Location: Tulum Municipality, Quintana Roo Map
Depth: 71.6 meters (235 ft)
Length: 67 kilometers (42 mi)
For more than ten years the system of Nonoch Nah
Chich was extensively explored by dedicated cave divers starting
from Cenote Nohoch Nah Chich. In 1987 Mike Madden of CEDAM
International Dive Center established the CEDAM Cave Diving Team
principally to conduct annual exploration projects to focus on cave
exploration, while a number of cave research efforts were
logistically supported, with contributions in the fields of karst
hydrogeology, water chemistry, microbiology, cave ecology, and
underwater archaeology.
The technique of establishing jungle
exploration camps at newly found cenotes and cave entrances of
Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich was developed and refined during many cave
exploration projects, thus allowing cave diving exploration effort
to continue more efficiently at the edges of the known caves. The
main camp of exploration became Cenote "Far Point Station", located
6 kilometers (3.7 mi) from the coast, and 2.8 kilometers (1.7 mi)
further inland than Main Base Camp situated at the main Nohoch Nah
Chich Cenote entrance.
During the Nonoch Nah Chich 1997
expedition, the 60 kilometers (37 mi) of total explored cave passage
mark was surpassed. In early 2007, Nohoch Nah Chich included 36
cenotes and had a recorded length of 67 kilometers (42 mi), when it
was connected to, and subsumed into the 14 kilometers (8.7 mi)
longer Sistema Sac Actun by the Sac Actun Exploration Team (SAET).
This portion of the system is now called the "Nohoch Nah Chich
Historical section", where with 71.6 meters (235 ft) also the
greatest depth of the entire system was reached at "The Blue Abyss".