" I think she went to Merida for Easter"....noooo....YES!!!

When Fernando called the owner of the Ranch today to verify we could get in....there was no answer. So we loaded up and headed over to her house. Guess what....no one was there and all the cars were gone. We thought, maybe they are at the Ranch...(hahaaaaa) and promptly headed that direction. It was locked up and no one was around. In fact, it was locked up exactly as Fernando had left it on Monday. I was kinda joking but not really when I said..." I bet she went to Merida for Easter." Last year we caught her the day before she left and we paid her and then she handed over the key....that was so convenient.

We headed back to Fernando's, and as we got out of the truck Fernando said, " I think she went to Merida for Easter...she has family there". OMG. So we did not dive today and Fernando will be tasked with pulling out the jumps and taking the stages out of the cave. He said no problem, and since she probably won't be back until after Easter, I am assuming no one will be in the cave anytime soon. They may still be there for Butch and Lynn next week!!!

John and I started packing for our return and then took a break and headed for lunch at Casa Cenote....the packing went down hill from there....naps instead. The transfers to take us to the airport were all booked up, so we rented an Atos in Tulum and will drive it to the airport tomorrow. An Atos in Tulum is $13.50 a day....the charge for dropping it off in Cancun is quite a bit more. Still way cheaper than a taxi.

This time tomorrow we should be on the plane....hope the weather in nice in Phx.

The new leads will have to remain unexplored until next time. Our time has come to an end.

Karen and John

Success at the immigration Office!!!

Today was the day we were to pick up John's finalized FM3 visa. We received it and now John can leave the country. (Sorry Kim, we won't need your help smuggling him across the border...but thanks for the offer.) I was getting a bit nervous listening to all the other Americans and Canadians lamenting about how they keep showing up and there documents "aren't ready yet". Followed by the statement "come back tomorrow". There is hidden meaning in the phrase, "they aren't ready yet"...it translates to...."We can't locate it right now, so we need more time to look, and we don't want you waiting around while we pilfer the place trying to locate it". They have also changed the wait in line system. Before you got a colored badge with a number, but now the electonic number counter has been fixed so you just get a ticket and watch for your number on the screen....brilliant! Once called you go up to the desk, they take your paperwork and ask you to sit back down. If you are lucky, they go find your documents and call you up 10-15 minutes later and hand over the goods. This was how it went for John. The official actually handed him the FM3 document (it looks like a passport) and said..."bye, bye". That was it...we were done.....yipppeee eeee!

On the way out I was smiling ear to ear and the security guard asked me if we would be back tomorrow....I said, "No, es finito" and did the happy dance. Once he understood he did the dance with me and laughed. I thanked him very much...even though he didn't have anything to do with it...hahaaa. So we are headed home on Thursday, the 9th.....yipeeee again.

Yesterday, John and Fernando went diving in Camilo. I stayed back because of congestion. They looked for some new leads and found some really big cave. At max penetration Fernando had a high pressure hose blow (o-ring I think) so the dive was called. No worries, because John still had a full stage he was carrying for Fernando and Fernando had not even touched any of his back gas. That is the beauty of using stages and reserving back gas for emergencies. Anyway, they did find a promising lead, going in the right direction and John thought he saw organic material...which may mean a cenote close by.....I really hope so. They exited the cave around 4 hours with no additional drama.

While they were diving, I ran into Robbie at the Gelato shop. He asked if we made the connection yet....geez, no pressure there. I brought him up to date and said, no not yet...grumble grumble.

Tomorrow John and I will do one final dive in Camilo before we head home. John had left a cookie on the new lead since Fernado reeled up the line; John and I will check that out. Hopefully lay some line, survey it and bring out the last two stage bottles that are still in the cave. We will also pull all the jumps and possibly cut back the new line. All this depends on the state of my congestion, but I am confident I am divign tomorrow.

Tonight we are turning over the data to the QRSS.....we already sent it to the Cambrian Foundation who provided us all their data....thanks to them for that. And Dave for helping us get in touch with the right people. I had fun working on the mini project they asked us if we would do. We will turn that over tonight too.

Hopefully we will have one more exciting post regarding the cave before we get home. If not we will just have to bring everyone up to date in person....over dinner or drinks.

Buenos Tardes

Karen and John

Dove Camilo today...looking for new leads

Fernando was going to join us on a dive today but he had business to attend too. We wanted to make sure we could dive Camilo at least 3 more times before we come home on Thursday, so we went to the owner's house in town. She did not want to charge us for 3 more times, which was very cool. Fernando was the one doing the talking but I could pick up on some of it. Anyway, they would go open the Ranch for us in about an hour...it was 9:15. We arrived at the Ranch, and OMG....3 cars of divers were waiting at the gate. They were trying to get the guys who live in the old chicken coops to open up the gate.....but they don't have a key. Anyway, I talked to them (we had seen them before) and gave them the low down. Just about that time the owner's husband showed up to open the gate....he let us through, collected money from them...(why not, they were there) and we all proceeded to dive the cave.

We were already set up so we just geared up and went in before they did....never saw them again. The good news is we had a great dive, the bad news is we didn't find any running cave where we were looking. But now wwe know where there isn't running cave. The leads kept circling back to our own line....and not just once. It was starting to get comical.

After not diving the rebreathers in a bit over a week, they take some getting used to again. I thought mine wasn't working properly, but it was...it was just harder to breathe after diving open circuit. There was no drama at the breakdown today, we made it through fine. Quite an enjoyable dive. We exited the cave right at 4 hours.

When we were getting ready to leave, we saw the owner's car drive up near the cenote. I think they wanted to see if we were still there. I spoke to her and she wanted to make sure Fernado told us she was not charging us. I thanked her very much and told her we would be back on Monday. Fernando says he is diving with us then. I sure hope so, because we set up some stages for him. That will be our last exploration type dive in Camilo this trip. The other dive will be to hopefully survey new line and clean up all the stages that are still in the cave.

After the 5 hour dive, I was hesitant to get back on the rebreathers. Glad I did because it was a really nice dive and alot of fun. It was one of those times where everything went well.

Anyway, may not dive tomorrow...or we may dive open circuit at Grand....that is my plan, although I haven't let John in on it yet. I would really like to do Kolimba!

We finished the QRSS project we were working on....that was way more than I expected, but it is done. Now we have to just turn it in to them. I learned alot about the cave mapping software.

Happy Saturday, we are heading out to have some arrachera at Buenos Aires....mmmmm.

Karen and John

Meanwhile back at the Ranch....

the friggin gates were locked...with an actual padlock. For the entire 2 months we have been here there has been a guard, or the gates were tied together with some twine, or they were wide open. Since we had paid in advance, we just let ourselves in. Not today....padlocked closed, with no guard and no way in. Guess our advance payment has been used up...or something. But let me go back just a bit.....

In my last post I wrote, " The air conditioning will be repaired today"...hahahhaaaaaa....good one. We were hopeful, but we forgot we are in the land of manana. When it wasn't fixed the other day, Fernando's reply was " It's Mexico". So yesterday when John hadn't slept in 4 days (so we couldn't dive), and at 3pm Fernando was holding the circuit board to our broken air conditioning....we decided we would just buy a new one. John and I beat feet to Playa Del Carmen to buy one we had seen at Soriana (a Walmart type store ). We had actually come to that conclusion over a delightful curry lunch at the ocean breezy restaurant of the Mezzanine, before we had spoken with Fernando. Best decision we ever made!

