Blue Grotto Makes Some Changes

[Lorenzoid]

I’ve heard of instructors trying to take AOW students into the lower cavern and the students refusing.

I sure wouldn't have known any better when I was an AOW student, but kudos to those who do. I have to believe OW divers are quite safe in the upper cavern just beneath the overhang, but my Fundies instructor's point that that sloping overhang was the dividing line between open water and something else stuck with me. "Almost open water" is not open water. There's often no real dividing line once you get into a cavern--it just gets deeper and darker. And now as a Cave 1 diver I'm totally anal about my primary tie-off not being under any overhangs. But I digress. Not relevant to Blue Grotto.

 

[Keith Blair]

without bringing a shovel down with you

Wait, you can do that?

 

[Johnoly]

Wait, you can do that?

Heck, they put a car in there with a crane to film a video !!

 

[greeniguana]

I did a deep dives for AOW in Blue Grotto.

I think it ended up just me and the instructor because the rest of the students refused to go in the dark hole......

 

[CuzzA]

I've dove it several times. It's a cavern. Yes, you'll likely lose sunlight all the way to the back, but calling beyond 60ft a cave is nonsense. There's no passages, it's a pretty benign dive.

I haven't dove it in a while, twice since the collapse and viz was shot. If viz has been permanently screwed then I would agree with the decision.

 

[Jack Hammer]

While most of the deep portion at Blue Grotto is technically a cave, I'd describe it more as a relatively tame extended cavern. There are a few areas there that are cave, you really gotta look hard to find them. It's also a site that is generally difficult, but not impossible, to get into trouble. Overall I think the sign is a good idea.

 

[CuzzA]

I did my AOW there and Hudson Grotto. Hudson Grotto you lose viz after one atmosphere and it makes you feel dirty and stinky. So dirty and stinky some may even panic if a drop gets in your mouth.

No go on AOW would kind of suck for new divers in the area. Dive shops will be more dependent on boats and weather.

 

[MrVegas]

Just received notice that Blue Grotto removed the guide line from the lower chamber and added grim reaper warning.
So, anything below 60' is cave.

Lol, I was wondering when it would happen.

Changes

Does that mean you're supposed to have a specific certification to swing through the lower portion? In 2019, my kid and I did Devil's Den, Paradise Springs, and Blue Grotto and had a great time. I get that the lower part of Blue Grotto is overhead and a light helps, but it was more like a swim through than a cave or cavern. I really liked Blue Grotto and the owners\managers were great (we stayed there). I respect the owner's choice to set their rules -- but it did not strike me as all that scary.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Does that mean you're supposed to have a specific certification to swing through the lower portion?

Fair question. The information on their website does not say. They did not put up a barrier to prevent access. In the commonly dived caves, that sign implies that only certified cave divers are permitted beyond that point. The area has been used in cave training classes.

I get that the lower part of Blue Grotto is overhead and a light helps, but it was more like a swim through than a cave or cavern.

The definition of "swim-through" has been hotly debated. To me, it means you can at least see light coming from the other end, if not see the other end itself. (And by that definition, there may be some swim-throughs in Cozumel that are not swim-throughs but rather caverns.) The cavern line at Blue Grotto dips down below and behind the rocks, and although I haven't tried turning off my light down there to see if a glimmer of ambient light was still visible, I'm guessing it's very dim if at all visible. It's clearly a "cavern" by any definition I have seen. Is it a "cave"? At its extremity, it would seem to exceed the depth-plus-distance boundary of "cavern" set by training agencies who offer (or at least used to offer) a cavern certification. Also, there is by definition no "cavern" at night or when the ambient light is otherwise too dim to see, such as may occur on overcast days, and if I recall, there is some night diving done at Blue Grotto. Maybe rather than come up with convoluted rules, they decided putting the sign in place takes care of the ambiguities.

 

[SubseaSports]

Fair question. The information on their website does not say. .

You are right, Blue Grotto does not explicitly state this, however, they clearly [to me] state accepted definitions and their extrapolations of these definitions. No light past 60' = cave. I haven't watched their required pre-dive video, but hopefully more details are stipulated in it.
I am not in agreement, but my guess is someone/org got in their ear about this.
I'm not cave cert so there's that.