Cenote Doggi
Quintana Roo, Mexico 1/08/2011
length as of 9/24/2011 19070ft

by Phillip Lehman

Divers: Victoria Alexandrova, Kim Davidsson, Mauro Bordignon, Santiago Pintado, Sebastien Kister, Phillip Lehman

We started this expedition with a plane ride looking for potential cenotes, we flew for a while and saw many cool promising looking spots, got gps points and decided to spend the following day looking for them on land. As it turns out getting accurate GPS points from a plane is like trying to milk a flea with boxing gloves, really really difficult.

Towards the end of the flight Vicka spotted the coolest looking cenote we saw that day, we promptly told the pilot to circle around and took pictures and got as good a gps coordinate as possible, we were psyched at the prospect of diving this new spot.

The next day we all met at Protec Tulum loaded the car and drove to the new spot,
amongst many gps points the Vicka Cenote was our main priority. We drove around and Kim, Sion Vicka and Mauro went juggling a bit with no success and then we tried to find the new Cenote, after a bunch of driving, comparing aerial pics and GPS points we finally found the Cenote and "rediscovered" Angelita.

There are very few times in life if any at all were making many mistakes at the same time is in the fact,
without you even knowing it, the most accurate and spot on thing you can possibly do.

Discouraged we decided to backtrack and check a very inaccurate potential depression Kim
had spotted form the plane, we got close and turned in to a road that looks just like any other dirt road
but would turn out to be the best of all good decisions. Of course there was no Cenote nearby however the owner of the house at the end of the road said there was a small little cave with a bit of water that did not look deep or promising in any way.
He agreed to show us and Kim, Sion, Mauro and Vicka went off to check it out, I stayed in the car discouraged and sure this was a no go.

Ten Mexican minutes later they come back and it turns out it might go, Mauro had jumped in and checked it out and it just might go, Sion (Kim's son) played cave explorer and also poked his head underwater, he is just a kid now but being Kim's son he will in all likelihood grow up to be in the future the go to guy for answers about modern cave diving techniques and procedures. Sion will be telling us "Man, you guys are so old school"
Anyway Mauro gets his gear and off he goes back to the entrance, again I waited in the car not very optimistic about the whole thing and really not expecting anything at all.

Fifteen Mexican minutes later Vicka and Kim come back and as it turns out it not only goes it goes a lot, Mauro was diving but being the cool guy that he is he took the time to go back up to let us know and that we should gear up and come.

The next twenty minutes or so are very similar to when I get to the beach thinking there are no waves and suddenly realize the waves are actually really good and the mood goes from yeah whatever to dude let's go.

The entrance is a little cave with a small muddy pool at the bottom about half the size of Chan-Hol's entrance only much tighter below.

We follow Mauro's line in zero viz and the whole time I am not really expecting much more than a short dive, then suddenly the viz clears up and I get my first look at the cave, I am immediately blown away, it is super decorated with really weird formation of every different kind and really really cool colors.

In the early 90's Billabong had an ad campaign showing a guy surfing a perfect wave and a corny slogan "only a surfer knows the feeling" well this moment was a cave diving version of that exact perfect wave only the corny slogan changed a bit to "only a cave explorer knows the feeling"

I could not believe it, I waited for Vicka who had a very very pronounced smile on, whipped out my reel tied in and we were off. It is hard to describe what it's like to be the first to explore a cave it is the only thing I have ever done that is actually even more fun than surfing, is that even possible?
Anyway we swam off and I decided to use the force instead of the compass to explore the cave, it goes everywhere in all directions and we swam in what looked like the way.

The cave is ultra decorated and is like a dense forest of stalactites, I know that's a corny description but for lack of a less corny description it really is like that. In most caves the decorations are kind of similar and change in a very gradual way if at all, here it is stalactites gone wild, every different kind all mixed up and the rock and entire cave keeps changing every few minutes, I turn to Vicka every now and then
to mentally say holly shit. The cave is very shallow with a max depth of 5mtrs, we swim by a few air pockets and incredibly cool looking tannic water with dark stained decorations just the way I like em.

After emptying my reel and some of Vicka's (which I took from her when mine ran out, hehe) we eventually somehow end up on our line, using the force for navigation instead of the cave or a compass made us do a big loop, but man what an epic dive!! I tie off about 20 feet from the line and decide to leave a big gap, we exchange mental holly shits!, again and turn the dive.