So we were well rested and ready to look for new leads in the cave. You can imagine our disappointment when the place was locked up. Now what? I was very insistant that we dive today....anywhere. We headed back to Fernando's, unloaded the rebreathers, scooters and stages and grabbed a plain 'ole set of doubles. Carwash was the new plan A. We entered at the new cenote (Luke's Hope). I can't remember what the new name is. We had an awesome dive!! Jumped over to the Room of Tears and then up to Dreamland. Dreamland is cool because it is really tannic (brown and hazy) so it has an eerie surrealnes to it....plus it is really restrictive....LOVE IT!! Our dive was a bit over an hour, but completely enjoyable. After diving the rebreathers pretty much exclusively this trip, it was a pleasure to breathe off the doubles. We also noticed that we were on top of our BC inflation for buoyancy way earlier than before. By that I mean, the buoyancy on the rebreathers is all drysuit or BC...no breathing induced or lungs for buoyancy....so it was noticeable when diving open circuit again.

Tomorrow we are headed for the Ranch again. Hopefully Fernando was able to contact the owner. If not, we will be grabbing doubles and a stage.....Minatauro, Dos Pisos, Chacmool, Dos Ojos and even Gran Cenote are all possible options for our Plan B. That is after John fixes both my wrist seals which have major leaks...oi.

Less than one week left. We plan to return next Thursday.

Karen and John

In the home stretch with immigration

We arrived at the immigration office this morning for John's appointment. Things went surprisingly well. There was some intial apprehension when the official informed John that they had been looking for his folder for 2 days. John produced said folder, with the explanation that the lady official handed it to him as we left last Tuesday. He was convinced it was a folder that was just copies, and not the "official" immigration office folder.....until John opened it and showed him the FM3 document. He promptly brought the lady official over to see the folder and she got a bit of talking to. He was very apolegetic and John will have his completed documents next Tuesday and we can come home. Our plan is to come home on Thursday, April 9.....yea!! Of course if by some miracle, I get called to work before then John will be on his own!

We haven't dove in 9 days....since the last really really long dive. The good news is we are feeling better and we will head back in tomorrow to check out some new leads.

We have been talking to some very helpful folks. We believe we are really close to one of the caves Robbie Schmittner is exploring so we had a chat with him yesterday. He is so nice and very helpful. I have also been working on a small project for the QRSS (Quintana Roo Speleological Survey-http://www.caves.org/project/qrss/qrss.htm ) that Bil Philips (another long time explorer) asked if we would take on. It is basically taking a copy of the survey data for Camilo, and re-entering the line names to fit the universal prefix model they have adopted. No small task as I have found out....but I hope to have it completed in a few days. We are very excited about the info we have found out and can't wait to get back into the cave to check out the leads.

The weather has completely changed this week...it is heating up and the bugs are starting to return. That would normally be no problem except our air conditioning has been out since Friday. We have a big garbage bag where it used to be and unfortunately the window slots beneath have no mesh on them. So the dilema is, if we open the slots to get a breeze in, we run the risk of all the mosquitoes coming in and biting John. They don't like me, they just go for John. And he hates their guts. It makes for some restless nights. Fernando said the air conditioning unit will be ready today....I hope he is right or we are heading to a hotel. We can't do a big dive tomorrow on the very little sleep we have been getting the last few days....I would surely run us into a wall or into some small hole from lack of focus.

The lack of sleep was also evident during the questions at the immigration office. The official asked John to write down the name of his father, mother and email. John said, "both of them are dead, they don't have email." I looked at the official and burst out laughing....he laughed a bit too....but not so much. He wanted John's email...hahaaa. No sleep makes you silly and non-functioning.

Two new restaurants opened in Tulum. One is a wine bar and restaurant two houses from Fernando's. It opened for the first time last night...tiki torches lit up the walk way. We have to try that place. And the other is on the main drag, also near Fernando's house. It is before Don Cafeto's. That opened for the first time last night also. We may have to check it out too.

That is about it. I will report tomorrow after our dive.....now back to re-entering cave line data.

Karen and John

Random ramblings

No diving so far this week, we have been sick. Luckily with the pharmacies readily available if you know what you need you merely go get it. Z-packs (Zithromax) rock. John and I both have had what I would call bronchitis, fever and congestion, but today is our last day on the medicine and if we are feeling well enough and with any luckwe will dive on Sunday or Monday.

Fernando was supposed to go on vacation to Mexico City with his family tomorrow for 3 weeks, but he informed us today that he is not going. His wife is not up to the drive (she has been sick also...same stuff), so he will be around and wanted to know when we were going back in the cave.

It is bad when you are sick, but sick in Mexico is worse. We were feeling a bit better and wanted out of the room so we went to lunch at the Mezzanine on the beach...love that place. It makes you feel better just being there....nice waiters, good food, great music and fabulous view. We even walked on the beach yesterday and I waded in the ocean for my first time since being down here.....sad but true.

Today it was really windy (mas viento). But we headed for the beach to have lunch....at Zamas. I have discovered 2 new non-alcoholic drinks down here. Lemonada....it is fabulous and also aqua frescas. Agua frescas are fruit waters...they are lighter than juices and you can get them in a variety of fruits....mmmm. They had the canvasas down to protect you from the wind....it was funny watching people's chips blow out of the basket. We had a stategic spot, so we hardly had any of that. The sand was blasting the people laying out....not sure how they were ignoring that......maybe it was like a pumice treatment all over their body.

Bad news...the air conditioning broke in our room. Tomorrow we will figure it out, but tonight we have no air. John is doing well with it. We actually haven't had it on that much since we have not been feeling well, plus it is really nice outside and cool.

We saw Robbie at the gelato shop tomight...he and his family. His kids are getting so big. Robbie owns a dive shop in town (Xibalba) and is another primary explorer down here.

That's about it. Not alot of exciting info. Oh wait, Fernando is doing alot to his property. The shop is coming along nicely, he is also going to have a place that sells hamburgers (at least that is the plan now). The shop building is divided into 2 smaller shops. He also added a bathroom under the stairs next to his dive gear area. The wood and fixture he has installed in his shop are really nice.

No diving tomorrow....hopefully Sunday!

Karen and John

Continuing saga at the " oficina de imigracion"

Headed of to the immigration office this morning in Playa. I had high hopes that John would be handed his FM3 and we would be home this weekend. He must have had high hopes also, because he released some things to be shipped to our house. We got our blue badge, number 8 and after only an hour it was John's turn. He approched the counter and they took his form, went off looking in file cabinats, consulted other officials and finally returned with a folder. He now has an appointment at 10:45 on March 31 for what we think is an interview, and when we asked how long after that we were told..."un semana, mas o menos"....which means a week, more or less. So short timeframe is...2 more weeks in Mexico for John. Karen is heading home sooner than that.

I did not approach the counter with John as we thought it best I stay seated. Only when I was needed for a bit of translation and interpretation did I go to the counter. John also needed to get 4 frontside photos and 3 profile photos, in black and white, matte finish. They must be starting a file of some sort....and apparently it takes a week a glue the pictures on the file and put it all together. The weird thing is they gave him his FM3 document back, along with a big folder of all the documents we provided in the first place....except they were all stamped, each and every one. Who's crazy idea was this FM3 anyway :)

If John is up to it, him and Fernando are diving tomorrow. I may go in search of a spanish tutor to hire for a few more days, since it is unlikely I will be diving until at least Friday. Or maybe I will go to the beach or take a tour...there is a novel idea!

Still not sure when I return but it will be soon.

Karen and John

on the mend

Somehow both John and I caught terrible colds. Maybe it was the long dive? I forgot to mention John's drysuit had a leak....he got a bit to close to the cave on the scooter and the cave grabbed his suit puncturing a hole in it. So he was completely soaking wet by the end. I had some leaks too, plus a she-p blow out at maximum penetration which I won't go into. Or maybe I picked it up when I was home. Bottom line is we have been layed up most of the day. ...but are on the mend.

Tommorrow we head to the immigration office. Wish us luck. If all goes well we will come back home either Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

John and Fernando are still planning a dive for Wed, but I am bowing out....to much congestion to even think about it at this point.

Wish we had more exciting news.

