Aktun-Hu Exploration: October 2009

By: Beto Nava

PET members, Alex Alvarez and Beto Nava, joined forces with MCEP/CINDAQ members Chris Le Maillot, Daniel Riordan, and Fred Devos for another week of exploration at the Aktun-hu Cave System in Mexico.

This time the team focused the exploration efforts around the Chicomoztoc Cenote, located 11500 ft from the Fenomeno entrance. The divers were able to bypass the small restriction leading into the cenote by using a new larger tunnel. This new route will increase the efficiency of the exploration by allowing scooters and RBs to reach the cenote. Using this bypass, the South-West tunnel was extended another 1500 ft pushing the exploration zone into the 13000 ft range.

The team also explored several new cenotes in the vicinity of Fenomeno, including El Crater, Rio Amarillo, and others. Most of the explored tunnels in these new cenotes ended in small passages that will required side-mounted configurations in order to push forward.

A second connection to Outland Cave was also discovered by following a lead west from Cenote La Concha. The team was able to explore and survey ~7000 ft of passages during the week, as well as to work on photo documentation at the site.

We would like to thank QRSS, CINDAQ, and Zero Gravity for their support during this week-long project.

For additional images and documentary material from the project, please visit: http://www.baue.org/images/galleries/v/PET/feno/