you don't some clues might be found on Tracey's blog website. Suffice to say after living in Ireland, I've adapted to having a more minimalist lifestyle.

In no particular order, here are some categorised impressions I have of Cozumel and Mexican lifestyle, as viewed from the eyes of this here tourist:

Food

Common misconception is that the food is unhealthy for gringoes: salad and fruits cannot be washed enough to be safe, vegetables should only be cooked. The water will give you Montezuma's. Well, it is true that you don't drink the tap water here (even the locals don't) but it is safe enough to shower in and brush your teeth. For everything else bottled water comes in 5 gallon jugs at a cheap price. All the local 'tiendas' (corner stores or 'mini supers' as they oxymoronically call them) carry them so you don't have to port them far.

Produce from the grocery store is harmless and has never made me ill. I've never gotten sick from food at any restaurant either. Its high time for gringo opinions of Mexian food to change!

The quality of restaurants on Cozumel is excellent with many gourmet-level within walking distance of the square. My favourites include (in no specific order) Casa Denis, Prima, La Choza, Manati, Rockin' Java, Coco's (only open for desayunos/breakfast), Le Chef, Midori. Midori is the only near-Japanese sushi restaurant on Cozumel and when I need a break from local fare, this is always good for a fix. The Coffee Bean is the best place for a cuppa joe, however be warned that their beans are really strong in caffeine. I've been told that Starbucks will be invading Cozumel by May 2007.

One of my favourite lunch places is a little take-out on Avenida 30 between Calle 5 y 7 which sells "pollos carbon" or barbeque chicken. For the whopping sum of US$6.50 (70 pesos) you can get a whole chicken with trimmings of tortillas, onions, salsa and rice. Great for two meals feeding two people.

There are a few restaurants I don't recommend, which include: Palmeras, Suzanne's, French Quarter, and the three outdoor restaurants on the same row as Casa Denis. These places either have disappointing food, bad service and/or will try to cheat you on the bill. La Mision on Calle 3 used to be good a few years ago but the portions and quality have slipped in recent years.

I really love local food but to tell the truth I'm accustomed to a wider ethnic variety. After just two weeks on Cozumel my taste buds start to suffocate from boredom. Oh, what I'd give right now for a bite of Ethiopian food! It's been *weeks* since I last had anything that tasted like Thai food. Oh, and how I miss Athens Grill (Greek) from back home....

San Miguel

Downtown San Miguel, the only city on Cozumel, is where we live. Just two blocks from the central Plaza. The plaza here is beautifully landscaped and has been very active especially during the Christmas holidays. Tracey wrote some stuff in her blog so you should go read that. For festivities, the big day is Sunday where the locals have the day off (sort of) to take time for church and family. In the evening the Plaza has Latin music played by a local(?) band which is quite good. The Plaza is active at every corner and not only do the stores stay open late (they'd be foolish not to!) but you will find street painters (they use spray paint cans as their medium - fascinating to watch), clowns, hair braiders and stands that sell churros and french fries fresh made.

Noise

Since we work during the day in our flat, we get bombarded with noise of all sorts. Mexican culture is notoriously sonorous and Cozumel is no exception. A lot of the cars aren't well maintained (too expensive to do so) and usually the muffler goes first. Especially on the scooters which are extremely popular here. If the local policia wanted to have a new fundraiser, all they'd have to do is enact a noise ordinance.

During the day we get the occasional clop-clop-clop-clop-clop as the horse-drawn taxis go by carrying bote people back and forth between town and the southern pier. At the corner opposite the flat there's a dog whose main purpose in life is to bark at every horse as it passes. I sympathise with the horses. This same said dog is also the source of the "guano de perro" we find along our route. Translate that as you like. Use google if you need help.

About twice a week a man walks by that sings out "QueeeeeEEEEEESsssooOOOOOOOOOO WAAAAA-KAAA-KAAAA" as he carries a box over his head. The first two syllables are sung in this amazing tenor voice that carries for over a block. The last part is more or less shouted and to hear it you wouldn't think it was coming from the same person. I had to ask a local (well, an expat US cit) what this was. Apparently it is Queso Oaxaca, or cheese made in the style originated in the Oaxaca region of Mexico. It is a string cheese, creamy and sometimes a little sweet. Somewhat similar to provolone.

