Cenote dives -- Did your guide follow the rules?

[Jasonmh]

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?

...
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We used: Manta Divers has the best Cenote-Cavern Diving in Riviera Maya Mexico
They definitely appeared to follow the rules:
- we had 2 divers to one guide
- Guide was an instructor, full cave certified, and in full cave gear
- He talked quite a bit before the dive, not just on dive plan, but also about the importance of good bouyancy and non-silting kicks, lights, etc. He also checked our bouyancy and that we were not disturbing the bottom throughout the dive.

 

[Beyond_Diving]

There's a few things I would change about the Cenote dives...
1- clients MUST do a checkout dive prior to diving Cenotes.
2- If client is unable to control his/her buoyancy, trim, etc., then client is not allowed to go to Cenotes.
3- during said checkout dive, air consumption is also monitored, therefore avoiding those 15 minutes and I am out of air divers.
4- someone who has done 4 dives after certification, and nothing since, is not allowed, no matter what to dive Cenotes.

unfortunately I do not own a dive centre, so those rules will not be in use until the time when i do own one... but it would be nice to see dc's using them...
Cenotes are sacred sites for the Mayan and should be treated with respect just as catholics, jews, bhuddists, etc expect their sacred sites to be respected.