15/03/2026
Over the past year, a team of 15 divers, Playa Del Carmen Underwater Resurvey and Exploration (PURE), spent countless hours resurveying the Ponderosa system with the goal of creating a community of like minded individuals who appreciate having navigational aids for their diving and put their surveying skills to use. Previous maps of the systems have grown outdated and attempts to resurvey and generate an asset to the community have failed until now.
I want to thank Emőke Wagner for organizing and leading the project and Herwig Hoffmann for spending over 37 hours underwater with me and trusting my crazy dive plans.
I am pleased to report that Ponderosa now sits 68,208'/20,790m long with a few odds and ends that could be surveyed with a bit of courage and foolishness. This is a significant increase over the last map published which stood at 49,274'/14,931m. In the process, the cave was extended a mere 2,135'/650m. A significant amount of relining was performed.
Very soon, a large print of the full system will be displayed at Eden main entrance.
I have 4 packs of the maps printed on lona available for $90 (Xtabay, Eden, Eden East/Kantun Chi, and Azul/Cristalino). For the first 10 divers buying the bundle, I will include a Chikin Ha copy. While Chikin Ha has not been connected underwater, we know that hydrologically they are one and the same.
Full system prints on 200x200cm can be made upon request. Please reach out.