The policia here actively enforce the (not clearly marked) No Parking laws. Everyday you can hear them as they pull up to an illegally parked car and blat their sirens a few times. They then wait there for the allotted 2-3 minutes. If the car isn't moved they then go into action, writing a ticket and removing the license plates. They don't tow the vehicle, but you have to go pay a hefty fine to get your plate back. Seems like a fairly efficient enforcement system, however I see lots of vehicles driving around with no plates! Do they ever get stopped?

Scuba Duba... what?

There are more Scuba Divers per capita here than anywhere I've ever been. Scuba is like a third language here. Anytime you go out to dinner you're going to sit next to a table of divers who have no choice but to talk about where they dove that day, how much air they consumed, what gear they want to buy/try next, etc etc. I'm sure the waiters tuned it out long ago.

There are also more scuba dive shops than you'd think possible. And they range in size from a closet to... well, none of them are very big. They don't have to be because most of a diver's time is spent on a boat and not in the shop.

Scuba divers in general are an older crowd, with a median age probably in mid to late 40's. That makes this resort town look kind of geriatric by Club Med vacationer standards. By contrast, Playa del Carmen (the sister town on the mainland immediately across the ferry) is a much younger, hip and active generation "The Young and The Restless" with a more active partygoer mentality. If you're single and looking, don't stay in Cozumel on your vacation. Stay in Playa, but come here for the scuba diving.

Sac Aktun at Gran Cenote

January 25, 2007. Without any doubt, Sac Aktun is my absolutest, bestest, most fav'rite place to scuba dive in all the wide world. Sac Aktun also gets credit for being the #1 motivation for getting my Full Cave certification for many reasons, the most explainable being that it has been photographed so much that I couldn't help but fall in love with the place even before I dove there the first time. But that's another story for another day.

Pictures here, for now.

Thursday was my third dive trip to Sac Aktun, the second trip with a camera, and the first time without a paid guide in this cave. My partner was Glenn, a bicycle shop owner from Cincinnati. The two of us met through German Yanez, and we'd done other dives together over the past two weeks. Our decision to go without a guide was based on two factors: (1) cost: with a guide it is $145 each for two dives and to do it ourselves came out to about $72, even including car rental and ferry crossing; (2) relative confidence: we'd dove Sac Aktun a week previous and knew generally where we were going. We did a lot of homework before the trip and made solid plans for our dives the night before. There is a saying in cave diving that goes "plan your dive and dive your plan." Good philosophy and it served us well.

The day before we met at The Coffee Bean in Cozumel. This turns out to be my first (and fortunately, only) bad decision in hindsight. I've decided that The Coffee Bean is passively trying to get me killed (read this lightly as a JOKE, please) as their coffee must have 3 times the normal amount of caffeine as anywhere else. I had one iced mocha at 3pm which should have washed through my system by bedtime. Nope! I had a totally sleepless night, not a good thing before going on a tec dive. The last time this happened was... unfortunately... during my full cave class which of course was much more critical. On that day we were having evening class at The Coffee Bean and I asked for 'cafe hielado, descafeinado por favor!!' and when it arrived tried to confirm with '?esta descafeinado?' and got the affirmative from the waiter. Half an hour later, the freaky and all too familiar caffeine buzz came over me and though I tried to detox by drinking a whole gallon of water before bedtime but to no avail. It was a sleepless night and the next day's cave class with moderate sleep dep.

Anyway, I'm getting used to cave diving with no sleep and in truth it didn't effect my performance, safety or enjoyment as far as I can tell. But did I ever sleep like a rock Thursday night!!

7:45am: Met Glenn at the ferry terminal. First expense is MX $110 (US$10) for the ferry crossing to Playa Del Carmen. Winds were heavy and the local ports had closed traffic for smaller boats... too bad for many dive operators on Cozumel. The Belinda (my usual dive boat while on Cozumel, through Aqua Safari) couldn't go out. Oh well, perfect day to go cave diving!

8:45am: Ferry landed, it was surprisingly smooth trip, very little tossing and no sick passengers. I don't get seasick myself, but you know, if someone next to you loses it, it doesn't make you feel very good. Anyway, we collected our dive gear (careful with that camera!!) and trudged the six blocks to the Hertz satellite office.