Karen and John

More New Cave and survey up to date

John and I went diving yesterday. For me it wasn't an easy dive, just must have been one of those days, but we got everything done that we had planned to do plus we ran about 500 more feet of new line. I just seemed like it was one small thing after the other and when the dive was over I was very tired...which may be because the dive was a bit over 5 hours long. It started at the beginning of the dive, once in the cave before we took off on the scooters, I knew my rebreather had a problem. One of the injectors was stuck, basically that is a free flow, so I isolated it and I called John over. He pushed the bellows(the accordian looking part that moves the air) up and down to try to get it un-stuck. It would have been hard for me to do it beacuse I couldn't reach all the way behind the rebreather. Luckily, it worked...if it hadn't the dive would have been over.

So off we went. The next obstacle is getting through the an area we call the "breakdown". In doubles it is no problem but as I approach it in the rebreather each time mental anguish sets in. It is always something. This time I got stuck and had to unclip the scooter and sent it through on it's own before catching up to it after I was freed. As I am writing this, I am realizing that the majority of my mental anguish comes from anytime I have to push the scooter through a space because it is too small to just "drive on through". I worry about the cave and holding the scooter up so it doesn't silt out my buddy. John is driving the mini gavin and I am driving the "standard" one. His is much smaller.

We took the scooters all the way up to where we needed to survey and swam from there. We surveyed all the new existing line from last time and had enough time to lay some new line (about 500ft)....the data revealed we had surveyed about 1400ft of line on this dive. The new area is a bit deeper and had a substancial halocline.....it also was getting smaller and we suspected it was soon to becaome what we refer to as "the toilet". That means the water is going in a direction that is draining and getting smaller....not bigger. We were right...the passage finally walled out and was so small that only one person could go. John ended the line here and we called the dive at 2 hours and 47 minutes.

It is a a huge releif once you get back to the scooters....not sure why, but it is. And out we went. Of course I had difficulty clearing my ear on the way out but was able to work through it...I will pay for that today...which I am. But we completed deco and were back at Ferndo's house by 5:15.

No diving today and there may be no diving for me tomorrow either...time will tell. Johna nd Fernando may need to go do set up without me. The plan is to do another dive with Fernando on Wed to investigate a new lead. But today we rest.

Karen and John

Karen back in Mexico...again.

I arrived back in Mexico yesterday afternoon after my very short trip back to Phx. The house was still standing, I got some things taken care of and before I knew it I was back on the plane headed for Cancun. The immigartion line was crazy long....still spring break I imagine. Once you get your bags you proceed through customs. Here the procedure is you show your form, they ask how many bags you have, then you hit a button. If the light turns green, no inspection...if it turns red, you get inspected. I had brought down a Pelican case (hard black case used to haul fragile equipment, usually photo) and the female officer asked me what was in it. I told her video lights. "Lady, " she said "how many camera...1 or 2?" I told her no cameras, just the lights. She repeated the same phrase...."Lady, how many camera...1 or 2?" I looked at her blankly and thought for a minute...and replied, "1". To my delight, her next phrase was," bien, push the button." It turned green....Cool Beans, no inspection. And I was on my way to meet John outside.

In that situation I decided it would be best not to spend too much time explaining.....just answer the question the best I could...hahaaaa.



John had survived a few days on his own :) He had some interesting discussions with Bil Phillips, a cave instructor and explorer who now lives in Tulum. John relayed some of the discussion to me.....and this is the most important part that I took away from their conversation. During the discussion, they started talking about the new cave and the direction it is heading.....which is possibly toward another known cenote. Unfortuntely this cenote is on private property. Here is the important part....apparently the owner has made it clear to many cave divers that if they surface in the cenote on the property, they run the risk of being shot. OMG! At least now we know. Note to self: if you find a new cenote in the cave, surface at your own risk.



Tomorrow we dive. Plan is to set up a stage for Fernando, lay some new line, survey the remainder of new line, and bring out the stage bottles that were left on Monday....in that order.



Happy Friday.



Karen and John

Tabano fly.

As I wrote yesterday, this morning was supposed to be the big survey dive. Didn't happen. Why, you ask....because of a very pesky horsefly called the "tabano"! John spend much of yesterday morning talking to Fernando while he was filling our tanks. Fernado said, "you have a fly on your chin", and John thought he said "mosquito". When he came in and showed me, it was a big red bump on his chin. Assuming it was a mosquito (John has reactions to them also...plus hates them with a passion), we went about our day. Even had Sunday BBQ again at Casa Cenote. We have determined that they have the best tasting Sunday BBQ deal in the area!

Apparently, while I was sound asleep, John chin swelled up. A few years ago we visited the Crococoon Zoo to kill time before our flight back home. He got bit on the hand by the same dreaded fly while we were feeding the small deer. At about 2am that night after we got home his hand looked like the incredible hulk. I affectionaly called him "chubby mitt". And we ended up in the emergency room around noon because the swelling was moving up his arm. He received prescriptions (Keflex and Benedryl) and that seemed to do the trick.

Since we know he is highly allergic we keep those same drugs in our first aid kit down here. So this morning with a Kirk Douglas chin, he started on the prescriptions. The dive is not happening today. He had visions of his chin swelling so much that he couldn't keep the rebreather mouthpiece in during the dive. And given his history with this bite, he might be right.

It was a disappointment, but not to fret. I am leaving tomorrow but may be back on Thursday, March 19 for a few days. The tickets are only $150 one way and I can be back on Sunday or Monday or whenever I have work. We can do the dive survey on Friday when I come back.....and the set up can just be left in the cave. Plus with John on benedryl, no diving will be happening and it gives me a chance to get some things taken care of back in AZ.

At least that is the plan at this moment...unless something changes.

Part of Fernando's house inside the compound.

Karen and John

More new line and cave

Yesterday we left Fernando's at 9am sharp headed for the Ranch. Since last time we left the reel tied off with open cave directly ahead, we were pretty confident that there would be at least a few feet of new line to be laid.

We took the scooters up to about 5000ft and dropped them....if you remember I mentioned they are a huge benefit on the way out against the flow. The flow is not like "Florida Flow" which can blow your mask off and send you for a ride, but it is noticable and warrants a few pull and glides...especially after you have been diving for a few hours.

We found the reel where we had left it at about an hour and 45 minutes in. Fernando picked it up and headed off. The cave just keeps going! After a bit John re-directed the proposed line laying route and we took off again! We passed a really large room that was highly decorated and after that we passed through another room which we have yet to name. It had really long stalagtites hanging from the ceiling. Fernando described as having a jailhouse look, and I think it resembles a bunch of highly decorated chandeliers. We definately have to name it because you know you are in a special room when you get there and it deserves a name....just not sure what it is yet.

We went a bit further and the dive was called.....it was now 2 hours and 20 minutes. On the way out, I counted the knots, almost 800 ft of new line...780 to be exact. Woohooo!!! And agian the reel was left with open cave ahead..

The going home part when you are that far back in is always a bit of a relief. On open circuit people have a tendency to speed up the exit...but on rebreathers you just can't....or your lungs will feel it. We exited the cave at about 4 hours and 47 minutes, and figure we were around 7700ft back.

Sunday will be a day off and if all goes well, the stars and planets are aligned and the tanks get filled John and I will return on Monday to survey and get the remaining 2 stages. Remember Fernando was on open circuit so he needed 7 stages....we left 2 in to clean up later. If that doesn't work out, John will have to figure something out as I leave on Tuesday.


Miss everyone.

Karen and John

Friday the 13th....that cave just doesn't want to be dove!

Today John, Fernando, and I geared up and headed to the Ranch in hopes of laying more line. We had stages, scooters, rebreathers, everything was set to go. Hauled all the tanks to the cenote, geared up and were just about ready to head off.....and guess what, my light wouldn't fire! OMG!! I always check my light because I never want to be the guy/gal in the cenote just before the dive that says...."my light won't work." Well today I was that gal. I didn't make sure the light turned on before the dive today.....it is something I always do, but for some reason today, I didn't....and we all paid. I even was thinking, my light is wonderful, it has been very good to me and never has it not fired when I turn on the switch. Knock on wood.....

