Clare Gledhill(Offline)

Al, Frase and I just came back from doing Cave 1 in Mexico with Chris le Maillot of Zero Gravity.

There have been enough course write ups on here, and whilst I've put my course diary on my blog I won't waste bandwidth with it here as Al will do a detailed report. Our course was fun, we learned a lot and laughed a lot too. Chris proved to be an excellent mentor who helped us come to love the caves as much as he does.



He put in 14 hour days, nicking our kit, setting up scenarios which would test us and demonstrate how unforgiving the environment can be. We drilled in open water, exited the cave in numerous ways over the five day course, blind, out of gas, without lights, lost line etc. and frankly had great time. Our 13th cave dive was when all of those failures would hit at once....for those who are superstitious... but it proved lucky for us as Chris surfaced and invited us to go back for a graduation dive. His parting shot...."congratulations - now don't **** up"



I figure that having peed in a bush, jumped in to various pools without fins, scrambled in twinsets up racks of rickety stairs and ladders, grounded the car on a track, disturbed a thousand butterflies on the road, seen more haloclines than you would believe - imagine descending on a dive but becoming more buoyant as you hit salt water or ascending but having to add air to your wing - watched an alligator sun itself from the water, lain on my back watching bats go to their nests in the cavern roof, seen wild orchids growing in the jungle, watched terrapins feeding in the head pools and lizards crossing the tracks we had to negotiate to get to cenotes, I've marvelled at caves more ornate than the finest cathedral - I feel like a cave diver. But one who has taken only a first, faltering step into a new, exciting but incredibly challenging world which I must respect and take my time to get to know.



Dive a cave? What on earth for?

Let me try to explain....

We had planned for some guided diving after the course finished (with fingers crossed that we passed of course) - but we had not planned on our guide being Chris! He was free and wanted to take the piss out of Fraser some more so would come with us for the next two days and show us some of his favourite caves.



Site 1 was Aktun Ho - the Puma Cave. We jumped in amongst snorkelers and holiday makers who were somewhat surprised to see people in drysuits and doubles.

First dive was upstream in to a very pretty cavern and cave - with huge rooms with tunnels you could have driven a car through. Thousands of pencil thin stalactites like straws came down from the roof, it was awe inspiring - no architect has managed anything so beautiful or ornate as this natural wonder. Seeing it is a privilege open to only a few and I'm still pinching myself that I'm lucky enough to be one of them.

Second dive we went downstream to Little Brother. Here the tunnel twisted up and down dramatically, narrowed down so that the flow was noticeable for the first time this week. Thicker columns punctuated the cave so frequently in parts that it appeared like a cage. Truly magical, flying above the halocline through dark passages, seeing the formations which have built up over thousands of years yet have not been seen by humans until recently with the availability of scuba.

We negotiated a T in the mainline, each dropping a cookie to mark the exit. A second T was beyond our certification so we would have to turn the dive at this point, but as it was Al had problems with his ears so we thumbed it.

We set up kit on a second set of tanks and set off for another site - Chac Mool.

Diving in Chac Mool is all about Haloclines where sea water and fresh water combine but form separate layers due to their relative densities. Here there are actually two, about 2.5 meters apart vertically. We swam along between the two separate levels, like swimming in a river - ripples below and above.

Chris pointed out a blind cave fish, white, sightless and seemingly alone. This dive was long and made me miss my scooter! Swimming through huge rooms, returning against the flow I was exhausted, but privileged to be there.



Our last day was to be something special. Nohoch na Chich -[color=#00000a] which translates as the Giant Bird House. It was a mega trek to the site in 40 degree heat with a twinset on your back clambering over rocks in 40 degree heat. My set weighed more than usual as I was diving Chris's Pro 6 torch as mine had packed up.

Our first dive would be on Parker's line (laid by Parker Turner, founder of the WKPP) we would then, after about 1000 feet turn left at a T on to Charlie's line until we hit turn pressure.

This cave has to be seen to be believed - words fail me as to how to describe it but imagine my wonder at thousand upon thousand of the most delicate speliothems, white formations and huge rooms that go way beyond the reach of our lights. Tables like high altars, huge columns formed over hundreds of thousands of years when the caves were dry long before the Mayan civilisation which celebrated the water within the cenotes as giving of life.



