Tune Up Day

The morning started off rather unfortunately when Terrence attempted to whip up one of his more daring breakfast creations a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Once the flames had been doused and the smoldering remnants of the jar were disposed of, the sandwich was made and the day got underway.

Finally around noon, the team headed off to Cenote Muchachos. Upon arriving at the property, Don Raphael, the landowner, came out to greet us. He was all smiles as he remembered some of us from past expeditions. He told us we were welcome to dive there and explained how he had changed the way to get to Cenote Muchachos. Over the past year he has cleared a lot of the area surrounding the cenote. We could hardly believe it as we drove down the road all the way to the cenote. It didn’t seem like the same place. We walked down to the cenote to find a bridge over the cenote with a ladder going down into the water.

Team 1, Grant and Karl, went on a three bottle tune-up run from Cenote Muchachos. We headed down the Cindy’s Passage Line, jumped to the Black Forest line and ran down to the Blind Cave Fish Line. Our mission was to turn line arrows so they pointed consistently to Muchachos (the closest exit) and to look for possible leads. Grant spotted and marked several leads off both Cindy’s and Black Forest. We turned at Cave Fish with several leads ready for further exploration. Runtime was about 110 minutes. Tomorrow we’re scheduled to run four cylinders and travel to Cenote Coati Mundi to help Renee and Terrence find it from topside.

Team 2, Terrence and Renee had the arduous task of chopping a trail to Cenote Coati Mundi from the Muchachos cenote. After chopping in for over an hour and beyond the approximated distance, we decided to turn and head out. It was very hard to see beyond about 30 feet due to the dense foliage. We looked hard for the depression that would indicate the location of the cenote. However, Cenote Coati Mundi still remains elusive…hopefully only until tomorrow.

Team 3, Thecia, laid on the beach and watched for pirate ships. She was instructed to contact Renee if Johnnie Depp showed up in his pirate outfit. Thecia informed Renee that if he showed up she (Thecia) would be back on Saturday.

After tank prep, dinner and a pre dive plan for tomorrow, we all prepared for another good night’s sleep at Villas DeRosa’s.

Team Members

• Grant Graves
  
• Renee Power
  
• Karl Shreeves
  
• Thecia Taylor
  
• Terrence Tysall