Cave Diving Instructors in Playa Del Carmen or U.S.

[Dr. Love]

Thanks everyone for the advice. FOr those asking, my profile is not up to date. I have well over 100 dives by now. I've been doing the cenotes for years now and am looking to take it up a notch. My plan is to do the cavern and intro to cave training on one trip and then the full cave either on a second trip, or when I'm moved! Thanks again!

 

[Edward3c]

Me and my buddy used Nicholas White.

 

[Guille G]

I used to live in Playa, and am a bit jealous. Living there, you have no reason to rush - so take advantage of that. There are plenty of great options, what I did was make a short list, go on a couple of cavern tours, use the truck time to chat, then go with the instructor you got along with better.

I will second (triple) the recommendation for Nico from Cenote Xperience, or anyone in his crew. Great guys, and they've been in Playa doing this for decades.

The price you quoted looks fair for the area (no idea what the costs are elsewhere).

 

[VikingDives]

Me and my buddy used Nicholas White.

Nick is awesome and I totally recommend him.

 

[VikingDives]

Nick is awesome and I totally recommend him.

And at this point I've trained with everyone from UTJ, with the exception of Nat and I'd recommend them all...

I also had a really nice experience with the guys from Elite Divers International in PDC... My family was down for a reunion (and I preceded them for some training ), when they said they wanted a discover scuba class. Marko and Allesandro did a great job doing a DSD for everyone.

I was really impressed with them.

 

[halocline]

Thanks everyone for the advice. FOr those asking, my profile is not up to date. I have well over 100 dives by now. I've been doing the cenotes for years now and am looking to take it up a notch. My plan is to do the cavern and intro to cave training on one trip and then the full cave either on a second trip, or when I'm moved! Thanks again!

I would take each class separately and spend time practicing skills in between the classes. Becoming a good cave diver is not so much about increasing conceptual knowledge (although there are lots of new concepts to learn) as it is about acquiring new skills, many of which must be internalized so that you have good habits to rely on. There is only one way to get to that level of diving, and that’s repeated, controlled practice.

If you’re going to live down there and dive in the caves regularly, (I’m jealous!) then you should also learn to dive sidemount. That’s another class, no matter what anyone tells you. What you might consider is doing cavern in single tanks (that’s the norm) and then sidemount, and do a lot of practicing in the sidemount configuration on cavern dives. So many of the skills can be practiced in open water as well, and these are the things that typically determine your success; buoyancy, trim, propulsion, basic task loading exercises, etc. After you’re feeling pretty confident and comfortable with SM in the cavern zones, then you can take intro. I would then spend quite a bit of time doing intro level dives without an instructor, building good habits of the basic skills; line and team awareness, communication, line running, problem solving, all with excellent buoyancy, trim, propulsion. To do this right you’re talking about several weeks of time. Then you can tackle the higher demands of full cave and focus on the complex navigation requirements, dealing with restrictions, and the generally higher standards of diving at the full cave level. Living down there will make this approach really convenient.

Going from an OW diver to full cave diver in 10 days is not generally a successful strategy. There are exceptions, but usually the result is you learn too much too fast and can’t retain it all, and develop poor habits from lack of repetitive skill practice.

In terms of instructors, I like very much the culture at Under the Jungle, and it’s pretty convenient to Playa. Nat and Vince are both really top notch instructors and the shop really has a deep learning and constant development culture. Nat’s producing excellent teaching materials too.

 

[rddvet]

Sidemount isn’t necessary to live and dive in Mexico. There are many many bm only divers living and working in Mexico able to dive many caves for years and years without needing sm.
Sm is great but is far from a necessity. If you want to dive more south near Muyil then sm is more important.

 

[halocline]

Sidemount isn’t necessary to live and dive in Mexico. There are many many bm only divers living and working in Mexico able to dive many caves for years and years without needing sm.
Sm is great but is far from a necessity. If you want to dive more south near Muyil then sm is more important.

You’re right, it’s not necessary, but I would advise anyone who is starting from scratch (i.e. not a currrent BM doubles diver) who is primarily interested in Mexican caves to learn sidemount from the beginning. Beccause I already had some BM doubles experience, I did all my cave classes in BM, dove BM for a few years, and then switched to SM. I just think it’s a better fit down there; more SM divers to buddy up with, easier in/out on those slippery rocks, and it fits the geological environment better.

 

[rddvet]

You’re right, it’s not necessary, but I would advise anyone who is starting from scratch (i.e. not a currrent BM doubles diver) who is primarily interested in Mexican caves to learn sidemount from the beginning. Beccause I already had some BM doubles experience, I did all my cave classes in BM, dove BM for a few years, and then switched to SM. I just think it’s a better fit down there; more SM divers to buddy up with, easier in/out on those slippery rocks, and it fits the geological environment better.

Gotcha. Just pointing out its not a necessity only because go sidemount seems to be the answer for everything on scubaboard nowadays and there is a huge misnomer that "everybody dives sidemount in mexico." I did mexico in sm for many years and now am diving almost all bm and don't feel like I'm missing out.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Gotcha. Just pointing out its not a necessity only because go sidemount seems to be the answer for everything on scubaboard nowadays and there is a huge misnomer that "everybody dives sidemount in mexico." I did mexico in sm for many years and now am diving almost all bm and don't feel like I'm missing out.

If the OP is going to live there, he has all the time in the world to learn both SM and BM. Which to learn first, I'll leave to you guys. Maybe some good advice would be for the OP to first find an instructor he feels he really connects with, and dive how they're diving. It will probably be SM, but your point is well taken. Not everyone in Mexico dives sidemount (at least not all the time). No doubt that for exploration it's all being done in SM these days. But for fun-diving in the "tourist caves"--there's a lifetime of BM-able passage.