On the drive back Mauro asks me "ok guys what should we call this cave?" then for some reason the name Cenote Doggi comes to mind and it sounds kind of cool not to mention that there are a good amount of those around the entrance so we all agree Cenote Doggi it is.

Cenote Doggi Doggi

Dive time 120mins
Max depth 5.0 meters
Fun factor 11 (out of a possible 10)

DAY 2
I slept really bad, I would wake up take a leak and try really hard not to think about Cenote Doggi but every time as I am about to fall asleep it just pops in there tunnels, stalactites, more tunnels, underwater pyramids and i don't fall asleep. This is the cave diving equivalent of hearing a massive swell hitting and you just know it's gonna be big wave time the next day, yeah try and sleep then or now.

We plan on getting to Doggi around 10am so we actually get there at 1pm, the plan was to dive to the end of Mauro's original South line he laid on the first dive, cause he said his side was better, it kind of is, like even more decorations we need to swim very slowly and use extra care to not break anything, a maze of stalactites to swim through everywhere all the time, this cave is an advanced dive in that sense.

food at El Arbolito Tulum's best tacos

Vicka and I swim slowly and are really blown away by how cool this cave looks, there may be more decorated caves (although personally I have not seen one yet) but this cave has an industrial dose of character and style, it is never the same, the rock and decorations keep changing every few minutes, there are crazy flow stones, room of tears style columns and every shape of stalactite and stalagmite you can think of and just like women all over the world they go from whiter than white to dark black and everything in between, cool!

After swimming for a while we get to the end of the line, I whip out my reel tie in and we are off, wow this is not just cool but the coolest, the cave up to this point is a massive maze that goes in every direction, not super wide but not huge either normal size but we get to a kind of junction room with much wider dimensions, I try and follow the cave and we swim to what looks like the biggest part slightly left.
The reel is whizzing and line is coming off as fast as we can swim since now the cave has gotten a bit bigger than the previous part and we can actually swim faster. There are tannic shallow spots that look like they might be another entrance but none are, looks really cool though with multicolor stained water and dark formations.
really
After swimming a while the we get to a large room and I revert to using the force for navigation, this leads me to miss seeing a big tunnel to my left and I swim straight into a tunnel above a big ledge it gets lower and there is a restriction, I poke my head in and it keeps going but my reel runs out and anyway this is far enough for today, I am almost at thirds and it's been over an hour so I signal Vicka, tie off and we swim out.
Vicka immediately shows me were we should have gone, that big tunnel to my left, I feel really retarded
I actually managed to miss this so to retain my hardcore technical advanced cave exploration image I signal her that I knew it was there but wanted to go straight cause I knew that was important for special technical reasons Vicka could not possibly understand.

The swim out is really cool and I see many many leads amongst which another really big tunnel that I also managed to miss, I drop a cookie on that and already start making plans to return there the next day. After a while we get back to the entrance recalculate thirds and swim down our previous days line to check for leads, close to the entrance a few minutes in I see a weird colour tunnel, I tie off and swim in, here the rock is very different looking you can see were the water stained the rock when the levels were lower, looks insane, like an muscle car airbrush colour fade of 20 shades of yellow, the decorative powers of nature have actually made pinstripes in a cave!

I keep swimming in and it opens up into a nice sized room, to not be a hog I pass the reel to Vicka, we
keep swimming in for a few minutes but the cave ends after only 70 meters or so not very far, Vicka starts to reel out but I signal we should leave the line cause although it don't go far this is such a cool unusual part of the cave that is merits leaving a short line.

We swim back to the main line and continue in checking for leads and stuff, there are many, I drop cookies get to thirds and we turn the dive. We surface and walk back the car, I feel good,real good, satisfied with the kind of satisfaction only big waves or cave exploration can provide and I also feel really cool, yeah I explore flooded caves and I am cool, then Vicka says in her Russian accent
"Phill you are so retarded, you really did not see that tunnel on your left?"

Dive time 141mins
Max depth 5.0 meters
Fun factor 11 (out of a possible 10)

DAY 3
Again I sleep really bad trying not to think about Doggi, we meet Kim at Protec Tulum, a supra nice new dive shop by the way, we planned on getting an early start so we actually get to the cave around noon.The dive plan today was Kim pushes Mauro's line and Vicka and I go and checkout the leads on our orginal west line. Kim goes down first and Vicka and I get in after.

