OnlyCenotes

End of season map clear-out, I have 4 more Ponderosa full sets (includes Chikin Ha) and a few individual maps (first come first serve). Map sales will move to retail dive shops....more details to come soon.

Aerolito 1
In****no / Otooch Kisin 1
Ponderosa - Full Set + Chikin 4
Ponderosa - Azul / Cristalino 1
Ponderosa - Chikin Ha 1
Ponderosa - Eden East / Kantun Chi 2
Ponderosa - Xtabay 1
Sac Actun - Fenomeno 1
Sac Actun - La Gloria 1

A lot of folks reached out to know more about the Altama boots I posted.

Questions:
- Which model? I get the Altama Mid Cut. They provide higher ankle coverage to keep the boot tight and also provide more protection for the sock

- How do you size for them? I wear 8.5 running shoes, usually buying the wide ones. For the Altama w/ drysuit sock, I do +1 in size.

- How do you get them in Mexico? I had to order from Amazon.com and ship to Mexico. This time around it took forever to ship. Buying direct from vendor is prohibitive. Having someone bring from the states is probably the best way.

- How long did they last you? I wore them for ~700 hours since December 2022. I usually burn through a set of DUI boots per year for comparison.

- Why do i love them so much? They are robust, provide great protection when walking on the surface, and keep my drysuit sock free of air while diving because i can keep them proper tight laced

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VRCJTKZ?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1

Altama Unisex Maritime Mid Dive Fin-Compatible Tactical Boots with Water Drainage Ports & Water-Resistant PU Contoured Insole High abrasion quick drying 1000D Cordura quarter panels offered on both solid colors and Multicam

A few folks reached out about issues with Satellite Imagery not working when using Google Maps (imagery was not loading). Sebastien has quickly resolved the issue in the background and you can go back from Azure Maps / Google Maps to Google Maps Hybrid if that is your favorite.

However, I am finding that Azure Maps is starting to have more up to date imagery in the jungle... so it might be a good time to give it a shot.

to the rescue and quick turnaround as always

Over the past year, a team of 15 divers, Playa Del Carmen Underwater Resurvey and Exploration (PURE), spent countless hours resurveying the Ponderosa system with the goal of creating a community of like minded individuals who appreciate having navigational aids for their diving and put their surveying skills to use. Previous maps of the systems have grown outdated and attempts to resurvey and generate an asset to the community have failed until now.

I want to thank Emőke Wagner for organizing and leading the project and Herwig Hoffmann for spending over 37 hours underwater with me and trusting my crazy dive plans.

I am pleased to report that Ponderosa now sits 68,208'/20,790m long with a few odds and ends that could be surveyed with a bit of courage and foolishness. This is a significant increase over the last map published which stood at 49,274'/14,931m. In the process, the cave was extended a mere 2,135'/650m. A significant amount of relining was performed.

Very soon, a large print of the full system will be displayed at Eden main entrance.

I have 4 packs of the maps printed on lona available for $90 (Xtabay, Eden, Eden East/Kantun Chi, and Azul/Cristalino). For the first 10 divers buying the bundle, I will include a Chikin Ha copy. While Chikin Ha has not been connected underwater, we know that hydrologically they are one and the same.

Full system prints on 200x200cm can be made upon request. Please reach out.

This is a post for SpeleoDB users. If you have upgraded to the latest version of Ariane and are running in this error when starting Ariane or trying to load a project, you will need to update the "Speleodb instance" to be in lowercase from www.speleoDB.com to www.speleodb.com.

Completed one last project for the season last week. I first visited In****no in November 2025 and I was immediately drawn to the mind bending first 600' of the cave where the walls are darker, burnt marshmallows kind of look and crazy striation. This area obviously shares similarities to Taak Bi Luum on the other side of the depression. Juveniles shrimps are abundant.

Once you are past the mind bending look, the cave turns into proper Sac Actun white colors and feel.

When we resurveyed, we noticed some interesting flow dynamics where water was flowing west and that we encountered many areas with colder water. I suspect the cold streak in February made all the surfaces cold and water inverted, sending it into the cave.

To my knowledge, Otooch Kisin/In****no is a standalone system. However, it is extremely close to Pet Cemetery thru Entrada Mosquitos (dry cave).

Other interesting facts about the cave is there are many areas where the rocks are velcro'like as if it the passages were salt. Also, there are many areas where the floor breaks into a basement level into salt..

The region was originally explored in 2005 by Nadia Berni/Dave Sieff with a second wave by Rune and Pal and some by Robbie. A 2016-2017 pass by Natalie Gibb/Vincent Rouquette-Cathala cleared what was left to find.

Access is through Don Miguel at Taak Bi Luum.

If you are interested in a copy of the stick map on Lona, please reach out.

Pet Cemetery sketch by Peter Sprouse

The family is growing. I am happy to announce Chikin Ha and the Xtabay region of Sistema Ponderosa are now available for sale on lona (50x70cm).

Very soon, I will have maps of Eden, Eden/Kantun Chi, and Azul/Cristalino available.....they are just VERY busy looking.

I will have a few copies tonight at the NSS-CDS conference if you want to get yours. I also have a few remaining La Gloria/Xookab Ha, Aerolito, and others.

New feature alert.... In the next version of Ariane, you will be able to redraw the map based on a remoteness threshold which can be by distance using the slider and also by picking a specific starting point using the dropdown
This will be useful for CCR divers who want to establish a radius for their dive

Moment straight out of horror movies! Get home and the data is MIA and you know you got the data correctly during the dive. I noticed Ariane was glitching/stalling when i was clicking on the sections and that felt off.
Pulled MnemoBridge and it confirmed the data was good. Restarted Ariane and the data displayed. Phewwww.
80 shot survey, cant lose that. All is good again!

EDIT: Thanks Andreas Rosland for the cue on likely not putting in the project details in fully. Sebastien confirmed that if the unit is not selected, then it goes 👈👉👆👇 (though id expect only distance to be affected). In any case, it has been reported for PEBKAC prevention.