May 12, 2007 -  The Setup Begins

Saturday morning started early.  I was up by 4 AM, unable to sleep with all the things we had to do running through my head.  Where to start?  The list is long.  I got up, made a cup of coffee, and began working on my computer.   By the time the sun came up, I woke up John and we got busy.  The first order of business was to get the bot out of the "box," or shipping container that we use for storage and a field shop.  With out a crane, or other heavy lifting equipment, this was not easy.  The DEPTHX probe weighed over 2000 pounds in its current state, but we had gravity on our side.  A half dozen strong Mexican ranch hands provided the muscle, and we were able to roll (I use that term sparingly) it down and out of the container.  It went surprisingly well, and we moved it under it's shade canopy so John could begin getting it ready to dive in 3 days.

The strong and able ranch hands of Rancho la Azufrosa help to get the bot out of storage from the container.

After getting the bot in a safe place, John and I now started on our next task, preparing access to Zacatón.   There is a trail on the east side of Zacaton that goes half-way down the ledge, then ends in a 5 meter drop.  Here we rig an aluminum ladder to climb down to the next ledge which is just above the water.  We tied safety ropes to help keep people from slipping over the edge, and also set up a pulley system to lower and raise equipment down the the water's edge.  At this location, we have a 10' x 16' floating platform, which was built for the May 2005 Drop Sonde tests.  This floating platform will serve as the mission control for DEPTHX tests in Zacatón. 

John Kerr rigs up the pulley system used to raise and lower equipment into Zacatón.  The top of the  ladder used to climb down into Zacaton can be seen to his right.

Once we had access into the cenote ready to go, we began hauling and lowering equipment and supplies down to the platform.  However, there was one additional task that we had to get done before we could start operations on May 15.  The floating grass islands, called "zacate," had to be secured to a wall so they would not float into the bot while we are conducting tests throughout the week.  We have done this "corralling of the zacate" before, and you have to wait until the wind pushes them to the northeast corner and then loop a rope around them.  There was one "straggler" mini zacate that made it out of the loop, so John had to use his kayak like a tugboat to push it back into the corral.  We got them tied off into their resting place for the next week until they are once again free to roam the waters of Zacatón. 

Top photo:  John Kerr pushes a loan straggler zacate into the corral with all the other floating grass islnads.  Bottom photo:  John makes the final tie-off on the zacate corral.  Our floating platform and two other kayaks can be seen just to the right of the zacate.

A little after noon on Saturday, the crew from Aquila showed up.  This is the company providing the crane service to get the bot into and out of Zacatón, Poza Verde, and Caracol.  A convoy of 4 trucks showed up:  The 60-ton crane to be used at the cenotes, a 11-ton crane used to move rigging for it's bigger brother, a fuel truck carrying diesel, and the manager's truck.  After several hours of discussing the site requirements and visiting all the cenotes, they moved the 60-ton crane to the edge of Zacatón.   The jib was added to the extendable boom, and they made several test drops into the cenote to check the reach.  Everything worked well, and we are now set to get the bot wet as soon as it is ready.

The 60-ton crane positioned at the edge of Zacatón.  Rancho la Azufrosa owner, Alejandro Davila can be seen standing at the lip of the cenote.

The rest of Saturday was spent at the ranch house and field shop continuing with the many preparations.  John spend his time getting the bot ready to go.  The batteries had to be re-installed first, then we could power up the system.  There were some minor problems with circuit boards on the battery, and John once again showed his adaptive engineering skills to solve the problem and get the bot up and running.  He was up 'til nearly midnight before packing it in and getting some rest for yet another day of fun in the Mexican sun.

John Kerr installs one of the two batteries into the DEPTHX probe.

Closing puppy shot