On a side note, once I was diving with Danny ( GUE cave instructor and explorer) and we were doing pre-dive checks. I said, "my light is fired" and he started laughing....and said, "why would you fire your light...doesn't it do a good job for you"....or something like that. Now everytime I use that phrase, I laugh too.

Because it was going to be a big dive (5-6 hours) we all decided we didn't want to go back to the house and get another light since we would be coming out in the dark at this point. So we called the dive before it ever began. Loaded all the gear back into the truck, where it is staying until tomorrow at 8am, when we head off again. Fernando agreed because he didn't want to exit after dark either. The moral of the story is never break from your pre-dive check routine....ever, even if you think you know everything is fine....because you don't want to be that guy/gal ever again. It turned out that John thinks the battery is going bad.....so we switched it.

As we were driving away, Fernando said...that was the shortest shallowest dive ever.....and he would be right....DRAT!!

John had his own Friday the 13th incident. His rebreather loop mouthpiece came down and hit him square on the head. If he had been wearing his hood, it would not of mattered, but since he wasn't it cut him and he bled like a stuck pig. That thing is sharp. Poor John,

We go again tomorrow......when it will no longer be Friday the 13th:)

Karen and John

Camillo, yes we actually dove today

We have had a couple of set backs the last few days. Last I posted, I made the comment that our doubles were filled......I was wrong. So on Tuesday we were all set to dive, but again around 9:45 am when our doubles were not filled, we had to reconsider. Since we are diving the rebreathers we need 40% and not just air....plus some O2 would be nice since the cave runs about 62-65 ft. We have become a little more patient with life in the land of manana...so we decided to put the remaining boards on the platform and get everything all ready and loaded for the following day so we could dive. One more day...no worries.

So we head out to the ranch intending to complete the platform and we met the guard, who informed us ..."Son practicando". That meant the police were practicing shooting. So we decided we didn't want to disturb them. I also told him that we would be returning tomorrow to dive. He said they would be practicing then too....but I told him it didn't matter we were returning and we had permission.

Fernando also informed us that Connie Laroe would be bringing in a group (7 divers...aahhhh) on Thursday to dive Camillo....so that day may be out too.

So today we got there at 8:45 (which is really early down here) and were happy to see that the police people were taking down the targets. Maybe because the rain made them flimsy or they were just shot to hell and needed to be replaced. There were also some guys washing their clothes near the cenote. They were funny in that they started saying the A, B, C's when we arrived and I thing they were showing off their English. Anyway, I offered them cokes (I had brought them for the police, just in case), which they took as they left the cenote.

The dive plan was to go to the end of one of the Cambrian lines and see if it was just left in open running cave or if it walled out. If it was running we would lay more line. We scootered as far as we could and swam the rest. It was silty, mostly clay, and got really small.....dare I say nasty...because it was. It also walled out, although some sidemount person may be able to keep it running be we could not fit through. So we called the dive.

I thought we may want to scooter to cenote Camillo since we had time and tons of gas, but John said we were heading out. Once we surfaced, I would find out why. John had a huge hole in both wrist seals and his drysuit no longer could be used for bouyancy....he said his feet were so heavy throughout the whole dive he could barely swim. When he exited the cenote, I had to laugh. His legs were totally filled with water and the lower half of his body looked like the Michelin man. Completely filled with water....Oh my!!! He almost couldn't go up the ladder.

On another side note, this is the second dive I have had a total roll off. I caught it on the last dive right after it happenend, but this time, I notcied it in the cenote after we surfaced. For our non- diving friends, a roll off is when the knob to your one of your tanks rolls closed completely shutting off the gas to one of your tanks. This happens when you traverse a really long restriction...that is the only thing I can come up with as to how it happenened. Last time it shut off my main gas....that is how I knew. This time it shut off on the way out of the cave.....how the heck do I keep doing that? I was on my stage bottle so I didn't know until my suit inflation didn't work. The rebreathers are bigger and angled differently than the regular back gas open circuit tanks.....but come on. I will pay more attention to it on the next dive.

Tomorrow is another day off....fixing drysuit and hopefully finishing platform. We talked to Fernando and Friday will be our next big push. We will have 7 tanks for him to use so we can lay more line. We have already staged 3 in the cave and the other one's we will be bringing with us on Friday. He will carry 2 and John and I will each carry 1 for him. Again, the rebreathers are great because both John and I will only have 1 drive bottle and back gas, plus the safeties we already set up. We will use one full stage and maybe some backgas, but probably not......as compared to 7 stages. I still find that amazing.

Less than one week for me until I go back to Phx, I want to get 2-3 more dives in Camillo.....I hope my ear cooperates!

Karen and John

Deck Repair at Cenote Muchachos

When the oxygen did not show up on Saturday, we knew we were out of luck as far as diving the rebreathers until Monday or Tuesday. The good news is it arrived this afternoon so we will be back in the cave tomorrow!

Sunday, we had a relaxing day and decided to head over to Casa Cenote to see what the big Sunday BBQ was all about. It is kind of funny, because there are a few places now that advertise "Sunday BBQ". We had never had the one at Casa Cenote so we headed over there for a late lunch early dinner....man was that good. Ribs, pork loin, beef brisket, beans, pasta salad, and bread....plus margaritas. And the best was the entertainment....watching the shenanigan's of the owner is always a good time. He usually befriends the good looking female tourists. This time there were people there working on some sort of photo shoot and they convinced one of the "good looking female tourist types" to pose for some photos. In a bikini, on a lounge chair in the ocean. It was like watching a soap opera live. Here boyfriend was there too. Like I said, it is always entertaining at Casa Cenote.

This morning, since the oxygen hadn't shown up yet we decided we would go to the Ranch and replace the boards on the platform.


Before Photo of platform. And in process of being fixed photo.
We still have about 6 more boards to drill and nail. Or John does, when it comes to these type tasks I am the gopher and tool bringer....it works out etter that way...hahaaaa.



.

Hopefully our gas will be blended for tomorrow's dive, so we can continue with the exploration.
If not, no idea where we will dive...but the doubles are filled!!! So there is always a back up plan.

Karen and John

Punta Allen

There was no diving today. Tanks were not filled and ear was having serious issues. We decided to head to Punta Allen for lunch. We have tried many times to visit this fishing town, but each time for one reason or another we turn back. Reasons like, we are probably going to run out of gas, we will never get there, and I didn't realize it was this far....are the usual reasons. Today when I said, "how far is it" ...he said...."We are going to have lunch in Punta Allen, and then we never have to go there agian"!! As we passed not one, but two federal inspection stations the words to another Jimmy Buffett song, started repeating in my head......they go something like this.." we had only come for chicken, we are not tha ganga plane". In the song he goes to Jamaica for lunch and they shoot at his plane. Anyway, we did not get inspected in either station.


We finally made it to Punta Allen after about an 1.5 hours. Punta Allen is cool because it is actually a point between two bodies of water...the sea and a really big lagoon. The area is known for fly fishing and other types of fishing. The rode runs between both bodies of water.

We got to the town and had passed what we thought maybe a cool restaurant right before town. Since we didn't see anything promising...we may not have gone far enough...we turned around and stopped at a place that had a sign indicating a restaurant and bar. It was a true find.

