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I've decided that this year I will finally make a trip to the MX caves, and figure I'll start planning the trip in a few weeks ... when I return from the Maldives.
Looking for recommendations for a week-long trip ...
- best time of year to go
- "must see" caves for a relatively inexperienced sidemount diver
- recommendation for a sidemount dive instructor/guide for at least the first day (since I haven't been in a cave in nearly a year)
- any other comments or info that would be helpful putting a "first time" trip together
Background ... I'm full-cave certified (NSS-CDS), have about 40 logged cave dives in Florida ... the last 11 of which were diving sidemount in May 2011. I'm a dedicated line-following cave tourist. Don't know who ... or whether ... I'll be traveling with for a dive buddy.
Life is short. Break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love deeply, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that makes you smile.
Not everyone who reads SB is looking to learn how best to use their new snorkel. Some are here just hoping to get the chance to tell someone else exactly what they can do with their new snorkel. While others are trying to sell their old snorkel. (gypsyjim)
remember to read the mexico cave thread on dmx & take notes - it was really helpful before we went last nov. if you have a gps, consider bringing it & making 'favorites' so you can go back without a guide sometime.
jason renoux is a good guide - ask lynne if he's sm, i don't remember for sure but i think so.
i can't say best time of year, but i know i was really pleased with november. fewer bugs, warm & pleasant.
all the caves were great but carwash was my favorite with mayan blue as a likely second closely followed by grande - but you can't go wrong!
i took too much cash in dollars. go ahead & change (several hundred) dollars to pesos at a bank or in the airport or whatever. i was money rich but cash poor.
if you get your tanks at zero g, they keep track of whose are whose for the week, so no need to strip off your sm rig every evening. they have al80s, so you'll likely need to put 2is lbs of lead on the bottom band. both are the same 'handed' valves, but honestly it didn't really bother me that one was 'backwards'. (the other shops seemed great, too (cave heaven, xibalba), i'm just not sure how they handle keeping up with tanks.)
we were comfy wet in 5ml for 2ish hour dives - that's 2 80s sm and one 80 stage.
be careful to check wraps etc to make sure you're following the line - there were lots of places with really *really* close jumps & i could see how it would be easy to think you were on the same line but you had really started following another inadvertently.
...and the days go by, water flowing under ground, into the blue again, into the silent water, under the rocks and stones, there is water underground... - talking heads
As Marci said, the reference thread on DMX has a LOT of information in it.
Sidemount tanks are not hard to source down there. I love working with ZG, because they're friends as well as being a top class operation, but depending on when and with whom you go, you might find it better to stage out of Tulum, in which case ZG isn't terribly convenient for gas. Cave Heaven, the UTD operation down there, has built some nice lodging for divers, and their current prices are VERY attractive. Given the Z-system, I'm sure they'd have sidemount tanks available.
I second the recommendation of Jason as a guide. He's a good friend and a REALLY fun guy to dive with. You can reach him at Essential Scuba Training. Steve Bogaerts is, of course, the go-to guy on sidemount, but he's not always available and I think he's more expensive. Of course, if you stay at Cave Heaven, you could use them for guiding, and I think they may be running some package deals with lodging and tanks that make their otherwise rather high prices look better.
I have yet to find a BAD time of year to go to MX, although I haven't really gone during hurricane season. The winter is, of course, cooler and less humid, but it's also high season and prices are higher. I have been there in March, April, May and June, all of which were pleasant, although it definitely gets hotter in the latter two months, and there are more mosquitoes. I've also been there in October and November, both of which were very pleasant from a temperature standpoint, but we had more rainstorms. Only once have I seen enough rain that it would have impeded cave diving, though, and that was a torrential downpour that lasted more than 24 hours and made getting back to the airport very interesting.
Marci is right about the money. A lot of places only take pesos, and don't count on credit cards being accepted in any kind of small business. (The gas stations and dive shops I've been to all take them, but restaurants are spotty.)
Which caves? ALL OF THEM!!! Honestly, you can't go wrong anywhere. Since you haven't been there before, I'd stick to the major "tourist" caves, because all of them are beautiful. A good place for a "shakedown" dive is Taj Maha -- big passage (in fact, some HUGE rooms) and lots of halocline effects, and you can just swim the mainline (which is pretty easy to find). For a second dive, you can do the cavern line and jump off at the end of it, and swim that main line. It's not as decorated as some of the other caves, which makes it a good place to start.
Grand Cenote can keep you busy for a week all by itself. The Cuzan Nah loop is beautiful, and the jump off it to the Caverna de los Colmillos is stunning. The Paso de Legarto line leads to the jump to Much's Maze, which I think is fantastic, and also curves around and intersects the lines from Calimba and Box Chen. With your gas consumption, you will see a lot of this just on two tanks, although some of what I'm describing would require a stage.
You HAVE to dive Jailhouse while you're there, but do that with Jason. The cave itself is easy navigation, but the logistics of getting there are a little complicated.