This dive lasts 56 minutes and some tetras which had followed us in to the cave stuck with us throughout - Chris joked that he hoped that they did their valve drills and were carrying safety spools.

We surfaced with huge post dive grins, and Chris said "Did you like it? Aw...you'll hate the next dive then!" We recalculated thirds and dropped back down to the mainline this time. I know I have waxed lyrical about how beautiful all these caves are, but this was special in a way I will remember for the rest of my life. We came to Heavens Gate - two vast white columns, finer than anything which graces a Grecian temple, flanked by row upon row of bright white stalactites and finer columns. After the gate I truly felt I had entered heaven as we went through Dreamland, where the decorations got even more delicate and numerous. Sure made a change after rooms called 'The Wizard's Den' and 'The Temple of Doom' all week!

On and on we went, round every corner there was something new to marvel at. Eventually we came to Jaws - another aptly named formation



Finally, over 2000 feet in to the cave it was finally, sadly, time to turn. The nicest thing about cave diving though is you get to see it all again on the way out. Total run time this dive was 76 minutes.

Second site was Dos Ojos system although we accessed from Dos Palmas and went upstream toward Ojos as that site is usually very busy with snorklers. Fraser had found the two long swims we had that morning, which totalled over a mile, hard work and his knee hurt enough to say that he would sit out the dives - especially as there would be some flow this time.

I've run out of words now....the formations here were as numerous but this time were golden instead of white - minerals assist in the colouration. The upstream tunnel was tight and we were swimming against the flow which was harder than normal. Every kick in the repertoire was needed to get through without brushing against the fragile formations - they only form in dry caves so will never come back if broken by a careless kick.

Working our way upstream took it's toll on our gas so all too soon it was time to turn - the journey back took half as long, like a drift dive but with more reason to stay in control!



We didn't come up when we reached the reel but recalculated thirds underwater and agreed a 25 minute maximum swim downstream - this time with the flow so we would be working against it on our way back and had to take account of this in gas planning.

The formations here were even more weird and wonderful - vast ripples in the calcite floor where thousands of years ago wind had whistled through the passages before they became submerged. Flat formations like giant hands which had formed by deposits made on a mud or silt floor - which had then been washed away leaving the hard deposits hanging as if defying gravity.



I was saddened when we turned the last leg of this dive as it was our last in Mexico. We hit 81 minutes which I knew matched Al's longest ever dive so for a bit of fun I called an extra minute of deco to exceed it - we were only at 3 meters. I turned and found Chris, ever the explorer, taking his primary reg to pieces with the wrench he keeps in his wetnotes. Intrigued, I watched whilst he kinked the hose hard to stop the flow of air from the hose which no longer had a second stage attached as he turned the valve back on - and then he let the hose relax and I got blasted underneath with a shower of bubbles! Cool - a Jacuzzi ride to the surface - what a way to end the trip. Chris surfaced with a grin "You blew your deco, Clare....naughty girl!"

I'm leaving Mexico as I write this on the plane - but I'm leaving a piece of my heart behind here. It's underground, just a bit beyond Heaven's Gate, probably somewhere in Dreamland - but I know it will be calling me back.

Cave diving - dark holes in the ground?.... hope I've given you a small taste of what it can be....

__________________

Interested in DIR dive training? Always happy to chat/answer questions so get in touch via PM or visit www.dirdiver.co.uk

Joe Hesketh(Offline)

Thanks for posting the write up - it really is cave diving paradise out there isn't it! Not surprised in the slightest that you've come away raving about it

Ha ha - another NiMH takes on Mexico's power supply and loses? Fiver says you've bought an SLA can already!?

Joe

dlegros(Offline)

Great report Clare, guess we can call you a Womble now!

Sounds like you had a cracking time.

Dom

__________________
Dom

I reject your reality and substitute my own

DIR-RA

Anders Knudsen(Offline)

What undergarment did you use?

Nice pictures and nice report, now I a really looking forward to my trip to Mexico.

best
Anders Knudsen

__________________
If someone standing on dry land tells you they're safe diving deep on air, give them a wide berth. If they're that stupid at 1 ATA, you know they won't get any smarter at depth

Danny(Offline)

thanks for the report ,very nice.

__________________
There's more to life than scuba diving ,let me know when you find it !!!

A-M(Offline)

Thanks for the great report, Claire.
You described it just the way it's still in my memory and again and again it makes me smile and willing to go back. Nohoch na Chich is awesome but every place has it's own special things.
Thanks!

