Cenote Diving and Safety

[TSandM]

Glad the post was useful!

 

[fred3798]

I do not have cave certification and while I know that thousands of untrained people go through and enjoy the cenotes every year, I won't go near one. Go to YouTube and look at a few videos on untrained cave divers. Then add to the vastly increased danger and need for sophisticated training and equipment that we are talking about Mexico. I not understand why Scubaboard simply does not have a section called "untrained Cenote dives" with a Sticky message that just says "Don't". Well to each her own I suppose. But my rule is that I won't be caught dead in a cenote and I fear that if I do go in one with a guide who is willing to take divers who have not had cave trainig, then I may find myself breaking my own rule.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Cenote dives are not cave dives. They are CAVERN dives and their record of safety validates the practice.
They are an excellent dives in their own right, and an excellent way for divers to find out if they're interested in caves BEFORE spending a small fortune on cave gear and classes.

 

[mselenaous]

The cenotes are all different. Some are open water, like a lake in a big airplane hanger, easy to directly ascend, some may have swim-thrus. They even take snorkelers to some of these lovely cenotes.

Then there are cenotes that are caverns with overhead environment but the diving is still within the light zone, some times diving from one light pool to the next.

And then there are actual caves.

There is something for everyone to enjoy and there are many good dive guides to help you see cenotes that are within your training level and comfort level.

I dream of going back.

 

[Sail 'n Dive]

This spring, I did two dives at Dos Ojos. It was incredibly beautiful, especially the Bat Cave part. There were two clients, and the other guy was way more experienced than me. Our guide was obviously an experienced cave diver, I could tell just by his reg set-up but having read these posts I also asked a zillion questions in the parking lot and I was very clear about my own non-training with overheads, etc. He gave us a very competent briefing, kindly but firmly laid down the rules, and when we got in the water, he had simply uncanny finning skills (ie to avoid stirring up silt.) He went first, me second, the more experienced second client last. We stuck to the line at all times. I was calm but very very very impressed by the danger of the situation as some of the passages were fairly tight for an open-water diver with no overhead training at ll. I kept the guide about seven to ten feet in front of me at all times and did a lot of zen thinking and breathing. Here's the thing, though, after a thrilling dive, we surfaced, only to see another party beginning their dive. Their guide? looked just fine to me. Clients? not to brag but there was no buoyancy control with any of these other clients in the other group, and lots of really messy finning. So, I concluded, I was really lucky that day. The guides seem to do an ok job timing departures to diminish the chance of traffic jams, but obviously they are not gods. What would happen if you were doing your thing, without any real problems, just kinda hyper-aware, and boom, you are suddenly stuck in a small passage with a panicking diver from a different group ... kicking up silt, freaking out, reaching out for your equipment ? In other words, you could take all the right precautions, hired the right guide, and so on, and still get into big trouble. "Bottom line" for me? that was probably one of the most special dives I have ever done, and I will never ever do it again without a lot of specialist training. Another tip: book your dive for the morning, as early as possible. The parking lot was almost empty when we got there, around 9:30 am, and then, by lunch, it was jammed, just as we were leaving. Dealing with a lot of parties ahead of you means more silt, less viz, and possibly higher risk.

 

[fred3798]

[video=youtube;Z1iaa04rCf0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1iaa04rCf0&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]

Cave Diving, a Deceptively Easy Way to DIE.

NDL diving is a relatively safe endeavor. Cave diving is not. Trusting your life in Mexican safety standards for an inherently dangerous activity? You gotta be bonkers. As the last poster noted, even if you and your DM are great, there can be others involved. Plus the risk of random equipment failure or just plain old Mother Nature throwing one of her random curves. I just don't get how people, especially on this normally hyper-judgmental forum, can be sanguine with the business of taking untrained divers into overhead environments.

 

[Dan G]

[video=youtube;Z1iaa04rCf0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1iaa04rCf0&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]

Cave Diving, a Deceptively Easy Way to DIE.

NDL diving is a relatively safe endeavor. Cave diving is not. Trusting your life in Mexican safety standards for an inherently dangerous activity? You gotta be bonkers. As the last poster noted, even if you and your DM are great, there can be others involved. Plus the risk of random equipment failure or just plain old Mother Nature throwing one of her random curves. I just don't get how people, especially on this normally hyper-judgmental forum, can be sanguine with the business of taking untrained divers into overhead environments.

I am glad this thread had some recent bumps and I came across it, because my regular buddy and I are interested in a morning of cenote dives the next time we travel to Cozumel.

Fred, you have mentioned the fact that these dives are in Mexico as a reason to be even more cautious. Can you please explain the difference between Mexican safety standards and other safety standards?

 

[TSandM]

fred, have you done any cenote dives? Some of them (Ponderosa) are nothing more than swimming under a shelf, with open water to one side of you. Others are more truly overhead, but none is "tight" and I cannot think of a single one where anything anyone did could blow the viz to lower than Puget Sound normal. All of them are done on thick gold line, with no branches (unless someone has tied off their reel, which is pretty obvious).

IF you stay on the line, and if you can do a 45 minute dive to 30 feet without panicking and bolting to the surface, the cenote dives are pretty darned benign. Where people have gotten into trouble is either because they cannot cope with even the simplest problem without surfacing, or because they have followed an ill-advised guide into true cave.

I am, as I think anyone who reads on the this board much knows, an EXTREMELY risk-averse diver, and extremely conservative. But I honestly don't think the cenote dives, as a general rule, are any more dangerous than taking tourists through the Cathedrals off Lanai, which is done every single day (as are the cenote dives) with a good safety record. IF the rules are followed, which is why I started this thread.

 

[BlackPatch]

fred, have you done any cenote dives? Some of them (Ponderosa) are nothing more than swimming under a shelf, with open water to one side of you. Others are more truly overhead, but none is "tight" and I cannot think of a single one where anything anyone did could blow the viz to lower than Puget Sound normal. All of them are done on thick gold line, with no branches (unless someone has tied off their reel, which is pretty obvious).

IF you stay on the line, and if you can do a 45 minute dive to 30 feet without panicking and bolting to the surface, the cenote dives are pretty darned benign. Where people have gotten into trouble is either because they cannot cope with even the simplest problem without surfacing, or because they have followed an ill-advised guide into true cave.

I am, as I think anyone who reads on the this board much knows, an EXTREMELY risk-averse diver, and extremely conservative. But I honestly don't think the cenote dives, as a general rule, are any more dangerous than taking tourists through the Cathedrals off Lanai, which is done every single day (as are the cenote dives) with a good safety record. IF the rules are followed, which is why I started this thread.

Plus 1

Nice.

 

[TSandM]

I came across this video today:

[video=youtube;WDrPn56GjDg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDrPn56GjDg&feature=share[/video]

Just another warning not to follow ANYBODY off the gold line, or past the signs.