The French Connection Part 2
After a while out of the survey project, here we are back on track and armed with strength and determination…and for me much more sidemount experience aka solo diving! 
We set our primary goal to re-adjust the COA line in order to clean up the blunder created in earlier stage of the survey. As we are approaching the completion of the stick map itself, we will also share what we have with Don Feliciano (owner of the Cenote Tajma Ha) as well as the close group of friends lucky enough to be around! 
The cartography part of the project will start once all the lines are surveyed.
Start off from Sagrado, where Alan sets it’s dive onto Twin Cenote GPS coords and I go and check out a French line lost in the middle of City Of Agre. Bloody French lines, they are everywhere!
If you are not familiar with the history of early exploration of Tajma Ha check out this earlier post.
Survey tools
As Alan, in front of me, sets off to Twin Cenote, I place my jump spool to connect with the line that will take me to COA. This jump is really in an awkward place but it takes you into a series of collapses and some very nicely decorated passages…Decorated passages, collapses, isn’t that all confusing? Yes and no I shall say! Tajma Ha has a lot of very nice sections but this one is very Nohoch like… Ok, ok, we are not in Lithium Sunset line of Sac Aktun but still that organic, brown sediment on the floor and very delicate and numerous stalactites and columns riddle the passage. I remember the first time I saw that section, it was with Alan and I was ‘still’ diving backmounted doubles. I know, it’s history now!
As I progress along the line and negotiate few minor restrictions, I can’t stop but thinking that Taj must have a second floor. If you dive Taj enough, you will understand what I am saying. In many places, especially where the sea water layer eats off the limestone, it looks as if steps are making their way for an underground layer… Maybe it is just more soluble rock sediment or as the step itself being a bedding plane type of rock and underneath would be the soluble rock sediment… Another question to as Dr Patricia Beddows!
Let’s get back to our French line!
This line is actually visible when you swim along the COA going in either directions. It seems as if it is a by-pass but in reality it is just behind a huge rock wall but it is in fact in the same room as the main COA line. Maybe it was an actual passage few eons years ago but it got eaten away!
It takes us where and why I did this dive. Survey the jump from COA and take all the DAD data and get Compass to work a bit. When you think about it, this line has a total of eight stations and basically, serves no real purpose as for cave exploration… Cheeky French cave divers!
So question will be asked at one of our Safety Officers to see if lines like this one serve any purpose and therefore, should they stay in place, or not.
After surveying this line, I remember Alan telling me to go check out the jump to the right just after getting back on main line. I did. Can you guess what I saw there? In an awkward place? I give you a clue. It has little pieces of tape-like markers on it… Any idea? Come on, it’s dead easy!!
More French lines…
To be continued.
