Cenotes—cavern diving. Safe for AOW diver?

[peeweediver]

It’s really a tale of two cities. It’s the AOW status that is so deceiving. I just certified four students last weekend at our quarry. One student is going to Fla in two weeks with his parents and wants to do an AOW class. I advised waiting until 30-50 dives to get more out of the class. May go ahead anyway. After getting AOW, should he go cavern diving…nope!
On the other hand, my wife took her AOW after 200 dives. Now has over 300. Cocos, Socorro, Raja and the Maldives under her belt with some wicked current experiences. She has great buoyancy control, trim and better air consumption than me. Cavern diving for her would be OK by me.
Most of us on this board know that AOW status means almost nothing. So, my response to the original question would be, “Tell me about your dive experience and who you plan to dive the Caverns with and I’ll give you my opinion…if you want it”

Rob

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

If the cavern guide is reputable and the AOW diver actually has proficient dive skills I say go for it. On several occasions we would be returning from a long stage dive in Gran Cenote and find a "cavern" tour back at the first "T." That's full cave dive territory. One time downstream in Na Hoch Na Chich we were exiting back to the main line from a jump and found two guys in single tanks removing our jump line. These two yahoos had rented tanks and went for their own self-guided cavern tour. We exited and waited for them. Read them the riot act and for the life of them they had no idea what they did wrong. They were both AOW, figured that if they followed the main line until they used half their air then turned around they couldn't get lost. They thought my jump reel was just something someone abandoned and would make a cool thing to bring home and show their buddies. I told them they were a favorite for a Darwin Award and to stay the #!*% out of any cave I was in. Sorry for going off on a tangent but I guess my point is that true cavern dives are safe enough if the diver is not a dork and the guide stays within the parameters of the definition of a cavern dive. Drop mic, exit stage.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I guess if we use that metric then drunk driving is safe too. Thousands do it every day with no problems or fatalities.

Guided cavern dives are probably OK except when they turn into "trust me" cave dives beyond the daylight zone.

 

[halocline]

I guess if we use that metric then drunk driving is safe too. Thousands do it every day with no problems or fatalities.

No, that's not true. What would be an accurate analogy would be if there was evidence that drunk driving resulted in no more accidents than driving in general, where as the reality is that something like one third of traffic fatalities in the U.S. over the last ten years involved drunk or impaired driving. Obviously the statistics with guided cavern diving are absolutely nothing like that. Can you imagine if guided cavern dives accounted for a third of all dive fatalities? I have to say I'm a little surprised that a cave instructor such as yourself would argue something like this.

Guided cavern dives are probably OK except when they turn into "trust me" cave dives beyond the daylight zone.

Ok, so that's a very different statement than what you wrote earlier, "no they are not safe". I'd like to ask you a serious question, which is have you ever been on or seen one of these cavern tours in Mexico?

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Opinions vary. I have stated mine and am not interested in debating the issue with you.

 

[Regulatrix]

Dear Cozumel experts who are NOT certified cave divers:

If you dived the cenotes...how was it? Feel safe? My claustrophobia level is...medium. We plan to dive with CenoteXperience—Tajmaha and Ponderosa.

Piece of cake?

AOW divers tell me about your recent experience.

Thanks in advance.

Lots of different opinions here by people a lot more experienced than I am---I will just give you my 2¢, take it or leave it FWIW. I did my first cenote dives as a brand-spanking-new AOW, with a guide from Dive Aventuras (it has since changed hands) in Puerto Aventuras. I think it really depends on the particular cenote, the quality of the guide, the state of your skills, especially your buoyancy control, and your general comfort in the water. My buoyancy control at that point was fairly decent.

We did Jardín del Eden and El Corral, very near Puerto Aventuras. I was very comfortable the entire time and I remain generally so in hindsite. It is true that I now have a better appreciation for how such a dive could have gone badly, but that is where I think it is especially important to dive with a reputable outfit that has a sense of where you are as a diver. These were definitely cavern dives. I have *zero* interest in cave diving (same with wreck penetration) and believe me, I would have raised hell if the guide had tried to take us past the cavern zone. There were some points at which the light from the opening(s) was a bit faint but our guide was competent and conservative (that was my sense at the time and also in retrospect, with the benefit of additional diving experience). I don't recall anywhere being particularly narrow. I am not claustrophobic, but I think I would have been uncomfortable in someplace with room for only one diver to pass at a time, especially if it were also dark. I really enjoyed passing through the halocline, but my sweetie found it disorienting and therefore unpleasant.

