Cenote Diving in Playa del Carmen

[Romantic]

We are going to Playa del Carmen & Cozumel soon. It will be me, my daughter (both of us have been OW & Nitrox certifed for many years but not dove in several years and not a lot of diving before that) and my 13 year old son who is going to finish his OW dives in Mexico after doing his pool and book stuff here. My daughter and I also did a pool tune-up with a dive master here. I was amazed at how "rusty" we were.

My question is about the Cenote dives. Several I have read about state that only an OW certification is required. These look like fun, but I am not sure we have the skills required. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Lead_carrier]

To give a short answer, OW is all that is required from the operators to do the cenotes in Mexico. What is required of you SHOULD be a lot more. Like comfort level, experience to what type of diving you will be doing. I would strongly suggest that from your post you, in my opinion, aren't ready for the cenotes right now. While they are guided dives, you must have the experience and knowledge and experience to handle diving in an overhead. Do the reefs, enjoy them and keep diving when you can when you get home. In a year or two when the rust has worn off and your youngest had aged under water a bit. Then consider the cenotes. You can do some great snorkleing at them tho.

 

[James R]

I wouldn't take a newly certified OW diver to the cenotes. Most of your dive in a cenote is an overhead environment, with limited to no direct access to the surface. They also require very good buoyancy control, which may not be the case with someone brand new.

 

[Dhboner]

If you cannot maintain neutral buoyancy throughout the dive (and a lot of cenotes have varying depths throughout the dive) you will do irreparable damage to the cenote and risk getting hurt as well. Cenote diving is not particularly difficult and if you use a reputable guide it is very safe, but newly minted divers rarely have the buoyancy control to maintain position in the water column and complete the dive without damaging a stalactite or two.

 

[TSandM]

I agree with the above posters. I think the minimum requirement for the cenote tours ought to be reasonable buoyancy control, and enough dives to have encountered and solved a problem underwater. You ARE under a rock overhead, and therefore need the composure to deal with reasonably foreseeable diving issues (leaks, freeflows, mask floods, etc.) without needing to surface.

However, it would be a horrible shame to be in the area and not have the experience of the cenotes. I would highly recommend a snorkeling trip, either guided or on your own. Cenotes like NoHoch and Grand can give you a real taste of what diving there is like, just by snorkeling in under the roof.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I did a few OW-diver cenote dives of the type you're considering. Immediately after submerging on our first dive, and without having said anything about this in advance, my guide/divemaster signaled to me to share air with him. So he was testing my ability to handle something unexpected. Fortunately, I had just passed a Rescue Diver course a few weeks earlier and was as comfortable doing this as I've ever been. I also noticed him eyeing me up for a minute or two before we entered the overhead environment, probably judging my buoyancy skills.

 

[PhilaDallas]

Wife and I just did some cenote snorkeling as part of a trip to Tulum. It was very nice. There was some diving going on and my wife looked on longingly, but we both know that we need more dives before we go into an overhead environment. PM me if you want to know which outfit we went to Tulum with.

 

[nimoh]

I agree with the above posters but will add that you also need neutral buoyancy when stopped.

On a recent cenote dive, my team mate and I were exiting and there was a narrow passage with a group of divers coming in. Their divemaster stopped the group to allow us to go through the restriction first (as is proper protocol), but almost immediately after stopping, all of the divers dropped their fins and started kicking up the sand. We had to swim around them, losing sight of the line for a few moments.

We got through it alright, but ultimately that group had to return through the mess they created.

 

[chrpai]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/mexico/439307-word-wise-cenote-diving.html

 

[Lorenzoid]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/mexico/439307-word-wise-cenote-diving.html

I remember that thread, and I don't think I would do it again knowing what I know now, even though I believe my guide and our dive met the criteria.