AzTek Divers Diving Adventures

So it has been almost a year since....

2011-11-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

I updated the blog. We are back in Mexico for two weeks. I like being down here at Thanksgiving...not sure where we are eating yet on the actuall holiday, but I look forward to it just the same. Worse case, I will have chicken and re-brand it turkey for the meal!

Was here in April but didn't blog at all. Diving, slow internet and sitting on the beach interfered with blogging schedule.

So what the heck have we been doing for 3 days? Well, we had an awesome welcome to Mexico meal at Casa Cenote, an over two hour shakedown dive in Chan Hol day 1, dinner at the Pub in Puerto, a lazy Sunday with BBQ, margaritas, and friends at Casa Cenote again, and I was able to encroach on some friends (thanks Peter, Lynne and Ben) and join them for diving in Maya Blue today.

Our plan is to finally get into Camillo tomorrow to do a shakedown dive on the rebreathers. That was the plan today, but John took a nasty fall with a stage before the Chan Hol dive and he landed his bony arse on a very sharp rock...not to mention his head on the tank, so he wasn't up for a 5 hour dive today. So he relaxed, fixed stuff around the room...very important things like the toilet, water pressure, and a leaky water container. One thing about Mexico is there is always something and if you get all bent out of shape about it ...well, you all know what happens...nothing good, so just go with the flow....or lack of if we are talking about our toilet...hahaa.

Anyway, I went away and had a nice dive today at Mayan Blue (a cave system south of Tulum). It may very well have been the busiest cave diving parking lot I have seen in a long time. Cool thing was, once you got past the line to get into the cenote, we actually didn't see any divers on the dive except our team. That may have been because the guy running the line took us through a little known crack to get to the main line in B tunnel. All I can say is that was way cool, and we had a really nice beautiful dive. Back at the cenote, there again was a line of divers to exit but we were at the front and beat feet through the light rain to de-kit ourselves of gear.

Ton of sidemount divers, that practice is really taking off. Ya kinda feel old school in doubles, but I can live with that.

Well, I have to get to work on gear if we are going to go tomorrow....pull my weight and all that :)

Happy Monday everyone...at least it is down in Quintana Roo (for my non-diving friends, that is the state of Mexico where Cancun, Tulum, Akumal and Puerto are located).

Karen

Diving...sort of

2010-12-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

We haven't dove in about a week...ailmets or equipment is to blame. But today we headed out to the Ranch to dive Cenote Muchachos in System Camillo. Yesterday we had physical issues so although we didn't dive, we ventured out to the Ranch to make sure they were open and do a bit of recon. Lucky for us there were some workers there and I spoke to them about diving tomorrow...which was today. No Problemo!

So we arrived at 9:15 am and had no problem getting in. Geared up with rebreathers, and scooters and began our very short dive. Guess what...equipment issue again. O-ring problem which was letting water into my rebreather, so we called the dive soon after we sorted everything out and were ready to hit the trigger. I asked John to check my rebreather...leak. Done. Headed out.

Out we went. Spoke to workers, we will be going in tomorrow early. Rebreather is fixed, gear is all set up and staying loaded in car for early departure.

Wish us luck as we only have less than a week and it seems we have hardly dove. No complaints here though, and there is a return trip scheduled for Jan when John starts his FM3 resident visa saga again.

Global Underwater Explorer Conference

2010-12-07T14:23:00.000-08:00

The Global Underwater Explorers conference was last weekend in Mexico. We abandoned our room for the weekend to check into the Hotel Catalonia Tulum, where the conference was being held. We had never stayed in an "all-inclusive" before and I have to say, it wasn't that bad. Others had commented that the Catalonia is a smaller property than some of the others in the area and that may make a difference. Anyway, it was a nice change of scenery for a few days....

The conference had some informative and interesting presentations. A few of my favorites were: Cenotes in Maya Ideology by Dominique Rissolo; Researching Shipwrecks/Locating and Surveying using Sidescan and ROV's by Richard Lundgren: Guadalcanal by Liam Allen; Remote Sensing and GIS by Sam Meacham and Why Sidemount by Steve Bogaertes. There were others that were equally interesting but these were my favorites.