It is called Costa del Sol. We were the only people there but it had a beautiful view of the sea. As we walked up to the restaurant, for a minute, I had thought John has lost his mind. He picked it so we had to go with it. They had a really big rooster walking around the grounds, 2 small chihuahuas...one with a sweater, some parakeets in cages, and an awesome view of the ocean. You can see there was a dichotomy going on...but agian, you have to go with it. We ordered coca-lights (diet coke in Mexico) and I asked in Spanish what they had for lunch. Instead of a menu the senorita rattled off a bunch of dishes in Spanish. Again, I am glad for the Rosetta Stone lessons. We ordered pescado a la planca (not sure if I spelled it right but it is grilled fish). Oh my was that one of the best meals ever!!! When you are in a fishing town, you just have to order the fish...those are the rules :) More about the meal....it came with tortillas, rice, avocado, black refried beans, a pickled cabbage salad, grilled onions, and a special salsa served with arm wavings and warnings about it being muy caliente. John nick named it the black death, because it had been roasted down to a black color and death because of it being so hot...but it had a great flavor. Kim would love this stuff.


Here is the website in case anyone ever finds themselves in Punta Allen.
http://www.costa-del-sol-sian-kaan.com/services

And here are some pictures:

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This is what the rode looked like a majority of the time.



Fly fishing on the lagoon side of the road near Boca Paila.






John on ocean side of bridge.




Lagoon side of the bridge, with all the sand flats.



Tomorrow, no diving again. I think we will rebuild the platform at the Ranch.

Karen and John

Survey of new line now up to date

Today John and I went diving......ears smears....needed to get in the water. We had a few goals on this dive: set 2 stages for Fernando, take GPS coordinates from cenote Kotamundi, survey the new line that has been layed. We accomplished all of our goals. This time our dive was 4.5 hours. We made some adjustments that worked out much better than the previous dive. When we came out of the 4 hour dive earlier in the week, we were completely exhausted. So first things first, today we actually had a pretty substancial breakfast at Don Cafeto's, a restaurant in Tulum. Hot cakes, eggs and tocino (bacon)....yummmy!! On the earlier dive we did not eat breakfast at all really, just a cereal bar. That made all the difference in the world. I read an article about diving and blood sugar levels, that when they get low you can lose focus.....yeah that is me after about 3 hours of diving...have a hard time following the line on a scooter, make bad decisions...that sort of thing. John felt much better after this dive too.

Second, we dove much slower, after the other dive my lungs hurt because when you over exert on a rebreather it is like sucking air through a really small straw....and it is hard on the lungs. Going slower is better.

Third thing is we decided to take the scooters further than we have before....we took them all the way up to the beginning of the new line. Since it was just John and I, we decided to see how much a PIA it would be to push them through the small stuff in order to use them in the bigger sections, especially coming out aginst the flow. Oh yeah, it was worth it!!! On a side note, John has been diving the mini-Gavin scooter that our friend Craig helped to modify. For our non-diving friends, that is a minature version of the long body Gavins we usually ride....it is just smaller.

We added the survey info to the map, and it is really cool. Very exciting.

We also previewed portions of the video that are being put together for the documentary on Mexico TV. If I can figure out how to post some segments here I will. It is pretty cool. Ernesto, one of the guys working on the documentary, filmed some interview portions in our room tonight. Fernando and John did a good job, I got camera fright and basically just stood there. I hope they cut that part out. Plus I had crazy cave hair, since I had not had a shower and it was filmed after our dive today. The funny part is on the video of Fernando in the cave, the scooter says Karen C....hahaaaa!

Since Fernando is out of oxygen and just about every tank he owns needs to be filled, we are taking tomorrow off. My ear will thank me! Maybe we will head to Punta Allen or go see some other ruins....not sure yet...but I will take the camera.

Karen and John

Xel-Ha Ruins

The plan was to go survey the new cave this morning, but at 9:45am our tanks were still not filled, we knew it wasn't happening. Normally that would be no problem, but since we planned on a 4-5 hour dive we didn't want to be getting out of the water at 5 or 6 since it would be dark. Also, it would be nice to give my ear another day off.


So we headed to breakfast at Turtle Bay Bakery and then decided we woudl visit the ruins at Xel-ha. They are located right on 307. The entrance fee was only 74 pesos for both of us and we spent over 2 hours walking around. There are two cenotes on the site. One is right by the Jaguar house and rumor has it there is cave, some human bones, and an altar underwater. Unfortunately it is off limits to divers and I think snorkelers also. Either Danny or Robbie had gotten permission to dive there but I don't remember who told us about it...I think Danny.



Here are some photo's:







And here are the two cenotes: A smaller more remote cenote and the deep cenote near the Jaguar house and assorted structures.








Tomorrow we survey, our tanks are filled, gear is ready, and we are rested.

Karen and John

Immigration Saga Continues

On Wednesday, we knew we would not be diving because we were beat up from the previous days dive. We decided to head to the immigration office in Playa Del Carmen to hopefully finalize and turn in all the paperwork they have requested. John has made a comment that morning,
"We will hopefully get through step 1". I would soon find out how true his statement was.

Remeber, they stamped John's FM3, retired Mexico resident visa, in the wrong spot at the border and we have been trying to get it taken care of. This was our 5th time to the office in Playa. It looked promising as we got past the first official, I'll call him the paperwork monitor, and we actually got a badge with a number and made it into the next room....wooohooo! Things were looking up. After a short time they called our number...amarillo cuatorce-yellow 14...and we were at the window talking to the next official. She was stamping every copy.....things were looking promising. We had all the necessary copies, letters and documents filled out and then they said......" It should be ready in 3 weeks". We were definately not prepared for that!!!

OMG! Those of you who were with us during hurricane Wilma, may have observed a slighly more escalated scene when they told us our seats were not available on the plane out of the country...and we were holding tickets. That was the time, I snapped like a twig, head spinning around while pounding on the ticket counter of US Airways, screaming..."NO, BUT WE HAVE TICKETS!!!" I have no recollection of this but unfortunately there were witnesses. John informed me that when I repeated the sentence...blah blah blah...3 weeks" he was afraid I was headed in the same direction. I informed them that we were leaving on Sunday....to which the official said..."go see my friend at the front desk to get another set of forms to leave the country." John had some questions, but he thought he had better get me out of there or he would never see his FM3 again!

So back to the front desk again. The official paper monitor pulled out the additional form, letter, requirements, and deposit form that we would need to complete in order for John to leave the country prior to his FM3 being completed. We took all the paperwork, walked out, and I got a bit twirly ( wigged out). And after that we got back in a cab (that is a whole other logistic story even to get to the immigration office because Playa Del Carmen is a complete zoo), back to the parking lot where the truck was and headed South to Tulum. I quick lunch stop at Lol-Ha, a restaurant on the beach in Akumal brought things back down to a Defcon 4. You know that poppers and one mango margarita were involved.

Now to figure out what the heck we are going to do....but I think we need to mull it over for a bit!!

New line in Camillo....finally!!

Today finally, John, Fernando and I set out to see if there is more cave to explore where we left off last November. This is actually the first time we pushed the cave this trip. John and I were on the rebreathers and Fernando was on open circuit. There was 5 stages (tanks) set up for him and 3 safeties (tanks also but the plan is only to use them in case of an emergency) for John and I. To give you some perspective...on open circuit Fernando used all 5 stages and a half of his back gas. We used one stage (in rebreather lingo it is called a drive bottle). The dive was 4 hours and 5 minutes long. We laid over 1000 ft of new line and we turned the dive at 2 hours.....and the cave is still running!!!

We scootered near cenote Kotamundi (about 45 minutes in on scooters), dropped the scooters and swam the remaining distance. That was a really long swim, especially with the drag from the rebreathers.....it is kind like giving 2 big people piggyback rides except underwater. I need to mention there is some flow that takes you into the cave so you have to swim against it coming out.

The new portion of the cave is really nice, lots of decorations and stalagmites (the one's on the floor). One portion looked like a small army of different heights as far as you could see. .... I know, no camera so they didn't really exist.

The thing about a 4 hour dive, is that you have to keep your mind under control. For example when your mind says, " You are 2 hours from getting out of here" ....you have to remind yourself very quickly that this is fun, the cave is beutiful, not many people see this stuff, and pull yourself together...and do it quick". That usually works and the uncertainty is beaten back down.

