Only 1 day left and a travel day

Well, our time in Mexico is coming to an end. It has been a great trip. The last few days I have been diving with ou r friend Kim while John has been venturing into the jungle in search of new cenotes. Kim and I did a dive in Chac-mool again and we dove 2 stages and surfaced in a new cenote of our own! Well, new for us that is. It was called cenote Mojarra, as we later found out. Neat cenote.

The day before Kim and I swam from Gran Cenote to centoe Bosh Chen, that was a nice dive as well....over 2 hours. Beautiful formations and some nice tight restrictions up the Bosh Chen line....fun fun fun.

Today John and I headed off to Zero Gravity to meeet with Danny again. We changed gears and decided we would like a scooter motor rebuilding and trouble shooting class.....and no that wasn't my idea. I went along anyway, and got to part way re-assemble one of our scooter motors that was not working. Before, we started I hadn't a clue about troubleshooting or knowing about the inner workings of a scooter. As usual, we learned a ton from Danny and in the end we went to lunch. We also discussed our "big dive " and got some suggestions and things to think about to go back to the end of our line.

Next time, we will revisit were we left off for the in-water scooter stuff, but as John said...if I can't fix 'em, we can't ride 'em. And as usual, he is right. It was a good day and now we have more stuff to look forward to when we come back.

Our friends Lynn and Butch arrived yesterday.....they just got here. Lucky them!

Tomorow's final dive is still a mystery...

Back in Phx on Tuesday!

Karen and John

No Diving Today....checked out area S. of Tulum

Today we didn't dive. John had originally planned to check out some areas with Fernando and talk to some of the land owners, but Fernando had some business he had to attend to. And Kim and I decided to take the day off from diving...ear issues again. Anyway, John and I went for a drive South of Tulum as he wanted to check out an area that he had a satellite photo of and map it on the GPS. So below is John trekking off the side of the road into the really thick jungle.

I stayed in the car for 15 minutes, then went to find him. He was on his way back to the car and I had forgotten about the mosquito net hat. Here is John with the mosquito net hat...he hates mosquitos:)

Me standing next to a really big elephant ear plant...Mom if I could find a way to transport this back to you I would...it was huge!! Me in my jungle trekking outfit...long sleeves and pants are a must. Plus good hiking boots, because last time I almost broke my foot again.

Nohoch Cenote (Giant birdcage)

Hi,

Here are some photos' from our dive in Nohoch yesterday. Nohoch is a truly beautiful cave, and it is really shallow allowing for a long dive. We decided we wanted to bring the scooters along, plus 3 stages to see how far we could get. We had to lower the gear down using ropes, because we didn't want to carry all the gear. The scooters alone weigh 90lbs so hauling them up and down the stairs is a huge job.

Description of the photos: Fernando and one of the men at the cenote lowering gear. And Kim working at the bottom of the rope to unload the gear. And John, Kim and Fernando gearing up. View of cave entrance and another view of the cenote.

The dive was awesome and it lasted over 3 hours so by the time we got out it was almost sunset. At the beginning of the dive, one of the scooters wouldn't work so John and Fernando drove back to the house to get the spare motor while Kim and I watched over the gear. In the meantime, it poured like crazy and cleared up just as fast.

Today we dove Chan -Hol again, took another look at the pots and went down some lines that we had never been down.

Less than 1 week left on our Mexico vacation.

PS: I got a email from our friend Bill, who had an adventure of his own last weekend. He encountered a 12-16 ft Great White on a dive at Catalina Island. All was well, and no one got hurt. What an amazing experience. I can say that because I didn't see it....totally different response if I would have been there :)

Here is a picture of a great white from another friend, Sean. He dove with them this summer.

Below is his photo.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!! Taking the day off from diving today. Partly because it is Easter but mostly because we need a day of rest and maybe a beach day.

Yesterday we did the clean-up dive in Camillo to get the remaining stages we left after the big dive. There were to many to haul out in one trip; we had planned the clean up into the logistics. As I was bringing our gear to the cenote, I mentioned that it seemed alot farther today. John's comment was, "Cleaning up the house afterwards is never as much fun as the party." Perfect.