There was alot of social time during the weekend and that was fun too. As a side note, I won one of the silent auctions so I now have a really nice Silentplanet heated vest....yeahh for me! Can't wait to try it at the lake over the holidays with my dry gloves that I haven't had a chance to try yet either,

The conference ended on Sunday at Chikin Ha with a BBQ, and some workshops. I had never been to Chikin Ha cenote and I will have to go back to dive. Since I had signed up for some workshops, John and I decided not to dive. Also, the fact that we closed the Pub in Puerto the night before may have had something to do with that. In signing up for the line workshop, you might scratch your head...since I already run line. But I wanted a refresher, which turned out geat since I was the only one signed up and John and I got to spend about 30 minutes with Christophe Le Malliot asking him whatever we wanted. Chris is a GUE instructor and a avid cave exlporer. It was well worth it. The other workshop was an intro to survey conducted by Fred Devos, another GUE instructor and cave exlporer. He always does a great job and we learn something new from him everytime we talk. I just need to talk John into taking the 5 day class...or just take it on my own.

The workshop ended as we were about to lose daylight...and for the last 15 minutes of the class we were dodging bats and I am not kidding. They were flying around right through us. Fred finally agreed that the mosquitos would start coming out and we may get swarmed before we could get back to our cars....so the day ended. lots of folks were still diving, but we said our goodbye's and beat feet.

We headed back to Tulum and had a nice hamburgesa de res right in front of our room, which was nice because John and I were both really tired and just wanted to get some sleep.

Until tomorrow....here are some more pictures of Chickin Ha. There are more than 1 cenote in the Chickin Ha area, however, I don't remember which one is which....but they are all nice. And an altar at the back of one of the cenote areas.

BBQ, diving, and spiders...oh my

2010-11-30T12:12:00.000-08:00

Not diving today so I thought I would update the blog. Last I posted we were headed to, a BBQ at Bil Philips house. The BBQ was lots of fun and the food was even better. Grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, and potatoes...mmmmmm. Bil is such a character and I really enjoy talking to him....picture someone who would use the term "cats" in reference to people and you get the idea of colorful scenic language. He told us about the Playa Del Carmen Jazz Festival he attended....I think next year I would like to come down early enough to attend! It sounded fantastic. We met alot of people and got re-aquainted with some we already knew.

As what usually happens when I attend dinner events involving drinks and divers, I found myself a new dive buddy for the following day. A girl from Poland had just completed her cave class and was looking for a buddy...John had to work on gear the next day so I was free to dive.....and John had to be our chauffer because she didn't have a car and I can't drive the truck. I took her to the Room of Tears as I thought she would enjoy the restrictions and it is a nice cave. We entered in Zacil-Ha (luke's hope) and had a really nice dive.

Two things worth mentioning...on our way to the dive site we had to stop at 7-11 for some water and ran Alex A from Tulum. As Marta, the gal from Poland, was exiting the truck...Alex asked, "Is that your daughter?" OMG! That is all I have to say about that.

And the other thing, on our dive we were heading out...Marta was in front and she came to the line going through a restriction. She looked at me and motioned "not sure how to get through there" so we switched positions and I told her to follow me. We had a laugh about it afterward. She told me I had no bones and I told her she was a good cave diver for day 1 post cave cert. She said she likes the small stuff now and I was glad she had a good dive and got to see some nice cave outside of class. I like the small cave too.

No diving today because I forgot that after a rebreather dive, I need a day off...too much congestion, but instead I went diving. So I had to take today off. Tomorrow we hope to go to Camillo on the rebreathers and retrieve our safety bottles. The gear is ready to go.

And here is a scorpion spider that was in our room....I took a picture. It was the 3rd one....two of them died.

Shake out Rebreather Dive

2010-11-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

We decided not to go to Gran Cenote to sort out the new rebreather config with small tanks and went instead to Carwash Cenote. Wise choice as we had it to ourselves and tons of people were at Gran.

Here is a picture of the Cenote. Word in the jungle is that there is a 3ft (1 meter) croc living in the cenote. Some Cave 2 students saw it the other day on during their swim test...yikes. I was looking but did not find it...thankfully.

We put on our rebreathers and ran line to the main line...for our cave diving friends...the line is moved. It is about 100ft closer than it was before and is not hidden behind the outcropping rock. Rebreathers are a tool....I keep telling myself that. The good news is I didn't hate them today and was able to exhale easier to prevent chipmunk cheeks when going up a hill in the cave. It still takes a bunch of work because you have to make buoyancy adjustements all the time...and I mean all the time. You can't use your breathe and lungs to control it...you must use your wing (inflation device) and your drysuit.

Anyway, it was a nice 2 hour dive...we main lined it until it got to small and them jumped off to the Room of Tears again until it was time to turn and go home.

Here is some photos of us in our rebreather get up...we tried small tanks this time. John worked really hard to configure these bad boys and his efforts paid off. We are still hoping we will not need them for Camillo and can fit through the hole in that cave using the big tanks. Time will tell.