We T right and promptly swim to the first lead, T left after a 10 min swim, I tie in to the loop we left the first day and swim off, it is a kind of a low bedding plane with so many decorations you really need to pick your way carefully, we swim through this maze and it goes in all direction, I am amazed at how much fun this is, very slow going but really really fun. the cave never ends but does get intoa few low restrictions here and there, we don't push many since the cave is wide open and it makes no sense at this point.

in some sections you really need A+ buoyancy to not damage the cave

After a while I see a line, we swam a huge loop and somehow ended up at the pinstripe room, cool. I tie off and we swim back around, one cool thing about this cave is that it does not percolate much at all, I am use to complete zero viz exits on almost all explorations in the DR so this is a really nice change cause I actually get to see the cave on the way out.

Back on the mainline we swim up to check a restriction that Mauro thought might yield a lot of cave, I see the spot, it is a small space between a wall of thick stalactites, you would definitely need to remove a tank and kind of fight your way through, not wanting to scrape against the cave unless absolutely necessary I poke around and see if there is another way past this wall, after a few minutes I find another way in a bit further in, this is still a bit tight through two columns but at least you don't have to fight your way through and turning sideways you can do it without touching anything.

I tie off and go through, Vicka stylishly follows, now I am not sure what I looked like when I swam through the restriction sideways but it sure did not "feel" as smooth and stylish as how Vicka looked, anyway, immediately past the wall of stalactites the cave changes, everything is darker, the walls look more like a saltwater passage, sharp and dissolved, the decorations are all dark and it has a more...dark vibe, what is another word for dark? What is the speed of dark?

We swim around in this section and it starts to get a bit deeper, like 2-3 mtrs deeper, we look around this section for the way on eventually after swimming down a few passages that don't go I start to swim N and it keeps going, the other different thing here is that it percolates a lot too so I don't have the luxury of time.
After a while I get to another wall of thick stalactites, beyond that it looks like it gets much bigger and a bit deeper and darker (cool) but this time there is no bypass, this is not a super gnarly restriction, but again you would have to take a tank off maybe both and fight your way through a bit. I check my gauges damn almost thirds anyway its been almost two hours and I anticipate a zero viz exit for this entire section so I decide to tie off and check a few other leads closer to the entrance, I signal Vicka and we head out, it goes to zero viz but only for a few minutes, I pause in the silt out for a short moment, I like silt outs, you can kind of "hear" what the cave looks like.

We eventually get back to the restriction, again Vicka looks very stylish going through sideways, and again it does not "feel" as stylish as how Vicka looks when I go through.

Back on the mainline I pause a moment and check my gauges and I ask Vicka how much air she has, really! damn man, she don't breath nothing this Russian chick, unlike me though so we turn the dive and head out. We get back to the car and I get bit by a Tabano and I don't even care, 15 Mexican minutes later Kim shows up and is psyched about this new cave too.

Dive time 144mins
Max depth 7.8 meters
Fun factor 11 (out of a possible 10)

DAY 4
The previous day I spoke to Mauro and we all decide to go dive earlier, so we actually get to the cave around 1pm, this time Sebastien and Santiago join us too and we are all super amped at the prospect of a cool exploration dive.

reels before Doggi

reels after Doggi

Seba & Santiago

We all jump in at various intervals and split up into dive teams, Vicka and I decide to go and check a lead I saw on Mauro's line the second day, Mauro will push the dark area and the French will go to the end of Mauro's south line and poke around there.

Vicka and I swim on Mauro's origianl first day south line andwe finally get to the lead, I left a cookie there so I tie in and swim off a bit to much to the left, this chokes off almost immediately and as Vicka looks at me I act like I meant to do that and shine my light around pretending to double check something really important.
Doubling back a bit I then take the obvious correct route and it goes, the cave here is wider and bigger, still super decorated but it opens up much more, now up to this point this cave has been very extensive but not huge tunnel wise, as I swim in there is a ledge with a low ceiling and the cave makes a right turn, I can tell there is something a bit bigger around the bend but only see it a few moments later.

I pause and give Vicka the international holly shit hand signal, all of a sudden the walls drop out and it is really really big, to me it qualifies as power cave size, really wide rooms punctuated by large columns then more wider than wide rooms.
Every now and then I give Vicka the international holly shit hand signal, what a cool cave, the only thing slowing us down now and then is a few restrictions through walls of stalactites and a few low ceilings and ledges here and there but it always opens back up big time. I put a small compass on my reel today cause it's cool and Mauro likes it and as it turns out this is a very very good idea and makes navigating and laying line at the same time much easier.
After a while I swim up to a lower bedding plane that kind of falls off to the right and chokes, there are jailhouse bars of decorations everywhere blocking the way, I can see that behind this wall it looks like the cave opens up even more, so I swim around and find a spot just big enough to swim through, barely.
I make a tie off to the left and swim super slow to not break anything you almost need to take a tank off but not, Vicka follows and again looks way more stylish than it felt when I went through, damn.

