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Maya Water World

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Too Close for Comfort
Photograph by Wes Skiles

U.S. biologist Tom Morris, wearing side-mounted scuba gear, creeps along a freshwater chamber beneath the sea—a space so narrow that his air tank bumps along the floor as his helmet scrapes the ceiling. Morris and Wes Skiles penetrated this undersea fountain passage for about a half mile, starting from the open sea and ending up beneath the coastline. The passageway was oriented, they discovered, along the fault line of the meteorite's impact rim.

Camera: Nikon DIX
Film Type: 1 Gigabyte Micro Drive
Lens: Nikkor 14mm
Speed and F-Stop: 1/125 @ f/8

Weather Conditions: Wet
Time of Day: Morning
Lighting Techniques: Two Subsea 200 Watt Strobes, 1 Ikelite 400 Watt Sub Strobe
Special Equipment and Comments: This cave was so tight and small that we had to measure my dive buddy Tom Morris's chest to determine whether my camera would fit or not. We decided to use a Digitial DIX, so I could review the results underwater since I knew already that I would never be back there again.