Cave Diving on the NBC Today Show 3.31.2011 @ 8.19AM EDT

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03-30-2011 03:08 PM
Walter Pickel

Cave Diving on the NBC Today Show 3.31.2011 @ 8.19AM EDT

Tomorrow NBC The Today Show will have a piece from Josh Bernstein (He used to host Digging for the truth on Discovery). Josh joined us on our last trip to the Yucatan and this segment will show some highlights of the trip and his thoughts on our exploration and one of the major finds we made.

Here is the email the email he sent earlier today.

Just a heads-up to say my latest piece for NBC's TODAY show is scheduled to be on tomorrow, March 31, 2011. This segment captures a cave-diving expedition I recently joined in Mexico (it was great fun, and you'll have to tune in to see the spectacular discovery that was made).

In live news, things are always subject to being moved or delayed, but the piece is currently scheduled for 8:19am EDT. (For those who use Twitter, I'll be "tweeting" from NBC to confirm the exact time once I get to the studio. My Twitter username is @JoshBernstein.)

I sincerely hope you can tune in or record it. If you live outside the US, don't have TV, etc. the piece will be posted to my website a few days after it airs.
03-30-2011 03:17 PM
gschaut

Is this the episode Tivo has titled "e-readers/meals under 300 calories"?
03-30-2011 03:18 PM
Walter Pickel

Quote:

Originally Posted by gschaut

Is this the episode Tivo has titled "e-readers/meals under 300 calories"?

I have no idea...I don't have a Tivo. All I know is that it is the Today Show on NBC at 8.19 AM tomorrow.
03-30-2011 03:28 PM
SuPrBuGmAn

Sweet, hope someone catches it, puts it online, and shares a link :)
03-30-2011 03:48 PM
Line Squirrel

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuPrBuGmAn

Sweet, hope someone catches it, puts it online, and shares a link :)

In the OP's post

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepSea

Here is the email the email he sent earlier today.

the piece will be posted to my website a few days after it airs.
03-30-2011 07:44 PM
FFdiver

Walter,
What systems were you exploring in down there?
03-30-2011 11:04 PM
JCDdiver

Thanks for the heads-up.
03-31-2011 07:26 AM
Line Squirrel

Well, that was cool...too short of course, but cool :)
03-31-2011 07:39 AM
JCDdiver

I missed it! I was on a call.
03-31-2011 08:04 AM
SuPrBuGmAn

Quote:

Originally Posted by Line Squirrel

In the OP's post

D'Oh
03-31-2011 08:15 AM
Walter Pickel

Quote:

Originally Posted by FFdiver

Walter,
What systems were you exploring in down there?

Just random stuff we find on the side of the road or in the jungle. We are in Yucatan not Q. Roo.
03-31-2011 08:32 AM
Walter Pickel

Here is a link... http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/261848...56315#42356315
03-31-2011 08:44 AM
gschaut

Good segment! One personal note, "murky water" ???

If Lake Erie was always that "murky", I'd never have to go down to Florida again!
03-31-2011 08:51 AM
loquat149

Hey, Walter.
Cool stuff! Can you provide the names of the other participants? BTW, you think the chocolate pot was sacrificed as part of a ritual rather than being inadvertently dropped while someone was retrieving water?

Dave
03-31-2011 09:00 AM
Me

Pardon my ignorance, but from the statement Josh made toward the end, my assumption is he is cave trained previously, or was just prior to this shoot?
03-31-2011 09:01 AM
Walter Pickel

Quote:

Originally Posted by loquat149

Hey, Walter.
Cool stuff! Can you provide the names of the other participants? BTW, you think the chocolate pot was sacrificed as part of a ritual rather than being inadvertently dropped while someone was retrieving water?

Dave

The entire team can be seen here - http://www.advanceddivermagazine.com...a/xibalba.html

The pot and other pots in this particular hole are an anomaly. We are 100 km from any known Mayan sites. There is one sacrificial funerary urn but all the others (15+) are for use. It is an odd little system found by Brett Hemphill and Mike Young in 2010 (last day, last hole, last dive -- it always happens that way).
03-31-2011 09:03 AM
Walter Pickel

No one has mentioned the tandem drop Jon Bojar and I did (I am on the left, Jon on the right). We actually did that in one take.
03-31-2011 09:06 AM
loquat149

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepSea

No one has mentioned the tandem drop Jon Bojar and I did (I am on the left, Jon on the right). We actually did that in one take.

