Sistema Dos Pies
By Fred Devos

Two Feet
In early May, we finally found the remains of an old trail rumored to lead to a little known swimming hole. Ten minutes of swinging a machete brought us to the twin cenotes, which were later named Dos Pies (Two Feet).

Green surface water failed to hint at what lay deeper as we pushed my reel through a narrow crack. A passage seemed to be leading us east and within a few minutes we had passed the dim light of a third small cenote. A dark hole coaxed us northwest and we couldn't help but pick up the pace. I'm not certain who was more startled when my 50-watt bulb picked up the silver scales of a 20 lb (9 kg) tarpon. A large fish is the least anticipated sight during a cave dive and I'm sure that instinct and evolution had not prepared the Tarpon for a close encounter with a cave diver. Knocking the light from my hand, it bounced heavily off my shoulder before finding the way past.

The Missing Link?
We continued on this northwest trail and spilled line in ever widening passage. Limits on air turned the dive, and we had to leave the remainder of discovery for future days. Surveying out, we envisioned the possibilities. The immense Sistema Dos Ojos (Two Eyes) has downstream lines headed in this direction while slightly west lies Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich, the world's longest underwater cave*. During the past 10 years, divers from all over the world have made attempts to connect these two monstrous systems and now here we were, pushing our way directly into the middle of both! With this playing in the back of my mind, it was not difficult to muster the motivation to return.

Kate Lewis and Daniel Riordan each joined me for a dive, and by July we had managed to discover over 11,000 ft (3,300 m) of passage. The farther upstream we went, the larger the passage seemed to become, with some bedding plains stretching over 150 ft (46 m) in every direction without a column of support; A daunting fact seeing as the cars and trucks of highway #307 pass some 40ft (12 m) above.

Connection to the Sea
On July 19th, we hauled six tanks to the water and in side-mount equipment, proceeded to push through the downstream restrictions. Larger passage invited us farther in but we periodically paused to be sure we were able to swim out against the mounting current.

Before the dive I had loaded the reel with 1,500 ft (456 m) of line, and now noticed that the line remaining would take us but a few feet farther. This was to be our day of providence though as coconut shells on the cave floor and a dim light in the distance foreshadowed the coming surprise. It wasn't until our head broke the surface that we truly understood where we were. Dos Pies was now the only Mexican cave system besides Nohoch Nah Chich claiming a dive-able connection to the sea.

Dos Pies now holds 11, 536 ft (3,507 m) of exploration line, which connects six distinct openings. Most passages lack formations and although the average size is large, several restrictions limit back-mount divers. A significant flow of water comes from a source farther inland but as yet, the connection to either Dos Ojos or Nohoch Nah Chich remains but a dream.

VIEW MAP Dos Pies-07-98

* 27/10/00- Since the writing of this article, Sistema Ox Bel Ha has moved into the "longest cave" position..