On Wednesday, 2nd March, Emanuela Bertoni and I completed a probative dive in the Pit cave in Q. Roo, Mexico.
The purpose was familiarization with the Pit environment and to execute a bit of a stiff dive in a mixed configuration. Ela dove open circuit and I dove the MX160 configured with a pair of 80cf cylinders. We dove 12/60 with 35/25, 50% and 100% for deco.
Ela carried 160cf of back-gas and two 80cf stages. I dove the MX with an additional stage of 12/60 for bailout. We planned the bottom time for 25-35 minutes and an average depth of 230-250 with a maximum of 325. We did not have scooters so we were going to have to do this the hard way.
The day before, Ela and I had trained as a mixed team at Mayan Blue in order to see how we could work together and to familiarize Ela with the operation of the MX. After a long evening filling cylinders, we got some rest and awaited the dawn.
On dive day we were joined by several of the UTD cave week celebrants who graciously offered to support our effort. Adam Korytko and John Bailey placed the decompression cylinders into the system to start and then the gear was lowered into the basin. We reviewed the plan in detail one more time and agreed that Ela would navigate and I would run the deco. We suited up and jumped from the rim into the basin to get our gear on and sorted out. I had never been here and was struck by the beauty of the basin and the deep cavern beneath us. After the usual checks we started our descent. At 70ft the halocline hits hard and really slows the descent for a moment. Even with this, we arrived at the 120' bottles in two minutes where I started the bottom clock and Ela got on her first stage.
After 10 minutes of swimming, we reached the area of the bypass restriction finding the first, rather bizarre looking T junction there. There was significant turbidity from 140-180 which looked pretty foul. We proceeded through the bypass tunnel and Ela dropped her first stage there and switched to her second. We were now at 12 minutes in and we entered the Wakulla room. This room is stunningly immense, with vaulted cathedral ceilings and is probably bigger than either of the Diepolder rooms in Florida, which I have dove on several occasions.
We swam the line, past a couple of more T's, along the crest of the breakdown in the room. At 6 minutes after the exit from the bypass, we hit a spot in the room where the line/breakdown angles steeply down and where the room constricts to the next restriction. We dropped along the pile a few feet and Ela turned the dive as we were at 18 minutes, approaching rock bottom gas and starting to stress our deco bottles a bit with the needed deco.
Arriving back to the bypass restriction I realized that she had spent 12 minutes on a stage at 280+ feet! This was pretty incredible. She picked up and switched to her stage here and we proceeded through the bypass up to our first deep stop at 180ft.
I clocked us at 35minutes exactly there with an average midway between 230 and 240. We then started our slow trip out. I ran the deco for 1.2x35 cascaded and trimmed a little giving us 40-40-20 for our segments. I had them cut up by the time we finished our deep stops, showing Ela and getting agreement for it all.
Once we got to the 120' bottles and she switched to hers and I picked up mine, I sent her empty stages up the line and eventually sent the 120 bottle also when she got off the deco gas for a back gas break at 80ft.
After completing our 70-30 segment, we were greeted by Nick Ambrose and Jeff Seckendorf who unloaded Ela's empty and my full bottles. Nick took some great pictures of the deco and we started a slow swim around the basin. After 40 minutes and several back-gas breaks for Ela, we did a 7 minute ascent to the surface.
I had run a 1.0ppO2 for the bottom and 1.2 for the ascent, letting it drift down now and again to rest my lungs from the relentless oxygen onslaught.
Throughout the dive the MX and Ela, the human pSCR, performed flawlessly. We had swum 900 feet in and out at an average depth of 240, a considerable feat on open circuit.
The deco was really good as we had a post dive workout that lasted quite a while and Ela and I felt super.
I want to thank my teammate, Emanuela Bertoni, the support divers, Adam Korytko and John Bailey, our recovery team, Nick Ambrose and Jeff Seckendorf and all our surface suport.
The purpose was familiarization with the Pit environment and to execute a bit of a stiff dive in a mixed configuration. Ela dove open circuit and I dove the MX160 configured with a pair of 80cf cylinders. We dove 12/60 with 35/25, 50% and 100% for deco.
Ela carried 160cf of back-gas and two 80cf stages. I dove the MX with an additional stage of 12/60 for bailout. We planned the bottom time for 25-35 minutes and an average depth of 230-250 with a maximum of 325. We did not have scooters so we were going to have to do this the hard way.
The day before, Ela and I had trained as a mixed team at Mayan Blue in order to see how we could work together and to familiarize Ela with the operation of the MX. After a long evening filling cylinders, we got some rest and awaited the dawn.
On dive day we were joined by several of the UTD cave week celebrants who graciously offered to support our effort. Adam Korytko and John Bailey placed the decompression cylinders into the system to start and then the gear was lowered into the basin. We reviewed the plan in detail one more time and agreed that Ela would navigate and I would run the deco. We suited up and jumped from the rim into the basin to get our gear on and sorted out. I had never been here and was struck by the beauty of the basin and the deep cavern beneath us. After the usual checks we started our descent. At 70ft the halocline hits hard and really slows the descent for a moment. Even with this, we arrived at the 120' bottles in two minutes where I started the bottom clock and Ela got on her first stage.
After 10 minutes of swimming, we reached the area of the bypass restriction finding the first, rather bizarre looking T junction there. There was significant turbidity from 140-180 which looked pretty foul. We proceeded through the bypass tunnel and Ela dropped her first stage there and switched to her second. We were now at 12 minutes in and we entered the Wakulla room. This room is stunningly immense, with vaulted cathedral ceilings and is probably bigger than either of the Diepolder rooms in Florida, which I have dove on several occasions.
We swam the line, past a couple of more T's, along the crest of the breakdown in the room. At 6 minutes after the exit from the bypass, we hit a spot in the room where the line/breakdown angles steeply down and where the room constricts to the next restriction. We dropped along the pile a few feet and Ela turned the dive as we were at 18 minutes, approaching rock bottom gas and starting to stress our deco bottles a bit with the needed deco.
Arriving back to the bypass restriction I realized that she had spent 12 minutes on a stage at 280+ feet! This was pretty incredible. She picked up and switched to her stage here and we proceeded through the bypass up to our first deep stop at 180ft.
I clocked us at 35minutes exactly there with an average midway between 230 and 240. We then started our slow trip out. I ran the deco for 1.2x35 cascaded and trimmed a little giving us 40-40-20 for our segments. I had them cut up by the time we finished our deep stops, showing Ela and getting agreement for it all.
Once we got to the 120' bottles and she switched to hers and I picked up mine, I sent her empty stages up the line and eventually sent the 120 bottle also when she got off the deco gas for a back gas break at 80ft.
After completing our 70-30 segment, we were greeted by Nick Ambrose and Jeff Seckendorf who unloaded Ela's empty and my full bottles. Nick took some great pictures of the deco and we started a slow swim around the basin. After 40 minutes and several back-gas breaks for Ela, we did a 7 minute ascent to the surface.
I had run a 1.0ppO2 for the bottom and 1.2 for the ascent, letting it drift down now and again to rest my lungs from the relentless oxygen onslaught.
Throughout the dive the MX and Ela, the human pSCR, performed flawlessly. We had swum 900 feet in and out at an average depth of 240, a considerable feat on open circuit.
The deco was really good as we had a post dive workout that lasted quite a while and Ela and I felt super.
I want to thank my teammate, Emanuela Bertoni, the support divers, Adam Korytko and John Bailey, our recovery team, Nick Ambrose and Jeff Seckendorf and all our surface suport.