We are off to a BBQ in Tulum. We got invited but said we didn't want to crash the party, but Bil Philips insisted. Should be fun. The Czecks (who are exploring a ton of cave down here) will be there. Bil said, "come for burnt chicken" and we can't pass that up. Especially from Bil.

Shake Out Dive

2010-11-28T06:33:00.000-08:00

Saturday we set out to do out first dive of the trip. That includes finding all the gear in the room, and checking it out to make sure there are no spiders in the regulators! As usual, we ran into some obstacles. The first was that the tanks we have are in Fernando's shop and he is in Mexico City...no problem we got those out...but they were not full. The guy who fills doesn't show up until 4pm so that option was out...luckily Zero Gravity has this really cool fill station that is now up an running, so the plan was to beat feet down there. We will also check with Xibalba to see if they fill on demand.

Our third hurdle was remembering where we keep the key that opens up the case with our primary lights in it...hard to dive without those. We go through this every time and last time we specifically came up with a solution which we would always remember....hahaaaa. We remembered but it took awhile. Finally gear was loaded and off we went to get fills and afternoon diving....lunch at Cas Cenote first, sans maragitas because we were diving..only Coca lights.

Our first dive was in Zacil (the back part of Carwash). They had a birthday fiesta going on but they caretaker said we could dive...so we provided a bit of the entertainment apparently. We choose to go to the Room of Tears and maybe to Dreamland which is really cool and tannic. As a first dive it is great because you have to work all the time and fine tune your buoyancy quickly....plus it is a really nice cave. We ended up not going to Dreamland, but took the T to the left, then another T to the right, then another T to the left until we hit the end of the line.

Mission accomplished, we are back in the caves!

On to rebreather shakedown dive tomorrow at Gran Cenote.

On a side note, each day we drive by Camillo and the gates are open....could be a good sign as Fernando said he could not get ahold of the owner.

Another side note; there are new owners to the hamburger stand in front of Fernando's. We chose to eat there last night. Burgers are really good grilled over charcoal and they grill vegetables and potatoes too. Quite a feast for very few pesos....and really tasty. The girl is from Spain and the guy is from Mexico, it is fun talking to people from other countries. Apparently Spain is in a bit of an ecomonic crisis as well.

Happy Sunday, we are going diving!!

Made it to Tulum

2010-11-26T09:20:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Tulum late afternoon on Thanksgiving Day! Unloaded our cargo and headed over to Puerto Aventuras for a Turkey dinner and to meet up with some people we know. The 6:30 seating was full so we had to wait until 8pm....not so bad as it allowed time for a margarita or 2 at the Pub.

Fun time. Ran into some folks we knew (lamont and Jen) and had a nice Thanksgiving meal. I also learned (I kinda already knew), that the class I had signed up for was definately not going to go because there isn't enough students. Ran into the instructor at Cafe Ole and met him in person. Cool guy. Hopefully, I can arrange some one on one training while I am here...or more than one training.

We spent John's birthday sorting out the room nad had a nice lunch at the Mezzanine. Tomorrow we dive!

Across the border and into Mexico

2010-11-23T17:59:00.000-08:00

We crossed the border at Brownesville into Mexico at 6am. No issues at all with immigration...we were bracing ourselves for the worst. Last April when we drove the truck out, we got in the wrong line and literally... just drove across the border without having anything stamped or turning anything in...who knew? Anyway, we were a bit worried about that. John learned a new rule about the FM3. Apparently, you can't stay out of Mexico for over 6 months...you must return within that timeframe. The officer was really nice about explaning the rule and also since there was no stamp to prove when we left...John got to keep his FM3. We know the rules now :)

This leg was long but uneventful. There was a particular song, "shakedown street" by the Grateful Dead that was ringing in my head after Tampico. Yep, we got shaken down by the policia. The funny part was, there was absolutely no pretense....we want money for drinks was what was said. John said "no" followed by "no ingles" and then they shifted over to me. I gave them a few pesos (ok...$100 pesos) we went on our way and I am sure the traffic behind us was greatful since the "road stop" disappeared after the contribution.

One last thing, if you ever get to Tuxpan, Mexico....the Holiday Inn is awesome. Tuxpan is a really neat place because it is right on the river and the Holiday Inn has great rooms, fast reliable internet, stunning views of the river and really cool lighting both inside and out. We used to stay at the Best Western here....Holiday is has that beat hands down.

On to Villahermosa tomorrow.... diggity diggity

The journey has begun

2010-11-21T17:52:00.000-08:00

We made it to Ft Stockton, TX safe and sound. On to Brownsville tomorrow morning and if all goes well, we will be crossing into Mexico first thing Tuesday morning. Two days across Texas and three days through Mexico to our final destination, Tulum.

