Cenote diving for the inexperienced

[ukslim]

My partner and I will be visiting Tulum this coming Easter. When we booked the holiday, we hadn't really thought about diving - but now we have, and all being well we'll gain PADI OW certification this weekend.

We'll want to do some ocean diving in and around Tulum, but I also gather that the cenotes are a big draw.

My question is: other than further practice in the pool and in our local dive quarry (the sea is a long way away :depressed is there any other training we should consider before we go? My initial view was that we should get a couple of dozen dives under our belt before pursuing AOW - but I wonder whether that will limit what we can do in the cenotes.

With our low experience levels, I anticipate that all our dives in Mexico will be with guides.

 

[TSandM]

Man, it's so hard to say what I'm going to say, because I'm a cave diver and cenote tours before I took my classes were what got me hooked on caves. But I have to say it: I don't think very novice divers belong on the cavern tours (although they routinely do them). I base this on a couple of things: One, as a very novice diver, you have no idea what your reaction to any kind of problem underwater is going to be. An overhead environment is not the place to discover, as a friend of mine did, that flooding your mask unexpectedly is going to make you panic. Once you have done a bit of diving, and had an issue or two, and know you can remain calm and organized you're far safer in a situation where you CAN'T go to the surface. Secondly, most novice divers have marginal buoyancy control and often have poor trim, and the beautiful cenote environment deserves more respect than that.

If you are determined to do the tours, I'd highly recommend seeing if you can find some overhead trained divers to do a few dives with and get some solid help with your buoyancy and trim. You might find some resources HERE.

 

[scubaskipper]

Good advice. The last time I was there, a new diver with a camera did a good amount of damage.

 

[Byte Me]

Where and how long are you staying? I dove for the first time ever in Tulum w/ the shop at Dreams, Maya Diving - Maya Diving in Tulum: Diving and Snorkeling in Tulum Cenotes and Reefs and Dive Courses . Really good guys when I was there!

I've been back twice since and stayed in Playa both times. Did my AOW immediately after getting OW certified. I figured as long as I was gonna be diving may as well take the next step as well! Then, the last time I was down there I did my first Cenote, Dos Ojos. I really enjoyed it, however, with Luis (the DM) and I there was someone who had just gotten OW certified. As TSandM said his buoyancy wasn't the best and since he was between Luis and I it was a little frustrating for me. He was all over the place in the water, silted things up a couple times. It was still great but could have been better.

They are really really cool though - even the drive back to the opening is a great experience. So if you can get some time under water and practice your buoyancy to get comfortable or maybe do AOW or peak performance buoyancy with a shop down there the first few days and then do a cenote or two later in your stay that could work!

Here's a video I put together with some pictures and movies that Luis took of our Dos Ojos dives!

YouTube - Luis takes Brian through Dos Ojos

 

[ukslim]

We're staying on the beach, towards the North - I forget the name of the cabanas - and we'll be there for two weeks.

Seems to me we have 3 months to work on buoyancy (although Christmas will chip into that time, and we'd be gritting our teeth and diving in a cold British quarry). Plus we could at least do a cavern Adventure Dive in that time.

Perhaps we'll should assess our buoyancy skills at the end of the first week and make a decision based on that. The last thing I want to do is spoil the cenote experience for anyone else.

 

[scubajcf]

You can easily get 20 to 30 dives in between now and Easter.
Take a buoyancy class with an instructor.
Maybe work in a pool with a cover partially over it.
Have the instructor do tasks with you while neutrally buoyant. Mask clearing and reg recovery are good, but have him work with you on horizontal alt air and deploying flashlights while maintaining buoyancy. Here you will see the importance of a 5 to 7 foot hose (2 meter).

Read a little about cavern and cave diving. Understand the importance of good swim technique and buoyancy.

With all that in mind, you should be able to do a cavern tour or take a cavern class. Most of the instructors and guides in the Yucatan are exceptional!

PS - No cameras until you have done a couple of cavern tours and/or are cavern certified. Don't task load yourself.

Cenotes are beautiful and should not be missed. Combined with the ruins in Tulum, Coba and Chichen Itza, diving the Cenotes is a great way to complete your Mayan Adventure.





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[TSandM]

Oh, if you guys are going to do that much work at home before you go, things are different! I based my statements on someone getting OW certified and immediately going on a trip and diving the cenotes.

Seriously, if you are going to do buoyancy work in your home quarries, look into contacting folks from the resource I linked to above. They'll be a ton of help in getting you ready for the cenotes -- Lots of cave divers among them.

 

[Scott M]

In my opinion, I would not miss a Cenote dive. My 9th and 10th dive out of OW where Cenotes dives and I loved them. I had been certified in Sept. and was going to Mexico in Feb. Around here unless you dive dry, diving is pretty much out until spring so I had no way to practice through the winter. What I did was to do a lot of reading on bouyancy and then I scheduled a pool dive with a local lady that is a DIR diver. We worked on my bouyancy as best we could in the pool. Once in Mexico we did 4 straight days of ocean diving where I was diligent about working with my bouyancy on every dive. We went with a good local shop that had a very good Cave certified diver that worked with my weighting and boyancy before we entered. With the pool work, the week of diving and the prep I felt my bouyance was where it needed to be. The dives went great even with a sticking inflator that kept putting air in my wing the entire dive.

In the end only you know if you are ready to give it a try with the amount of experience and confidence you have. I went into with the thought that after the week of ocean diving I was either going to be feeling good about my bouyancy or not. If I didn't fell fuzzy I would have just opted for another ocean dive.

Regards

 

[oldmaninthesea]

I just dove Dos Ojos and Chiken Ha on the weekend. I did my OWD in Roatan last Feb and had logged 18 dives before I came here last week. I did one reef dive here on friday to get in shape for the cenotes and had 4 great cenote dives on Saturday and Sunday. I dove with Gerrardo from Geofish and we had perfect conditions. It was just the 2 of us, we got there early, we took our time setting up equipment and the sun was shining bright so we had good light. I am certainly not as experienced as most of the people on this board but I had an excellent experience because of good planning and a good guide. Just focus on what you think is important and do what is necessary to achieve it. You can do it. The cenotes are like nowhere else on earth and well worth the time and money.

 

[george w]

My wife and I did some cenotes in Aug. And a friend was a new diver with us and the guide would not take him. I agree with the above, to me it is not like any other kind of diving. I have been in several wrecks and cenotes are a different world all together. I feel not just fair buoyancy but very good bouyancy is need not to cause damage. Good Luck