Question Cavern diving Tulum

[Cornbread O'Malley]

My husband and I are planning to do 1 week of cavern diving (we have AOW, single tank) in Tulum in 2025 or 2026, and would welcome perspectives on the topics below:

- Season: Which months do you recommend for the best chance of sunny weather and lights in the caverns?
- Dive center: How does Under The Jungle compare with ProTec for recreational cavern diving? We are planning to get a private guide.

I venture to guess that with your week of cavern diving you will see more sun than not. If you do have clouds, they should be gone in a day or two. Based on my experiences visiting the area during late November/early December and early March, I encountered very light rain on several occasions. The rain moved on and replaced by sunshine in less than a day. Hurricane season runs from June to early November, and if you're unlucky then you'll be sitting through a few days of clouds and rain and possibly intense weather.

Which location would you recommend between protec and under the jungle, please?

FWIW, my friends and I are headed to Riviera Maya in second week of December 2024. We decided to go with Protec for our cavern diving (because a friend in the group has taken cave instruction from them). We will airbnb in Akumal. Akumal to Under the Jungle is 10 minutes via taxi; Akumal to Tulum is 30 minutes. We are inquiring about the dive shop coming to our airbnb to pick us up. If that doesn't pan out then my friends and I can just taxi to town. Or we can walk 10 minutes to the main highway and ride the collectivo into town. Also, the new international airport close to Tulum began operation recently should that add more flexibility to your travel itinerary.

 

[Lu Y]

Evil idea: if you are going to Mexico in 2026, you could do intro to cave and have so much more fun (you know you want to and if you get obsessed with cave, you certainly will do it sooner or later...) In general, if you are doing so many cavern dives, I would look into a bit of training beyond AOW as being stable in the cavern zone will make it so much more enjoyable, and the guides might be comfortable taking you to more interesting caverns such as Dreamgate.

ProTec is in Tulum, so probably a better location and they are great. I think it's good to be able to meet at the shop, you should (need to) analyse your gas anyway, you can mingle with other divers and look at what others are doing too. Don't discount independent guides who might be working for the big shops either.

Indeed, I fully agree a bit of training beyond AOW is a good idea.

 

[Lu Y]

I venture to guess that with your week of cavern diving you will see more sun than not. If you do have clouds, they should be gone in a day or two. Based on my experiences visiting the area during late November/early December and early March, I encountered very light rain on several occasions. The rain moved on and replaced by sunshine in less than a day. Hurricane season runs from June to early November, and if you're unlucky then you'll be sitting through a few days of clouds and rain and possibly intense weather.

FWIW, my friends and I are headed to Riviera Maya in second week of December 2024. We decided to go with Protec for our cavern diving (because a friend in the group has taken cave instruction from them). We will airbnb in Akumal. Akumal to Under the Jungle is 10 minutes via taxi; Akumal to Tulum is 30 minutes. We are inquiring about the dive shop coming to our airbnb to pick us up. If that doesn't pan out then my friends and I can just taxi to town. Or we can walk 10 minutes to the main highway and ride the collectivo into town. Also, the new international airport close to Tulum began operation recently should that add more flexibility to your travel itinerary.

How was weather in March compared to Nov / Dec?

I know this doesn't make sense, but I get depressed with overcast or rain...

 

[Cornbread O'Malley]

How was weather in March compared to Nov / Dec?

I know this doesn't make sense, but I get depressed with overcast or rain...

I experienced much less rain in March versus late November/early December. Let's see if this pattern holds up! I again head to Riviera Maya tomorrow through mid-December. And then again mid-February to early March, 2025.

 

[Lu Y]

I experienced much less rain in March versus late November/early December. Let's see if this pattern holds up! I again head to Riviera Maya tomorrow through mid-December. And then again mid-February to early March, 2025.

Fingers crossed for good weather!

 

[halocline]

Thanks a lot, this is very helpful. In your experience, does the dry season have better lights vs. rest of the year?

No, it doesn’t matter much. The light effects from openings that you are referring to are only in a few places, and even on a cloudy day it’s still a lot of light beaming into an otherwise very dark environment.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

If you have few days to travel around, Mexico is really pretty before Christmas - all the trees and decorations yet a tropical location. Merida is nice as are some other cities (not Cancun or Playa though).

 

[Lu Y]

No, it doesn’t matter much. The light effects from openings that you are referring to are only in a few places, and even on a cloudy day it’s still a lot of light beaming into an otherwise very dark environment.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Lu Y]

If you have few days to travel around, Mexico is really pretty before Christmas - all the trees and decorations yet a tropical location. Merida is nice as are some other cities (not Cancun or Playa though).

If we go in December, will probably stay 3 weeks so will have time to travel around

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

If we go in December, will probably stay 3 weeks so will have time to travel around

Oaxaca is highly recommended.