That was cool...did we hear the 'actual' splash?

Dave
03-31-2011 09:14 AM
Walter Pickel

Quote:

Originally Posted by loquat149

That was cool...did we hear the 'actual' splash?

Dave

Im pretty sure that was my fat a$$. Curt was filming from a bosen's ladder hanging at about 40'...the better shot was of him filming.
03-31-2011 09:24 AM
Walter Pickel

So here are some pieces of this whole thing...

Today Show Video - http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/261848...56315#42356315
ADM Article (more video) - http://www.advanceddivermagazine.com...a/xibalba.html
Josh's Blog - http://www.joshbernstein.com/site.ph...ya_underworld/
03-31-2011 09:34 AM
RAL

Cool stuff, thanks for the heads up. I made the mistake of tuning in an hour too early, 0818 eastern is 0718 here. Oh well how else would I have known Judge Judy was hospitalized with bad gas?:smt102

RAL
03-31-2011 10:02 AM
jlillest

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAL

... how else would I have known Judge Judy was hospitalized with bad gas?:smt102

Daytime TV is so informative! How would we live without it?

Walter, great segment on the Today Show. I liked the shot of the chamber with the dual rappel.

-Jon
03-31-2011 01:43 PM
stairman

I thought I missed it but 7 hours later there it is. Thanks guys. Funny they mentioned murky when at the time it was crystal clear. Looks like alot of history left down there to explore.
03-31-2011 02:56 PM
Walter Pickel

I have added the video segment to my site if you haven't already seen it - http://j.mp/eDvph3
03-31-2011 05:55 PM
JCGoodwin

Walter hoping into those wells was one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time.
Your discoveries are very interesting and awesome contribution to the unraveling of the Mayan culture.
Please keep us posted on the new findings.
For cave divers this is the top of the shelf entertainment!
Thank you to you and the team for bringing these new findings to light.

JCG
03-31-2011 06:48 PM
Walter Pickel

JCG...It is 100% a team effort. Most times you drop a well/hole and you get nothing. The hole that the pot is in was found by Brett Hemphill and Mike Young on our 2010 trip. The BIG room that myself and Jon Bojar rappelled tandem into was my gift..I was the first ever to drop it. If it looks like it is filled with gasoline and cow dung Curt (Team Coordinator) will usually pick someone (not their turn) and tell them they are up. He did that to me this last trip and I ended up exploring the "Buford" of the Yucatan...just clearer water.

We explored about 120 holes in 2010 and only 43 this year. The first week this year was pretty much getting 27 hours of footage for that 5 minute segment. The "Chac Mol" award went to Jon Bojar for being the only person skinny enough to fit though a hole and drop a well we sounded to 195'. It bottomed out at 265'
03-31-2011 07:11 PM
deepairmike

Was the hole smaller than that one I droped by the pyramid? Wow 265' that's the deepest so far wasn't our deepest 230'
04-01-2011 08:14 AM
Walter Pickel

Quote:

Originally Posted by deepairmike

Was the hole smaller than that one I droped by the pyramid? Wow 265' that's the deepest so far wasn't our deepest 230'

I think you and Brett did 240. The hole was different yours was simply a mole hole with pipes. Jon's was a well with slats cemented in. Both had the width of an 80 (barely), you both had to be pulled out :) Yours was BY FAR more fun to watch!
04-01-2011 08:11 PM
ScubaRob

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepSea

I have added the video segment to my site if you haven't already seen it - http://j.mp/eDvph3

Thanks Walter.
04-07-2011 08:43 PM
ExplorerJosh

Hey, everyone. Glad many of you liked the piece I did for Today. Hanging out with Walter, Curt, and the others was a blast and I expect we'll be doing some more diving in the near future.

Best,
josh
04-08-2011 10:17 AM
Skorpiov

Welome to the forum... and the addiction... ;-)
04-08-2011 10:28 AM
Greenwood_60

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExplorerJosh

...I expect we'll be doing some more diving in the near future.

How about a piece on Weeki Wachee, if they get in there this year?
04-08-2011 04:32 PM
deepairmike

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExplorerJosh

Hey, everyone. Glad many of you liked the piece I did for Today. Hanging out with Walter, Curt, and the others was a blast and I expect we'll be doing some more diving in the near future.

Best,
josh

I have another system in the yucatan that has all three. Pre columbian Mayan, Spanish,and "occupied"Mayan artifacts if your interested