Good luck to you; I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip.

 

[halocline]

but I think I would have been uncomfortable in someplace with room for only one diver to pass at a time, especially if it were also dark.

You would have been correct to feel uncomfortable, that's called a restriction and only full cave divers are qualified to dive in those. The cavern tours never should go anywhere that tight.

 

[Catito]

Lots of different opinions here by people a lot more experienced than I am---I will just give you my 2¢, take it or leave it FWIW. I did my first cenote dives as a brand-spanking-new AOW, with a guide from Dive Aventuras (it has since changed hands) in Puerto Aventuras. I think it really depends on the particular cenote, the quality of the guide, the state of your skills, especially your buoyancy control, and your general comfort in the water. My buoyancy control at that point was fairly decent.

We did Jardín del Eden and El Corral, very near Puerto Aventuras. I was very comfortable the entire time and I remain generally so in hindsite. It is true that I now have a better appreciation for how such a dive could have gone badly, but that is where I think it is especially important to dive with a reputable outfit that has a sense of where you are as a diver. These were definitely cavern dives. I have *zero* interest in cave diving (same with wreck penetration) and believe me, I would have raised hell if the guide had tried to take us past the cavern zone. There were some points at which the light from the opening(s) was a bit faint but our guide was competent and conservative (that was my sense at the time and also in retrospect, with the benefit of additional diving experience). I don't recall anywhere being particularly narrow. I am not claustrophobic, but I think I would have been uncomfortable in someplace with room for only one diver to pass at a time, especially if it were also dark. I really enjoyed passing through the halocline, but my sweetie found it disorienting and therefore unpleasant.

Good luck to you; I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip.

Thank you for the information. I will be sure to ask a lot of questions before we decide on the cenotes to dive. Like you, I have zero interest in cave diving…I will be sure that everyone understands caverns only. We are going with Cenotexperience. They have a good reputation.

 

[MrBigfins]

I started with a cavern class in Florida, great class by the way even if you have no intention of going full cave. The definition of cavern dive in Florida and Mexico are 2 completely different things. The types of caverns in each locale is extremely different as well.

I then did 3 center tours in Mexico and thoroughly enjoyed them. Dos ojos, anjelito and dreamgate. None went past the reaper sign, but none were cavern dives by padi or nss-cds standards. Guide was proficient and in full cave gear, buddy was someone I knew and had dove with plenty before, I took my pony which was adequate for open water but inadequate for overhead environment (19 cf) and knew what I was getting myself into.

I wanted to go full cave since I took my class, but I knew I had more work to do before my skill set met the required level needed. I had maybe 40 dives in the 2 weeks proceeding my cavern tours, so had alot of time directly before going to dial in and knock any rust off. Dreamgate required ABSOLUTE buoyancy control and afterwards my guide informed me he rarely takes groups there. Dos ojos was easy but had alot of up down up down that requires buoyancy adjustments with only your breath to be second nature.

Are they safe? ‍ I was comfortable but they are definitely trust me dives that don't follow ANY agencies definition of a cavern guide even if they follow the Mexican rules for center tours

 

[Catito]

I used CenoteXperience. It is a great (small) dive shop in Playa Del Carmen. Run by two brothers with a third employee, Carlos. Carlos was fantastic. Very experienced, very safety conscious. We dove Ponderosa and Taj Maha. The cenotes were beautiful, Carlos strictly followed the protocols for cavern diving, each dive was 60 minutes.

I am AOW and rescue. Buoyancy control was key. One of the group members (we were 5–Carlos, my buddy, and two inexperienced Germans)—a new diver (not my buddy) did have some ups and downs on one of the dives.

I am glad that I did it for the experience…but one and done. Not to my liking. I prefer the open ocean. Different strokes for different folks.