Cenote dives -- Did your guide follow the rules?

[guggie]

In November 2007 I dove Dos Ojos with Luis of Playascuba this past May I did Gran Cenote and Calaveras with Klaus of the same dive shop. On both occasions I knew the guidelines beforehand and Luis and Klaus followed them. Great dives, fun, but no scrimping on safety.

http://picasaweb.google.com/douglasgerard/PlayaDelCarmenCaveDives#

 

[chipwd]

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.

Point taken, Lynne. Our guide may have been an exception as he seemed to really make a point of us having good buoyancy before committing to take us.

Although as I remember it, Chac Mool was pretty much all rock on the bottom of the "public" dive areas and not much silt to stir up. I'm sure that varies from cenote to cenote. Great dives regardless!

Chip

 

[Tigerman]

1. Yes, the guide informed us of those rules himself, as well as explaining the rule of thirds, how the lines was laid (cave/cavern lines) and lots of other stuff relevant to the dive.

2. No, but it would probably have been a good idea although it was irrelevant because

3. Yes, the mentioned rules was followed. We where 5 divers and therefore 2 instructors.

 

[DeputyDan]

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

I am going to do my cavern certification with these guys in 2009!!!

 

[resumeman]

We did Chac Mool just a couple weeks ago with Mayan Aqua. Our guide was in full cave gear. He informed us he was cave certified, though we didn't confirm that directly. It was just the two of us, so we were within the guides per diver limits. He clearly explained and enforced the rule of thirds.

We made it a point to make this the last day of diving so we could brush up on our buoyancy before going into an overhead environment. I'll have to confess that on my end the results of that were so-so I certainly did better than I would have on my first day, but there was a bit of bumping going on. Fortunately, as mentioned, there really didn't seem to be much silt to stir up...

 

[Diver Lori]

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.)

And "who" created the rules? With all the line battles and such in QR over the years, it would be an interesting story to hear the history of the "rules" from your perspective.

 

[TSandM]

I think it was the safety committee. What Danny told me was that a bunch of people were concerned about the safety of the tours, and got together and drew up some guidelines, which included the guides being in cave gear, and a mandatory briefing on trim and propulsion, and everybody having lights, and a 4:1 maximum ratio. I also understand that there were training classes offered to people doing the guiding. It was all voluntary, but apparently in the beginning, a lot of guides took advantage of the classes and followed the guidelines.

I was surprised to see what I saw on the last trip, and I thought it was worth letting people know that there is a set of guidelines, and it's probably safer if the guides follow them, so it's worth asking potential guides if they do.

I don't believe the guided tour "rules" were part of any political battle down there.

 

[Spratman]

Last time I was down I dove Chac Mool. The cave guide from Mayan Aqua Dive was geared with a cave setup, we had four divers, never left the line, and had a 45 min discussion about cenotes, the sprawl effecting the cenotes and a safety briefing.

It was an excellent trip. I was planning on getting full cave, but have a neck problem that precludes anymore tech training. I still can do that cenotes though!

Interesting though. I didn't know they had their own set of agreed upon rules.

 

[Captain CaveMan]

No not at all. they were in full cave gear but did not follow the rule about the 4 diver limit.

 

[firstdive2005]

Did Choc Mol (2dives)with Ben's Mayan Aqua Dive July 08. Our guide was full kit and showed us (2divers) his cards. He was clearly concerned about safety and spent time going over all cave dive rules. He did know our skill level and did go to a couple spots that he would not have taken lesser skilled divers(trim ability, proper kick). I would like to highly recommend contacting Ben's dive company in Cancun. Once done- not enough! kevin