Info Warning about Cenote Chac Mool and Kukulkan

[Lorenzoid]

Joking aside, I’d have a tough time visiting a site operated this way. Sure feels like a racket with green-washed rationalization for the camera prohibition.

Nice use of "green-washing," a term I learned recently. I don't know about these particular cenotes, but people from cruise ships and hotels come to cenotes by the busload, some doing the guided cavern dives, and these "tourist cenotes" get pretty beaten up.

Personally, I don't carry a camera because I have a hard enough time avoiding contact with the environment, but it seems to me that if the cenote operator is willing to allow the average OW diver in there, knowing it's going to result in some amount of damage over time, the incremental damage from allowing those divers to carry cameras is likely to be small.

How many rec divers have the skill to pass a cavern class?

Did you miss his "joking aside"?

 

[Marie13]

Nice use of "green-washing," a term I learned recently. I don't know about these particular cenotes, but people from cruise ships and hotels come to cenotes by the busload, some doing the guided cavern dives, and these "tourist cenotes" get pretty beaten up.

Personally, I don't carry a camera because I have a hard enough time avoiding contact with the environment, but it seems to me that if the cenote operator is willing to allow the average OW diver in there, knowing it's going to result in some amount of damage over time, the incremental damage from allowing those divers to carry cameras is likely to be small.

Did you miss his "joking aside"?

I missed adding my emoticon!

 

[lexvil]

How many rec divers have the skill to pass a cavern class?

What came first, the classes or the caves?

 

[Marie13]

When I was at Tajma Ha within the last week, there was a sign that they’re increasing the charge for semi and professional cameras to $20.

 

[KDAD]

How many rec divers have the skill to pass a cavern class?

Hey, I do!

Nice use of "green-washing," a term I learned recently. I don't know about these particular cenotes, but people from cruise ships and hotels come to cenotes by the busload, some doing the guided cavern dives, and these "tourist cenotes" get pretty beaten up.

I have been at this cenote two times and didn't find that it gets a lot of traffic or abuse. The first time I was the only diver there so it was just me and the guide. No other divers or trucks in the parking lot. Not even a professional photographer!

The second time there were a few more divers but nothing too crowded, not like say Dos Ojos.

 

[halocline]

Anything that increases the safety and conservation of the cenotes, while still allowing reasonable diver access, is ok by me. I have seen so many awful divers in the cenotes banging into stuff and each other, that IMO restricting individual camera use in that environment is a good move, and as someone else mentioned, this is not a new rule AFAIK.

Cenote tours for OW divers are generally pretty safe and successful, and I'm generally pretty supportive of them on this forum, unlike a lot of my fellow cave divers. But they HAVE to be tightly regulated and it's serious business for OW divers to venture into an overhead situation. And despite the 'natural light' and '130 feet' rules, these absolutely are overhead dives, made by divers who are not trained nor equipped for overhead diving. The only thing that keeps them from turning into regular disasters is the control and judgement of the guides. It's a lot harder to guide and control clients who spend the dive with their nose in a camera.

Maybe this isn't the most popular opinion, but having seen 1st hand over and over again just how tenuous the abilities are of some of the clients on the cavern dives, I think it's a good minimum rule. and honestly, if you have to pay $40 extra on a dive that's already costing over $100 in guide fees and cenote entrances, plus the thousands in costs associated with a dive vacation, so what.

 

[Lorenzoid]

And despite the 'natural light' and '130 feet' rules, these absolutely are overhead dives, made by divers who are not trained nor equipped for overhead diving. The only thing that keeps them from turning into regular disasters is the control and judgement of the guides. It's a lot harder to guide and control clients who spend the dive with their nose in a camera.

Having given it more thought, I completely agree with this. I was only considering potential damage to the cavern, not the safety of the divers. There are old threads mentioning guides who did not follow the safety rules, or how it was back before the safety rules were agreed upon. (See sticky: A Word to the Wise on Cenote Diving.) If one of those safety rules is "no cameras," I'm all for it.

 

[dflaher]

Although I agree with @halocline post, I'm struggling with whether this is a case of a few (or perhaps more than a few) bad apples spoiling it for the whole bunch.

The issue becomes how does the cenote owner assess the skills of the diver, in order to let them use a camera in the cavern? This assumes that the banning of cameras is for environmental protection or safety concerns, rather than for some other reason.

 

[Manatee Diver]

What came first, the classes or the caves?

Caves -> Lots of dead bodies -> Sheck's book -> Classes

 

[lexvil]

Caves -> Lots of dead bodies -> Sheck's book -> Classes

How many dead bodies, who did Shecr learn from?