We were home less than 24 hours before we started this roadtrip, having just returned from Vegas where we attended the DEMA show (Trade show for SCUBA). That was a blast... seeing all the "scuba celebrities", friends, new equipment, and just overall fun. No rest for the weary!

Preparing to head back down to Tulum

2010-11-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

We are busy getting ready for another trip down to Mexico, driving the truck back down. Last April we drove it back to the US as it needed some work. Truck is repaired and very soon to be Mexico ready. John already got the new sticker at the Mexican consulate....which is so awesome, I can't even tell you.

We are making a pact to have more pictures and less writing for our Fall 2010 trip blog. Sometimes though, diving, margaritas, friends and food get in the way of our "pacts".

We will also be attending the GUE (Global Underwater Explorers) conference during our stay. Also heading back to Camillo for more exploration and survey ....should be a great trip.

Keep checking for updates.

Rain Rain Go Away

2010-04-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

It has been rainig for the last 2 days. Unfortunately the weather report doesn't say it will stop anytime soon. It was a torrential downpour yeaterday. But today has some sunny spots so far.

We were supposed to do our last dive in Camillo yesterday, to pick up our safety bottles that are still there, remove some jumps and check out the new lead. Good to go right......Nope! Once again our plans were foiled by the land owner. She changed the lock....we had the key, but she changed the lock....really? Long story but the short version is she didn't want us in anymore, and thought we were letting other people in and not telling her. We paid her for the 6 people we took in there one day, but she got confused because she or her son let other people in that day also. Confusing day for her equals no access for us...apparently. Fernando went over and spoke to her, gave her back the key and now we have to go in on Saturday.....not what we had hoped for, but at least we can get back in. Fernando told us we should not let people in without calling her first....since she speaks no English and really fast Spanish, I am not sure that would work out so well....but next time we will do that.

On Monday we went on an excursion with Danny and some other folks to Yax Chen. Yax Chen is a cenote and one of the entrances to the Ox Bel Ha cave system that the Zero Gravity guys and MCEP (Mexico Cave Exploration Project) are exploring. The cave system is really interesting and neat. There are so many centoes that you really only ever go 20 minutes through cave before you get to another one. The cave does not have the magnificant decorations that other caves in the area have, but it was still a neat dive. A great scooter cave for next time. We swam alot for a total dive time of about 2.5 hours...maybe 3...I have to check. One of the coolest parts was a section called the Milky Way. It was a Hydrogen Sulfide layer that looks like a witches cauldron brewing.....it creates a visual distrubabnce that is really cool. Plus if you look at some areas there are "milk ribbons" that are floating in the water. It was really specatular. We also saw a few tarpon in the cenotes. I would go back to this cenote again......with a scooter.

We have been attending the nightly seminars at Zero Gravity. They have been really great. There was one on video, one on the Ox Bel Ha exploration and last night was on some wrecks in Canada and some in Australia. The Australia presentation was done using Microsoft PowerPoint 2010....that had some great features. The Australian who presented works for Microsoft and said it will be available soon. He said if the presentation tanked he could wow us with the graphics and technology. It didn't tank....:)

Only a few days left until we start our drive back to the States.

And now for a few pictures

2010-04-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

Some pictures:

John on the way to Zamas Restaurant.

Almost there! They still hold the #1 spot for strongest margaritas....we did another test.

Street in front of Fernado's house, where we stay. You can see the brick grill that used to be used to cook really good hamburgers. It now sits dormant....so sad.

John entering the "compound" with our laundry. This is a side door to get to the room we rent from Fernando.

Once inside the "compound". Our room is around the corner by the dive area.

Lunch at Casa Cenote after the Camillo kick dive. John is wearing one of his new mosquito repellant shirts...."repels mosquitos up to 70 washings". I love the pinatas.

Camillo kick dive.....yes it is true.

2010-04-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

We dove Camillo today, but not an exploration dive. We actually, hold on to your hats.....did a kick dive without the rebreathers. Here is how it went down...there are a bunch of folks down here for the GUE Mexico Fun Event and we have the key to the Ranch and they wanted to dive Camillo. Plus one of the guys is doing some photo documentation of the cave system for us. The Global Underwaters Explorers Fun Event was an impromptu event set up by two GUE instructors with the help of Zero Gravity. There are about 30 people down here doing different diving and excursions. So there were 8 divers today heading off in different directions of the cave. it was nice to do a kick dive and poke my head into some holes when we usually just scooter on by to get to our destination.

Tomorrow we are doing an "excursion dive" with Danny and some other people to a cenote called Yaxchen....it is part of the Ox Bel Ha system (currently the longest system in Mexico). On Tuesday or Wed we will go back into Camillo when I get to check out the lead I saw and run the reel. I hope it goes a long ways!!!