The shooters were not there, which was good. There was a new target hidden behind some bushes....a picture of a lady in a bikini. They had shot her full of holes. Sick and wrong, but kinda fully. Must have gotten bored with the silohoutte targets.

Tomorrow we are taking the day off to return for the 4th time to the " Oficina de Immigration". Hopefully this time we will have everything we need and they won't keep changing the requirements. More on that later. Plus we probably won't be able to walk tomorrow so we wouldn't be up for another 4 hour dive anyway. On Thursday the plan is for John and I to survey all the line that is left....and maybe add some new!

Wish us luck!!! We come home on Sunday so we want to get 2 more dives in Camillo before we leave.

Karen and John

Carlos Santana...not quite, but I got your attention

Hoy es Domingo (today is Sunday). John did his first dive with Fernando! My ear is improving greatly ( I am self medicating ...luckily it is easy to do down here), but I wanted to hold off one more day. The film crew arrived from Mexico City this morning, so John, Fernando and the film folks went diving in Camillo. John and Fernando did a set up dive for tomorrow. They were mostly setting Fernando up, since he will be on open circuit and we will be on rebreathers. I say we because, hell or high water, I am going diving tomorrow!!! The film crew only had today , tomorrow they are filming a new conservative approach to lobster catching that is conserving the reefs around this area. It was introduced from Belize and does not use nets but rather has the fisherman catching the lobsters by hand....we know what that is like. California style. So anyway, they only had today....so I was not in the documentary...John and Fernando were. Fernando kept trying to convince me to just "go into the entrance and be filmed". But to me if I did that I would risk not diving the following day or blowing out an eardrum, so I had to keep assuring him that it was fine. He said, "you are part of the team, you should go". No really, it is OK was my response.

John, Fernando and the team left at 10:30 and I stayed behind. I didn't want to sit out in the jungle for three hours :). I had an enjoyable relaxing day, working on Spanish, going to Pollo Bronco (the best chicken place in Tulum), taking a nap, and breaking down the rebreather. I was like the local travel assist person sitting alone in Pollo Bronco. People kept stopping to ask me questions. Maybe they figured if I was eating there, I must be local...hahaaaa. Questions like, "How long to you think it would take me to walk to the Tulum Beach" or " How long would it take to walk the entire beach", or " Is this really good chicken?". Kinda funny.

For our diving friends, I also enjoyed listening to Troy's briefing to some customers he was taking to Gran Cenote and Calavera. Troy is a Canadian who works for Fernando a portion of the year; he just arrived a few days ago and today was his first day back at work for Fernando. He was lamenting about the harsh winter in Canada and was glad to be back at in Tulum for some beach time. He was sheet white when he arrived a few days ago...today he was very tan. Totally funny if you know him.

John and Fernando returned and I heard about the dive; the set up was complete and they were able to get footage. We will supposedly be given a video of the work bebfore we leave...which is cool. We go diving tomorrow...hopefully to add new line.

So when the heck is she going to get to the Carlos Santa part? :) This is for Kim and other Santa fans out there. We were going to have dinner at Ginger in town. Which is a fabulous restaurant with really really good food....specifically seafood. It is located on the south side of Tulum...of course, being Sunday, it was closed when we got there tonight. So we opted to try Charlie's tonight. John did not particularly like the restaurant before, but it has redeemed itself, which is great because I always liked it. It was pretty crowded and a band (singer plus guitarist) were warming up. The meal was great, pollo con mole, margaritas, sopa de lima and tacos de pescado. The band played many Carlos Santana tunes and the guitarist played a Santana solo that was awesome. They guy was not more than 23 years old but he was really really fabulous. The set included Abraxus, Black Magic Woman, and a guitar solo I can never remember the name of...along with some salsa stuff, Gloria Estefan and a few English tunes adapted with a salsa beat. Really fun. Plus the lady singer had a really awesome voice (john wants me to write Kick A$$ voice, but I won't do it :)!! We will hit that place more often...plus it was cheaper than alot of the places we have been frequenting!

Tomorrow we plan for the end of the line in Camillo. The shooters are supposed to be gone tomorrow...we will see. Today they were absent, which worked out well.

Karen and John

" that cave just doesn't want to be dove"

I had ear issues again so we stayed out of the cave. We went to Playa Del Carmen as we put together all the paperwork to present to the immigration office so John can get out of the country. When we crossed the border John's FM3 was stamped and when we got into the state of Q. Roo we had to go to the immigration office and get it stamped there, since that is our destination. The official informed us that the people at the border in Tamaulipas (the Mexican state we crossed into) had stamped it in the wrong place. So we had to write a letter, Fernando had to write a letter, we had to fill out paper work and make copies of all John's documents.

Since we weren't diving we decided to take care of all that yesterday. The good news is we have all that done, the bad news is we have to made a trip to Playa next week because we got there to late. Although it is open from 9-4, you have to be in the door by 1pm. We missed that part.

We stopped by Zero Gravity (a dive shop run by the GUE guys) to say hello to Fred Devos on our way back to Tulum. We started talking about the difficulty we have had in diving Camillo, and he made a statement that I really liked. He said, " It seems that cave does not want to be dove." Perfect, it seems they had also tried to dive it and were not able to complete the dive.

So this morning...with my ear not getting any better, and now John is not feeling well, we may put off diving the cave one more day. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but we have purchased tickets to return home on March 8 so there is some added pressure to get into the cave an finish the survey. The return date is subject to change, but the tickets are purchased.

We will see if we dive the cave a bit later today, or if it "does not want to be dove"

Karen and John

Cenote Camillo...at last

We loaded up bright and early this morning. Headed for Camillo, got past the guard....and woohoo, there was no one there. So John and I beat feet to unload, gear up and get ourselves in the cave before the "shooters" arrived. They never did.

Here is a picture of the targets near the cenote...the police probaly have to gear up to fight all the drug cartels. We learned that the police make the equivalent of $300 every 15 days....so $600 dollars a month...to risk their lives, no wonder they hit tourists up for "mordidas".

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We did a two hour and 25 minute dive on the rebreathers and set the first set of safety bottles up an hour into the cave. The rebreathers are a whole new learning curve. bouyancy is completely different, you can't use your lungs. It is all in wing or drysuit inflation. The first hour I was hating it, I mean totally hating it. Scooter got wrapped around switchblock, free flowing stage bottle and bouyancy was just not fabulous. I kept hearing the circus music going around in my head, but after we dropped the safety bottles, life got better!

When we exited the cave, I was expecting to find the police heavy int o training but htey were not there....sweet! We can only hope they have another day off tomorrow.

Tonight we headed to Zamas for dinner. On the way back, we were stopped at a military check point they set up on the Tulum beach road....are you kidding me? This is after my having only two of the strongest margaritas on the planet. So I roll down the window and the federale tells me to turn on the inside car light. That alerts the federales ahead that we are tagged for inspection. We pull over, give them John's driver's license and open the truck for them to search. John, playing the "no habla espanol" gringo ignores them when they bring up "mordida" (which means bribe). I open the back of the truck and all they see is wood, to repair the cenote platform, and they send us on our way. Amazing!!

So we go back to town and decide we need some gelato. In town there is another truck associated with the fair from earlier. It has a bear in a cage that is open. The other day they had 8 white tigers, 2 llamas, a tapir, and a truck with some baboons. They drive them up an down the streets with a big loud speaker drumming up business for their show at the fair.

On the walk back to the room, Fernado's neighbor, who has a dress shop is trying to get my attention. I first assume she wants me to look at her shop, until I listen to what she is saying. The Rossetta Stoen must be working because I am able to hold a portion of the conversation....the words policia and robar catch my attention. She told me that last night some guys tried to break into our truck but her husband stopped them, and she wanted to let me know. WOW...that was really cool. I tell her that the truck has an alarm, but the back window to the camper part doesn't. I thank her and go tell John, who secures the truck for the night.

