Campana
Guest
Akumal Diving, Day One: Chac Mool and Taj Mahal
The approach to Chac Mool is 2 clicks back from the road. There is a gate and fee is paid there. In our case, Yayo the guide paid fees all week, which amounted to $71 for the whole week. There are stone steps leading to the Cenote and wooden tables are provided. Yayo gave an excellent briefing with a line map drawn on an erasable board; Roger said he wished he had brought butcher paper to keep for that task. It is very difficult to remember the various distinctive aspects of each cave, so it is good to log notes after each dive. We found that even waiting until the end of the day obliterated some memory. I am relying on some help from Steve Gerrards book The Cenotes of the Riviera Maya which you should obtain if taking this trip. We were lucky enough to meet Steve, and the B team was lucky enough to hire him for photos.
After the briefing, we kitted up and entered the water for the first dive of the trip. Beyond the cavern zone, is a very decorated and large room with many speleothems, at around 300 feet penetration. At 500 feet and 800 feet are two large breakdown rooms with rubble heaps and domes. Another highly decorated room is at 1400 feet. We penetrated around 1600 feet, according to Yayo, and reached the monsters house which we had hoped to do. The dive was turned at 48 minutes, or 2200 psi, our starting pressure was 3200 psi in our aluminum tanks, so 2200 was better than thirds.
Diving in all the caves presents a lot of variation. There are bedding planes where the floor and ceiling are flat and wide, and one swims in the low area which may be 3-5 total space. Sometimes the floor is hard rock and sometimes its silt, but you cant always tell, so you stay away from the floor. Sometimes there are only inches to spare, and inevitably, you touch the ceiling with your tanks. If you do this in a decorated area, it is possible that you will break something that is very, very, old and irreplaceable. Therefore, I was pretty nervous, and Im sure they do the first couple of dives in relatively safe areas. In other areas, there are small windows or restrictions which one must swim through very, very slowly in case tanks touch. I got pretty good as the days progressed in judging how fat I was from top to bottom, but even a light cord dangling a couple of inches can cause a poof of silt. No one on this trip caused any major silting, and no one broke anything old. Swimming through the bedding planes, I tried to keep myself horizontal, and the classic bent knees posture of cave divers is sometimes too fat to not touch the ceiling with fins, so we developed a less bent position at times. Fin kicks might be frog kicks, modified frog kicks, and some so modified that only the ankles are moved. The much modified flutter kick is useful for going through decorated areas with close sides, and I mean only tiny movements of the ankles, with the thighs and calves kept still. It is nerve racking at times, but got easier. Keeping horizontal and looking up all the time, the neck and back start to throb after an hour or so. Thank goodness the cave opened up frequently and you had some space to stretch out and relax. The large rooms were sometimes very large, 100 or more across, and also vertically. You could really swim around and enjoy them. One of my favorite things to do was to cover my light and look at the other divers lights in the air clear water. It is strongly reminiscent of a scene from close encounters or something, with the beams cutting the profound darkness like lasers.
This dive averaged around 30, and the total dive time and maximum depth were 96 minutes and 42.
After going back to Aquatech for lunch, we headed out to Taj Mahal. After the dive briefing and the usual line map, we headed down the very good concrete steps to the easy entry. There is a rope to assist into and out of the water. In both these caves, there is a very pronounced Halocline, with a layer of salt water under the fresh water. If viewed from above, one can see ripples in the salt water layer that look exactly like ripples on a lake. Its very prone to cause some serious illusions that border on hallucinations. If you pass through the halocline, it stirs it up and obliterates visibility for a short time. Below the halocline, it becomes gin clear again. In the transition layer, it is exactly like swimming with no mask and eyes open. A diver right at the halocline layer appears to be floating on the surface. His fins strokes cause vortexes, waves, and ripples, and presents another strong illusion that the diver is swimming along on the surface. The main line in Taj Mahal is a gold kermantle line, easy to follow, with some jumps to the side, usually in the area of some double arrows pointing out of the cave.
We meandered through the rooms and tunnels, and at 50 minutes, the dive was turned, 2200 psi having been reached by someone, all were close however, as we were all week. Shortly after the turn, Ls first stage began blowing some serious bubbles. After a shutdown, L and J speeded up and dealt with some buoyancy problems, I believe, but managed a safe and controlled exit. Yayo covered his light and shot past me, without my knowledge. In a moment, as we proceeded, I signaled Roger and asked with hand signs, What happened to Yayo? . He pointed ahead, showed a covered light, and a swimming motion, and I understood what had happened.
This dive averaged around 30. The max depth and time was 42 and 89 minutes. After this dive, Ls first stage O ring was repaired and we kitted down and returned for dinner and chit chat.
As the week progressed, our diving skills and our communication skills improved. An example is when I would look back, which is done by tucking the head down and looking under ones self, the diver behind me would quickly and automatically cover his or her light to avoid blinding me. I continued to have problems with being too close to the diver in front of me, and bumping into him or her, which must have been annoying. Of course, this might be in a tight, very delicate, and very ancient restriction, doubling the annoyance. The dive pace was very, very slow, but there is a lot to see, and hurrying is not a good idea. There was a lot of time of being motionless, waiting for the area to clear of divers, and that skill improved as well.
Thats day one. It will take me some time to cover all 6 days, if you dont like the number of posts, dont read them. I would rather write too much than not enough; the main persons interested in these reports are people that are heading for the same area and want all the details that they can get.
And before anyone asks, I didnt take a single picture. I felt that the diving would be challenging enough without carrying a camera. If you want pictures, send for Steves book; hes very good at it.
