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.
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.
1 comment:
This is Great Stuff, Karen!!! You've told me some of these stories, but there is nothing like the real-time notes from the front. Thank you for taking the time to describe all this day-by-day.
Bodacious dives, you two!!!
Post a Comment