All in all a good day!!!

Cenote Dos Pisos

Here is a view from Casa Cenote. The swirling blue water is where the cenote empties into the sea.

Yesterday we were discouraged as we could not get into the cave we are exploring, yet again. Since we were all set up to dive the rebreathers, our regular tanks were not filled....so we couldn't just go somewhere else and dive. When you feel defeated you need to know where to go to shake it off! That doesn't apply just in Mexico it is a universal statement. So we headed for Casa Cenote, nice view of the ocean, a breeze, good food and margaritas. Just what we needed to restore our perspective.

Over lunch we decided that tomorrow we would try to find Cenote Dos Pisos. We didn't want to loose another day of diving waiting for entry to Cenote Las Muchachos.

This morning, we located the ranch, paid the fee to the ranch owner's boy and set out to locate the cenote. The fee is 150 pesos per person...that is very expensive compared to others, but they just built a new road. For our diving friends, it is south of Tulum right past kilometer marker 220 on the right. Turn into Rancho Campe Sino. Pay the landowner, they may need to undo the gate, follow the road, take the left fork, then take another left fork until the road ends. The cenote is on the right , just follow the path. The cave is very shallow, average depth was like 14ft max was 27ft. We took one stage and back gas only. The entrance is about 300ft of really low restrictions and a bit silty, but then it open up after that. We followed the main line and turned the dive at about 1 hour and 15 minutes. We surfaced in another small cenote and then headed back out. Over two hours of diving and some beautiful cave!!

Below is the trail to the Dos Pisos and a few other pictures from there. Don't you wish we had an underwater camera? I do too, actually we have one, but never bring it diving...maybe soon.

We also now have access back to the cave we are exploring...starting tomorrow! Here is the arrangement; the police training will still take place, however they will cease fire while we gear up and get into to the cave. They should be gone by the time we exit...if not they will hold fire again while we get out. Not sure if this is the smartest arrangement, but we want in the cave!! So wish us luck with this tomoorw....we will see if it goes how they agreed.

Our plan is to set up safeties (extra tanks in the cave) to use the rest of the time. Our friend Fernando informed us that he has people coming from Mexico City who will be filming a documentary for Mexcio TV on the exploration of Camillo. Their hope is that they can help urge some conservation of the area and cenotes. They are scientists, from what we are told. So there is some pressusre to get the cave set up, so they can do some filming. The only day the police will not be shooting is Monday...so we have to have things ready by then so they can film....yikes.

Fat Tuesday....Carnival de Tulum 2009

Here are some photo's of the Carnival parade tonight on the main street through Tulum.

They went up on side of the street and down the other and the parade ended in an area in town that is set up for fairs. Think of a state fair type atmosphere with a couple of stages mixed in.

This was a really neat site. I ran back to get my camera this time. It was the same parade I mentioned on Saturday.

Tomorrow we dive.....more on that later.

Karen

More Cenote drama

%(*#^(*#&*!Q!!! I was unable to dive yetserday due to an ear issue. So this morning we were loaded bright an early and ready to head to our favorite cave system and start setting it up so we could finish what is still left to survey. Plus then it would be set up for new exploration.

Arriving at the cenote entrance the guard was a bit hesitant to let us in even though we had paid. Another man came out and I was speaking to him in Spanish and he replied in English..." they are shooting there so be cautious." "Ahora" was my reply....he said yes. So we decided to take our chances and head to the cenote.

Once back in the jungle, there were many more cars parked than we had ever seen before. So we wait for them to come over to us. Apparently they are shooting all week....all day and all night. And when I asked when it would be free, he replied..."Lunes" which is Monday....almost a week away. That puts a bit of pressure on us since we are not sure how much longer we will be here. i negotiated with his as much as I could, but they were holding police training or maybe just security training, so we conceded and drove away. As you can imagine, John is less than a happy diver. We will have to call the owner up later, to find out what the heck is going on....if you remember she took our money for 9 days of diving and we have only dove 1.

So now we have to figure out our plan for the day. Maybe we need to figure out how to hire the muchachos and go into the cenote from another location which requires humping equipment through the jungle....yuck. But at this point we are at a loss....and frustrated.

I got to run, John just said he is ready to pack up and come home.....he is that frustrated. OMG!!

More later...

Karen

Dove Chan Hol today

Today I wanted to dive really small cave and only doubles....no rebreathers, no scooters and no stages, and easy access to a cave. I didn't want to track anyone down for a key or anything like that. But of course, it is Sunday so as we would find out....good luck with that.

Plan A was Kolimba, as we had seen it open a few days ago. Nope, today it was all locked up and I couldn't find anyone there. Plan B was Car Wash, but not the main cenote, the one behind it that used to be Luke's Hope...again it was locked up and main Carwash had over 6 vehicles there. So we quickly came up with plan C, Chan Hol south of Tulum. Perfect.

We had a very nice dive in Chan Hol and stayed tothe right and took jumps all over the place. For those non-cave divers, a jump is when you leave one line and jump on to another. I got my wish of really small cave, and we had to turn around more than once when we just couldn't fit through. Sidemount has been popping into my mind a few times this trip.....but not going there yet. Sidemount is when your tanks are on your sides and not on your back....allowing you to get into some smaller spaces that you wouldn't be able to fit with the traditional back mounted set-up.

We gain access to Cenote Camillo/Muchachos tomorrow and I am really looking forward to that.

Last night was Carnival.....there was a huge parade with floats and people dressed up in costume....who knew? It was quite a sight, the floats and parade made two passes down the main drag, very cool. Glad we decided to have dinner in town as if we had opted for the beach, we would have missed the whole show.

Muchachos deck picture....this is the before, on Tuesday we will have the after picture. Notice the cardboard target int he background propped up on the logs.

Muchachos cenote closed..."es occupado"

Our task yesterday was to repair the ladder and find wood "madera" to rebuild the deck at the cenote. Sounds easy enough, but our main translator Fernando had escaped to Cancun so were left to figure it out for ourselves. The ladder was easy enough...we retrieved it from the cenote and brought it back to Fernando's so John could add more rungs. Then we had to figure out where to get wood. After much hand wringing on my part, because I am the one who has to talk, we found a carpenter shop and we ordered the wood. You can't just have any wood, John wanted some that would hold out for a few years.....not pine or "pino" and zapote is too hard to nail. It will be here on Tuesday and they are going to cut it to our specifications....whew that was a load off. We will rebuild the deck next week. John fixed the ladder and we replaced it in the cenote. My job was easy, since a McGyver type I am not, ,my part was to follow directions while McGyver John went to work.

That was yesterday, today we set up the rebreathers for our first easy dive in Centoe Camillo. You guesse it...foiled again. We had paid for entry, but when we got back to the cenote there were already cars ..and we knew they weren't diving cars. I may have neglected to mention that near the cenote there were cardboard boxes with targets.....and holes in them. We found out they are training private security guards out at the ranch. So when we arrived today to dive....we were met with some polite introductions followed by, "cenote es occupado"....after that statement a few shots were heard and we understood! So it is "occupado" until Monday when we can dive again.

Off to Gran Centoe we went. We did a really long rebreather dive past the Kolimba T. Rebreathers are different. I won't lie, for the first hour I hated it and obscenities were flying...luckily no one can hear...that much. The thing breathed like crap and your buoyancy is all wacked because you can't control it with your breath. After that I settled down and thouroughly enjoyed the time. John had no issues and was doing fine. You swim alot slower because the thing has more drag but you aren't worried about running out of air (have to keep the head games under control though). We only used like 900 psi out of a stage. For those non-diving folks reading this, that is a really small amount of gas compared to open circuit. It is hard to believe you can dive a single stage for something like 7 hours on the rebreather.

