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TAJMA HA SAGRADO AND MANGROVIA LINE REPLACEMENT Aug 28, 2020 Thanks you to Vincent Rouqette-Cathala and Marcelin Nebenhaus for replacing the worn line on the Sagrado Line and the Cenote Mangrovia Line at Cenote Tajma Ha. Both lines were replaced with community approved #24 braided white line. Vincent writes: “Marcelin and i went and changed Sagrado line today, as well as Mangrovia line all the way to the deep bone room in Tajma Ha. The last part of Cenote Mangrovia Line past the deep bone remains to be done as we ran out of line. We left a zip-tied orange REM to mark the end of high impact skills shortly before the deep bone room jump. The preexisting line markers were left in their exact original spots, and the very same tie offs have been used.” Thank you both for your efforts and for contributing to cave safety. To request line for a replacement or to make a suggestion of a need repair, please use the “Submit Suggestion” link in the menu bar above.

Thanks to Alain and Lili Pocobelli for volunteering their time and energy for a much needed replacement of the mainline at Abejas. Alain reports: “Lili an I replaced about 1800 – 1900 feet of the permanent main line at Abejas. The one that starts at the bottom on the right. It’s all we could carry on our large reels. (35 min swim at a good pace on the way out). The line was horrible and it took us two dives… Bunch or repairs, knots to cut, and the line was breaking constantly.” Thank you both for your effort to support cave safety. Please email us for replacement line or with suggestions at using the “Submit Suggestions” link above.

CARWASH DOWNSTREAM Aug 28, 2020 In accordance with the recent vote, the downstream lines of cenote carwash have been modified to facilitate training and cave diving. Below is a sketch of the changes. Changes include: • The stop sign has been moved closer to the open water. • The “Lower White Room Line” was extended into the cavern zone and begins behind the stop sign, to the right of the sign. The entire line was replaced with #24 braided white line. • The left hand “Downstream Line” was also moved closer to the cavern zone, and now begins behind the stop sign, to the left of the sign. The entire line was replaced #24 braided line. • The “Satan’s Silthole” line was extended towards the cenote and is now a jump from the Downstream Line. The Satan’s Silthole line was replaced with #24 braided line up to the T-intersection.  

  KAN LUUM REOPENED FOR TECHNICAL DIVING AND FREEDIVING Aug 28, 2020 The line committee is pleased to announce that we have negotiated the reopening of Kan Luum lagoon for technical diving and freediving. Recreational diving and training are not permitted at this time. This is an excellent move forward for the technical diving community, which suffered from a lack of deep training sites (the most recent options were Angelita, Angelita, or Angelita). Entrance is allowed for registered guides and instructors only. To be added to the list please contact Luis Leal, or CREER directly using the suggestions link on the main page. Below is a simple infographic of approved configurations.  

MAYA BLUE LINE MARKING TRIAL Aug 28, 2020 Over the months of June and July, the CREER Line Committee, in combination with local volunteers, completes a line replacement in Cenote Maya Blue through all the areas accessible with a set of doubles. Major changes include: • The gold line in A Tunnel is completely removed, and replaced with #24 braided white line. The gold line was in sufficiently bad condition that it disintegrated upon removal. • The white “laundry line” in B Tunnel was replaced with #24 braided white lines. It was in reasonable condition but had zero stretch to accommodate marker replacement. • The rest of the poor condition lines were replaced with #24 braided white line. • An experimental line marking system was implemented as explained in the graphic below. We are awaiting community feedback. If approved, this will be the go-to method for line replacements in popular caves.  

MAYA BLUE E AND F TUNNEL– JAN 2020 January 29, 2020 Volunteers replaced old line in maya blue: all the e tunnel line, f tunnel t left to a tunnel, and f tunnel t right until it gets tight. Line is on the exact same tie offs except for 1 or 2 spots where the original placement was unstable. In these cases the new line placement is as close to the original spot as possible. Arrows etc were left as is. The line was truly in bad shape. 5 reels of disintegrating line were removed. Thanks to the diver who called it in for the advice!