The dive was uneventful except for our short surface interval in cenote Camillo. We surfaced and I was on the look out for monkeys again. We talked a bit and I looked where the water meets the jungle and thought...."my that is a very big iguana tail"......Holy S**T was the phrase that came out after that. John, who was facing the other direction, saw my eyes pop out of my head and turned around......to see the crocodile I had already seen.


John said, "be quiet you are going to scare it", to which I replied, "if he is so scared why is he entering the water towards us" Holy Crap, survace interval over, I went underwater and back into the cave. We both decended and I watched from far below as the croc lie on the surface of the water with his mouth opening and closing . The croc was a juvenile, maybe 5ft long (mostly tail) but it freaked me out. Not sure I want to surface at Camillo if the opportunity presents itself again.

The excitemet made for interesting discussions on the drive home.

Later that night we went out to dinner with Fernando and his wife, Glenda. We watched a Flamenco dancing show at a great restaurant. Those ladies are super fit, it was unbelievable how fast they move their feet. Apparently, that is the place to be on Saturday night as all the locals were there greeting each other and talking. Fernando has been in Tulum for over 20 years and many of the other people have too. It was a great night out.

Kim arrives today so we will meet up for a welcome dinner and diving discussions.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Karen and John

The "BIG DIVE"...heeeheee

So after months of planning, and 3 long days of set up dives....we have 2 versions of how the story ends. John's version...just tell 'em we died and see if we get any responses. And the real version, which is after almost 5.5 hours of diving and a partially empty Explorer reel, about 9500ft of penetration and a brand new AzTek Divers 2008 arrow now the end of the line for the Sistema Camillo. And did I mention, it is some of the most beautiful cave we have ever seen and it is still running strong. You have to go through some nasty cave to get there, but it is worth it. And in the second version, we lived :)

And if you want you can go to the Cambrian Foundation, Akumal Project 2006 and see the pictures of the section called "House of Wax" . And the picture doesn't do it justice.

http://www.cambrianfoundation.org/projects/show_entry_details.php?ID=260&projectName=Akumal%202006

The dive had some obstacles. We had one regulator fail which prompted us to cut the dive short by 1 stage each. My scooter had a faulty trigger over portions of the dive (it wouldn't go) , so I had to run the magnet switch manually. And the normal task loading stuff. But we were happy with the dive.

Tomorrow is short the clean-up dive ....to Cenote Camillo where we left 3 stages each.

Karen and John

Set up Dive No. 3 completed

Yesterday we took the day off. I had ear issues and wanted to give them some time to recover. We had alot of errands to run....you are probably thinking..."is she kidding?" But we did have errands. We dropped clothes of at the lavanderia, had the rental car washed (since we would be seeing them later today we had to get it cleaned so they wouldn't inspect it further), went to the grocery store, worked on gear, had lunch at Zama's plus a few margaritas, and met the rental car guys who had to bring us new papers for the car as they expired today, and then a nap. Zama's wins the prize for the best margaritas, so far this trip. It is fun to watch people take the first sip and see their reaction. Las margaritas son muy fuerte!!!

Below is a photo of one of the back streets of Tulum, we took while looking for the car wash.

Today we felt much better and headed out to the Ranch to do our 3rd set up dive. Today we were replacing the first 2 stages with new one's and would only be going as far as Cenote Camillo. The dive went great with some added bonuses. We scootered pretty much all the way there and made it in record time...for us 37 minutes. We decided to surface in Camillo and when we did I heard what I thought was men working, but it turned out to be monkeys in the trees. That was way cool!! One was looking down at us from the tree and trying to figure out what we were. Then John growled and they all went back into the jungle. But then he made monkey calling sounds and they came back...which was even cooler. I saw 5. I believe they were spider monkeys. I finally got to see monkeys in the jungle!!!

Anyway, away we went back the way we came and we made it to the Black Forest jump (a line in the cave) pretty fast so we scootered up to the Grand Canyon line just because we had time. After we had exited and and I was hauling gear back up to the car, I heard and saw something go across the trail. I kinda screeched at first, then I called to John, "so what does a fer da lance look like?" A fer da lance is a venomous snake. I was watching it as it was near a palm tree next to the path. You will be happy to know, as I was, that I looked it up later and it wasn't that kind of snake. John was bugged he didn't see it.

