GAM's exploration director, Robert Schmittner and a team of cave divers, (Marty O Farrell, Jim Josiak and Sev Regehr), began this phase of the project in March 2017.  Schmittner has been looking for the connection for 14 years, steadily adding new tunnels and galleries to this water labyrinth.

According to the rules of caving, when two cave systems are connected, the largest cave absorbs the smallest, so the name of the latter disappears. Thus, the Sac Actun System is now considered the largest in the world, with a length of 347 kilometres of flooded cave.

'This is an effort of more than 20 years, to travel hundreds of kilometres of caves submerged in Quintana Roo, of which I had dedicated 14 years to explore this monstrous Sac Actun System.' said Schmittner. 'Now everyone's job is to conserve it.'

GAM Director and researcher at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Guillermo de Anda said: 'This immense cave represents the most important submerged archaeological site in the world, as it has more than a hundred archaeological contexts. Along this system, we had documented evidence of the first settlers of America, as well as extinct fauna and, of course, the Mayan culture.'

GAM Director Guillermo de Anda and, right, exploration director, Robert Schmittner 

A diver looks at an animal skull in the  Sac Aktun underwater cave system. Photo: GAM

Exploring Sac Actun. Photo: Herbert Meyrl

Now the goal is to connect Sac Actun with the other three underwater cave systems, which are very close to each other, and that are located near Tulum.

According to the Quintana Roo Speleological Survey, there are 358 submerged cave systems in the Yucatan Penisula, totalling about 1.400 km of flooded passages.

The GAM exploration group also registered another important system of 18 km called 'The Mother of all Cenotes'  located north of Sac Actun. The team believes it is very close to connecting it with the Sac Actun System.

The next phase of the project includes the analysis of the water quality of the whole Sac Actun system, as well as the study of the biodiversity that directly depends on this aquifer, and, of course, its conservation. In addition the team plan to continue mapping and creating detailed records of submerged archaeological finds.

The team dedicated this milestone to Bil Phillips, who was the underwater cartographer of the project and had been exploring the system for more than 40 years.  He passed away in November 2017.

Phtoo: Karla Ortega

 Photo: Kadu Pinheiro