Cenotes—cavern diving. Safe for AOW diver?

[Manatee Diver]

It 'seems' to me that the far point in that line is more than 130 feet from an exit. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Cenote Sugarbowl is why you can go so far. As you get more than 100 feet away from the entrance you are within 100 feet of Sugarbowl. You do a circle around the back of Sugarbowl, heading back toward the entrance. Of course only the guide has enough experience with the system to really know when you are closer to Sugarbowl or the entrance.

 

[Catito]

We used Blue Experience in Akumal. We wanted a smaller dive operation which is how we chose to use this shop. The owner, Eduardo, bought the shop a year or so ago. I cannot say enough good things about Eduardo and the shop. Unfortunately, Eduardo had covid earlier this year, so he was unable to dive while we were there. Normally we would have been diving with Eduardo, but he set us up with a cave guide named Chino who was really terrific. We also did a couple of ocean dives with Eduardo's staff guide, Ana, who was a sweetheart. We had such a positive experience in February with Blue Experience that we're going back in June to dive with them again.

Eden Cenote was beautiful. There weren't a bunch of breakthroughs, but once you get from the entrance to the far end there is a large opening. The light streaming down is breathtaking. We ended up going a little ways past that opening, but still on the line and within the light. Past that opening there is a deeper area of salt water, so for that dive we all added a bit of extra weight.

Tajma Ha we swam from the entrance through to another entrance where we popped up and floated and chatted for a moment. Really beautiful as well. I don't recall openings in between those 2 points - or at least not large ones - but I've had 24 dives since then so I could be misremembering that detail.

My husband wanted to chime in with his thoughts on claustrophobia in this situation. All of the cenotes we did were really quite spacious. Other than swimming through a couple of crevices at entry points (still well large enough for easy entry), the rooms where we actually swam inside the cenotes were large. My husband is not a fan of tight spaces - had to be sedated to do an MRI - but was perfectly fine and really enjoyed the cenote dives. That said, he is not up for the type of cave or cavern diving where he'd have to squeeze through tight spaces.

Also, I'll add that I only had 28 dives before we dove those cenotes. My buoyancy was ok, but I sure wish it had been better. I did kick up a bit of silt here and there. I would have enjoyed those dives even more if I hadn't been paying so much attention to my buoyancy...if that makes sense. I'm now at 56 dives and have better weighting and my buoyancy is substantially improved. I'm looking forward to doing the cenotes again next month with better diving techniques.

Thanks. Very helpful

 

[Diverlady13]

Thanks. Very helpful

You're welcome!

 

[Catito]

I should mention you will never be squeezing into a tight space on a cavern dive. In order for it to be a cavern dive the space must be big enough for two divers to get through comfortably. The entrance to Tajma Ha is vertically barely big enough for two divers to swim on top of each other and very very wide. The rest is fairly wide open. The cavern route basically keeps you within 100 feet of the entrance or Sugarbowl.

Ponderosa is very wide open, you could drive a truck through the passages.

I have the raw video of my Tajma Ha train wreck from three years ago. I was using a China POS GoPro light, so the video quality is pretty poor. Now I use better lights.

I went back last year and did a cave dive a Tajma Ha exactly two years later. And we did the full cavern tour minus Sugerbowl as our entry and exit to the cave.

Thanks. I assume the video is of your cave dive, not cavern?

 

[Catito]

I'm curious how you have already selected Tajmaha and Ponderosa.

I'm not familiar with those, but may have dove them with Cenote Xperience. Martin has taken me on all my cenote dives and every single one was amazing in its own way. Every cenote has had something that just left me amazed Formations, pillars, light coming through the opening (one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen), air pockets, bats, hydrogen sulfide (?? I think) fog, wide open caverns, tight spaces, pillars that illuminate like a lamp when you put your light on the back side, and lots of other thing I'm just too lazy to mention.

Generally, your first dive will be in a cenote with minimal overhead, such as The Pit. This gives your DM the opportunity to evaluate your buoyancy skills as well as your air consumption. From that point he will recommend where the second dive will be. (or third)

The cenotes change depending on time of year, time of day, rain fall, diver traffic, and probably 100 other factors I don't know about. I may have 20 or so cenotes under my belt and i don't think I have repeated any.

The DM will select the cenote with the best dive conditions suitable for your skills. My advice would be trust them. If there is something specific you want to see, let them know. Descending through the fog was amazing, but the conditions might not be suitable for that day. Martin chose Chocmuul (I think) so he could show me the way the light comes through the opening at that time of day and time of year. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

As far as claustrophobia...let your guide know in advance and they will take that into consideration in the selection of the dive. There are some cenotes with tight spaces and some overhead, so they wont take you to those as long as you are upfront about your fear. Some cenotes are harder to get to requiring stairs that would make a US OSHA inspector have a stroke. Some have a rope to lower your gear, some have a local that will lower your gear for a few bucks. There is the perfect cenote for your first dives so you just have to let them know.

Martin has never let me down and I learn as much just diving with him as I have in any class. He is probably the best diver I have ever dove with.

It's cold if you have been reef diving in 80 degree water for the last several days, so if you chill easily, a hood and extra neoprene is a good idea. My Deep Six 3mil and a semi dry hood is fine for 2 dives, but a little cold for 3.

You're gonna have a great time and willl come away a better diver for it!!

Safe travels,
Jay

I appreciate the good advice.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Thanks. I assume the video is of your cave dive, not cavern?

