Cave dive exploration information of Riviera Maya Quintana Roo Mexico

The Ejido Jacinto Pat Expedition, have laid and surveyed over 26 kilometres of line since January, and in the process connected more than 56 km (187,772 feet) of underwater passage, making. El explorador no admite los marcos flotantes o no está configurado actualmente para mostrarlos.

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EJIDO JACINTO PAT EXPLORATION

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Expedition Portrait

BY: MICHAEL MENDUNO * as published in tec.asia I.I *

Located and hour’s run south of Cancun, along the lone highway that separates the jungle and the sea, the two gargantuan systems are part of the labyrinth of underground rivers that serve to drain the Yucatan Peninsula into the Caribbean. There is no surface water here.

Carved out of an ancient exposed reef bed by geological forces, and then reflooded as the sea level rose more than 10,000 years ago, the endless passageways are accessible through a myriad of cenotes [Spanish for “well” ] that pockmark the thick Mayan jungle.

The race to stake out the world’s longest underwater cave has been neck and neck over the last few years, but became a point of contention last winter.

In January, surveyed passage for the series of connected systems including “Dos Ojos” (Two Eyes) discovered by Jim Coke and Johanna deGroote in 1986, “Dos Palmas,” “The Pit,” “Hilario’s Well,” and others that made up Sistema Ejido Jacinto Pat, stood at 35,052 meters/115,000 feet.

Paamul Caribbean Paradise, Riviera Maya Q. Roo México

By comparison, Madden’s Cedam team, which was the first to connect one of the gigantic Karst systems to the sea during their Fall ‘95 expedition, had racked up 51,340 meters/168,435 feet of surveyed line according to the Guiness Book of Records, making Nohoch then the world’s longest with a fifteen-some thousand meter lead.

“It was disheartening,” reports Gerrard. “We were being portrayed in the press as the losers in a race that never really existed. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a competitive type of guy.

The article in aquaCORPS [#II/Xplorers] finally pushed me over the edge. That’s when I decided to organize the expedition.” Others including Quattlebaum were piqued by press as well. “There were so many inaccurate stories,” rattles Quattlebaum.

“No one had got it right. That’s when I decided we should go for the record. I wanted to see the land-owners benefit.”

For the record, the race was on.

Until this spring, the official push in both camps was to connect the two maze-like giants which are believed to be two halves of the same monster system.

Separated by no more than a 76 meter/250 foot “air” connection across a sub-surface breakdown pile discovered by Kay Pozda Walten, the trick has been to find the connecting underwater passage, but the cave has repeatedly eluded all comers. In the language of cave- sign, “no boner up to here.”

Technically, once the caves are connected the race will be over, but who connects it, and when, matter to an inside few.

According to cave protocol, when a larger system connects to a smaller system, the smaller system is absorbed. In underground parlance, “big cave eats small cave.”

That means the conquering heroes get to name the combined system and that’s where disagreement lies. Rodale’s Scuba Diving framed the issue in “Cave Wars,” by Paul Kvinta [Jun 1996]. “Sistema Ejido Jacinto Pat,” or “Nohoch Nah Chich?”

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Small detail? Big politics; with implications for payers on both sides of the story including; boasting rights, cave access, how user fees get distributed, and bellies full of personal animosities that are hard for outsiders to swallow.

Gerrard leans over the terrace of his Puerto Aventuras condo, overlooking Casa de Madden, a stone’s throw away. ‘Our priority now is to lay line, and when we are big enough, go for the kill shot.”

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