The seminar we heard on Friday was an update on the WKPP (Woodville Karst Plains Project-they hold the world record for the longest/deepest cave dive) by Mark Messersmith. It was really interesting, the Powerpoint showed some numbers that are truly staggering. Each rebreather diver spends about $85,000 on gear, a big push dive costs about $10,000, the dive was 28 hours long, and there were a bunch more.....these guys are hard core. Mark talked about doing deco in Turner Sink where you can't even see your buddy because of the silt, so you put your computer right up to your face and tap your buddy on the arm when it is time to switch gas...this went on for hours. The result of these dives showed the Florida State Government how important the spring water is, how fast it travels, and the time they thought the sewage leach fields was taking to get there was actually much faster......they thought years and it turned out to be 32 hours. Guess what sewage treatment plant got moved after that discovery! Anyway, it was really interesting.

It was announced today that the 2010 GUE Conference will be in Mexico this year....I hope we can go!!!

Camillo survey updated ....new lead

2010-04-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

We dove Camillo again on Wednesday. The plan was to place labelled markers on the lines we have surveyed so far and also survey the last bit of line we laid. While John was doing the survey, my job was to look for new leads. Dive went really well, my scooter still stuck on a few times and didn't go a few tmes, but the weighting was good and I could deal with the rest.

John completed a bit over 700ft of survey, labelled markers were put on all the lines (except 1), still don't know what kind of bones are back there....and I found a new possible lead. The good news is that the lead is "going in the right direction". We exited the cave at 4.5 hours.

One of the things I have been working on is the technique to carry my own scooter....yippee I finally got it thanks to some coaching from John. I can carry it down, but not back up yet....half the battle.

Here is a picture for proof.

We decided to go to Puerto Aventuras for dinner since we knew we wouldn't be diving the next day....at least that is what we thought before we ran into some people after dinner. Cafe Ole is still a fun place to have dinner; they have great pies and also sometimes live music. ...plus good margaritas. Tonight the owner's band was playing and during break this Frank Sinatra impersonator got up. I have to say, before he started singing I had my doubts. This guy was good. We finished dinner and took a walk around the dolphin pools, I mean jails...someone used that term and it has just stuck....dolphin jails.

We ran into some of our friends from the Pacific Northwest along with some other folks from Canada....and joined them for margaritas. Over the course of catching up, it turned out I was going diving with them in Gran Cenote the following day.

I did two dives in Gran Cenote while John got our gear ready and blended gas.

After one of our dives, we ran into Fred (another one of the owners from Zero Gravity) who let us know about an impromptu seminar on Mayan Archeology that night....heck yeah we will be there....7:30pm at ZG. Since we didn't leave the Gran Cenote until 5pm it was going to be a rush to have dinner and get there....but we up to it.

Cenote Found...but no exit yet

2010-04-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Me walking down trail to Cenote with rebreather

We dove Sistema Camillo on Friday...the dive was successful but not without some obstacles. Our gear was loaded in the truck the night before, we made it to the Ranch the next morning at the record time of 8:30....that's AM. We had the key so no worries....right? It is always something, as we drove up to the gate there was a white truck sans driver blocking our entrance. John got out of the truck and opened the gate....until the point the gate opened, the guys on the other side were ignoring us. I walked in to talk to them...after introductions the man told me "we have a problem", in Spanish. I didn't catch if the truck was broken down or it just wasn't his to move....either way we did have a problem. He ended up getting inside while John and I pushed it up hill and through the gate out of our way, so we could pass. At one point, it was just me pushing the truck and the man inside started laughing...which made me start in too.

Once that was out of the way, another road block. Are you friggin' kidding me! The structure that used to be the chicken coop is now apparently a palapa for painting automobiles. There was a newly painted gold surburban with newspaper covering the windows and lights in the road now. No problem, another guy finally moved it enough for us to pass. Home free and off to the cenote!

The dive ended up being 4.5 hours long. We made it to the new portion of the cave and also found the elusive cenote...unfortunately it appears to be a breakdown area and we could not see an exit ...or leaves or fish that might indicate an opening. We did run a bunch of new line that intersected with some of our old line....in two places. At first we thought we had made a connection because the line we ran across had a old yellow arrow that we did not recognize...unfortunately it ended up being one that Fernando had put down without our knowledge so it threw us off....DRAT!!! And that was not the word that actually went through my mind when we figured it out. Defiantely not what John exclaimed when he figured it out....I heard him underwater...hahaaa. At 2.5 hours, I turned the dive. The rebreather started tasting funny and the head games started...so I wanted out...plus I had 2 spools to reel up since John had re-layed primary line.