We met another rebreather guy from Germany I think, he was really funny. He and his wife were diving in Camillo last November when we were there and he remembered us. He has a really small rebreather and I think he was trying really hard not to make fun of our tank like ones. But we had a good time with him and had a few laughs. He asked me about the She-P because his wife hasn't made the switch yet....so that was fun talking about too. His wife was at the beach due to sinus squeeze, so she wasn't diving. The She-P is a fabulous invention for women who wear drysuits and do long dives. The previous alternative was to use diapers....bleck. Never got into that, I would just dehydrate myself so I didn't have to go....which is bad news, or freeze while diving a wetsuit. The She-P is wonderous. Thanks to Heleen and Sander from the Netherlands for inventing it!!

Of course, I left the camera in truck so no pictures to show.

Who knows were we will dive tomorrow...maybe Chac Mool?
Miss everyone.

Karen and John

Yippeee...Landowner relations restored, at least for now.

No diving today. I had major congestion and we had the landowner relations to work on. Long story, but last I wrote we dove cenote Muchachos and no one would take our money....and I checked, I said it right in Spanish. So the Senora called Fernando wondering where the money was, he told her we were bringing it to her in person, and then he told her that her "platform was in bad shape and a safety hazard"...or something like that. She responded, that the cenote was now closed until she got around to repairing it......"Oh crap" was our response.

So we had to track her down, Fernando did anyway at John's insistance, and set a meet time to go to her house and pay her and offer her more money for the privilege of diving her cenote. After about 15 minutes we handed over the dinero for 9 days of diving and now have access back to the cave system. With a few caveats, we told her we would repair the ladder and offered to build a new platform. We also have to track the date and number of people that we take into the cenote and report back and she will verify with the guard...oi. So tomorrow we will work on the ladder and measure the deck.....after a dive if my head clears up :)

It is of note, that the "Come dive the 7 Cenotes" sign is gone from the Ranch, so no telling if anyone else even has access. And as a side note to our diving friends, Danny informed us that he tried to get into Vaca ha/Tortuga and was told it was closed indefinately due to research. I sure hope this isn't a trend.

After all that which went down around dusk, we headed of to Don Cafeto's for dinner. I have never had one of their margaritas, and they are fabulous....as was the mixed seafood grill for 2.

Stay tuned for more diving and dining updates.....

Karen and John

Cenote Carwash

Looking for crotch strap with too much air in the drysuit...and man this is heavy.


Oh look, John with a diet coke, post dive....


Me in rebreather get-up...vision of loveliness...not.

Today and yesterday we dove Carwash. Spent over three hours in the cavern zone...you read right...cavern zone, just spending time on the rebreathers. Weather was nice, and the mosquito's seem to be non-existant....not sure why. Ran into Danny who was teaching a class and Bil Philips later this afternoon.

Not sure what we are doing tomorrow....may have some land owner relations to work on; things seem to be getting a bit complicated at Rancho Santa Cruz. We have to go talk to La Senora manana and see if we can sort things out. Rancho Santa Cruz is the name of the ranch Cenote Muchachos is on, the entrance to the cave we have been exploring. Hopefully we will have good news after our chat.

Karen and John

Cave Diving ..and Salsa lessons?

We finally went diving and did our warm up dive in Camillo. All I can say is wow...has the ranch changed. First the Senora who owns the ranch with the cave we wanted to dive said...sure, it is ok to dive, just pay whoever is there. The front of the place doesn't even look the same, they built a big wall and there is a guard. We had to sign his manifest to pass....and he didn't seem to want to take our money? We made it past him, and then the guys who live in the buildings that used to be the chicken coops come out. After afew words with them we pass, and they didn't want our money either...weird. So we drive up the rode, which they are working on, and John exclaims, " you have got to be s******g me!" In front of us was a huge mound of dirt, even with the 4X4 truck it would be really hard to go over it....so of course John, can't be defeated, goes around the mound forging his own trail.

We finally make it to the cenote and guess what...the ladder has 2 rungs...there would be no way for us to get out of the water. Again, not to be defeated, I find one of the old rungs that was tossed into the bushes and John used wire to fasten the thing on the ladder...we are in business!

Needless to say, our first dive, was just that...a first dive. Our friends who dive down here will know what we mean. And after all that we did a 75 minute dive with scooters and I had to call it because of sinus squeeze....I thought my head would explode.

For dinner we decided to dine at a new restaurant on the Tulum beach. We met some guys we know from CA the other night and they mentioned salsa lessons at the restaurant we wanted to try. It turned out that have them on Sunday night...and they are free. We did not participate this time, but one Sunday before we leave I will...notice I said I:) . Watching the lessons was a lot of fun....plus the food was good. La Zebra on the Tulum beach...add that to your list of places try....it is right on the beach near the Sian Kaan biosphere.

More errands and some Tulum/Akumal updates

Yesterday and today we decided we would get gear sorted out and also run some errands. We needed a new mattress (colchon) and some new pillows which would require a drive into Playa Del Carmen. Last time we were here was only a few months ago in November...amazing the growth that is happening. A few things of note for our friends who frequently visit here: the round about to Fernando's is almost gone...not sure what they plan to do with it but it is under construction; the divided highway in Tulum starts back almost right after the Coba road...making it hard to get to the lavaderia and Robbie's shop; the entrance into Akumal is almost non-recognizable because they are doing some sort of construction; and there is major road construction all the way up the 307.

Things that are the same, for those that like the restaurants: Casa Cenote is still there; Zamas still has great food and margs; the Mezzanine is still open. Azafran's has moved to a bigger space next to Buenas Aires....we spoke to the owner today, they now serve dinner. And there are 3 new restauants right by Fernando's house...one is a sushi place, an Italian place, and one I am not sure what food they serve.



Other than that things are still the same.







Here is a picture of our new "princess and the pea bed"...hahaaaa! There are no such things as boxsprings that we could find in the Telebodega...only boxes...so we used the old mattress (the
one that was crippling John) as a makeshift boxsping.


We go diving tomorrow....Fernando may try out his new drysuit.

We made it to Tulum!

Yesterday morning we left Tuxpan and travelled via mostly toll roads making up lost time from Tampico. In case anyone ever drives through Mexico, the toll roads are the way to go....speed limit is faster and the roads are just better. We had to make up lost time and our change in plans worked out well. We arrived in Villahermosa around 5:30 and checked into one of my favorite hotels...a Hilton. Good meal, shower and excellent night's sleep. Before we got on the toll roads, we passed through some extrodinary scenery...it looked like what I would imagine the Congo in Africa.....lush green, lots of trees, mountains and a mist that hung over the whole area. We also passed through a section known as the Emerald coast....lots of small cabana and boutique hotels right on the beach and the road passes right through. Those towns weren't even on our maps! If I ever want to disappear, this area would make the list.

This morning we were at it again and the plan was to drive all the way to Tulum...no matter how long it took. Long story short, but we made it safe and sound. We had to stop and open up the truck only twice on the entire trip and both times were on this leg and within about 30 minutes of each other. Like the US, Mexico has states and when you pass from one to the other you go through the inspection station. In the state of Campeche, we had two inspections. No worries, we got though and my Spanish is improving greatly. I did make the federal policia laugh when he looked through my backpack. I told him something like "la computadora es para mi" and he said..."no, laptop... no es computadora". ... laptop...should have known! He laughed and sent us on our way. Which was awesome because we had no idea how we would explain the 3 containers of 44lb sofnolime for the rebreathers. (sofnolime is the scrubber that makes the rebreather work by scrubbing out the Co2 and it looks like kitty litter). And I definately don't know the Spanish word or phrase for that. John just told the federal agent he was talking to that he didn't speak Spanish, and I think that guy just didn't feel like dealing with that...but John showed him a few of the bags anyway.

John drove the entire way, my job was navigation and speaking to the people. I am not sure who had the easier job...but I think it was me :)

No diving tomorrow, errands to run and sorting out of the stuff.

So glad we made it....life is good.