Snakes ... but no ladders
By Fred Devos

 

Grutas Cascabel, Punto Venado

Cascabel is Spanish for Rattle Snake and it was a 6 ft (2 m) specimen I almost stepped on near the entrance of this dry cave system. 2 hours of exploration resulted in 743 ft (226 m) of passage in 2 seperate caves. Animal bones littered the floor near an ancient fire pit and at the farthest piont of penetration, a conch shell hinted to past religious ceremonies.
See Map

 

Sistema Cubera, Punto Venado
A long hike and 2 more dives by Daniel Riordan and myself have brought the present total to 2,569 ft (781 m) of passage connecting 6 cenotes.
See Map

Grutas de los Aluxes, Puerto Aventuras

This new dry cave is sure to become one of the largest in Quintana Roo. Miguel Vasquez, Tomas Mendozo, Jose Mis and myself have wiggled our way through 2,036 ft (619 m) of spectacular tunnels and flooded rooms. We were a bit surprised to find the lone footprint of what appeared to be a barefooted young child. The Mayan legend of magical dwarfs (aluxes) entered our minds as we tried hard to find a more logical explanation. Later we learned of another explorers previous visit with a young child, and the legend was soon dismissed.
See Map

Don Angel, Puerto Aventuras
Although a very small system, a challenging dive was made through the shallow decorations leading from this tanin-tainted cenote.

Lavenant Cenote, Punto Venado
Some 5 miles (8 km) away from the coast, this impressive cenote required rapelling gear to get down to the 40 ft (12 m) deep water. A previous explorer had found 88ft of narrow passage.
See Map

Mystery Cenote
Daniel Riordan, Christophe Le Maillot and myself had an early start on this wild goose chase. 18 km down a very rough road was to bring us and dive gear to within 500 ft (150 m) of huge, clear water cenote. The pick-up truck made it no farther than 6 miles (10 km), so with the land owner in tow, we set out on foot. A 15 mile (24 km) round trip walk resulted in little more than worn soles and dehydration. We haven't given up, but on the next trip we will be sure to bring a better map than the landowner's faded memory.

Cenote Macanxoc, Coba

Situated at the foot of the famous Mayan ruins of Coba, this cenote led to less than 12 ft (4 m) of diveable passage in either upstream or downstream directions. I was actually pleased to find no connection to the nearby Laguna as it is home to several very large crocodiles.

Sistema Ox Bel Ha
Incredible progress has been made recently in what is now firmly ranked as the world's longest underwater cave. Several very successful mini-projects have resulted in the swelling of the present passage length to over 275,000 ft (83,612 m)!! For updated information on the exploration of Sistem Ox Bel Ha please visit the http://www.mcep.org.mx/