The area we are in now should be renamed "The Bone Room", because of all the bones that are on the ground. Tomorrow when we go in to survey the line we layed, I will make an effort to try to identify if the bones are man or beast...probably beast. We originally named the line "Dance Hall" because of the large flat clay surface, too much trouble to re-label it...so it stays Dance Hall...where you can dance your bones out.

On the way out, John and I didn't do a good job of communicating. I thought he was having trouble so I wanted him to go first. He would have none of that. I kept instisting until I got the finger....yeah, that finger. Fine, I'll lead out...and the horse you rode in on...MR! What I didn't know was this.....the scooter was sticking on 90% of the time. Let me go back....John re-built my scooter and changed the batteries. That changed the weighting drastically....my scooter was a freakin' cork...terrible to dive. In fact, I was about to call the dive when John said, give it to me....I'll drive it. I happily turned it over....if I didn't the dive would have been over...it was that much a PIA to drive. So he was driving my scooter, and the darn thing was sticking on. He wanted me in front because if it silted the place out, we would rather have it behind us than in front of us. Of course, I didn't know about the sticking on business until the end of the dive. We have now come up with a "scooter sticking on" signal since it seems to be a regular occurance.

We exited the cave at around 4.5 hours and despite the obstacles the dive was enjoyable. We have plans to go back tomorrow to survey, drop some marked arrows (with the line names), and give one last check that there is no exit....oh yeah, and look at the bones.

Hope everyone had a nice Easter. Our Easter brunch consisted of Texas BBQ and margaritas while looking at the ocean from Casa Cenote.

Can't wait to see what the Ranch will throw at us tomorrow! I'll get busy with taking picture to post.

View from table at Casa Cenote on Easter.

Restaurant Review: Elemental -thumbs up

2010-04-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

Tonight we walked down the street about 1 block and had dinner at a restaurant called Elemental. We have had breakfast and one lunch there...both really good, but never dinner. They are known for their fresh vegetables and fruits....but little did we know we have a new winner for best mango margarita....OMG, and they are big! And these one's count...the one's at Lol Ha do not....according to John. John had a version of a sushi roll and I had a rice noodle curry with vegetables. The sushi roll was rolled in a tortilla instead of rice, sounds weird but it was really good. I tried it. The curry was awesome...plus the owners are really nice. We ate at the Italian place next door last night and while they have good bolognese sauce for the spaghetti...the lasagna was just ok. And the owners always seem grumpy....all of them.

We ordered a margarita and the owner responded with...."may I make a suggestion". If the owner says that... you better darn well listen. He suggested we try one of their fruity margaritas....mango was what we chose tonight...and it was fabulous...along with the meal. New favorite restaurant, and I have many!

Normally we would not have a drink before a big dive day (a new rule)...however, tomorrow is not one of those. John spent all day rebuilding my scooter. Remember I mentioned in the last post my scooter was sticking on. What I didn't mention was that at the end of the dive it was a total dog on the way out and I was thinking it would grind to a halt any second. John tested the whole thing and pulled it all apart. He finally got to the root of the problem, and it is partially put together but has to be vacuum tested overnight....so no diving tomorrow. Plus the rebreathers aren't loaded....and the mango margarita side tracked the progress.

Good thing I sent my resume off to some folks today as we may be needing to look into those new Zuexo scooters....which would require more work to finance.

But I am sure we will come up with a plan B for tomorrow.....

Camillo Dive...finally

2010-04-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

We made it back from Cozumel. We had to do some logistic changes. The Cozumel Ferry website said there was an 8am ferry back to Playa, as sometimes happens in Mexico, there was no 8am ferry...just a 9am one. That put our friends Kim and Shirley crunched for time if they were to make their flight. So we adjusted...you always have to have a plan B and not just in Mexico... and we took a bus back to Tulum while they took one to the airport.

The remainder of Tuesday we spend preparing for our dive in the next day in Sistema Camillo (the cave we are exploring).

Wednesday, we headed off to the Ranch bright and early. We found the gate already open and back in the Cenote there was already a truck there....a Zero Gravity truck. Danny, the cave explorer and one of the owners of Zero Gravity was already there. We talked briefly and started getting ready for our dive.

The first dive of any trip always comes with some apprehension, even though this was not the first dive of the trip, it was the first rebreather dive of the trip. The dive went well and even though we didn't get to where we wanted to go, we had a good solid set up dive. Not bad considering, my scooter stuck on 2 times. One was really bad in that I had to aim it at the cave wall so I could get it to stop. I didn't want to break the cable on the trigger so John came over to move the magnet. I have had them stick on before, but not like this...high speed it was!! And my new favorite saying was appropriate....Mr Toad's wide ride through the halocline. We also ran a helium drive through the rebreathers to see if it would ease the work of breathing...I think it did but the gas consumption wasn't what we were expecting.

