Hola
Just got back from Playa a couple days ago after a long weekend (W-M). We've been making this trip for the last 6 years at least once a year. I fell in love with Cenotes from time I dove Dos Ojos 4+ years ago. Since that moment I've wanted to get my cave certification, but was waiting until I felt ready. I did Dos Ojos with ~30 dives under my belt, then I did Temple of Doom and Gran Cenote, after that Ponderosa, last year I did Dreamgates. In that time I've gone from AOW to Dive Master and have ~250 dives.
I did my first four cenotes with the same shop and after a shaky experience on the last trip I searched out someone new to dive with. Searching here I found Nico at CenoteXperience and dove Dreamgates with him last year. After much consideration between the highly recommended ProTech, another shop and Nico I decided to go with him for my Cavern Cert based mostly on the fact that I'd been underwater with him, liked his philosophy and the way he operates.
I'd have loved to do Cavern, Intro and Cave all at once but since this trip is my and my wife's annual anniversary trip it'd have been hard to convince her that I should spend all that time in caves!
So, I've got to do this in stages.
Nico picked me up at our hotel as discussed in our numerous emails setting this up and me asking seemingly unending questions (great communication). He provided tanks, lunch, snacks and water each day. He also provide any ancillary equipment I needed (wrist slate, thigh pocket, shorter SPG hose)
We started at Ponderosa. Did 3-4 hours of theory and land drills before getting in the water and then 2-3 hours of getting humbled in the water. I thought I was a pretty good diver, good buoyancy, etc, but this really strips you down and finds your weaknesses. Wow, totally humbling. Second day was almost all in the water and went better but was still a constant challenge. Third day we moved to Xtabay. Spent the whole day in the water and things went much better. After a late lunch we then did a "fun" dive with "no" drills in Chikin Ha. I say "fun" and "no" because we of course still did valve drills, gear check and some line drills.
Nico is an excellent instructor. Patient, intelligent, helpful, firm when needed, complimentary when appropriate and ALWAYS safety conscience. Also an outstanding diver. He let me know things weren't as bad as I thought they were the first day, never let me get over my head and provided excellent reviews of each dive.
I'll be back to finish full cave with him as soon as I can get back down there - I hope it's earlier than next year at this time. While he may not be well known here, I HIGHLY recommend him. I've been in the caverns with three different instructors, so while I don't have a ton of experience I can say that Nico is head and shoulders above the other two. The cherry on the icing is that he's a great guy as well. Gracias Nico, for my proudest achievement yet in my dive career!
CenoteXperience
Brian.
Just got back from Playa a couple days ago after a long weekend (W-M). We've been making this trip for the last 6 years at least once a year. I fell in love with Cenotes from time I dove Dos Ojos 4+ years ago. Since that moment I've wanted to get my cave certification, but was waiting until I felt ready. I did Dos Ojos with ~30 dives under my belt, then I did Temple of Doom and Gran Cenote, after that Ponderosa, last year I did Dreamgates. In that time I've gone from AOW to Dive Master and have ~250 dives.
I did my first four cenotes with the same shop and after a shaky experience on the last trip I searched out someone new to dive with. Searching here I found Nico at CenoteXperience and dove Dreamgates with him last year. After much consideration between the highly recommended ProTech, another shop and Nico I decided to go with him for my Cavern Cert based mostly on the fact that I'd been underwater with him, liked his philosophy and the way he operates.
I'd have loved to do Cavern, Intro and Cave all at once but since this trip is my and my wife's annual anniversary trip it'd have been hard to convince her that I should spend all that time in caves!
Nico picked me up at our hotel as discussed in our numerous emails setting this up and me asking seemingly unending questions (great communication). He provided tanks, lunch, snacks and water each day. He also provide any ancillary equipment I needed (wrist slate, thigh pocket, shorter SPG hose)
We started at Ponderosa. Did 3-4 hours of theory and land drills before getting in the water and then 2-3 hours of getting humbled in the water. I thought I was a pretty good diver, good buoyancy, etc, but this really strips you down and finds your weaknesses. Wow, totally humbling. Second day was almost all in the water and went better but was still a constant challenge. Third day we moved to Xtabay. Spent the whole day in the water and things went much better. After a late lunch we then did a "fun" dive with "no" drills in Chikin Ha. I say "fun" and "no" because we of course still did valve drills, gear check and some line drills.
Nico is an excellent instructor. Patient, intelligent, helpful, firm when needed, complimentary when appropriate and ALWAYS safety conscience. Also an outstanding diver. He let me know things weren't as bad as I thought they were the first day, never let me get over my head and provided excellent reviews of each dive.
I'll be back to finish full cave with him as soon as I can get back down there - I hope it's earlier than next year at this time. While he may not be well known here, I HIGHLY recommend him. I've been in the caverns with three different instructors, so while I don't have a ton of experience I can say that Nico is head and shoulders above the other two. The cherry on the icing is that he's a great guy as well. Gracias Nico, for my proudest achievement yet in my dive career!
CenoteXperience
Brian.
