Ponderosa/Eden and Tajma Ha or Dos Ojos x2?

[Midge907]

The bat cave is in Dos Ojos cenote not Tajma Ha. Nice pic of Tajma Ha though.
I take would look at you tube to see which cenotes you would prefer to dive.

Several of the Cenotes have "a bat cave", not just "The Bat Cave" at Dos Ojos.

 

[Jake]

Diving in a cenote should be a very interesting experience for a first timer in an overhead environment. It will either be a fantastic experience or make someone uneasy in that environment. Dos Ojos is were many divers go first. It is all an overhead experience but with shafts of light shining down. With many divers on site and in the cavern it may also give a new diver some added sense of ease. Taj Mahal is also great. The Pit is a much different experience again. A large open cavern. Beautiful dive. Most tours begin with descending to about 120 feet and around the back of a rock outcrop and up to a fantastic viewpoint of the entire cavern. Cenote Angelita is similar to the Pit. But different. Look on Google for some pictures. There are certainly other choices also. One word of caution... Whoever you choose to cenote dive with should be explaining how you stay on the guide line. Don't accept an offer to take you off line for a "special experience". Would be great to see your review of the cenote dives after your trip is done. Enjoy!!

I showed my fiancee some video of Dos Ojos last night and she almost had a panic attack. All of the videos we watched seemed to show somewhat confined, very dark areas. Is it as dark and confined as the youtube videos show, or are those videos mostly of divers who are doing penetration into areas of the caves that first timers like us would not see?

 

[nodakdive]

I showed my fiancee some video of Dos Ojos last night and she almost had a panic attack. All of the videos we watched seemed to show somewhat confined, very dark areas. Is it as dark and confined as the youtube videos show, or are those videos mostly of divers who are doing penetration into areas of the caves that first timers like us would not see?

Without seeing the actual videos, that's hard to answer.

I've done Dos Ojos twice, and there isn't anything I'd call confined, but it's flashlight diving. If the others haven't done a night dive, that would be a great first step. I'm not a dive pro, but I'd almost say a night dive should be prerequisite. If they're ok night diving, it isn't much different. I would say, though, that Eden and Taj Maha are more open, and would likely be a better first choice if any of the divers are that uncomfortable. Eden would be the better first dive. You start in an open "pond" type area. Halocline and thermocline notwithstanding, the water is really, really clear. But there's no need to squeeze through anything, or be in a confined corridor or anything like that in Dos Ojos.

 

[ggunn]

I showed my fiancee some video of Dos Ojos last night and she almost had a panic attack. All of the videos we watched seemed to show somewhat confined, very dark areas. Is it as dark and confined as the youtube videos show, or are those videos mostly of divers who are doing penetration into areas of the caves that first timers like us would not see?

I am somewhat claustrophobic, and the only time I felt a twinge of it at Dos Ojos was in the tunnel connecting the two "eyes" which was (as best I can remember) basically a cylindrical tube about 10 feet in diameter maybe 20-30 feet long.

I have seen videos of cave divers squeezing through places so tight that they have to remove their BC's and tanks and shove them through ahead of them. Dos Ojos is not remotely like that, and that kind of diving is not the slightest bit attractive to me. I get short of breath just watching those videos. Make that even thinking about watching those videos.

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

You should expect diving through the smallest areas of Dos Ojos to be like diving through your living room. And by far the majority of the time to be in much larger areas. Maybe the ceiling height is 10 feet but the width is much much larger. Relax and enjoy. For me it happed because the ocean was too rough for two days in a row. The resort dive shop said they were taking divers to a cenote tomorrow. I didn’t know what that was. I asked some questions and said yes to Dos Ojos for the next morning. It was an incredible experience for me. I knew in the first few minutes of the dive that this was for me. I came back the next year and took my Sidemount certication. Then Cavern - Intro to Cave - the Cave over the next two trips to Playa and Tulum.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Grand Cenote would be another good choice for first timers. Large facility easy entry, large open area, etc.

Here is a video I made in a more remote location. Oh, the places we go!!
You may need to click on vimeo icon to watch full screen and change the setting on the video to 720 or 1080 to get better quality video

 

[nodakdive]

You should expect diving through the smallest areas of Dos Ojos to be like diving through your living room. And by far the majority of the time to be in much larger areas.

This is a very good description of what my experience has been at Dos Ojos.

 

[scubadiver888]

I have not been to Ponderosa. So I cannot say anything about this dive.

I have been to Tajma Ha. I have no issue with enclosed spaces. That said, there is a few points which I think are a little tighter in Tajma Ha then the other cenotes. In particular there is a steep descent when you have to drop rapidly for around 30 feet. I think that area might feel a little tight for some people. For me, I have issues clearing my ears and I actually had to wave for the guide to slow down in this area because it was suggest a steep descent.

That said, I went to Tajma Ha REALLY early in the morning (got there before 8am). We were the first people there. The water was totally undisturbed. REALLY beautiful at that time of the morning.

Chikin Ha was an okay dive. Fairly open, easy and interesting. On that dive we also came up at Taak'Bil Ha just to have a look around. That was kind of cool. Maybe google for "taak bil ha" and you can see some pictures of it from above ground.

Dos Ojos was actually a great dive for seeing fossils and things. I think in part this was due to our guide, Thomas Bolbrugge from DiveMex. He gave us a briefing on what we might find there and during the dive pointed out things as well. You will most likely have the guide take you over to a map of the cenote. During that time you can mention you are interested in fossils and things. Hopefully they'll take note of that and point things out for you as well.

If you haven't been to any of these before, I think you'll be in for a treat no matter which one you go to. All of the ones I was on were real cavern diving and not just swimming in a basin. The recommendation to ask the guide from CenoteXperience is a good suggestion as well.

Darrell