A new cenote to the west

One doesn’t forget the feeling when being led to a “cenote you might want to see” and finding a huge circular depression with deep, crystal clear water and an entrance that looks like one of the most beautiful cenotes in Mexico. After taking a look around, we thought the cave might have potential for both upstream and downstream passages.

We noted the GPS coordinates and bottled our excitement for a few weeks until we were able to get started on the western edge of our project site. We called the cenote “SD” after its associated location, and giggled that this might be “New hoch” after the famous Nohoch Nah Cich cenote.

Making a primary tie-off and putting our team’s exploration arrow on the line.

Alas, after eight or so dives in the cave, it doesn’t look like this will be the next Nohoch, but we did find a beautiful short cave system we’ve surveyed to build a map and a 3 dimensional model. The cave itself has a freshwater section with depth around 15 meters, and a halocline at 19 meters (49 feet) that leads to saltwater with a max depth of 23 meters (75 feet).

You can watch a a little video after our first week in the cave.