#cavedivetulum

June 29, 2016 Dos Pisos: A long traverse done as a circuit.

Perhaps the best long dive that Zsolt and I have done on this trip was a circuit at Dos Pisos from the south entrance to the north entrance. We did the dive using a single stage.

Drive south of Tulum on 307. Watch for the mile markers on the left side of the road (yes this is awkward since they face away from you). After you pass mile marker 220 slow down and begin watching on the right for a sign that reads: Dos Pisos. There are two signs. The one by the road is worn and hard to read. Another sign, closer to the tree-bush line, is clearly written. Turn right here.

Proceed into Rancho Campensino following the road to the right past houses and buildings. We paid 200 pesos per person at the houses–a guy was there that came out to the car.

Continue on road that trends left past black, rubber water pools and past several intersections. Watch for the signs (signs at every intersection) but I think we always turned left. Eventually you will come to the end of the road. On the left there is junk: mattresses, pole structures, kitchen stuff, etc.

On the right are tables for dive gear. Park here. The trail starts between the tables and goes about 200 feet down to the cenote. The water is clear and the entry is easy. The cave line starts left of center, and back, in sort of an alcove and is above the water line.

The passage starts in a tube-like structure that extends maybe 100-200 feet with a flat bottom passable by back mount or sidemount-stage and then opens into large, diverse passages--this is a great stage dive.

The main line has many jumps and a few T intersections so bring a lot of cookies. We surfaced in clear water on in the north cenote under broken boulders and could see the jungle beyond the rocks. The traverse is upstream and there is a flow that reminds me of the north Florida cave, Peacock.

The passages have white formations and walls in contrast to a brown bottom and constantly change from one section to the next. In the shallow parts, there were massive root sections dropping from the ceiling.

Friday, June 3, 2016

Most people think cave divers are crazy. I’ve been asked, “Don’t you get claustrophobic?” Over breakfast this morning at a local taco stand a woman from Poland asked, “Why do you do it? What is the attraction?”

I’ll say up front that I don’t feel claustrophobic when I cave dive. Sometimes when I’m squirming through a small restriction and get stuck I may feel anxious but most of the time this is not the case. I do feel claustrophobic seated in the window seat on a full jet liner or riding in a packed, European, elevator like the ones in Spain: their elevators are the size of large refrigerators.

There is no easy answer to explain why I cave dive and asking me that question is like asking a climber why they climb mountains. And I’m not going to give you a cliche answer because I think the reason is deep inside me–something instinctual that spans way back before I was on the planet. The drive to explore the physical world is in me, part of my bones, and I can’t deny it anymore than I can deny the need for food. I think that I have a talent for adventure just like some people have a talent for painting or numbers. (I’m not saying that I’m good at cave diving because I have to train like a demon and work really hard to do what I do).

Cave diving is special because we go places where only a few humans have ever been and experience things that most people will never have the opportunity to experience. We see things that date back hundreds of thousands of years–fossils, bones, pottery–some things human. Then there are the animals–blind catfish, crayfish, and other crustaceans–white because they don’t need any color in complete darkness. And the formations are amazing with stalactites, stalagmites, pillars, corridors and massive rooms. 

The attraction is visceral: Yesterday we dove Catepillar (see the video above) which is a smallish cave and requires skill and finesse in order to navigate the passages through a cathedral of formations. We didn’t see any line arrows older than 2012 and came across a junction marked with arrows placed in 2014. There were places where the diver must turn sideways in order to fit through the restriction or lay flat and extend the fins in order to squeeze between a bedding plain. Zsolt and I have trained relentlessly for these dives and are aware that many cave divers have died in the Yucatan because of poor navigation skills and bad habits learned in other parts of the world.

We carry line markers called cookies and are relentless in their use. In Mexico the junctions can be unmarked, or marked with a single arrow (not common in north Florida), or a T where one line is actually tied off to another line with no markers. One cannot assume that you will recognize which direction to go at an intersection on the return trip because the cave looks different in reverse. If you doubt me: take a walk into a forest for a few hundred feet and turn around. What do you see? So we mark all junctions and take no chances.