Cenote dives -- Did your guide follow the rules?

[TSandM]

For those of you who have done guided cavern dives in the Riviera Maya:

1. Did you know that there are rules that the guides are supposed to follow when doing these dives? (Those rules include that guides should be at least OW instructors, full cave certified, and dive in full cave gear, and should not guide more than 4 divers at a time.)

2. If you did know, did you inquire about these rules as a way of deciding who to do your guided dives with?

3. Did your guide follow the rules?

I'm asking this because, on my last trip down there, I saw several groups of touring divers which were being led by guides in single tank/recreational gear, and which included more than four divers. I know the rules that were agreed upon (and the training course which was offered to guides, at no cost to them) were all voluntary, and it appears to me that there are a bunch of people out there who are ignoring them.

I would highly suggest that anybody planning to do the tours inquire about the guides, and whether they follow the rules and have done the training.

 

[willgr1]

When I was making dives in the cenotes last summer I saw some guides in full cave gear and others in single tank rec. gear. I wasn't really bothered by it since I wasn't diving with them and they weren't penetrating as far as we were (referring to the rec. gear guides), but the divers did silt my way out a few times which did bother me.....seeing an OW diver CRAWL across the bottom of the cavern in Taj is really disappoint....

 

[cavew0man]

That's an interesting question. Even among the guides themselves, there is grumbling about "those guides" that break the rules. What I've heard them complain most about is taking the divers off the line. You really saw guides with single tanks? That's one I haven't noticed. Some of "those guides" have also been seen taking divers through the restriction between the two cavern lines at Chac Mool. The APSA guidelines are clear on what's expected, and most of the guides seem to respect them, but there's definitely some disregarding of the rules going on.

 

[chipwd]

My wife and I dove Chac Mool this past May and our guide was geared in full cave gear and did a great job. We enjoyed the two dives we did and during the surface interval between he and I talked about the guidelines the guides were supposed to follow. He also told me about his certification classes for cavern and cave. Pretty interesting stuff!
Most if not all of the guides I saw in the parking lot looked to be in cave gear and I think all the groups were 4 divers or less.

The only thing that was a problem was our SI had a mask stolen and he felt the thief was another local guide that had stolen from him before. The mask had inadvertantly been left behind at the exit site, put down while the guide assisted our 4 diver group out of the water and back up the trail. When the guide realized he left the mask he went back and it was gone. Couldn't have been left there for more than 4 or 5minutes.
He indicated that dive gear was expensive and hard to replace down there and the other guide was particularly competitive with other guides and known to steal gear from them. He said tourists are exempt from this behavior since the guides all want good referrals and return visits.

 

[psumike]

I've dove the Cenotes on two occassions with Dive Aventuras and each time the guides were instructors in full cave gear and adhered to the limits for number of divers. Further, they explained the rules to us as a part of the predive briefing.

The dives themselves are fun. I'm more of a critter/fish person, but the Cenotes should not be missed. Everyone should check them out at least once.

Mike

 

[ShakaZulu]

They should add some more rules. Divers need to know Buoyancy 101 and at least have a competancy checkout dive before letting them in there on their path of destruction....

 

[chipwd]

They should add some more rules. Divers need to know Buoyancy 101 and at least have a competancy checkout dive before letting them in there on their path of destruction....

Can't argue with that! Our cenote guide spoke to the resort dive shop instructor before allowing us to go on the cenote dives. He specifically wanted to know our buoyancy skills and overall dive skill level. We had already done 3 days of boat dives with the resort dive shop so they had a clue to our skills.

The dive shop SI told us that there were several other divers that had done boat dives with us on this trip that he would not have recommended for the cenote dives.

 

[TSandM]

Shaka, I agree with you on an emotional level. But I'm also pragmatic enough to realize that there are probably a hundred or more of those cavern tour divers for every cave diver getting into the systems, and it's the income from those folks that keeps the landowners maintaining the sites and the access, and tolerating the annoyance of the traffic in and out of their land. If it were just us cave divers, I doubt anybody would feel much like building steps or grading roads or doing mosquito control for our benefit.

 

[chipwd]

I didn't take his post to mean that the divers need cavern or cave training but that divers should have good buoyancy control. I could be wrong but you don't have to be cavern or cave trained to have good buoyancy.

 

[TSandM]

No, I didn't read it as implying that only cave divers should dive the cenotes. But if you are going to bring in OW divers, the majority aren't going to have the kind of buoyancy control and trim that people with more training have. Even some fairly experienced OW divers with reasonable control of their buoyancy in OW, still dive at 45 degrees and flutter kick, and have problems controlling themselves within the inches of tolerance required in an overhead environment. And numbers mean income, so there's no strong incentive to pre-screen divers to some standard of competence.