Friday we go back in with more breathing gas, and the plan is to find the darn elusive cenote. On a side note, I saw a bunch of petrified shells I hadn't noticed before in the limestone way back in the cave...that was cool. Danny said he will also be there...oh good...more performance anxiety for me. I may have used up the breathing gas last time while I was putting in the jumps to the Black Forest line ...kept picturing Danny critiquing my line...oy! We left the jumps in, so I shouldn't have that problem on Friday...only have to worry about rebreather buoyancy and getting the switchblock tangled in the line. LOL.

Hopefully tomorrow we will have news of the elusive cenote...or a plan B.

License to chill....and I believe I will

2010-03-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Dock where boats pick us up to go diving and Beach club where we sat a few days ago and enjoyed a cocktail. Dock needs some quick repairs after today's wind and the Beach Club had water everywhere.....suffice it to say, no diving on Cozumel today.

The line from a Jimmy Buffet song sums it up pretty well...here is what has been going on since I last wrote.

John was supposed to pick up the key to the Ranch on Thursday and we were going to do a big dive. The key wasn't ready, so the Senora told us to come back manana...not too surprising. No diving in Camillo that day. Instead, Kim and I went for a dive at Dos Palmas. Nice cave, way more flow than expected...going in we were kicking our legs off and coming out it was like Mr Toad's wild ride...not exactly but you get the idea. That was Thursday.

Friday we headed to Cozumel for a few days of ocean diving. John had never been there, and for our scuba friends...yes you read it right...John finally agreed to go to Cozumel. Before we left, we went to the Senora's house in an another attempt to pick up the key.....luck was with us and she handed t over. As a side note, as to why having the key is such a big deal.....she goes to Merida around Easter. No key, means possibly no access to dive the cave we are exploring. Key equals access whenever we want. We now hae the key for the duration of our stay.

Back to Cozumel, we did 4 dives....3 were awesome, 1 was ok. We saw 2 white marlin on our descent during the last dive....that was awesome!!

Today we were supposed to go diving but Mother Nature and the Wind, had other plans. Tomorrw we return to Tulum. Very relaxing jaunt over to the island....and I think John even had a good time. And for the record, the cruise ships don't dock in Coz on Sunday's.

Until next time.

Pet Cemetary and the Abyss

2010-03-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday , Butch, Lynn, Kim and I dove the Abyss . The Abyss is part of the Nohoch system even though the entrance by car is through the Dos Ojos system. Anyway, it was a great dive and here are some photos. Pet Cemetary is the name of the cenote and the Abyss is the name of the room that we travelled to.

Lynn Heading down the hole.

View looking up out of the hole.

Kim, Me and Lynn standing on platform down in the hole. Butch is taking the photo. The platform stands over a beutiful centote. We didn't dive from this spot. We started our dive at another entrance in the same area. The next photo are the steps down to the cenote.....I am glad we didn't bring scooters as I am sure I would have fell down the steps and ended up injured!

View from where we started our dive.

The goal was to get to the Abyss. Three jumps and 54 minutes later we were at the Abyss. The Abyss is a huge room that is very deep. It is like you entered into a huge sinkhole....you can't see the bottom. There is a halocline (salt water mixing with freshwater causing a visual distortion)present that distorts the view and makes it that much more spectaclular. Truly impressive!

Tomorrow we are supposed to do a big dive in Camillo, but first we have to pick up the key. That was the land owner relations John was working on. Maybe it will be a go and maybe it won't...only time will tell.

Made it to Tulum and other first day ramblings

2010-03-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

We made it to Tulum yesterday, thanks to our friend Kim and the Atos (a small car) we didn't have to take the bus. We weren't sure our bags, us and Shirley would fit in the car....Kim was right, we all fit....amazing.

The Room was exactly as we had left it. So far no wolf spiders have shown their hairy little faces. We had our arrival dinner at Buenos Aires, the usual first night in town dinner spot. The magaritas are still wonderful.

John and I did not dive today as we wanted to get gear all set up and had some stuff to pick up at Zero Gravity (a dive shop in the area owned by some great cave explorers and educators). Kim, Butch and Lynn dove Cenote Del Mar by the the Tulum Beach. Sounded like fun; I will dive with them tomorrow. I heard about the dive over a "chayagra" drink at Don Cafeto's. Chaya is a green leafy plant kinda like spinach that is grown in the area. The "agra" part was a mystery but I found out it is a mixture of fruit juices...pineapple and lime and maybe some cucumber. It is awesome, today was my first time drinking it...thanks for the recommendation Lynn. Supposedly it is loaded with vitamins...and I could always use more of those.

