Cave diving on Yahoo news . . .

[aw]

Just saw this posted on Yahoo News - FRONT PAGE of website. I didn't check to see if anybody had posted this somewhere else. So sorry if it's a duplicate.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070302/...exico_river_dc

[Cave Ranger]

Wow!! 95 miles of cave penetration!! What are they using Martian Rebreathers? That just might have the WKPP's record at Wakulla beat....maybe?

[DeepBound]

Is this a mistake? Are there any other links about this 95 mile long cave?

[aw]

"connecting two cave systems with a waterway at least 95 miles long"

well, I think you'd have to half that distance since "penetration distance" would only 47.5 miles. The other half would be exit distance. Kinda like doing the mile run at peacock. It's not a 4,700 penetration. It's a 4,700 traverse with a 2,350 ft penetration. How far can a dog run into the woods? Half way, then he's running out.

Either way, still impossible to confirm with current technology unless there are intermediate sinkholes to do sections at a time.

They could mean the combined explored passage betwen the two systems totals 95 miles (but not linear) with all it's offshoots, etc. Dunno.

[Al]

Just saw this posted on Yahoo News - FRONT PAGE of website. I didn't check to see if anybody had posted this somewhere else. So sorry if it's a duplicate.

It looks like they're talking about the connection that was just made between Sac Aktun and Nohoch. I don't remember the numbers, but they're probably getting the total amount of passage confused with length.

[FW]

It looks like they're talking about the connection that was just made between Sac Aktun and Nohoch. I don't remember the numbers, but they're probably getting the total amount of passage confused with length.

Bingo!

There are several sinkholes (Cenotes) in the system, so there is no huge penetration. By definition, a "system" must be continuous underwater. Unless a Cenote has a bypass around it, it breaches the system.

Here is a link to the discussion on here a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.cavediver.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=5352