9:15am: At the Hertz main office we get our car, a light blue Chrysler ATOS nearly spankin' brand new with only 1023 km on the odometer and just a single paint scratch on the right front wheel well. Hertz doesn't try to hassle with me on insurance and the agreed rate is MX $340 ($31). Nice. Off we go.

10:30am: Arrive at Sac Aktun after picking up tanks along the way. The entrance fee is MX $100 (or US$10) and after only a little hassle we are allowed to drive behind the fence to the tables closer to the cenote. We had picked up two sets of doubles and a single 80 cf tank that I will use as a stage bottle on the first dive. Glenn's air consumption is lower than mine, probably because I am blowing a lot of air with the camera the whole dive. (Better to use up some air than to have bad buoyancy control, I say.) The stage bottle will be my main air source for the first dive which also makes air planning easy. My turn point is when the single stage tank is empty, that's 1/3 of my air.

There are two other dive teams here and we ask them about their plans to see if we'll have any conflicts. One 3-person team is going our way, to Cuzan Na loop, with a video rig 3x the size of my DSLR. That's also our dive plan so we'll have to watch for them on the way in. The other team is going to Paso del Lagarto which we'll be doing our 2^nd dive so no worries there.

11:00am It takes Glenn inexplicably longer to get ready than any other dive partner I've had in the past so the other dive team is a good 20-30 minutes in the water before we finish our equipment matching and S-drills. For the S-drill I took the camera to make sure it could be clipped so as not to interfere with the long hose (successful!) but left the stage bottle on the dock. I clipped on the stage bottle, deployed the hose and off we go. Joy! Bliss! Cave Beauty!

Sac Aktun is unlike other cave systems in so many ways, one of the first remarkable things is how welcoming the cave seems from the outset. Beautiful columns of formations are just inside the cave mouth and all along the the tunnel as we lay our line from the cavern line to the main line. It's almost as if Sac Aktun is silently telling me "You're very welcome here; I really want to show you my beauty and have you treasure it." The dive team that went to Lagarto passes us on the way in; I guess they called the dive early or had some problem. Either way there's only one other line into the cave that we parallel as we go in. Down we go, Glenn in the lead running the spools and markers. (This was agreed the day before, if I had to rent the car and do the driving, the least he could do was lead the dive.)

Our plan is to go to the Cuzan-na / Lagarto split and observe where the jump to Lagarto is, mark our passing with a cookie but continue on the main line on to Cuzan Na (Cuzanah?) and set up a circuit on the loop, then depending on conditions continue on the circuit to the right (counter-clockwise) or retrace and do the loop clockwise, retrieving the reel on the way out. Total dive plan: 90-120 minutes, turn on air is Glenn's 1/3rds which is a magic number of 900 psi.

Along the mainline we pass someone's jump line where I'd never seen one before and later I realise that this is the shortcut (very long jump) to Cenote Ho Tul. We're taking the longer way 'round to the same place, but that's mostly because I'd never done that jump before and that we wanted to look at the Lagarto jump before we did it.

Sure enough as we get close to Cenote Ho Tul we pass the spool end of the jump. The video team is just ahead of us. I had studied pictures from our previous dive as to where the jump across Cenote Ho Tul looked like, so I was watching for it. Also, we should have seen the other team's jump spool at that point so we could lay ours. HOWEVER, the other team failed to place an arrow at their jump and their line looked identical to the mainline. We don't fully realise this until we reach their jump spool. Glenn is confused by this and I realise that the tie-off was indeed some ways back -- not our error, really, but bad protocol by the other dive team. Back we go and we lay our line properly, with arrow, at the end of the mainline. As we cross Ho Tul with our own spool the other dive team is coming out, retrieving their reel. We wave anyway (no use getting pissed at someone else's ignorance, really) and onwards we go.

The Cuzan-Na loop is not too far from there but when we get there the right jump is badly silted up -- why do camera crews always do this? Its bad enough to see open water photographers ripping up the ocean reefs, but in a cave it is much worse! Cave formations (speleotherms) do not grow back!!! Ever!! More curses, short lived, but it is now up to Glenn to decide on the plan. He is undaunted by the silt and low vis and made the same decision I would have... lay the jump through the silt and proceed in the counter-clockwise direction of the loop with the assumption that the vis will clear soon with the downstream flow as we are still heading upstream. Good guess and we're soon back in 200 ft vis just in time to view the Cuzan-na Room (our previous guide referred to this as the Crystal Palace) in all its amazing splendor.