I make a tie off and start swimming, the walls kind of fall out of view and the cave opens up big time, it's a hard feeling to describe, exploring a new cave, finding a way through a restriction maze of decorations and then seeing big wide open cave as far as the light will carry, in fact it is such an insane feeling that I have to invent a new word to describe it, cause there ain' t one big enough out there now.

We swim and eventually the reel runs out, I turn back and Vicka has a big smile and a fresh reel in hand, she ties into the loop and swims off, the cave keeps changing geologically all the time, the rocks, decorations it never stays the same it is really nature gone wild.
After more utmost coolness in cave exploration I eventually get to thirds and I signal Vicka, she ties off and we head back.

We have been swimming non stop in a new cave for about an hour only being slowed down now and then by a few restrictions, well not really restrictions in the strictest of terms but rather walls so highly decorated that it almost blocks the way on.
I always anticipate zero viz exits, in the DR that is the norm almost all the time, this cave for some reason really does not percolate much if even at all, so we get a really good look at a bunch of leads on the way out. We surface and eventually all meet up back at the car, I cannot figure out which is more representative of this dive, the extreme upward angle of our smiles or the emptiness of our reels.

DAY 5
We plan on getting to Cenote Doggie early, but like every day we cannot leave Tulum without an espresso or two, cave diving without espresso, yeah right, so we actually get there around noon. We all gear up and go down at varying intervals, Vicka and I plan on diving to the end of our previous days line and push west.

By the time we get to the end of the previous day's line it is already been a good 45 minute swim!
Now there is something that happens to surfers on almost all sessions, for some reason a stupid song or tv ad jingle gets stuck in your head and you cannot stop mentally singing it, well for some reason just as I am about to whip out my reel it happens, Doggi, Doggi Doggi, like a bad Purina Dog Chow commercial and it will stick with me the entire dive stopping only when I make a tie off or writing something down.

Anyway I whip out my reel tie in and we a off again, I mentally tell Vicka "dude the cave keeps going big time" and the tunnels stay wide and open with leads everywhere, I use the compass on my reel and manage to stay on course with very few deviations. Eventually we get to a restriction, the ceiling gets low and there is a wall of really thick decorations blocking our way, I can see past this and all I can see is dark space, we need to find a way on.

To my immediate left there is a small space between two columns but as I look at this I realize I might have to take a tank off and fight a bit to get through, I keep swimming and looking around for another way through, by now I am fully expecting a total silt so I hurry up a bit, amazingly the silt out does not happen and I realize that I can actually take my time looking, how cool is that!.
After poking around here and the I find a small space wedged up against the floor and the right side of the wall, I swim through and it is tight height wise but wide enough to pass with tanks on. Vicka follows through, I make another tie off and the ledge drops off and opens up again into wide open and insanely decorated grade A cave.
After swimming a while the ceiling starts to get a bit lower and we spot a big Catfish, I look at Vicka and we both know there must be another entrance nearby, we never find it. Swimming further in we get to what looks like almost an entrance, a shallow tannic area that goes up to within a meter of the surface, I swim left and it looks like the cave gets into a tighter bedding plane but wide and in all directions, I back track a bit tie off and signal Vicka that I am at thirds and we turn, Doggi, Doggi Doggi.

The swim back is a long one but we both know we have to go back to the DR tomorrow and this is our last dive so we really take our time to savor every little bit of cave. We both have a big Paleontology expedition in two days back in the DR and we are the official Museum of Man divers so we really really need to go back but if it was not for that we would stay for sure.

Dive time 197mins
Max depth 7.0 meters
Fun factor 11 (out of a possible 10)

Mauro, Kim, Sebastien and Santiago and the Quiet Diver Team have been really cool and we had a great time, yeah these guys are all top notch divers and they don't fuck around when it comes to exploring, but more importantly they understand the meaning of sharing with friends and having fun.

This was a cave diving version of a classic surf trip hanging out, good friends and good fun and all the while pioneering double to triple overhead epic waves at a new spot.
Vicka and I feel we have gained coolness points with these guy and are now an integral part of the Cenote Doggi Fan Club and we got o explore the biggest and beautifullest cave and that is as Mastercard would put it...priceless