Caves in Mexico that Allow Unguided TDI Intro Divers?

[AndyDoesScuba]

My buddy and I have all our own gear and transportation. We would like to build skills before taking the full cave course. Always having to go with a guide gets expensive and is frankly unnecessary given what we’re trying to accomplish.

I am aware of only one cenote near Tulum where TDI intro to cave divers are supposedly allowed to dive unguided. That being Cenote Escondido. Does anyone know of any others? We are safe, conservative divers, and only plan to dive well within our certification and, more importantly, our skill level.

 

[J-Vo]

It's been a while since I was intro, but I remember doing Dos Palmas, and Nohoch quite a bit. They both have up stream and down stream lines without nav decisions for quite a way.

Escondido gets a little deeper. If you have a good SAC you may end up in deco.

 

[halocline]

Taj is a good one for intro level dives, it’s nice and shallow so being limited to 1/6 penetration still gives you a decent dive. And it’s well travelled, not a difficult tie in to the main line.

And BTW, the 1/6 rule doesn’t mean you have to turn every dive at 2500 PSI (assuming AL80s), you are allowed to do a 2nd dive on the same tanks, meaning you theoretically would start the 2nd dive with 2K and turn at 1500. The 1/6 limit is to prevent long penetration, it’s not really a gas planning rule. You still want a minimum reserve of a third of the tank capacity, so in this case you’d want to exit your 2nd dive with minimum 1000 PSI. The 1/6 rule is something I’ve found to be misunderstood. Its intent is to keep new cave divers closer to the exit, not force them to reserve 5/6 of the tanks’ capacity on every dive.

Another nice thing about Taj is the cavern line is really nice and I’ve spent many hours on that line practicing skills, especially when I took stage and wanted to get more efficient with managing the stage. There would be nothing wrong with doing an intro dive on the cave mainline then do the cavern line for a 2nd dive. If you’re with a fellow intro level diver, you can practice skills together, it’s fun and very helpful to your development as a cave diver.

 

[inquis]

you theoretically would start the 2nd dive with 2K and turn at 1500.

Basing penetration on <whatever fraction> of a mythical full tank when you don't start with a full tank seems like a bad plan. Turning at 1500 from a 2k start is diving 4ths, not 6ths.

 

[SquareJ]

Basing penetration on <whatever fraction> of a mythical full tank when you don't start with a full tank seems like a bad plan. Turning at 1500 from a 2k start is diving 4ths, not 6ths.

What's the difference in this method and diving a low pressure tank for example? Starting pressure is lower than a full AL80. The rule is unaware of the volume of gas you're carrying it just limits your time/penetration accordingly.

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

There are certainly cave only sites that don’t ask for a cert card. (CH) would be one of them. Not a delicate cave or a silty cave. Line at the surface, so need to jump in. Easy main line to follow and some jumps in the West South West direction of the cave. A bright clean feeling cave. Dive starts with - down the hill - T Left- T Left - and you be on the main line in that WSW direction.
Or
Down the hill and T Left and at that next intersection T Right. It will be a circuit that brings you back to your exit. That circuit might be short enough that you can do that on full tanks and 1/6th. If not then it will be close.
Keep in mind that you will be in a cave that has only one exit for you.
If you have more questions send me a PM

 

[tursiops]

There are certainly cave only sites that don’t ask for a cert card. (CH) would be one of them. Not a delicate cave or a silty cave. Line at the surface, so need to jump in. Easy main line to follow and some jumps in the West South West direction of the cave. A bright clean feeling cave. Dive starts with - down the hill - T Left- T Left - and you be on the main line in that WSW direction.
Or
Down the hill and T Left and at that next intersection T Right. It will be a circuit that brings you back to your exit. That circuit might be short enough that you can do that on full tanks and 1/6th. If not then it will be close.
Keep in mind that you will be in a cave that has only one exit for you.
If you have more questions send me a PM

Sounds like a lot of navigational decisions....

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

Sounds like a lot of navigational decisions....

It might be for an Intro diver.

Mayan Blue (Not the fake -Maya Blue) is a training site. A better choice for sure. Support there if they needed it.
Longer jump into “A” tunnel. Good practice. Then they could swim that back and forth and recalculate in 20 feet of sunny open water. But I don’t know if they can get in without a Cave card.

 

[AndyDoesScuba]

There are certainly cave only sites that don’t ask for a cert card. (CH) would be one of them. Not a delicate cave or a silty cave. Line at the surface, so need to jump in. Easy main line to follow and some jumps in the West South West direction of the cave. A bright clean feeling cave. Dive starts with - down the hill - T Left- T Left - and you be on the main line in that WSW direction.
Or
Down the hill and T Left and at that next intersection T Right. It will be a circuit that brings you back to your exit. That circuit might be short enough that you can do that on full tanks and 1/6th. If not then it will be close.
Keep in mind that you will be in a cave that has only one exit for you.
If you have more questions send me a PM

Thank you. We were told by our former instructor “no jumps, no tees”.

 

[AndyDoesScuba]

Taj is a good one for intro level dives, it’s nice and shallow so being limited to 1/6 penetration still gives you a decent dive. And it’s well travelled, not a difficult tie in to the main line.

And BTW, the 1/6 rule doesn’t mean you have to turn every dive at 2500 PSI (assuming AL80s), you are allowed to do a 2nd dive on the same tanks, meaning you theoretically would start the 2nd dive with 2K and turn at 1500. The 1/6 limit is to prevent long penetration, it’s not really a gas planning rule. You still want a minimum reserve of a third of the tank capacity, so in this case you’d want to exit your 2nd dive with minimum 1000 PSI. The 1/6 rule is something I’ve found to be misunderstood. Its intent is to keep new cave divers closer to the exit, not force them to reserve 5/6 of the tanks’ capacity on every dive.

Another nice thing about Taj is the cavern line is really nice and I’ve spent many hours on that line practicing skills, especially when I took stage and wanted to get more efficient with managing the stage. There would be nothing wrong with doing an intro dive on the cave mainline then do the cavern line for a 2nd dive. If you’re with a fellow intro level diver, you can practice skills together, it’s fun and very helpful to your development as a cave diver.

We like Taj a lot. Do you know if they’d let us dive w/o a full cave cert?