Full Cave Training in Cozumel

[cavemn]

Day 4

We start early 7 am from German's casa. We are off to the fill station then Cenote C1. We have to dive with Jay again. Three of us ride in German's truck. Jay gets to follow in his Jeep.

We arrive somewhere between Km 9 and 10 and park along side the road. We gear up and hike about 200M through narrow jungle trying not to snag equipment or fall. We get to a tannic little pool after a few minutes. This is our hole. We get into the water for a quick dive briefing. No primary line to run!

Kirk leads off then me followed by Jay. Everything is silted over. We try not to mess up the vis as we enter. The first run we are running more jumps hitting T's, Y's and tracking time depth and air. I think our max depth was 17'. Judging by the ceilings and size of the rooms there cannot be more than a couple meters between us and the surface. Jay keeps running into me. We get to a very low overhead and I am using the Spiderman technique to stay out the silt. Jay, well...you can probably fill in the blank, but not really bad. As we progress I notice we hit over 30 minutes as if it were 5. Some of the rooms are huge. The shelves extending from the walls are covered with a layer of dark silt. We return as Kirk pulls the lines. Dive goes very well. 500 psi in and 300 out.

Next dive is unconscious diver. Kirk goes first as I play dead. I switch to my backup reg and let the primary hang. I also let my light fall, but not so much it bangs on the floor or silt. My turn and I must drag Kirk back in against a very minor flow. It's akward and difficult. I burn some air but get to my destination.

Third dive is lights out drill with a team of 3. All goes well and we are out quickly considering we pass a couple of Y's. Steve and his wife Judy are there to greet us. They are laying some new line in the cave.

We return to German's as Layne and Gordon arrive. It's off to El Sazon de Cammaron just around the corner for some great shrimp tacos and an amazing Habanero sauce.

 

[Zinc]

That's a sweet dive. So very cool to really practice your buoyancy in the shallow water column plus see how far your air supply will last under 20 feet

Great job guys, keep the posts coming.

 

[rakpix]

We have a visitor named Jay who claims to be an instructor. Kirk thinks not. Jay seems more interested in getting laid than diving.

how does one "get laid" in a cave ?_? what happens beyond the daylight zone, stays beyond the daylight zone ...

 

[cavemn]

how does one "get laid" in a cave ?_? what happens beyond the daylight zone, stays beyond the daylight zone ...

Evan, this is not something to joke about. My point is that we have no choice but to dive with an idiot who is not focused on the cave. It makes for a dangerous situation. It's bad enough the cave is trying to kill us at every chance. There's no reason to bring in something or someone in this case to help the cave.

 

[cavemn]

This should be Day 6

Today starts at 7:30. We get an extra half hour of sleep. We are diving Cenote 1 click. It looks to be the other side of the highway from Cenote C1. It's a longer hike across two sets of barb wire and a couple of ducks under tree limbs. We arrive to a tannic pool of water with lots offishy debries. German tells us to be careful and not disturb the silt too much. We do gear check and SDrill on. The surface.

After the dive briefing we descend below the muck to find great vis and a good size room. We proceed along the line across a jump, a couple of Ts and another jump. We are swimming past amazing forms of all shapes and sizes. Everything is covered by this dark tannic silt. We pass the tightest restriction in our training as tanks bump against the ceiling. Several rooms are huge again, but we are only 15 feet in depth. Not much life except a small shrimp scurying across the floor. Numerous lines appear not far from the main line along the way. I only get confused for a second at an end to middle jump. We turn exactly at our turn pressure of 2100. It rains black silt from the ceiling as we pass. The dive is an amazing 85 minutes and it seems like much less again. Confidence is high and we are very comfortable in this peaceful environment.

The second dive is a lights out practice returning with our backups. My iTorch has some amazing penetration in this darkness. This is a short dive only and we finish wanting more of the cave. Tomorrow is a longer pen in Aerolito!

Lunch is a cheap three course meal at El Sabor on the other side of the fence from the hotel.

 

[tlessard]

Ya'll will LOVE Aerolito farther in. Watch for the cave adapted sea urchins - only cave in the whole damn world where they can be found.

Also, take an opportunity to speak with German about sump diving - since it's something ya'll could potentially be doing a wee bit of in good 'ole Texas!

Have a blast guys, and welcome to the FC club! Take time to savor the last couple of days...you will miss it terribly when you get home!

 

[cavemn]

Day 7

We graduated!

We returned to Aerolito for the last dive. It's a complex navigation dive with 4 jumps and two Ts. Kirk and I are up first. I run the primary almost perfect but cannot find the one tie off on the floor. Kirk sees it and adjusts the line as we go. He also places a cookie for us as planned at 15 feet for our deco. I hit the mainline tie off and it's of to the races. We've seen this part of the cave several times already. German wears the GoPro for us. I wonder what the video will look like.

We hit the second double arrows and jump left. Further down we hit the second jump. I can't see the other line we want only a reach jump where we do not want to go( very low overhead and a line trap). I turn and ask German. It's a 7 to 8 foot jump right. We come to a T and I place a cookie for our exit line. Then it's up into what was described as a minor restriction. Ok, I check out all around the line for the best path. Everything is very silty and TIGHT! I guess you can call it minor because we still fit through with back doubles but it takes some maneuvering. This leads to a longer tight space. I wait to make sure Kirk gets through Ok.

We now find ourselves in a tight Crevasse with obstacles. I feel like some kind of fighter pilot swinging left and right around huge Spielioforms. There is just enough space for us to pass on one side only. This stuff seems very surreal. I look at my Predator it shows 58 feet. I look at my gas and we are close to turning. This is where the cave starts calling me further in. I reach the turn pressure and find a spec just large enough to turn around.

Going back through the restriction is equally challenging a we descend. I am careful to get in a vertical position to keep from silting the place out for the next team. Line removal is no problem. The brass snaps in the deco tanks are a little challenging as they do not work so well. We reach the cookie just pass our secondary tie off and switch to O2. We do 5 minutes mostly for practice and the 100% feels good.

We're on our own tomorrow. We have a truck and tanks for a couple of team dives to end the week at Aerolito( mainline only for practice )

I hope everyone enjoyed the drama and the info. We leave the island Monday.

 

[austinspace]

Congratulations! Thanks for taking us along on the journey -- it sounds quite intense, but must feel great to have progressed so far.

 

[tlessard]

Congrats guys!

 

[LVX]

German Yanez is a great instructor. I hope to integrate some of his teaching style into my system. I suggest anyone wanting to take full cave to contact him. Great course.