Connie usually takes a group up Parker's line to Charlie's Line, then past Drippy Dick and eventually meeting up with the main line for a return back to the cenote. I've seen Parker's and Charlie's a number of times so my desire was to go explore elsewhere. Part of my goal was also to have a longer dive than Connie would likely plan, so partnering with Dusan and/or Bill would mean more air time and possibly new things to see. Dusan opted to go with Connie as he wanted an easy and shorter dive, but Bill was keen to try an adventure.
Bill and I made our plan to go straight up the main line to about the 4th arrow where there is a jump to the right at a distinctive formation I would recognize. I knew from past dives there were awesome formations on this line but hadn't taken it very far. From there we'd just wing it, deploying and reeling up to 2 more jump spools as air and interest dictated.
It'd been a year since I last led a dive in Nohoch so I was very pleased when my memory of how to find the main line was spot-on. It is in the cavern zone but pretty far from the entrance. Along the main line we went, past the Nat-Geo platform, past Disneyland, past enormous rooms filled ceiling-to-floor with every large and small stalactite/stalagmite combination imaginable. The 3rd arrow was at a reach-gap I remembered well, but continued on to the 4th. I referenced the formation to Bill and then spooled the gap to the right as planned.
Ten minutes later we were passing what looked like a statue garden. Odd-shaped stalagmites in bizarre shapes appeared out of the darkness to awaken the imagination. One looked like an eagle or a hawk, beak forward and wing back. Another looked like a horse and rider. Then... my spiney spines! I'd taken pictures of these last year but there they were in all their glory. These are thin stalactites with spines that stick up and out of them like upside-down pine trees. And yes, the spines actually pointed upwards towards the ceiling!
On we went, and more stalactites had even more unusual bits "growing" on them. The line wound around, and I used both spools jumping to "T"s both times. We investigated all directions but these were all loops or dead-ends. I hit the main line twice. Doing all this back-and forth was totally enjoyable, not monotonous at all in case you were wondering. I could tell Bill was enjoying the maze as well.
Eventually the dive was called on "no more reels" or "no more lines we hadn't visited" and we un-jumped, un-spooled and started heading back. We opted for one last deviation when we hit the 3rd arrow (the reach-gap I mentioned before) but it turned out, as I suspected, to go right back into the same maze a short way in.
Total time on the dive was 97 minutes and Connie's group was already out of the water and mostly finished disassembling their gear. Amazingly I still had 1800 psi in my doubles when I was done! We accomplished all the goals of the dive and had a GREAT time exploring.
Footnotes
On this dive I had my yoke-type regulator on the right post, to replace the regulator I suspect is in need of service. Everything was flawless -- no leaks, no hisses, no problems whatsoever. Now I have to decide whether to have the DIN regulator serviced here in Cozumel or wait until I return home and send it back to the manufacturer.
I wasn't concerned about having one yoke regulator on this dive because Nohoch nah Chich is generally a big cave and I was sure there were no restrictions in the areas we'd be exploring. This was a safe bet, but I wouldn't want to take yoke regulators to Calimba, Blue Abyss, Minotauro or Labna Ha.
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