cavern instructor in Akumal area?

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Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Location
Canada
# of dives
100 - 199
Planning a trip to this area soon (likely staying at Barcelo Maya) and am contemplating doing a Cavern Course. Can anybody suggest a particular operator or instructor that they might recommend.

Cheers
 
Yes!!! I just got back last week from Playa del Carmen and dove the Cenotes! I dove with fantasea dive...Klaus was my guide!!! You have got to experience the Cenotes!!! I am a fairly new diver and I was a little nervous about the Cenotes because it is not an open water dive...it was the best experience of my life! Send me a message if you want and I can tell you all about it...I'm obsessed with it...maybe because I just got back from the dives.
 
I can make several recommendations. Dennis Weeks and Natalie Gibb of Diablo Divers are both very good. Dennis was my Full Cave instructor, and has been teaching down there for a long time. He is a very nice man with a lot of experience, and he is a gentle but demanding instructor. Natalie is darling, 4'11" of pure muscle, topped with a delightful grin. She has been guiding down there for quite a while, and is now doing some very interesting exploration work. You can reach them at Dennis@diablodivers.com and Nat@diablodivers.com

Another suggestion would be my friend and dive buddy, Jason Renoux of Essential Scuba Training. Jason has done a lot of sidemount diving, training with Steve Bogaerts. He's an extremely nice man and fun to spend a day with, and he is a BEAUTIFUL diver.

All three are based in the Akumal/Puerto Aventuras area, so it would be easy for them to pick you up at the Barcelo.

Congratulations on the decision to take a cavern class. You will enjoy it, and the skills you get from it will improve ALL of your diving. But I'll warn you -- the cave bug lives in those caverns, and once you are bitten by it, there is NO cure.
 
Thanks for the warning TSandM. I'm hopeful I don't get bitten too hard by that bug. Young family and a serious shortage of caves in my neighbourhood would make it hard to commit much time to... for the time being.

What I really want to do is improve some of my technical skills and see some really cool stuff at the same time. Have been in the cenotes on several previous trips and I suppose I'm already bitten to a degree.

I appreciate your recommendations.
 
A second to the recommendation for Dennis. My daughter and I took the cavern course with him two years ago, and it was easily the best (and also the most demanding) SCUBA course I have taken to date. TSandM is correct; what I learned in that course has affected all my my diving, very much for the better. I stayed at the Barcelo Maya Palace during the course, and it was very convenient. The cave bug does indeed lie in wait in those caverns, but the cavern course (at least the way Dennis teaches it) will also begin to give you an idea of what you don't know yet (even after taking the course), and the committment required to take that next step. Like you, I am too far from the caverns and have too many other responsibilities to take that step - yet.

A year later I revisited the area and spent a week with Klaus as my guide diving the cenotes. Klaus also deserves a great recommendation as a guide - it was a fascinating and enjoyable week of diving! My buddy was unavailable to dive with me, and I was unable to contact Dennis - Klaus was a great choice as a guide. PM me if you have any questions.
 
+1 for Natalie Gibb. she is very thorough & detailed, teensy slip of a gal...& super patient with my sticking to her like velcro.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
 
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