The intrepid team after the first day of diving
Terrence cuts through the jungle forging the trail
Hidden traps like this solution tube are hazzards
Project Participants and Sponsors
Aquatech/Villas DeRosa
Dive Rite Manufacturing
Sartek Industries
Day 1
Sunday, September 10, 2000 –
Our initial team of five arrived at various times at the Cancun airport yesterday and we traveled south to Villas DeRosa, our lodging for this trip. Our intent on this expedition is aid the local explorers by locating and setting up a few cenotes for additional exploration and to help the local landowners with potential new sources of income. This week we will concentrate on locating and clearing paths to a few cenotes. We will be joined later by 4 other team members that will help us when we begin the mapping and survey of these locations.
After considering a few possibilities with Steve Gerrard from Aquatech, we decided to look for a site that had been spotted by Steve and a local landowner several years ago. We loaded up and headed south to Tulum where Don Camilo lives. With the assistance of our driver, Roger, we arranged for Don Camilo to show us where we might begin our trek back into the jungle. We were prepared for the hike through the jungle – we wore long pants bloused at the ankles and good hiking boots. We stocked up on water and followed Don Camilo down a one lane road to where we would start. With a couple of machetes and alot of energy, we began our search.
Despite the fact that this trail had been traveled before, it had been some time and the brush had grown quite thick. The floor of the jungle has a thick covering of growth that hides roots, rocks and holes. This makes the initial going rather slow so that no one gets injured. We were told that the cenote was off this trail a bit; so, as we traveled deeper into the jungle we looked for signs that anyone had ventured off the trail. We followed several leads that lead us nowhere until we found a landmark that had been described to us – a small cenote (not divable) right on the trail. This gave us hope. We continued the search but to no avail. We decided to try again tomorrow after discussing what we had seen today with Steve and Don Camilo. We should find the cenote tomorrow.
We will attempt to update the site every couple of days (this is a little more difficult since we are out of the country). So, stay in touch, and remember if you have any questions or comments, send them to the trilobite.
Send questions or comments to the trilobite.