One last note for our scuba friends, we were towing 3 stages on the scooter and the back one is a PIA because it doesn't float. John decided we were going to try out using a small inner tube around the back tank to float it. He had our friend Craig Sattersfield machine a piece to put on the inflator. Craig, if you are reading this...the piece you made is fabulous and the inner tubes with the inflator around the back tank works great...no more dragging when you stop the scooter!!! Helium in the tanks works well too, but that gets a bit pricey.

Below are some land photos of where we dove today. Tomorrow is the big dive...up past the "Loft" and we will most likely be in the water for 6 hours. We are starting early because I want out before dark!!!

Once in the Ranch, here is the road to Cenote Muchachos.
John carrying one of the scooters to the Cenote.

John wants a shirt that reads, "I'd rather have someone else carry my Gavin"...Hahahaaaa.

The entrance to the cave...stages on the platform and scooters in the water.

And yes, it was way hot today with no breeze. But being, the delicate flower that I am, I was able to handle it :P

Until Later,

Karen and John

2 set-up dives completed

The Cenote-actually last year's photo, but it looks the same...not as muddy though.

Hola!! Monday we picked up 10 stages from the jungle fill station after breakfast at Turtle Bay Bakery in Akumal......we were headed that direction to get the bottles so we figured a ranchero omlete would get us through the day. The most stressful part of the whole day was me having to converse with the Senora who owns Rancho Santa Rosa (the propery where the cave is we wanted to dive). Fernando called her and gave her a heads up on what we wanted to do, but negotiating through the whole thing with my bad Spanish was harder than towing 3 stages through the cave. In the end, we paid her for a week of diving and walked away with the key to the gate! Sweet deal. No more trying to locate her in town or getting locked in on her ranch!

So after all that we geared up and set our first two stages in the cave. For our cave diving friends, we set the first stage aprox. 2000' and the second aprox 4000'. We scootered all the way to Camillo, which didn't take that long...total dive was about 93 minutes....scootering rocks!!

Today was a bigger set up day...but even though we got a late start, we had the key so no problems with access. Except for one thing...it seems the Senora didn't tell everyone that we were diving, so I got asked twice to pay again. Luckily I knew how to tell the workers, I paid yesterday for the whole week and I have a key to the gate....claro!!
Me...a vision of loveliness as I haul gear at Cenote Los Muchachos.

We started off with 3 stages again and had 2 from yesterday already in the cave. Without boring everyone with the details, we completed our plan, and have 2 stages set up past Cenote Camillo ( aprox. 5500') and one way up past a section called the "Loft" (aprox 7000'). Our plan is being revised because once up in the "Loft" you can't scooter and bringing more than 2 stages is completely out of the question....it is just too small. You have to unhook any stages you have and push them in front of you. Anyway, it was a nice dive and the parts we were worried about weren't that small and the one's we remembered as being bigger....just weren't :)

After cleaning up and breaking all the gear down, we walked down to Don Caffeto's for dinner....it was good. Plus more people watching. We ran into Alex Alvarez (owner of Aquatic Tulum Dive shop) and Beto Nava, who is an instructor for GUE (Global Underwater Explorer's) from the Bay Area. He didn't remember us at first but then he did.

Another side note, we have been having a few breakfast meals at Azafran's (a resturant near our apartment) where it seems the same people always go, so we are getting to hear the gossip about Tulum. It seems Tulum is now it's own municipality seperate from Playa del Carmen, and some of the locals are worried about what that means. They want to make sure the layed back atmosphere doesn't turn into another Playa...and are also worried about the cenote's being turned into open rivers. That was the gossip today. I know the municipality part is true because I read it in the Akumal newsletter and they were worried about being part of Tulum...and what that would mean to them.

Oh, one last thing...while looking at property in Tulum, we found Hotel Posada del Luna for sale for a mere, $790,000. Holy Crap. It woudl take you 6-10 years to get your money back....we would guess anyway.

Small set up dive tomorrow and then the next day is our big dive.

Karen and John

Past 4 days and other ramblings

Well, last time I posted was Wed. It is now Sunday night, four days have past...no posts but we haven't been sitting in the room the whole time:). So I will work backwards with some additional diversions.

Today we dove Chac Mool, I wanted John to see it. We were going to scooter, but we decided against it to save our backs for the big push at Camillo (set-up for that starts tomorrow). The steps down to cenote Chac Mool from where you park are OK but a bit steep and we just didn't want to deal with it and scooters. We had a nice dive, went way past the 'Monster House' and figured out where the 'Monster Liar' route is. (that wasn't very hard). Halocline, halocline, halocline :) That room is truly amazing.

