cenotes are they worth it?

[JamesBon92007]

I have a feeling that cenote diving is an acquired taste, much like wreck diving. I’ve been going to Cozumel for almost 30 years now, and only took the time to do the cenote dive once, and I have no desire to go back and do it again. To each his own. Personally, I would much rather spend my diving time surrounded by glorious coral structures, vibrant sea life, amazing critters. The cenotes struck me as vaguely interesting, but basically just rocks. Been there, done that, don’t want to do it again.

I was wondering about just that. There have been a few times where my girlfriend and I thought about going to the mainland and diving the cenotes but in our minds it seems like all you would see is wet rocks. So far we have decided just to do more dives at Cozumel.

 

[Scuba Doobie Do]

I loved the experience and my gf (now fiance) was terrified. I thought swimming through the halocline was incredible... She said it messed with her vision and made her feel weird. I love caves and don't mind the dark. Everyone has their own flavors, but to me swimming through the crystal clear water and seeing the rock formations was an incredible and unique experience... She won't go back.

Now I'm thinking about tech training but my fiance will make me go alone.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Have you toured caves on land? Did you find them interesting? If you don't find dry caves interesting, you probably won't find cenotes interesting. I have always been fascinated by the geology of caves, whether filled with air or water. When I'm in a cave, I'm constantly thinking about how what I'm looking at was formed, how many millennia it took .... I don't think I was even aware there were caves filled with water that one could scuba dive in until long after I was already a scuba diver.

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

I have seen bones in caves, and a fire pit in a rock wall that looked like it wa done yesterday. But it was 5 minutes swim in to a cave and in 35 feet of water. Google when the ocean levels were 35 lower and it would have been about 9000 years ago. And it is in immaculate shape. Love cave diving!!

 

[npole]

When i went to Cozumel I did only two cenote dives and that was my biggest regret, I would have waived half of my reef, drift, whatever dives to visit more cenotes on the coast. After have experienced it, I can't imagine going there and not doing it.

 

[ggunn]

Where we are staying they have 2 different night dives one is one tank the other you come up go somewhere else and go again.

What that usually means is a twilight dive and a night dive.

 

[Melanie White]

What that usually means is a twilight dive and a night dive.

yes that's it

 

[Gdog]

I had been going to Coz for about 12 years before I reluctantly gave up a day of drift diving to take the Vomit Comet aka the ferry to the mainland and dive the cenotes. Lets just say that I have made that drift dive break a regular part of my Cozumel trip since then. But to each his own.

 

[LimitedSlip7]

I took a day off from the reefs my last trip and dove El Pit and the Bat Cave at Dos Ojos. It was pretty damn neat. Not enough to convert me to a cave diver or anything but I would say it is definitely worth trying at least once or once per trip. I still like the reefs more.

Of course, the day I went the guys back on the boat said they had the best dives of the entire trip...

 

[Addicted2H2O]

If this is your first time going to COZ, then I'd definitely recommend sticking with reef/drift diving. And if you can fit it in, check out the C-53 wreck. If you go at the right time, you might even see the tourist submarine that goes by there and can wave at all the dry passengers as you swim by. And you can get good night diving off the shore and have all the air you want because you can see a lot at 20 ft. Twilight dives are really cool, too, because you can watch the sun set while you're underwater and by the time you surface it'll be dark. Night dives in COZ are simply amazing. I'd almost rather do night dives over day dives there. I haven't done any dives in the cenotes, but I've been snorkling in a couple of them and it's interesting, but I wouldn't pass on reef diving to look at rock formations, even though I love caves and geology. Not saying I wouldn't do it at all, but on your first trip.....stick to the reefs. You'll love it!

And if you're interested in the C-53 wreck, here's the first half of the unedited video I shot last year diving it. The bow sits on the bottom at about 72' deep. The top of the mast is about 30' deep. I started shooting video at about 12' deep.