This trip was my first time ever diving with the 10-22mm wide-angle lens. I made this decision specifically for this room, which must have 3,000-5,000 stalactites of all imagineable sizes. Unfortunately, I don't have a zoom gear for this lens... not yet anyway, it should be in my hands on Tuesday. So I had to make the problematic decision to fix the zoom at 10mm before the dive and live with it, hoping that there would be enough flash from the single strobe to cover such a wide angle. As it turned out, this worked GREAT and I now have relatively nice pictures of the Cuzan-na room... as well as everything between there and the entrance.

I think that alot has to be said for Canon lenses. This 10-22mm lens has a f/2.8 which isn't the strongest for this kind of work, but you can tell just by looking at the size of the optics that the light gathering power of this lens will be superior. And indeed I am very pleased with the results. There is some vignetting which is expected with such wide fields of view. There are also focus problems at the outermost edges but I don't know if this is caused by aberration due to the dome port or maybe my f-stop needs to be lower. More dives will tell me which it is.

Our way out of the cave is uneventful; I'd been using the stage bottle the whole dive but switched over to my back gas about 500' from the entrance when I reached 500 psi. Though I am sure I wouldn't panic when the regulator suddenly pulls hard, its not a good idea to drink a tank dry if you don't have to. We are taught as open water scuba divers to leave pressure in the bottle or risk getting water seepage into the tank, potentially damaging the tank and your regulator.

12:40ish'pm We surface at Gran Cenote after 98 minutes of total time. Very satisfying dive in all respects. We decided earlier in the day not to leave site and buy lunch in Tulum like we did on our guided trip because we weren't sure if the trolls at the gate would charge us a second time. Also, since Sac Aktun is a max. 40' dive (average 32-35' for whole dive) there is not so much concern about nitrogen uptake on such long profiles. But to be extra safe we had done a good 6-7 minute safety stop @ 12' in the cenote before surfacing. Fun time to play with all the freshwater fish that are all around us like flies.

It is pouring rain as we exit the cenote. Never a dry moment, I guess. In a way I welcome it because it means that the mosquitoes will be kept at bay. They aren't horrible today, but since my cave instructor came down with Dengue Fever two months ago which put him out of commission for 10 days, I've been extra concerned about mosquito exposure. Especially because I forgot to bring bug juice with me this trip.

The rain is timed perfectly; it kept us cool as we do the long climb out of the cenote in our 6 mil wetsuits, but it pretty much ended in time to start eating lunch and talk about the dives.

2:00pm Our second dive is planned to make the jump to the beginning of Paso del Lagarto line and keep going until one of us calls the dive, or until we reach a 'T' which probably means we reached Much's Maze. Into the cave we go. Beautiful! I hope I never get used to this, the spectacle of Sac Aktun always strikes me as if it were made of magic.

Neither of us have been this way before but the jump seemed kind of obvious on our previous dive. Glenn starts laying reel in the assumed direction but the beginning of the line is actually a slight dogleg to the right from our guess. No problem, plenty of tie-off opportunities and it follows all the protocols. At the beginning of the mainline there is a handwritten sign, one side in English the other side in Espanol stating that because of construction at Cenote Calimba, it is not advised for divers to go near there as the area may be unstable or impassable. I had read about this a few days before on the QRSS website but didn't think to mention it to Glenn before the dive. He was visibly concerned after reading the note but I conveyed to him it was okay and we should continue. We would be getting nowhere near Calimba, not with the amount of air we had.

This upstream passage is narrower, cozier, than Ho Tul. Formations are still regular, various, and everywhere. But the character of the passage changes more often and we come across areas where it is more honeycomb-like which may indicate where the underground river was more vigorous at the end of the ice age, etching its way through the limestone.

We go a long way following the guideline and have no indication of any turns, jumps, or side passages along the way. Just one round cookie with no writing on it in a place that made no sense. Maybe this was a turn-around point between Calimba and Gran Cenote? Dunno, but since it wasn't a directional marker and seemed to have no other meaning we just ignored it. The way ahead didn't change and we were clearly not entering sidemount territory.

About 500' later Glenn called the dive on 1/3rds, so, regretfully, back we go. No hassles, no trouble, no other dive teams pass us. Just plain good fun.