And congratulations ofcourse!!!

nadwidny(Offline)

76 and 81 minutes dives with Cave 1 gas limitations? Wow!

My buddies and I are in the process of booking Cave 2 this November so that we can get those kind of bottom times. If we had the gas consumption you guys do then we wouldn't have to bother!

__________________
Brian
My crappy website -
members.shaw.ca/nadwidny

Alastair(Offline)

Hi Anders,

I used a DUI 200 gram thinsulate and was very warm. I could probably have worn something thinner as it really was very pleasant at 24 degrees.


5m average depth really does make 35 bar last a long time!

Cheers
Al

__________________
Helium is our friend - GI3

Alastair(Offline)

I’ve read quite a few class write-ups in the past and always found them interesting so I thought I’d share my view of the course. The course was with Chris Le Maillot from DIR Mexico their website is here.

First up the setup in Mexico is excellent. We rented the apartment above Chris for the week which meant he’d knock on our door at 7.30am each day for us to set off. We’d rented a hire car so we followed Chris’s truck around in what became a daily routine. Tank filling station to collect 8 twinsets (5 mins down road), ice from petrol station (1 min from filling station) and zero gravity shop to pick up the kit (1 min from petrol station). We’d then drive about 10-15 minutes to one of the many Cenotes for diving. It really did make life pretty easy.

The days were a mixture of land drills, diving and lectures. All the new skills e.g. lost line procedure, lost buddy etc were carried out on dry land before the dive to give us ample opportunity to get them straight in your head before you had to do them in the water. The lecture sessions were fascinating – Chris’s experience was obvious and he had a fantastic sense of humour.

Day 1 we have some lectures on pre-dive checks, gas planning, why 1/3’s is not always enough particularly in a two person team, why three’s work better in cave diving, types of line, reels, spools etc. Many of the topics had been mentioned before but the emphasis in cave training is different and promoted some very interesting discussion. We did some surface line laying at Cenote Pon De Rosa before hitting the water. All dives started with a full valve drill and s-drill usually in 2m of water (1m by the end of the week) which enforced perfect buoyancy. Chris then led the first dive as an example of what he wanted us to achieve. We made our way into the system and made our way through the cavern zone and through our first Halocline. (Haloclines can be amazingly beautiful and/or a pain in the arse by disrupting the vis). Next dive was similar format but this time it was our job to run the reel. We made our way in and were in the halocline when Frasers light failed so we thumbed the dive. Clare ran out of gas during our exit so exited on Fraser’s long hose. This was to be the way of our dives – nice dive on the way in, scenarios on the way out.

Day 2 and Chris up’s the pace, swim test at 8am followed by 5 dives at Pon De Rosa. One of Chris’s earlier comments stuck with me - he described the Tech diver as a dancer but a cave diver as a ballerina. This was becoming very apparent with the level of finesse he expected. Being Tech-1 we could do the drills but elements such as hose routing during an s-drill to promote streamlining become important so your exit isn’t slowed by any further entanglement issues. Scenarios today included 4 lights failing (all primaries and 1 backup), 3 primary light failures and OOG exit, 4 lights failing and OOG exit. We also do some open water dives in the Cenote following a line with masks off on your own and then again in touch contact with the team. While this was occurring Chris was clipping us to the line, pulling post failures, re-routing the course, adding extra markers etc.

By the end of the day’s diving and lectures it was 9pm odd and we were all pretty tired. I also found that I was really picking up a cautious attitude to cave diving. Another comment today “Time is gas and gas is time”, he described cave diving as punching up a big clock on your way in and that clock doesn’t stop ticking no matter what happens. If you take too long, you die – it’s that plain and simple. With some tales of cave divers dying from mistakes you aren’t left with any illusions.

Day 3 and we were at X’Tabay today and we did 4 nice dives. We reached the first really decorated area - a room called the Wizards den with some stunning formations. We had more complex scenarios today with simple and complex valve failures, light failures and OOG exits. Chris was pretty careful to stack the scenarios up for instance I had a left post failure followed by a primary light failure, the idea being you forget to do your flow check as you’re already moving on to deal with the next issue. The person who had the valve failure would then also be the person who ran out of gas, as they were already low due to their earlier valve failure. Chris also started asking for masks once we were back in open water J

We also did the lost diver drill today along with an interesting final dive as we had an OOG diver and all ran out of lights so completed a blind gas sharing exit. It actually wasn’t that bad – it took us twice as long to exit when blind but Chris was actually quite pleased as we’d not stopped and had really moved.