So after the dive we went back to unload and grab some dinner in Tulum. Tulum has way more activity than Akumal and is much more diverse....in other words people watching has become quite a past time for us at dinner. This week starts 'Semana Santa' or Holy Week and it is a big holiday in Mexico. Many people take vacation over this time. As we sat in one of our favorite restaurants (El Pequeno Buenos Aires), we watched the action unfold. Quick side note, most of the restaurants are open and have tables on the sidewalk, so you get a view of all the happenings. So this convertible white BMW (not one of the more usual cars in Tulum) cased the joint about 3 times and finally pulled up next to the restaurant, a young guy jumped out, got a menu and went back into the BMW. They were in the car reviewing the menu for a good 15 minutes...finally the older gentleman got out with the menu, spoke to the chef, then the bartender, and looked at all the bottles of wine. By now, I am beginning to wonder if all of this is merely for a wine purchase. So finally they corked the wine, the guy sampled it, the younger guy (who had been minding the BMW) came to sample the wine...they all agreed and off they went with the bottle of wine. Too funny. The soccer tournamnet was also on TV..the American's vs Chile (I think) and it was fun seeign the waiters so distracted by the game. Soccer or Football as it is called here is quite big.

So on our walk back to the apartment another guy, comes out of the pharmacy shaking his head and asks if we speak Spanish. I told him that if his ailment is simple(he was coming out of the pharmacy so I took a guess) , I can help, but if it is complicated he is on his own. He tells us that "someone he knows is in need of a laxative" and he doesn't know how to ask for it. John says EX-Lax...I say ask for "el opposito de immodio" he laughs and runs back into the pharmacy. And I have to ask myself...of all the things you may need in Mexico...a laxative is usually not one of them. So we got a good chuckle out of that!

Yesterday we didn't dive...doctoring our ears and working on gear....and some nachos at Lol-ha (a restaurant on the beach with great mango margaritas).

And the day before, we dove Carwash, working with the scooter, weighting the scooter and me practicing some skills learned from Danny. I ran a line using the scooter to the main line at Carwash, besides having a big birdsnest on my reel at the beginning it was uneventful. So the plan was to run to the mainline (quite a ways back), leave the line, scooter back to the cenote, then scooter back and pick up the line while on the scooter. The first 3 parts went OK, until I started picking the line up while on my scooter. Guess what, the line got tangled in my scooter, had to cut it and we swam out. But John got to practice towing his scooter. It was a frustrating day for me but again...if you don't challenge yourself you won't learn anything new...or some hooey like that:)

The previous day was spent working on scooters again...I even did some work...making new leashes, changing tow cords and learning the electrical parts of the circuit. John is very patient :)

Four newly worked on scooters!

Tomorrow we pick up our stages and do the first set-up dive. I will take pictures tomorrow. I keep forgetting to pull the camera out of the car.

Miss everyone.

Karen and John

Line skills and the 'Monster Room'

Today John took the day off and I went diving with .....hold on to your hat...with Danny. For those non-cave divers, Danny Riordan is one of the premier underwater cave explorers in the world. Fortunately for me, he had a light schedule this week and I was able to benefit from his availability. He teaches cave diving for an organization called GUE (Global Under Water Explorers) when he and the two other Zero Gravity guys are not exploring new caves. He is an outstanding educator and has been cave diving for a very long time. Although, I was a bit scared (performance anxiety of sorts), it was an opportunity I could not pass up.



He agreed to work on my line running and tying skills as well as some other things. It was a great day. We dove Chac Mool (another cave). Chac Mool has the worlds longest stalagtite; it hangs 42ft!(stalagtites hang tight from the ceiling, and stalagmites might reach the ceiling...at least that is how I remember it) and in is in huge room known as the 'Monster Room'. It was truly impressive. I also saw a fossilized barrel sponge, those live in the ocean, so seeing it in the cave was way cool. Did two dives in this cave system and learned so much, I hope I remember it all. And now I know how to get there and this is definately a scooter cave..hahahaaa.



John picked me up from the dive shop and we went straight to an early dinner.