CARWASH CAVERN LINE INSTALLATION January 20, 2020 The U-Shaped Line (Vote Option 1) was installed in CarWash on Monday 20 January, as voted for by the community. The line had space on the left and right of the cavern zone for further lines to be run, and all tie-offs were installed and checked by 3 experienced cave instructors. At some point between the 22 and 25 January, someone changed the line again, cutting off any access to the right of the cavern zone and restricting space on the left, such that there will be an entanglement risk if another line is put in by a cave team. The changed tie-offs were poorly installed, and one was a very loose placement, making it easy for a cavern diver to pull it off and put a lot of loose line in the water. The line will be repaired (again) by members of the CREER Line Committee in the next few days. Unauthorised line changes are bad for safety, cave conservation and the community. If anyone wants a line changed, please make recommendations via the CREER website here: Suggestions The committee is planning a new vote, as it is clear a community consensus was not acheived due to the unauthorized changes.

INSTALLATION OF CAVERN LINE IN CASA CENOTE January 19, 2020 There is now a Gold Kernmantle Cavern Line in Casa Cenote, as shown in the attached diagram. The line is continuous and starts from the boundary between open water and overhead, just before the right hand bend. It finishes just beyond the “crocodile rock”. Both ends are clearly marked with the slates shown in the picture and THE LINE SHOULD ONLY BE USED FOR CAVERN DIVES – NOT DSDs. The CREER virtual line committee voted for this line plus an additional line on the crack passage side. The line team put a temporary guideline within the cavern line here to assess the route. Even the optimum route was assessed to be unsafe as it was very silty in places and extremely close to open water in others, risking Open Water Divers accidentally following it. The temporary line was therefore removed and a gold line not put in place. The team that put the line in was Jeff S. Clark (QRSS), Vincent Rouquette-cathala, Roger Williams and Lanny Vogel. CAVERN LINE ROUTE WARNING SLATES

THE VOTE: The route of the Cavern line at Carwash is controversial and it would be helpful if a wide cross section of the community put forward their views. The cenote owners have requested that some sort of cavern line remains, so “no line” is not an option. These are the 5 options that are currently being considered for the final vote later this month. REMEMBER THAT THE MAIN FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN PLACING PERMANENT LINES ARE CAVE SAFETY AND CONSERVATION OPTION 1 OPTION 2 OPTION 3 OPTION 4 OPTION 5 RESULTS: The community voted for: Option 1 – “Original” U-Shaped Cavern Line. Space to lay cave line under the cavern line at the red “X” markings – to left of sign and on far left of cavern. The Cavern Line at Carwash will be changed within the next week.

TAAK BE HA CENOTE LINE CHANGE The line traditionally used for guided cenote tours in Taak Be Ha was changed from white line to gold kermantle line, in accordance with the guidelines for cenote tour lines from the September 2019 vote.  As lines are repaired, the standard of gold kermantle cenote/cavern tour lines and #24 braided white cave lines will be slowly implemented.  Thank you to Steve Bogaerts for the generous donation of kermantle line. The Taak Be Ha cenote line was slightly rerouted to pull it further away from the cave line on the right hand side of the loop. Additionally the cave line was pulled closer to the open water, to allow cave divers to connect directly to the cave line, without jumping from the gold cenote tour line. The cave line is white. Taak Be Ha remains open to both cave divers and guided cenote tours, and is an excellent access for cave divers to upstream Dos Ojos. An updated survey of the relevant lines will be posted in the near future.  For now, enjoy our lovely whiteboard drawing. GOLD LINE IN Vicente Fito with the gold line donated by Steve Bogaerts, which was placed in Taak Be Ha. WHITE LINE OUT Vicente Fito and volunteers, with the white line removed from the Taak Be Ha cenote tour.