Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
Hi guys, Just a little update on the new small cave that a few of us have been exploring, and a request for help. To review briefly, we have found a little (we really don't know how long) cave near the coast of Belize that we are exploring. From the amount of silt and percolation experienced we believe we are the first ones into the cave, at least in a long, long time. The cave entrance is in open water and we know of a number of cenotes that we believe may connect to it. From the features inside the cave, we believe it to be clearly a phreatic, solution cave. A unique thing about our exploration is that we're really in no hurry. We go down from Akumal about every other weekend during the winter and have an enjoyable time and oh by the way, do a little cave exploring. Our attitude is typified by the conversation between a Mexican and an Irishman. The Mexican was trying to explain the true meaning of the word "manana" which technically means "tomorrow" or "morning," but often is used to simply mean "not today." As in "It'll happen manana" but we all know that "manana" may never come. It seems the Irishman was having a very difficult time understanding this concept. Then all of a sudden a light came on and he got a smile on his face. "I think I understand the problem" he finally said. "You see we have is no word in our Gaelic language that conveys this same sense of ... urgency!" In my last posting I mentioned that we were up to around 1900 feet of line in the cave in an easterly direction. Since that time we have made a few more dives, but we're not sure of how to handle the current in the cave. At first it always seemed to run out of the cave entrance (and in one of the cenotes around 4,000 ft to the East according to our GPS readings) so we had no hesitation about making upstream dives. But recently we have seen instances of it running into the cave (and out of the cenote). And being a wimp and a natural coward when it comes to diving in unfamiliar situations, I'd sure like to talk with some folks who might be interested in giving us a little advice (and possibly coming down) as to how to get a handle on when the currents might change. We don't know if they are wind driven, tide driven, due to rainfall on the mainland or result from something else. The more recent dives were made from the cenote while the current was reversed i.e. into the cave and out of the cenote. We now have around 1,600 ft of line in this passage in a westerly direction. We also have about 200 ft of line in the start of a branching passage. So we figure we're around 500 ft from joining the main lines together, assuming we are indeed in the same passage. Boy this cave exploration thing is fun. One problem we have found which concerns us was that the current seemed to change during one of the dives into the cenote. It was like when I talk to my grandchildren about how tough I had it as a boy. You know walking to school, for three miles, through the mud or the snow, through rain and howling blizzards, uphill ... in both directions !!! Well, this dive involved swimming against the current both going in and coming out. Good thing that the plan used was to turn at a quarter instead of a third when the dive is unfamiliar. I also would like to pick up one or two scooters to use for ferrying stage tanks into our cave. Notice the possessive statement here, we really are getting attached to our little cave. They don't need to be real fast, but I would appreciate as much reliability as possible. Although I do realize that a "reliable DPV" just might be an oxymoron. Also if anyone knows where I can send for or download some detailed maps of the coast of Belize, please let me know. I have a 1: 500,000 map of the area but if possible I'd really like one that's at least 10 times more detailed to plot the cave in at least a plan view. Thanks a lot for your help. Take care and safe diving, Scott
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]