Here is a view from the restaurant. After dinner John and I took a walk on the Tulum beach all the way to the ruins. Well, as close to ruins as we could get and walked back.

It was a great day.

Day 1 Scooter Workshop

Well we decided to see if any of the Zero Gravity guys had anytime to do a scooter workshop for us...not the full 5 day class but just a few days going over details and other stuff with us. Last night we received an email...."How about tomorrow?" Which would be today. ...crap. Have to set up the other scooters and get stuff ready. After John working late last night to get the other additional scooters set up, we show up at Zero Gravity (the scuba shop I mentioned before) bright and early this morning. When we left the cenote, it was dark. Let's just say, we are really tired. Great stuff though.

Nothing says task loading like, driving a scooter, towing another scooter with 2 stages (extra bottles) and running line while the scooter is going...it definately wasn't pretty but we lived:) When Danny explains a plan and it seems pretty straight forward...and then adds, "but just to make things more interesting...you will be towing the extra scooter and picking up the additional stage"...you know it will be just that....very interesting.

PS...John wants to add...that he hopes the whip marks will be healed before we get home.

More Chan Hol and a bit of History

Well today we dove Chan Hol again...and you might be asking...aren't you sick of that cave. No Way, would be my answer. We took the History line ( one of the lines in the cave) and went left on every T and ended back at the Forza line....basically back to the entrance of the cave. We went through some pretty small stuff but again..that cave is just really special. Above are some photo's of us in our gear...and the puppies that greet us each time we arrive.

And now for a bit of history, we have been hearing about the "Maya fiestas" and I finally did some reseach on the internet and talked to Fernando about it. Bear with me as this ties to one of the cenote we are trying to get permission to dive. First the Maya fiestas is not prevelant all over Tulum as we were lead to believe by our gracious hosts at the hotel the first night...the hotel is directly behind the Mayan church so they are more affected by the "fiestas " than most. The celebration is for the cruzob Mayan religion (people of the cross) and includes lots of alcohol, lasts seven days and suposedly a trek through the jungle with either the cross or representations of it....and ends in Tulum. But that was all the details I could get.

Anyway, short version is in 1848 what is known as the "Caste War" between the Mayans and the Yucateaneans (everyone else) began and lasted pretty much in until 1930's, for a synopsis better than I can write click here....http://www.sac-be.com/the_caste_war_the_church_of_the_speaking_cross_and_the_cruzob_maya.html The Mayans were able to hold the others at bay for many years and hte story goes that the Mayans received inspiration at one point from a talking cross near a cenote.

The cenote we would like to dive in on Ejido land (communal Mayan property) and requires the permission of the head man of the Ejido. The cenote also exists near Chumpon (one of the places the cruzob (peopel of the cross) still exist. These people are not prone to any outside visitors and the opportunity to develop the land around the cenote and profit from a possible cave does not entice these folks...so we have our work cut out for us. Or at least that is what I have put together... maybe we just let it be and find anoher new cenote to dive. Which woudl be fine too.

Anyway...enough for now. Karen

Sunday New Cenote

On Sunday, we loaded up and headed down the Boca Paila road to dive a new cenote with Fernando. The weather wasn't very sunny but it was very cool.

Once we got to the cenote, I think it was Cenote Del Mar, we geared up and headed in. There was no one there to take our money so we proceeded anyway.

The cave was totally different. The entrance was pretty restrictive ( for those non cave divers that means just how it sounds...hard to get through and pretty small). But it opened up after that. Due to the proximity near the sea, there was a halocline at 40 ft. The halocline is the mix of the saltwater and fresh water and when you dive through it, it apprears like vasoline covering your eyes but you can't wipe it away. 40ft is really shallow for a halocline. We also saw a big tarpon which was really cool.

This cenote is part of the Ox Bel Ha cave system, one of the largest in the world. It was a dark cave with lots of silt, sediment and sand. After the dive we went to Fernando's beach house to see all the work he has done there and some folks that were staying there fixed us fresh calamari, which was excellent! Que Bueno!!

View from inside apartment

Here is a few views from inside the apartment, formerly referred to as Room. One is a view from the door the other is a view from the bed....looking at all the gear.

