Find any Mayan stuff down there? Gavin and I did a weird place where we had
to get the Indians to burn the bees out before we could get through the dry
cave part. It took us an hour to find an opening into the cave, but when we
did it was quite big tunnel. After a couple thousand feet we noticed some
faint light and investigated. It was another dry cave where the jungle had
grown over the overhang so it was hidden from view at the surface. We popped
up into it and shined our cave lights around - there was Mayan pottery
everywhere, apparently placed there in the past as offerings to their gods.

-----Original Message-----
From: ScottBonis@ao*.co* [mailto:ScottBonis@ao*.co*]
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 1:02 PM
To: techdiver@aquanaut.com; Cetaceans@ya*.co*;
xtc@co*.co*
Subject: New Cenote


Hi Guys,

I've got to tell you that sometimes this diving stuff gets to be real fun.
Last week I had the chance to be the first one to dive to the bottom of a
new
cenote here in the Yucatan.

The cenote is around 10 miles north of Xcalak.  But where is Xcalak, you
ask?
 It is in southeastern Mexico around ten miles north of the border with
Belize.

The bad news was that to get there required an eighth mile hike from the
highway through a swamp with water and mud up to my knees.  But the good
news
was that included in our happy little group, was Steve, my cave buddy, and
Eric, the 6'3" owner of XTC (Xcalak to Chinchorro) Dive Shop, that helped me
get my tanks to the water.

The cenote was really picturesque, being generally circular and around 100
yards in diameter.  The jungle trees came right to the edge of the water.
Two of the guys in the group were thoughtful enough that while dive gear was
getting readied, they walked around the circumference of the cenote looking
for crocodiles.  Only one 4 to 5 footer was seen so we figured they would
not
be too much of a problem that day.

The water in the cenote was strongly tannic, but the visibility below around
70 feet was at least 20 to 30 feet with almost no suspended particles
reflecting light.  The portion of the cenote I explored, bottomed at around
100 feet with at least 3 feet of silt on the floor.  There were several
openings in the bottom through which water was entering or exiting, but none
of the ones I saw were large enough for me to squeeze through.

The side of the cenote where I descended had many dead trees and branches
protruding from the wall.  These made running a reel (which was tied to two
small trees on the surface), while trying to avoid snagging any equipment,
rather tricky.  Fortunately my cave kit generally follows commonly accepted
minimalism and streamlining guidelines, so the entanglement problem was
quite
manageable.  And of course any time I needed to approach the wall closely to
unsnag the line from some branch, my bubbles would touch the wall and loads
of fluffy stuff would come tumbling down.

I've suggested naming the cenote Box Ha (pronounced Bosh-ha) which in Mayan
means "Dark water."

I'm sure in the future there will be more dives in Box Ha to see if we can
find a cave system worthy of exploration.

Take care and dive safe,        Scott

Some weeks it's just not worth the effort to gnaw through the restraints and
scramble up out of the pit.
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