Angelita to Ellison's Cave: Cenote Magic & an "Oh Shit" moment w/ Lamar Hires

In this extended cave-centric episode of Pod Diver Radio, we bounce from Mexico to Georgia to Cuba and the Bahamas with a stack of stories cave divers will recognize immediately. We start with a trip report from Angelita and Gran Cenote with cavern guide Stephan of Yucatec Divers. He walks us through the surreal hydrosulfide cloud at ~100 ft, the halocline, and the island of dead trees rising out of the "cloud," then over to stunning speleothems and daylight-filled passages at Gran Cenote. Stephan breaks down how guided cavern tours work, what the limits are for open water divers, and how these dives often become the gateway drug to full cave training. Next up is the first installment of our new "Oh Shit Moment" series: Lamar Hires (Dive Rite) shares a multi-diver incident in Ellison's Cave, Georgia—a broken line in a sump, no safety reel, low gas, missing pack, and the very real possibility of a trapped body blocking the only way out. It's a detailed, honest walk-through of decision making, gas limitations (single 72s with Y-valves), and how cave teams deal with compounding failures when "we are who they would call." Joe also talks training and gear: how he teaches the PADI Deep Diver specialty as a stepping stone toward tech and cave, why he loves aluminum 72s as stage/deco bottles, and a call-out to help kick off a new AL72 production run. We preview an upcoming Abaco, Bahamas cave diving trip, plus a special Jill Heinerth event and wreck day on U-869 off New Jersey with Jill, Richie Kohler, and John Chatterton. Finally, we switch gears with Matt from ProTec describing Spanish-American War wrecks off Cuba—wrecks so intact you can spot one of them on Google Earth. If you're into cenotes, cave incidents, stage bottles, and future cave trips, this long-form episode is built for you