Cenote Diving Suggestions

[NeedABiggerBoat]

Do these shops usually rent tanks bigger than AL80? I have good boyancy but still have a air-use rate higher than I prefer and dont want to have to end a cenote dive prematurely due to an empty tank.

 

[diverrex]

Trust me, you will be shallow enough and moving slowly enough that you will not need a bigger tank.

 

[Byte Me]

I agree w/ Rex. According to my dive log on the Barbie Line I started w/ 2822psi and ended w/ 528psi on a 56min dive. On the bat cave I started w/ 2702 and ended w/ 520 on a 52 minute dive. In the temple of doom started w/ 2922, ended w/ 1300 on a 37 min dive. In Grand Cenote started w/ 2962 ended w/ 1394 on a 44 min dive.

All on AL80's. Your guide will have doubles and be cave set up.

 

[Dectek]

I agree w/ Rex. According to my dive log on the Barbie Line I started w/ 2822psi and ended w/ 528psi on a 56min dive. On the bat cave I started w/ 2702 and ended w/ 520 on a 52 minute dive. In the temple of doom started w/ 2922, ended w/ 1300 on a 37 min dive. In Grand Cenote started w/ 2962 ended w/ 1394 on a 44 min dive.

All on AL80's. Your guide will have doubles and be cave set up.

Your dives at Dos Ojos were Too Long.. The guide should have had you out of the water with more air than that in your tank.
What were your turn pressures?
Disregard that last statement if you guys were just burning off time at the end of your dive in the open water areas.

 

[alohagal]

I dove Chac Mool Cenotes today with Roman Graff of Tank Ha. Their shop is located on Diaz y Diaz in downtown Playa. It was me and one other fellow. Roman is German...has lived and dove Playa for 10 years. Teaches cave diving. Technical expert. I learned a lot from him in one afternoon alone. He is fluent in 4 languages. The other diver with me was German. Roman seems to be very popular with the locals. It was amazing how he would go from fluent Spanish, English, German almost simutaneously with me, the German and the locals at the Cenote.

I enjoyed today very much and could tell I was with an extremely competent guide. Gave a great lecture on cavern diving on the drive down. Does everything by the book. He was disappointed by some of the other divers with other guides he was seeing in the cavern (which part two felt more like a cave to me). They were obviously inexperienced divers using lots of arms, verticle positions, touching bottom etc. He says he would never take people like that in the caverns...but he is very gentlemanly when he says it. No hubrice on his part. A really cool guy!

An interesting part of the dive (among many) was ascending into an air pocket. The whole experience is hard to describe. On first dive went for 45 minutes to a depth of 45 feet...started with 2885 and ended with 1300. Second dive 51 minutes...started with 2890...ended with 1830. My air consumption has been remarkable on this dive vacation.

I attribute it to being from Altitude (I live at 6800 feet) and of course my relaxed calm demeanor.

Mary

 

[mnscuber]

In March 08 I visited three cenotes with Jose from Akumal Dive Center:

Grand Cenote - easiest dive of the three, beautiful white formations, 38' was my maximum depth.

Chac Mool (two tanks) - my favorite, fascinating angles and pathways, 42' & 45' max.

Dos Ojos (two tanks - Barbie and Batcave) - Batcave was awesome, would have been a better experience if it wasn't so crowded with other divers, 25' & 33' max.

I think Jose brought us to Grand Cenote first because it was a good introduction.

My experience with Akumal Dive Center was a positive one. The weather was poor during my stay and they did what they could to accommodate me... for one of the cenote trips, Jose brought me there alone. Overall it was a pretty relaxed operation.

I'm kind of an air hog and I didn't come close to running low on air. In my logbook I recorded that I had 1500psi+ remaining on 4 of 5 dives and 1000psi+ on one dive. Of course it depends on fast you go through the course, but as diverrex mentioned, the dives are shallow.