Cenotes for OW?

[abitton]

Hello all,

My GF and I are planning a trip down south to enjoy diving in thin wetsuits

I was looking at various spots, including Cancun/Mayan Riviera, where it seems I would need to dive the local reefs, as well as Cozumel and the Cenotes.

My question is this:
Is diving the cenotes safe for decent AOW divers? Are there questions we should ask the dive ops to make sure that we will choose one that will have our safety in mind?

Or do you think this is ridiculous, and that we should stick to the reefs and fishies?

I'm looking for any and all thoughts, as our diving has been restricted to cold water conditions, and wide open spaces (i.e. Great Lakes (fresh), St-Lawrence river (fresh), Gulf of St-Lawrence (salt)).

Thanks!!

Alex

 

[webbah]

Hello all,

My GF and I are planning a trip down south to enjoy diving in thin wetsuits

I was looking at various spots, including Cancun/Mayan Riviera, where it seems I would need to dive the local reefs, as well as Cozumel and the Cenotes.

My question is this:
Is diving the cenotes safe for decent AOW divers? Are there questions we should ask the dive ops to make sure that we will choose one that will have our safety in mind?

Or do you think this is ridiculous, and that we should stick to the reefs and fishies?

I'm looking for any and all thoughts, as our diving has been restricted to cold water conditions, and wide open spaces (i.e. Great Lakes (fresh), St-Lawrence river (fresh), Gulf of St-Lawrence (salt)).

Thanks!!

Alex

You can dive the cenotes with a minimum of OW so you should be fine. I just finished my certification yesterday and will be diving Cenotes in about 6 weeks. You will always be within the "cavern" zone on a cenote dive - not actually in the cave - unless you are certified to dive caves. Cenotes is what prompted me to get certified because I've snorkeled them and always saw the divers down below - wanted to be there!

 

[daniel f aleman]

You'll be perfectly safe diving in a cavern with an instructor/guide; this is done with Open Water divers a hundred times a day. You'll have a great time. Just make sure that you hire a guide from an established shop/outfit; there are in fact French speaking guides as well. Of course, no trip would be complete if you didn't get a chance at those reefs too...

 

[abitton]

Yeah, I saw a few packages in the dive ops in and around Cancun, one I remember is around 300USD, 2 reef dives, 2 Coz dives and 1 Cenote dive... Only going a week, and I want some significant "beach vegetable" time, but I figure it would be a shame not to sample some of that warm water diving!!

 

[Willie]

... I figure it would be a shame not to sample some of that warm water diving!!

A shame indeed! Hope you have a great time. Take lots of pictures. Post a trip report when you get back.

Willie

 

[flyhigh123]

i did the cenotes and loved it. I had about 10 dives at that time. It was very easy and relaxing. I dove with www.divemike.com

 

[wardric]

Hi Alex,
I did cenotes in 1996. I was OW and had about 10 logged dives at this time. GF had just been certified. The guides were awsome (we were alone with 2 guides) and they brought me a bit in the cave zone on the second dive (since I seemed adequate enough to them I suppose). GF did only the first one.

Still to date, these are the most incredible dives I ever done along with some walls in Cuba. Went back in 1998 and did 3 more cenotes. All in Dos Ojos. Was a bit disapointed to see it had became kinda cattle rides but still was fabulous.

So if you are an AOW at ease in the water, there should be no problems at all.
Reef and fishies are awsome too but dont miss the cenotes opportunity. And it's so good to get a break from our drysuits or thick wets

PM me your phone number if you want and we can talk a bit more about it since it wont be such a long distance call.

 

[kjundvr]

They should not give you a problem. Just a note however, when diving them dont be alarmed if the everything gets blury. Within cenotes there is usualy a salt water freshwater boundry layer with the salt water near the bottom and the fresh on the top. When swimming along that boundry is mixed and everything becomes blurry. This is very cool to swim through but was a bit alarming to me the first time it happened to me.

 

[bnajdrovsky]

Is diving the cenotes safe for decent AOW divers? Are there questions we should ask the dive ops to make sure that we will choose one that will have our safety in mind?

Alex

It's perfectly safe as long as you have good guide. I dove the cenotes a couple of years ago when I only had an OW cert and about 35 dives under my belt. On a couple of the dives, besides me and the guide we had another diver, who turned out to be a complete newbie (like 3 OW dives, as we found out later), and he did just fine as well. Good buoyancy control is a must, and I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is claustrophobic. Otherwise, it's a must do when on the Yucatan. Truely awesome!

 

[wardric]

It's perfectly safe as long as you have good guide. I dove the cenotes a couple of years ago when I only had an OW cert and about 35 dives under my belt. On a couple of the dives, besides me and the guide we had another diver, who turned out to be a complete newbie (like 3 OW dives, as we found out later), and he did just fine as well. Good buoyancy control is a must, and I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is claustrophobic. Otherwise, it's a must do when on the Yucatan. Truely awesome!

good point, buoyancy control is necessary for many reasons (you dont want to stir the bottom and to break all the nice stalagmites and 'ites that took millions of years to be created).