Tulum - diving, travel with infant and cave training..,

[Cavetecdiver]

Hi guys,

I am looking for a bit unusual advice... I am going to travel with my wife and one year old infant this year to yukatan. We have choosen tulum as it seems to be more quiet place than playa or other resorts. We want to be there about 2 weeks an this will be our first time in mexico.
We don't want to travel a lot. Probably only go for some quiet beaches, obviously cenotes and maybe one day in this ancient aztec city.

I want to take cavern training and intro to cave at that time. Ideally if everythimg go smooth finish with full cave but its not a must. i know it would be challanging so I will contact instructor to threat it rather like opttional. However I dont want my wife to be alone at that time in case I must be away i.e. 9 till 19... There are our holidays after all. So the question is - are the cenotes convinient place for one year baby and monther breast feeding( of course baby eats normal things as well already) ? Will they find any bench in a shadow or caffe or whatever else where they can rest? I.e. bottle of water? How long it takes on the training from traveling to cenote till coming back? Do you think it is possible to go there with family?

My wife is diver as well but she wont be diving as its not must for her. As a lot depends on personal attitude I can add we already did some mountain trekking with a baby, also some small diving trips so we can prepare ourselves if we know how to prepare - here we have no idea what to expect.

If there are a lot of excercises on land with practicing rells, lines etc, they could have a fun with me watching from calm place, as long as atmosphere is family frendly.

What do you think? Can you also recommend any specific center which is the most "family frendly"?

Thanks,

 

[halocline]

I'm not sure you'll find Tulum 'quiet', at least in the tourism zone. Maybe 30 years ago! There are some smaller less crowded rental communities between Tulum and Playa, you just have to find the right spot. I would strongly suggest you contact Natalie at Under the Jungle Diving.
UNDER THE JUNGLE
That shop is excellent; both Nat and Vince are terrific instructors and very nice people. They might have some really good ideas for you about where to stay and how to manage your baby. Some of the cenotes do have shaded benches and tables and are kind of family hang-outs.

I think cavern and intro in a two week span is very realistic but unless you have lots of overhead experience, I would probably suggest stopping there and just spending whatever time you have left doing dives at the intro level. Because the systems are so shallow in MX, you can actually get quite a nice dive out of 1/6 penetration as long as you're decent with your gas. Doing a bunch of intro dives gives you a chance to build the right basic cave diving habits before going into the more complex navigational environments.

 

[Nirvana]

I agree with what Halocline posted above. Although Tulum is a small town, it is filled with tourists. Almost all restaurants have some form of live music playing.

Concerning the cenotes themselves, judging from the half dozen I've seen, some were just a hole in the ground in the middle of nowhere. Others had some man made structure built around them, but I did not see a bar or some other place someone could comfortably stay in for hours while waiting.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I did not mention that I have not seen so many mosquitoes in my life. One day, I got more than a dozen bites from the moment I took off my wetsuit to when I put on my clothes and sprayed insect repellent.

 

[Steve_C]

Tulum is a nice set of ruins. View from the small temple looking at larger temple and the beach and the sea is an awesome view. But it is not large and not a days worth of exploring unless one of you is an archeologist. After your couple hours in Tulum, take a day trip over to Chichen Itza. Several Big temples and buildings and lots to explore in a jungle setting. Well worth it. Especially if you have a couple weeks.

 

[boulderjohn]

The nice, quiet place you mention is a little north of Tulum in Akumal. My wife and I have rented a place right on the beach of Akumal Bay a number of times, and we would go back in a heartbeat. We rented a two bedroom condo a few feet from the beach, and we always did it with another couple. We would sometimes pull the lounge chairs into the water at night and sit sipping tequila while looking up at the stars while the waves (ripples) passed under our chairs. The restaurants/bars in the area are little thatched roof affairs. On one side of the bay you can snorkel with giant green turtles. Sound good?

You are close to all the cenotes. When I dived with Natalie of the aforementioned Under the Jungle, she lived right across the highway from that. If you want to do some basic ocean diving, the boats leave from the middle of the bay, and the trips out to the reef take a couple of minutes.

As far as the cenotes and other possibilities, there are several that have extensive tourist facilities along with good cave diving. One of them, Gran Cenote, is just north of Tulum. You can even o zip lining at one of the other cenotes.

 

[mddolson]

We stayed at the grand bahia principe coba. It's an all inclusive family resort just north of Tulum. Gran Cenote & Dos Ojos are near by.
If you're looking for training suggest you contact Speleotech Bill Phillips is an excellent trainer.

 

[Bubblesong]

I have not been there, much less with a baby, but as a Mom who has had to take babies into remotely located bathrooms, I believe it might help her to have a helper. Ask local dive shop if there is a local nanny service, or Mommy-helper that can be there while you are not. I will spare you the stories of my little ones, except to say there is are several churches we never went back to.

 

[Cavetecdiver]

Thanks a lot fo all your hints!