Our last night before heading home we drove north, back into the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Tamaulipas is the northeastern most state in Mexico. One of the locals told us about a cave here that Sheck Exley previously dove while training for his record setting dive at El Zacaton.
We spent the night in another nice, yet inexpensive, hotel. I have to insert here that if you like firm mattresses Mexican hotels will be right up your alley. They are the hardest Ive ever slept on
not uncomfortable
just not soft. Bring your own pillow too if you are picky at all about that. Just like any hotel in the states the pillows in Mexican hotels vary from down-soft to rock-hard. Plus youll have something to rest your head on while your buddy is driving. J
We got up the next morning, got a quick bite to eat and went to find the cave. As with everything else we searched for on the last half of the trip we had trouble finding the cave. The signs in Mexico arent all that accurate sometimes and when you get directions the locals dont seem to have the best grasp of distances. If you are told that something is 15 kilometers from somewhere it might be 15 km, 5 km, or 30 km. I think its better to ask for landmarks. J
We did finally find our way to the cave thanks to directions from a couple of different guys, signs that mostly pointed the right way, and a white Volkswagen Beetle that was heading to the same place we were.
At the end of the long dirt road was a public park. It was pretty crowded. There were boats for rent, picnic areas and camping. Once again it looked like we were going to be hauling our gear however, as there was no vehicle access to the water. Right about when we were getting ready to load up and start hiking Brandon noticed a couple of guys working in the fenced off area directly adjacent to the public park. For a few pesos and ½ a bottle of tequila Brandon convinced them to let us in. The only stipulation was wed have to tell their boss (jefe) that we were their longtime friends when he showed up in a few minutes and lock the gate behind us when we left.
When the big boss showed up I lied through my teeth and told him Id known Oscar for years. Fortunately, since my Spanish sucks and his English was no better I didnt have to explain myself much. He was cool with us being there. Oscar got to keep his tequila and we had our vehicle access to the water. J
We completed two dives here. The water was clear, but not as clear as La Media Luna in the lake/river portion. However, once we got near the cave it was once again as clear as water can get. Water temps were in the upper seventies. The flow out of the cave was swift to say the least. There were points Brandon and I had to pull ourselves along the rocky bottom to make forward progress. Once we were in the cave, however, it opened up enough to relieve some of the pressure.
The beginning of the cave sloped gradually down to a depth of about 90. After that it dropped straight down. Brandon and I dropped in, only stopping when we felt we were at our personal depth limit. From where I was I dont think the bottom was even close
certainly not in sight. My 10w Phantom cut through the darkness, but not near enough to find the bottom. All I could see at the end of the beam was blackness. In fact, based on what we discovered later about the place we werent even close.
We turned around at that point and headed back up. The flow made the return swim very easy. Once we were back outside the entrance we completed our stops and spent the rest of the dive taking pictures of the local fish.
For our second dive we planned a shallower version of the first. Unfortunately, we had a primary light failure that stopped us in our tracks. We thumbed it for safety reasons and headed out for more uw photo ops. The locals sunk a statue out in the lagoon, so we took some shots of that as well as more fish picts.
Once the second dive was complete we packed up and headed out, locking the gate behind us as per Oscars request. The drive back was long
about 14 hours. We hit 4-5 military checkpoints, got a little lost in Matamoros and crossed back over into the good ol USA at around 12:30 a.m. We stopped at the first hamburger joint we could find. Trust me on this: the hamburgers in Mexico are nothing like ours! In fact, they take the ham part of hamburger literally and actually add a slice of ham to the burger. Not bad
just different. That juicy What-A-Burger sure did taste good though!
We headed back to Austin, stopping only for an occasional bathroom break and a quick 2-hour nap. I had an awesome time on the trip, but it was definitely good to be back home!
