Saturday, February 28, 2009

" 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

Thursday, February 26, 2009

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!!!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

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

Sunday, February 22, 2009

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.

Friday, February 20, 2009

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

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

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

Monday, February 16, 2009

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.






Friday, February 13, 2009

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.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

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.






Monday, February 9, 2009

Brownsville border crossing

Well, we made it through Texas and crossed the border this morning at 7am. The drive through Texas was uneventful and we spend most of the time looking for animals...it was like we were on a safari. Crazy as it sounds we saw some zebra...apparently some of the Texas ranchers import exotic game aminals and people pay to hunt them on their property. Besides the zebras, we saw a few flocks of turkeys, javalina, hawks and deer. Unfortunately we counted over 25 dead deer on the road in a about 125 mile stretch. Could never live in El Paso, but San Antonio wasn't bad.

The border crossing this morning was pretty much a non-event....one we figured out where to go. Things were going really smooth until we hit Tampico...OMG! Jimmy Buffet has a song called, Tampico Trauma....and that is exactly what we experienced. Really big city, small one way streets and very little signage. After about 2 hours of driving in traffic there we finally made it out alive.. and on to the highway. The roads are really slow going; plus with the Tampico business, we didn't get as far as we had liked. We called it a day in the city of Tuxpan, on the coast. Eleven hours in the truck was my limit today.

The scenery was awesome, from farmland to banana trees and a huge abandoned moss covered church in the middle of the semi-jungle. Unfortunately, no pictures today....maybe tomorrow. It is hard to take them from the truck.

Onward and southward
Karen

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Leaving Phoenix Saturday

Well, all the paperwork is in order, the truck is Mexico ready complete with speed-o-meter calibration. The next few days will be spent packing and getting last minute things together. John is working hard on the rebreathers as they are now headed south also.

The date of departure has been scheduled for Saturday morning....when we head south and east toward the great state of Texas...whoop whoop.

Stay tuned.

Karen