"They planned to go to a city in Mexico where there are pyramids--I forget the name of the place. Then we didn't hear from them again," says José's father.
"I told my son: 'Marcelo, tell your sister to contact us, because she hasn't been in touch for so long,'" says Renata's mother.
Renata Quirino, MD. Jose Neto Brugnaro, engineer. Playa del Carmen, Mexican paradise which lends itself to romance and diving. That was José and Renata's destination.
"Mexican Adventure" is the name of the hotel where the couple began their tour. They hired a dive guide, Ismael Garcia Manzanares. He was a temporary employee of a shop, which was where they rented equipment.
They provided their dive experience--between 50 and 55 dives. This time, José and Renata chose a different kind of dive. The Yucatan Peninsula, on the Gulf of Mexico, lies over several subterreanean rivers.
There are some access points, called "cenotes," leading to these underground rivers. The cenotes allow light to penetrate the water, and, according to the Maya, who settled there first, they lead to another world. For tourists a centote is a gateway for an excursion in fresh, clear water.
Evening of April 19: José and Renata go for their last dive of the day. Location: Chac Mool cenote. They entered the water at 16h.
"They should have been back here at 17.30 says Álvaro Alamada, director of the dive shop. At 18:10 I asked an employee to go to the cenote. Divers said that they were on their way back," But no one came. And so Alvaro Alamada went personally to the cenote.
"The first thing I saw was their car. I thought they might be doing a night walk in the jungle; I hoped everything was okay. When I looked inside the car, though, I could see that the diving gear was gone," says Alvaro.
They were still in the water. So the rescue service was activated. After four dives the bodies were found.
Since that time Chac Mool has been closed to the public. But the Fantastico film crew got permission to enter. Before making the fateful dive, the Brazilians descended a set of steps leading to the cave of Chac Mool. Leading our dive is Fernando Prieto, the instructor who recovered the bodies.
"The most important rule is to stay next to the line," says the instructor.
It's 16.30; almost the same time of day that the Brazilian couple entered the cavern. And into the cenote go Rodrigo Bocardi our reporter, his cameraman Alberto Frisoni and two guides, two diving instructors Luiz and Fernando, each with more than 2000 dives here.
Dusk falls. But the visibility isn't affected. The dive lights help. And in their beam we very clearly see the yellow guide line. Within minutes we are close to one another cave entrance. The sun shining in makes it look like a painting.
So far, the dive has been uneventful. There is no current. Sometimes the water is brackish, but it doesn't make it hard to see. Amid the rocks are stalactites. These are the main attraction of this dive. In some places the yellow line indicates an abrupt change of direction. The route takes you past stunning places. And some narrow ones.
Throughout most of the dive you see the daylight coming from some direction. And every 60 meters, there is always an exit. Because of these characteristics, there is no requirement for special training for divers to visit the cavern.
After forty minutes when our air cylinders are just half full, we see a large tunnel. The guide warns us: Don't go there. Follow the yellow line. The Brazilian couple and Spanish guide did not follow the yellow line.
They had dived in a circle. After completing the circuit around the cavern, they should have exited at the same place they entered, but instead they proceded into a cave on the left and were lost.
To be sure we can't know why the Brazilians took that wrong path. Chac Mool has been open to tourists for 15 years. Forty divers a day visit it. No one had died there before this.
It is without doubt the yellow line that keeps you safe. It leads to the exit of the cavern. At certain points within the cavern, there in the darkness, it would be easy to get lost if some of the line were removed. "You must not head off to see some lovely area and leave the line," affirms the instructor.
And why did Renata, José and the guide leave the line? The only certainty is that the guide tried to give air to Renata. Fernando knows this because of the position in which the hose of the guide's alternate was found.
"We will never know what happened. Perhaps it was curiousity; perhaps audacity," says the instructor. The investigation is not yet complete. But according to officials, it was an accident. The two families were given the newsat the company where José worked.
"They went to the warehouse to talk with my husband. Afterwards, he held me and said 'we no longer have our daughter,' "recalls Renata's mother.
The company is taking care of the formalities for the release of the bodies, which remain at the morgue in Playa del Carmen, along with the bag that the couple left the car. Inside, their camera ... and their last photos.