Mayan Blue has some beautiful blue-and-white passages, and A tunnel is very decorated, but you have to have a bunch of light in there to see how incredible the spaces are. I really liked the little bit of the Dead Zone passage I saw (don't ask me why it has such an awful name).
I could go on. There just aren't any bad places to dive. Naharon, NoHoch, Dos Palmas, Dos Ojos, Minotauro . . . You won't run out of things to see in a week.
Best time of year is anytime except July, August...September might fall into that also. It is really hot and buggy during those months. October, November and December are awesome as is Jan, Feb, March, April and May.
THere are lots of great sidemount guides down here. As Marci mentioned, Jason is a good choice. There is also Patrick at Pro-tec in Tulum, , Dennis Weeks does sidemount, and Bil Philips at Speleotech. I am not a sidemount person but those are the names I remember and seem like they would be good choices for entry level sidemount.
The cave list is extensive.
You are in for a treat when you come to see the Mexico caves.
The cooler months are best - less heat and fewer/no insects.
We used ProTec in Tulum for a few dives last October. Kim was really helpful, and he dives SM. You may want to try Connie Lore as a guide. She has some trips planned thru Villas de Rosa usually in the first and last quarter of the year. I have heard good things about Cave Heaven too.
The only caves that I have done on the mainland are Nohoch, Taj Mahal, Calimba or Kolimba - this is best done in SM only(part of Sac Actun/Gran Cenote), Chac Hol. I would dive everyone again. One day when I was sick, my buddies dove Escondido and they liked it.
Some places have DIN connections but you should check or take a DIN/yoke adapter just in case.
What Marci said about $. Seems like some of the places are still stuck on a 10:1 exchange rate even though it may be 12 or 13:1.
Also as noted, take lots of cookies and arrows especially if you do not use a guide. My one complaint about the caves are the lack of arrows. It seems like they are only placed at jumps. I know we are trained to follow the line but as noted some jumps can be a few feet from the main line which is white like the jumps. It would be easy to be looking in awe at something and take a jump without knowing it. YMMV.
I know we are trained to follow the line but as noted some jumps can be a few feet from the main line which is white like the jumps.
This is, in my humble opinion, the BIG difference between Florida and Mexico caves. You never want to get far from the line nor do you ever want to cut a corner. Navigation is the emphasis of Mexican based cave training and there is a reason why.
Bil Phillips also has some basic but comfortable lodging at his base in Tulum. I don't remember what he charges, but what sticks in my mind is something in the $75 a night range.
Xibalba also has lodging, with a community kitchen, but their rates are considerably higher, and at least when I toured there, their tank rental/gas prices were higher, too. (This may have changed -- there's a bit of a "gas war" going on down there right now, which is helping prices a lot.)
Spend a couple of hours underwater and you'll be glad that you went dry. It's still not very pleasant doning a drysuit in the winter, can't imagine what it would be like in the summer.
If you're driving, watch out for the cops, they're all crooked and on the take. Carry very little cash in your wallet, the bribe that the cop will demand will be equal to the amount of cash in your wallet. I've had cops actually take my wallet and clean out the cash themselves. If you get hit with a fine, they'll often give you the option to pay the fine at the police station or pay the fine directly to the police officer. Drive down to the station and pay it there if you can.
American dollars seem to be the currency of choice. Take a lot of cash and put it in a safe. ATMs and banks are not all that safe to use, expect to see fraudulent charges to your account when you get home. Yes, even if you only use a bank or ATM.
You can go a LONG WAY in Mexican caves with twin cylinders. Get a lot of exercise before you head down there, we were swimming 10,000 feet a day.
Peter Guy is right, there are intersections all over the place in MX. Cut a corner and miss an intersection and you could be ****ed.
Cenote Caracol was one of my favorites, small, shallow, highly decorated, long... a lot of concentration and careful maneuvering was always required. We penetrated about 4,000 feet on twin AL80s.
See the Center for Disease Control website for more advice. If you can, get vaccinated again hepatitis A and typhoid fever, you'll need to do this months in advance. Take Pepto-Bismol to prevent traveler's diarrhea, again see the CDC website. I've been going down there for years, and quit being so careful about food and water. Haven't got sick yet. (:
If you get a chance, take a drive about 30 miles west-northwest of Tulum to the Mayan ruins of Cobá. You can climb a pyramid, one of the few places left where it's still possible to climb on a Mayan temple. Because the temple faces west, try to do the climb first thing in the morning to get the best photos with the sun at your back. In the afternoon you'll just be shooting into the sun. Cobá is spread out, be prepared for a lot of walking on some remote trails. Take a lot of water and bug juice with you.
Cobá
Last edited by Doc Harry; January 18th, 2012 at 02:00 AM.
I'm doing my first Mexico trip at the end of Feb. Can't wait! I am going with a group of seasoned divers who've been there many times, know the good guides, caves, places to eat & such. This will be such a treat!
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