4:30pm Dive ended with 70 mins bottom time. Gear packed and stowed -- nothing stolen, good! Nothing left in the cave -- great!

6:10pm Back to Playa del Carmen, dropping off the tanks en route. Filling up our ATOS we are surprised when it takes only 10 liters! Total petrol cost = 68 pesos ($6.20). Another great advantage of the economy cars, best gas mileage.

6:30pm Checking back into Hertz, no hassles, no headaches. Total cost is the agreed $340 pesos which I gladly sign for. This is my 3rd time renting from this Hertz office and it won't be my last! They even drop us off near the ferry via their own shuttle at no additional charge, though I customarily tip the driver for this service. Excellent timing for the 7pm ferry.

7:00pm Lucked out on both trips, we got Ultramar ferries (MX $110 mas, para return de Cozumel) which are nicer and newer than the other brand. It may just be aesthetics, but the ride on Ultramar just seems smoother, more pleasant.


Next planned trip is Monday, 29 Jan 2007. Possible destinations are either Sistema Nohoch na Chich or the upstream cave of Dos Ojos, although Sistema Ox Bel Ha is possible if we can find information on it by Monday.


NB: On the day we dove Gran Cenote, 25 Jan 2007, it was decided and published that Sistema Sac Aktun is now the Longest Cave System in Quintana Roo, Mexico! I am very proud to have been diving here on the day when this important record was established.

Huh? Why did I decide to do a blog?

Why write? Why blog? Do I have time to do either? Who's going to read this? Does anyone really care?

These are the questions I've been wrestling with for years since learning what a 'blog' was. My first (and still running) impression is that blogs are for people who either: have too much time on their hands, just love to abuse the spelling of 'definitely', or simply feel that the world is more interesting in virtual reality than Real Life(tm).

Many people accuse me of being a 'net addict... though it is true that over half my livelihood is made via the internet (the other half is in electronics design), I definitely have a 'work to live' attitude, not 'live to work'. In the same way I 'internet to work', not 'internet-is-my-life'. If at anytime you don't have something more interesting to do than surf the 'net randomly, then it is time to start a new hobby. Or at least get out of the house and see what's outside the front door.

So back to the original question, Why blog? There's got to be as many reasons as there are blogs, though I think the two most common must be: (1) there's a lot of interesting things going on in my life and I can't help but write about them... before I forget the details! or (2) writing is therapeautic for me and it helps me work through 'X', or try to understand 'Y' in my life. Without a doubt, the purpose of this blog is (1). I feel blessed to have a really interesting life, but in the past six months... no make that the past ten YEARS, it has been a fascinating and exciting journey with the last three months living on Isla de Cozumel being a non-stop tour de force.

Truth to tell, one activity stands above all else, and that is what I will be writing about... mostly. Cave Diving began as a semi-whim three years ago when Tracey and I wanted to try a different kind of scuba diving. On our first trip to Mexico we heard about cenote dives and saw many pretty pictures in the shop windows. I was enticed. We hired a guide (who would later become our cave diving instructor) and did two spectacular dives at Dos Ojos in the Riviera Maya region of Mexico.

Just like Discover Scuba was for Tracey just after we met, Cave Diving then became a major interest for me in the following year. When we returned to Cozumel in '04, getting our cave diving rating seemed like the right thing to do and for all the right reasons: we had over 100 dives under our belts, we wanted to do more than just cenote dives with guides, and we believed that the techniques taught in Cave Diving would make us better, safer divers. Thus began our introduction to the mystical world beyond 'recreational' scuba into full technical ('tec') diving. The two really are different like day and night... almost literally. The training was difficult and stressful, we took an unplanned few days' break in the middle of it to do some simpler ocean diving... but in the end we got our Intro to Cave certs with flying colours and a great sense of accomplishment.

Now let me take a moment to explain this whole certification thing. To try scuba diving for the first time you don't need to be CERTIFIED, but you do need about 1-2 hours of basic training in the gear and you can only go with a professional on a limited 'led-by-the-nose' dive. Not that this isn't a fascinating experience in itself , but if you love it like I did, it isn't enough. (Thinking back on it, if you fall for the whole scuba addiction, no experience underwater is ever quite enough - you will always want more!) So... off to scuba class you go and after four training sessions and four successful dives in the ocean, you now posess an Open Water certification, i.e. Recreational Scuba Certification. This allows you to go diving in the ocean, in lakes, rivers, etc... anywhere where you can get to the surface safely (thus the term 'open' water) at anytime during the dive. The main constraints are: (1) no deeper than 130 feet and (2) you should absolutely adhere to the Dive Buddy system.