No, that is the full Tajma Ha cavern tour. The lighting is just miss poor due to cheap lights. Except for immediately around the entrance you will be dependent on your lights to record any video, and you need special video lights. I've since made a small investment in some real video lights and my videos come out much better.

 

[kprudge]

I have one notable cenote experience. I also have several points of interest I learned related to my experience just from reading ScubaBoard today. I was AOW with about 30 dives and this was in 2016.

After a reef dive in Akumal with two other divers (whom I did not know), our DM asked if we would like to do a cavern dive in a cenote the following day. The DM indicated that he was comfortable doing so, having been in the water with us and seeing out skillsets. It would be a first for all of us and we decided to do it!

During the briefing, the DM said there would be "just a little bit of cave" between the cavern and an open room where we can surface and look around. When we got to the death sign, we swam around it and I turned back the other way while my DM continued past. He made eye contact with me and I looked at the sign and back at him a couple times. Then he motioned for me to follow him.

I do not remember my thought process but I remember it being a very challenging decision. I wish I could say I had made the right decision, but I followed the DM instead. Nothing terrible happened, but I was not comfortable and this was not what I had signed on for. For me, this was much more than "a little bit." I had trouble equalizing at one point and was going to have to descend, regardless of whether I went ahead or retreated (sort of a peak between two valleys), but we worked through it. I am always reluctantant to acknowledge gender distinctions, but I now wonder if being the only female pushed me to not "wimp out" and ruin it for everyone else. Next time, I will listen to my gut and grow a backbone.

My husband and I were in Cozumel just last week and after my cenote story came up, I realized I had always suspected this was really a cave dive. I looked at my log, got the name of the site, and did a search. I learned the following on ScubaBoard TODAY:

1. While the site has both cavern and cave routes, ours was a cave dive. When it said, "Do Not Pass," the death sign was talking to me.
2. In preparation for a previous trip, I had read and replied in a ScubaBoard thread "A word to the wise on cenote diving," that had given me the information I needed to make the correct decision. I had no recollection of this until today.
3. A story similar to mine happened to a couple of divers 3.5 years prior except they and their DM did not come out alive.

In the same cave.
With the same dive shop!

Most of my lessons learned from this experience have already been discussed in this thread. I do not know that I have anything too useful to add to the great insight already given, except maybe to find a way to triage and retain the massive amount of quality information we have at our fingertips.

 

[Augustus]

curious did your dive master use double tanks??

 

[boulderjohn]

I have one notable cenote experience. I also have several points of interest I learned related to my experience just from reading ScubaBoard today. I was AOW with about 30 dives and this was in 2016.

After a reef dive in Akumal with two other divers (whom I did not know), our DM asked if we would like to do a cavern dive in a cenote the following day. The DM indicated that he was comfortable doing so, having been in the water with us and seeing out skillsets. It would be a first for all of us and we decided to do it!

During the briefing, the DM said there would be "just a little bit of cave" between the cavern and an open room where we can surface and look around. When we got to the death sign, we swam around it and I turned back the other way while my DM continued past. He made eye contact with me and I looked at the sign and back at him a couple times. Then he motioned for me to follow him.

I do not remember my thought process but I remember it being a very challenging decision. I wish I could say I had made the right decision, but I followed the DM instead. Nothing terrible happened, but I was not comfortable and this was not what I had signed on for. For me, this was much more than "a little bit." I had trouble equalizing at one point and was going to have to descend, regardless of whether I went ahead or retreated (sort of a peak between two valleys), but we worked through it. I am always reluctantant to acknowledge gender distinctions, but I now wonder if being the only female pushed me to not "wimp out" and ruin it for everyone else. Next time, I will listen to my gut and grow a backbone.

My husband and I were in Cozumel just last week and after my cenote story came up, I realized I had always suspected this was really a cave dive. I looked at my log, got the name of the site, and did a search. I learned the following on ScubaBoard TODAY:

1. While the site has both cavern and cave routes, ours was a cave dive. When it said, "Do Not Pass," the death sign was talking to me.
2. In preparation for a previous trip, I had read and replied in a ScubaBoard thread "A word to the wise on cenote diving," that had given me the information I needed to make the correct decision. I had no recollection of this until today.
3. A story similar to mine happened to a couple of divers 3.5 years prior except they and their DM did not come out alive.

In the same cave.
With the same dive shop!

Most of my lessons learned from this experience have already been discussed in this thread. I do not know that I have anything too useful to add to the great insight already given, except maybe to find a way to triage and retain the massive amount of quality information we have at our fingertips.

This is powerful.

I honestly don't know to whom this should be reported, but it should be reported. It is a violation of the rules there.

I write the stories of cave diving fatalities for the National Speleological Society. I have written a couple for dives in the Yucatan that violate the established rules. In one case, when the authorities came to try to find the bodies, the people who led the dive disappeared, and no one seems to know who they were. Please report it.

 

[kprudge]

curious did your dive master use double tanks??

He did. We did not. I would not have remembered, but I found the photos.

This is powerful.

I honestly don't know to whom this should be reported, but it should be reported. It is a violation of the rules there.

It felt gross reading about the history and connecting the dots.

Years have passed. The shop culture may have changed and these could have been rogue guides. However, I agree with getting history on file so there is at least a chance that, when combined with other data, one could have an indication as to whether such is the case.

I am open to reporting it if anyone knows to whom I should report. Does PADI record such things? DAN?