The cenotes of the Riviera Maya are incredibly beautiful places. When you consider the volume of divers who do the cavern tours each year, the safety record is impressive. But as with anything else where money is to be made, there are people who bend the rules or skip important safely steps, and anyone booking cenote tours should know what to ask for, and what to look for, to keep the experience a safe one.
The voluntary organization setting guidelines for cavern tours is APSA. Some guides here have taken the APSA course, and even more abide by the rules they set. This includes the guide being Full Cave, diving in cave gear, and being at least an open water divemaster or instructor. The ratio is to be no more than four divers to a guide, and everyone is to have lights. A briefing before the dives should cover trim, non-silting propulsion, and cave conservation. Divers are to stay on the cavern line in the places where a permanent line is in place; anywhere where a permanent line is not in place, the guide should run a line and stay within cavern zone definitions. NEVER should a tour go past the Stop/Peligro signs, and any diver seeing a guide go past one of these signs into the cave should refuse to follow him.
These are great experiences, but everyone should remember that no one is responsible for a safe dive, other than the diver making that dive. It is foolhardy to trust the cenote guides to the point of not having done your homework on what is safe down here and what is not.
The voluntary organization setting guidelines for cavern tours is APSA. Some guides here have taken the APSA course, and even more abide by the rules they set. This includes the guide being Full Cave, diving in cave gear, and being at least an open water divemaster or instructor. The ratio is to be no more than four divers to a guide, and everyone is to have lights. A briefing before the dives should cover trim, non-silting propulsion, and cave conservation. Divers are to stay on the cavern line in the places where a permanent line is in place; anywhere where a permanent line is not in place, the guide should run a line and stay within cavern zone definitions. NEVER should a tour go past the Stop/Peligro signs, and any diver seeing a guide go past one of these signs into the cave should refuse to follow him.
These are great experiences, but everyone should remember that no one is responsible for a safe dive, other than the diver making that dive. It is foolhardy to trust the cenote guides to the point of not having done your homework on what is safe down here and what is not.