We also learned that on Monday, Felipe Calderon (el Presidente de Mexico) himself was in the Tulum. He wa here to dedicate or survey the site of the new Tulum airport. From a selfish standpoint, I was hoping it wouldn't go in....more on that later.

Tomorrow I will be diving with Butch, Lynn and Kim to the Abyss. John has some land owner relations to tend to.

Resurrecting the blog...headed South

2010-03-21T21:47:00.001-07:00

We are heading back to Mexico in a few days. More diving, more adventures, restaurant reviews, and maybe even more pictures...if I remember the camera. Flying down and driving the truck back...stay tuned Karen

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

2009-04-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-04-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-04-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

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"

2009-03-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-03-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-03-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-07T19:34:00.001-08:00

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:

.
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

2009-03-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-05T19:12:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

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!!

2009-03-03T18:43:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-01T19:03:00.000-08:00

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"

2009-02-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-26T17:53:00.000-08:00

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".

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

2009-02-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-24T20:08:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-24T08:23:00.000-08:00

%(*#^(*#&*!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

2009-02-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

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"

2009-02-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-02-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-02-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-02-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

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.

Brownsville border crossing

2009-02-09T18:25:00.000-08:00

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

Leaving Phoenix Saturday

2009-02-04T13:34:00.000-08:00

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

Getting ready to head South again

2009-01-25T06:53:00.000-08:00

We are heading back down to Mexico soon. The date of our departure and return are still up in the air....as is everything else with the economy today. We have paper work to file at the consolate and some other things to get ready....but we plan to be there by mid Feb. This trip we are driving to Tulum....so that will be a whole sperate adventure.

The blog will be resurrected!

Back in Phoenix

2008-04-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we are back in Phoenix safe and sound. A bit depressed but also glad to be at our other home :) I am going to keep the blog to post our scuba adventures.

Thanks to everyone for their comments and emails, it made it feel like we were not so far away.

A few parting pics from the month:

John and Karen

Only 1 day left and a travel day

2008-03-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back in Phx on Tuesday!

Karen and John

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

2008-03-26T15:38:00.001-07:00

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

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

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

Nohoch Cenote (Giant birdcage)

2008-03-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

Hi,

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

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

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

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

Less than 1 week left on our Mexico vacation.

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

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

Below is his photo.

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

The excitemet made for interesting discussions on the drive home.

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

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

Hope everyone is doing well.

Karen and John

The "BIG DIVE"...heeeheee

2008-03-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

Karen and John

Set up Dive No. 3 completed

2008-03-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until Later,

Karen and John

2 set-up dives completed

2008-03-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Karen and John

Past 4 days and other ramblings

2008-03-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Four newly worked on scooters!

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

Miss everyone.

Karen and John

Line skills and the 'Monster Room'

2008-03-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

It was a great day.

Day 1 Scooter Workshop

2008-03-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

More Chan Hol and a bit of History

2008-03-10T18:51:00.001-07:00

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

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

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

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

Anyway...enough for now. Karen

Sunday New Cenote

2008-03-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

View from inside apartment

2008-03-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

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

Karen's New Diet

2008-03-07T18:20:00.000-08:00

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

Hope to see my friends again

JS

More Chan Hol and Lithium Sunset

2008-03-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

So ends our first week in Mexico

Chan-hol and Puerto Adventuras

2008-03-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

Tomorrow's dive is still a mystery.

First few days

2008-03-05T08:10:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

Made it to Tulum

2008-02-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

Well we made it safe and sound to Tulum. Only the usual rental car fiasco. For those not familiar with the usual rental car scenario, it goes something like this. You rent a specific car, you get there and that specific car is not available, but they have other cars and try to "upgrade you". Unfortunately we are picky because we need a specific size and height of car to carry our stuff with enough clearance to go over the bad roads. Anyway, we are returning to Cancun on Saturday to get a bigger one...and cross our fingers it is there.

That aside, Posada Luna del Sur (the hotel) was great. And we had our celebratory arrival dinner at a restaurant in Tulum.

Now the real work starts of cleaning up our room at Fernando's for the duration of our stay. And the adventure today is to buy a mattress in Playa del Carmen and other stuff we need....so no diving today.

Getting ready...

2008-02-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

Rather than go todo incommunicado for the next month we decided to post updates and adventures here in case family would like to see what we are up to. The itinerary is still in the planning stages so keep checking for updates.