Dave (Campana)
The approach to Chac Mool is 2 clicks back from the road. There is a gate and fee is paid there. In our case, Yayo the guide paid fees all week, which amounted to $71 for the whole week. There are stone steps leading to the Cenote and wooden tables are provided. Yayo gave an excellent briefing with a line map drawn on an erasable board; Roger said he wished he had brought butcher paper to keep for that task. It is very difficult to remember the various distinctive aspects of each cave, so it is good to log notes after each dive. We found that even waiting until the end of the day obliterated some memory. I am relying on some help from Steve Gerrards book The Cenotes of the Riviera Maya which you should obtain if taking this trip. We were lucky enough to meet Steve, and the B team was lucky enough to hire him for photos.
After the briefing, we kitted up and entered the water for the first dive of the trip. Beyond the cavern zone, is a very decorated and large room with many speleothems, at around 300 feet penetration. At 500 feet and 800 feet are two large breakdown rooms with rubble heaps and domes. Another highly decorated room is at 1400 feet. We penetrated around 1600 feet, according to Yayo, and reached the monsters house which we had hoped to do. The dive was turned at 48 minutes, or 2200 psi, our starting pressure was 3200 psi in our aluminum tanks, so 2200 was better than thirds.
Diving in all the caves presents a lot of variation. There are bedding planes where the floor and ceiling are flat and wide, and one swims in the low area which may be 3-5 total space. Sometimes the floor is hard rock and sometimes its silt, but you cant always tell, so you stay away from the floor. Sometimes there are only inches to spare, and inevitably, you touch the ceiling with your tanks. If you do this in a decorated area, it is possible that you will break something that is very, very, old and irreplaceable. Therefore, I was pretty nervous, and Im sure they do the first couple of dives in relatively safe areas. In other areas, there are small windows or restrictions which one must swim through very, very slowly in case tanks touch. I got pretty good as the days progressed in judging how fat I was from top to bottom, but even a light cord dangling a couple of inches can cause a poof of silt. No one on this trip caused any major silting, and no one broke anything old. Swimming through the bedding planes, I tried to keep myself horizontal, and the classic bent knees posture of cave divers is sometimes too fat to not touch the ceiling with fins, so we developed a less bent position at times. Fin kicks might be frog kicks, modified frog kicks, and some so modified that only the ankles are moved. The much modified flutter kick is useful for going through decorated areas with close sides, and I mean only tiny movements of the ankles, with the thighs and calves kept still. It is nerve racking at times, but got easier. Keeping horizontal and looking up all the time, the neck and back start to throb after an hour or so. Thank goodness the cave opened up frequently and you had some space to stretch out and relax. The large rooms were sometimes very large, 100 or more across, and also vertically. You could really swim around and enjoy them. One of my favorite things to do was to cover my light and look at the other divers lights in the air clear water. It is strongly reminiscent of a scene from close encounters or something, with the beams cutting the profound darkness like lasers.
This dive averaged around 30, and the total dive time and maximum depth were 96 minutes and 42.
After going back to Aquatech for lunch, we headed out to Taj Mahal. After the dive briefing and the usual line map, we headed down the very good concrete steps to the easy entry. There is a rope to assist into and out of the water. In both these caves, there is a very pronounced Halocline, with a layer of salt water under the fresh water. If viewed from above, one can see ripples in the salt water layer that look exactly like ripples on a lake. Its very prone to cause some serious illusions that border on hallucinations. If you pass through the halocline, it stirs it up and obliterates visibility for a short time. Below the halocline, it becomes gin clear again. In the transition layer, it is exactly like swimming with no mask and eyes open. A diver right at the halocline layer appears to be floating on the surface. His fins strokes cause vortexes, waves, and ripples, and presents another strong illusion that the diver is swimming along on the surface. The main line in Taj Mahal is a gold kermantle line, easy to follow, with some jumps to the side, usually in the area of some double arrows pointing out of the cave.
We meandered through the rooms and tunnels, and at 50 minutes, the dive was turned, 2200 psi having been reached by someone, all were close however, as we were all week. Shortly after the turn, Ls first stage began blowing some serious bubbles. After a shutdown, L and J speeded up and dealt with some buoyancy problems, I believe, but managed a safe and controlled exit. Yayo covered his light and shot past me, without my knowledge. In a moment, as we proceeded, I signaled Roger and asked with hand signs, What happened to Yayo? . He pointed ahead, showed a covered light, and a swimming motion, and I understood what had happened.
This dive averaged around 30. The max depth and time was 42 and 89 minutes. After this dive, Ls first stage O ring was repaired and we kitted down and returned for dinner and chit chat.
As the week progressed, our diving skills and our communication skills improved. An example is when I would look back, which is done by tucking the head down and looking under ones self, the diver behind me would quickly and automatically cover his or her light to avoid blinding me. I continued to have problems with being too close to the diver in front of me, and bumping into him or her, which must have been annoying. Of course, this might be in a tight, very delicate, and very ancient restriction, doubling the annoyance. The dive pace was very, very slow, but there is a lot to see, and hurrying is not a good idea. There was a lot of time of being motionless, waiting for the area to clear of divers, and that skill improved as well.
Thats day one. It will take me some time to cover all 6 days, if you dont like the number of posts, dont read them. I would rather write too much than not enough; the main persons interested in these reports are people that are heading for the same area and want all the details that they can get.
And before anyone asks, I didnt take a single picture. I felt that the diving would be challenging enough without carrying a camera. If you want pictures, send for Steves book; hes very good at it.
Dave (Campana)