Karen's New Diet

I had to sneek this in so Karen won't know, but to all my friends who won't see me for a month, and for those that see me at the end of our stay down here, don't be surprised if you don't recognise me. Karen thought that our vacation would be a great time to loose a few pounds and get in better shape, she said something about a slim fast diet, sounded good to me but little did I know what she had in mind. Slim Fast, as in slim and nothing to eat each day, and tonight she explained that the fast part was as in, let's just not eat, holy moley there won't be anything left of me in a month. So if a skinny twig comes up to you and speaks with my voice, don't be too surprised. If I have enough energy left I'll try to post again in a week or so.

Hope to see my friends again

JS

More Chan Hol and Lithium Sunset

Yesterday we dove Chan Hol again, but this time we went staight at the entrance T instead of the usual left....made a series of jumps to places we had not been. It was really nice. That cave has an ancient feel and with more fire pits (I think because of the color of the ceiling) it is really cool.

Today we got a late start and decided to head to Gran Cenote again....and take the jump to Lithium Sunset. That was a great dive...we double staged it and in the end got to a place that was too small to fit through. And if John thinks it is too small...it usually is:) so we headed back the other way...lots of fun, tight restrictions, and decorations you wouldn't believe (No, Art, I don't have any pictures...but I could post a link to your website for that...hahaahaaa). That was an awesome dive!

It was completely sunny when we went into the cave and black skies met us on our return. It poured like crazy tonight so we drove to Don Cafeto's for dinner. We were starved.

I will try to be more diligent about taking picture...it has never been my thing, but words get boring so I will have to adjust.

So ends our first week in Mexico

Chan-hol and Puerto Adventuras

So we dove Chan Hol. Found the other pots...thanks to Lynn and Butch. Plus, get this. ...next to the Chicken bones, about 3 ft to the right, there is a skull and some vertebrae. Domingo (the owner of the rancho) has done alot of work. He remembered me from November, which was cool. I conversed with him in Spanish, which wore me out; but I felt it was necessary even though he speaks English. The IKKI line wraps back into the Forza line, just FYI.

We wanted to make it to Zero Gravity before they closed but got the closing times all wrong, so we kept going to Puerto. Chimmichurri chicken was on the brain, and Cafe Ole was the answer. Plus we could see if Dennis was around (the owner of Aquanauts). He wasn't there but Cafe Ole was :) They had a live band, the two owners sing in the band. It was so much fun. ..Cafe Ole is where it all began in 1999...crazy. They sang a John Prine tune, along with many others. For those of you not familiar with John Prine, he is great. The song they sung was "half an inch of water and you think your gonna drown". I have his live album and on it a lady asks to sing the enchilada song...he says "not sure which song you mean"...and she sings .."it's a half an enchilada and you think you are going to drown" Hahahhaaaaa. Any way, dinner, drinks, and music were great!!! It was worth the drive.

Plus John and I got to talk about our big push in Camillo...yikes...24 stages...for set up. We will see :) That talk will continue ove more margaritas. That means a few days of set up and an 8 hour dive :)....Yikes again. I have my drysuit, but all I can say is yikes.

Tomorrow's dive is still a mystery.

First few days

Our first few days were spent shopping for items for the "apartment"...formerly referred to as "room". We bought a mattress in Tulum which was cool due to easy transport. Just rolled down the car windows, put the thing on the roof, and John and I held onto it as we drove it back to the apartment. We also returned the small car and were pleasantly surprised that they gave us a Jeep Commander, which is totally cool. On the way back we stopped at Sobriana, which is a cross between a Target and a Walmart. We have been able to get all the items we needed from that store. Visited Puerto Aventurs since we were in the area and had lunch at The Pub while watching the dolphins in the marina.

Some other news for those that have been here, Casa Cenote is now open for business...just the restaurant part. We had lunch there. Casa Cenote was devastated during Wilma, rebuilt and then completely destroyed again during Dean (I think that is the last one). In Novenber 2007, it was totally closed and in shambles. It is good to know it is open again...still needs some work but nice view of the ocean. And they still have Super Nachos!!

And yesterday, we finally got around to diving. Gran Cenote was the warm-up dive of choice. We traversed from Gran to cenote Bosh Chen. No matter how many times we pass by the Calimba T, I am always reminded of the group that lost their lives there. Reminds me to always stay alert and pay attention even on "easy dives". And crazy as it sounds (for those who know the area), there were no other divers in Gran Cenote, only snorkelers and 2 cavern tours.