Recreational scuba diving is what 97-99.5% of all scuba divers are doing. Even for me, I'd say at least 75% of my dives while in Mexico are going to be open water.

Now, Cave Diving is considerably more extreme. In fact, there is debate (at least among those who like to brag about their exploits and enjoy testosterone battles with their friends) that Cave Diving is the most dangerous sport in the world. I think that without a doubt it is one of the most dangerous but I'm not interested in bragging rights. I just love caves. Why? I'm not sure, really. In life, I think a person is lucky if they find something... an activity, a book, a social group, whatever... that really SPEAKS to them. Makes them feel alive. Feels like such an integral part of themselves that they cannot believe there ever was a time they were without. Words cannot describe the feeling, and unfortunately most people in this world will never experience this kind of harmony. For those who find such a passion in their lives it can't help but be consuming. Consuming can mean many things; when you talk about Cave Diving, it certainly consumes your wallet, at least.

Cave Diving is taught by only a few instructors worldwide. There are at least three international organizations offering certifications, of which I belong to and was trained under (I think) the largest, the National Speleological Society - Cave Diving Section (NSS-CDS). There are four levels of certification which you can read about on other websites:

• Cavern Diver
  
• Intro to Cave Diver
  
• Apprentice Cave Diver
  
• Full Cave Diver
  

Training is expensive and rigorous. The latter is especially true if you don't come from a tec diving background which I didn't. Cave Diving was my first experience with double tanks, backplates and wing-style bladders. Literally, you wear [at least] twice as much equipment for tec diving than you do open water and for good reasons. In these environments you need to be able to self-rescue under virtually any circumstance. Redundancy is the rule.

Tracey and I got our first two certifications in November 2004. Intro to Cave gives us the ability to guide ourselves into a full overhead cave environment (also technically referred to as 'penetration') and go along an established guideline. For Tracey, that was enough and sad to say I think her interest has waned... or maybe it was not as strong initially as I hoped... or maybe I went further down the path of addiction than I thought I did. Anyway, 2nd level certification never seemed enough and as I took more guided tours in caves both in Cozumel and in Riviera Maya I was absolutely convinced by 2006 that there was no other option but to go for 4th level, Full Cave Diver.

Full Cave certification opens almost all of the remaining doors in the cave diving world. You are qualified to go into more challenging caves. You can explore and map new caves and new passageways in the old ones. You can dive solo (though its not recommended and Tracey won't hear of it!) And you can go on real adventures inside caves that map like Escheresque mazes. Circuits, traverses, "Tees" and jumps are now tools for you to use, not roadblocks telling you to turn around.

For reasons I won't go into here (nothing to do with my health, I'll say that much), the training almost didn't happen. This was a source of extreme frustration, some anguish and notable stress. But it did do one good thing: it tested my will and asserted for me that without question Full Cave Certification was what I wanted, at any cost. Finally, five days before Christmas I got the green light and off I went to Cave Class again. This was going to be a stress diet and I knew it -- four days nonstop intensive training. Maybe I'll blog a recount of those four days later, but for me now they were a means to an end, and I was extremely relieved when it was over. No, not just relieved. Elated. Not because the training was over, but because I *felt* like a different person. It's like achieving your black belt in martial arts. After you get it, you realise you aren't the same person anymore.

I thought the feeling would abate with time, but weeks (and many cave dives later) it hasn't. Every time I go into a cave I feel ALIVE; I feel the confidence of knowing what to do, that my buoyancy and trim are what they should be as a cave diver, that each time I lay a reel down I am going towards something interesting, that when I pick it up again I am feeling a sense of regret that I am leaving the cave, and the end of each dive is a sense of Accomplishment. Safety first, enjoyment always. And since I've been bringing my DSLR with me on most of the dives, I have these unbelievable memories of where I've been, photos to share, things that happened are remembered easier. Writing about it to complete the recounting is why I think I chose to blog.

Thus begins the tale.