Day 4 and we’re at Carwash today, bit of a different Cenote as the first 3m of water are full of tannic muck and there was only about 1m vis. However once we hit 3m there was pretty much un-limited visibility with a smoky layer hovering above us. 3 dives today with lots more failures – bit of theme of manifold failures with Chris using the bubble-gun on the manifold for 5 minutes to simulate gas bleeding our while we were exiting followed by an OOG emergency after that and again more light failures.

Our final dive today included the lost line drill. All our lights are off and with my eyes shut I’m moved off the line and let go. You have to keep you eyes shut for the drill and it starts ok when I make a good solid primary tie. At this point it goes a little wrong for me as I tie off a secondary in the wrong direction. I start the star shaped search and I figure I’m moving about 4m searching for the line but apparently it was more like 1m! I totally forget to try and count the knots paid out on the safety spool and fail to cover any distance. I try 3 directions and make more of an effort to go further. I add a placement and set off but when I reel back I forget I’ve made a placement and think I’ve reached the secondary, I promptly set off in another direction and shortly after that find a line. Chuffed to bits I grab hold of it and secure the spool. At this point I get tapped on the head by Chris who manages to communicate several things to me – you’ve just died, you’re an idiot, now relax and try again. He’s turned his light on and I see I’ve just done a beautiful circle and found my own safety line. I reel it all back in cursing myself for being stupid. The lights are off and I start from the primary again. I do a better secondary and decided I need to go for some distance this time. I pick what I think is the right direction and set off. The cave can only be maybe 7m wide and I’m sure I’ve swum 10m and I’m feeling pretty stressed when I find a line. I secure my spool to it, drop my NDM and turn my light on and I’ve done it! Not a pleasant experience and a very powerful lesson in how disorientating a total silt out with a lost line would be. We all successfully find the line and mark the right way out. By the time we’ve all done this we’ve clocked up an 80 minute cave dive.

Day 5 and we’re at Taj Mahal for 3 dives. By now our drills are more polished than before and Chris has us 12m apart for all S-drills in only 1m of water. Watching Clare and Fraser do a 12m swim, share gas and move off without moving up or down more than about 10cm was very cool! This was a really nice cave system with lots of very white limestone. More scenarios on the first dive – complex valve failures, OOG, and light failures. We end up doing another blind gas sharing exit and as we reach the cavern Chris starts taking masks. We deploy backup masks and he grabs them as well. By the end of the dive he has 6 backup lights and 5 masks and we reach the surface laughing. We then practise some unconscious diver towing and practise moving each other around. We reach the final dive of the course and Chris says as it’s our graduation dive and that if we do well he’ll not spring any failures on us. It’s an amazing dive, lots of formations, white walls, low bedding plains and big rock formations. We make our way up into a room called DCS dome and it’s full of green tannic water that sucks up the lights. We carry on and drop back down to 12m and turn the dive around 30 minutes in on gas and exit the cave. The exit is very odd as nothing happens – it’s also the first time all our primary lights are on for the exit and we have a cracking dive.

Overall the class was superb. Chris is a fantastic instructor and a great laugh. There are a few jokes of his that will haunt Fraser for an awfully long time – “Take your time Fraser, there’s no rush. We’re going cave diving”. I personally learnt a huge amount - not only the skills, dive planning but also the psychology of cave diving. The way you communicate underwater can show frustration, nerves or cool confidence. By showing calmness in a problem you can help keep the team calm. One of our big lessons was to take your time and relax – in the event of dramas a slow methodical response is better than the Benny Hill high speed approach . I’d thoroughly recommend the course; it’s definitely improved my diving and given me a whole new addiction to follow. Fraser’s classic comment comes to mind “Cave Diving – more bottom time, less vomiting”.

__________________
Helium is our friend - GI3

Roel(Offline)

Congratualtions with your cave 1!

And thanks for making me feel completely home sick, AGAIN!
I'll start saving money for the next trip that will have to be longer,
as soon as I get back from France

PS Don't be disappointed in France, it's great there but 'different' from Mexico..

Happy caving,

Roel