Diving out of Cancun / Cenote Angelita / Double Tanks Questions

[LIdiveaddict]

Hello all,

In the upcoming weeks I'll be travelling to Cancun with my family (all non-divers) and generally, we end up in "touristy" locations where I'm stuck with cattle-boat dive ops. Mainly what I want from a dive op is some level of independence.


So my questions are:

1) Dive Op recommendations for diving locally in Cancun, and potentially a different op for a trip to Cenote Angelita

2) From what I've been reading I am relatively confused about Cenote Angelita. I am trying to figure out if the "underwater river" is located at 100' or if that is a "cloud" and the river is located at the bottom at 200'. If the river is at 200', what op's allow technical dives?

3) Double Tanks - Generally I don't like going below 60' without a pony, and definitely not below 100' without a redundant source. That being said, it would be easy to pack my double's bands in my checked baggage enabling me to dive independent 80's. Would local shops allow me to do this?

Thanks for your help!

 

[DandyDon]

I don't think there is a river. After reading up at this site Scuba diving Angelita Cenote Cavern Cave in The Riviera Maya Tulum Playa del carmen I think they are referring to the hydrogen sulfide layer that seems to be at the halocline. I went thru one of those in The Pit. Some notice the sulfuric acid, rotten egg smell, etc. - but I didn't. I understood that the reddish-purplish appearance in a bacteria colony feeding on the chemical, but I'm not certain of that.

 

[Warhammer]

If you're looking to avoid the cattle boats, there use to be some 6 packs running out of Cancun. I dove with one named Blue Peace back in '01 and they did an excellent job. They were located right on the main hotel strip. I heard they had closed up shop, but there may be others. A quick Google search reveals 2 different websites for Blue Peace in Cancun. Not sure what's up with that or if either of them is the original Blue Peace or not.

 

[TSandM]

If you are able to dive doubles and want to bring a doubles wing with you, it's no problem at all to rent doubles in the cave area of MX. If you want to do a technical dive in Angelita, you will need to arrange a private guide (the "tourist" dives are all single-tank, recreational depth dives). They will, of course, expect you to have the appropriate certifications and recent experience.

To my knowledge, there is no going cave in Angelita. It's a sinkhole with a hydrogen sulfide layer in it. You can certainly reach technical depths, but I'm not sure why you'd want to . . . a cave that would merit that far more, from my standpoint, is the one near Playa that has the Hell's Bells formations.

Be aware that cave country is an hour south of Cancun, so you are going to have significant transportation time and costs.

 

[JCGE]

This guys have a really cool operation that will take you diving to all the Cenotes in the Riviera Maya, usually you will be by your self or maybe one or two more divers but never big groups.Good luck!.
Divers UnderGround | Diving into the Underworld

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I dove Angelita this past June. It is a sinkhole instead of a cave, but there is a small swim thru at about 20 feet. It is about 2 hours from Cancun to Angelita cenote. It is at the south end of Tulum. I dove with Nicolas from www.cenotexperience.com.mx/ and highly recommend him.

Here is a drawing of Angelita www.dresseldivers.com/en/images/planos/cenotes/17_ANGELITA.jpg

 

[LIdiveaddict]

Thanks for the responses,

Ok so it sounds then as if the interesting points of the cenote are the 100ft mark, in which case I have no interest in making it a tech dive. Does any one know if, even as a recreational dive, the shops would allow me to double up the 80's (would be using a doubles wing and long hose setup)? I realize I would only have two tanks for the day, but I could easily make the two recreational dives on the same set of tanks, sole reason would be redundancy.

As for my experience, during the summer months I dive several times a week, with technical wreck dives on weekends in the Northeast. Never done cave's though, and not much interest, besides the photos I've seen of the Angelita Cenote.

Thanks for the heads up about the 6-packs I'll keep my eyes open. I'd be fine with a larger boat, as long as they don't expect everyone to follow one DM. For the most part with the exception of the one cenote trip I will probably stick with dives near Cancun so names of those op's would be great.

Thanks again


Edit: "Touristy" probably wasn't the best word. What I meant by it was the difference between places were people dive while they are on vacation (where the crowds are people who dive once or twice a year or less), and places were people go on vacation for the purpose of diving. An example would be, if I am with my family, I would likely be in Aruba, as opposed to Bonaire if with other divers.

 

[eolalde]

Check Out DEEPLIFE DIVERS - DEEPLIFE DIVERS

 

[TSandM]

As I said, doubles are easy to come by in cave country. I'd highly suggest deciding who you want to work with as a guide, and letting them know well ahead of time that you want to dive doubles.

You may have a few more problems doing that with the OW dives.

 

[Mike]

Thanks for the responses,

Ok so it sounds then as if the interesting points of the cenote are the 100ft mark, in which case I have no interest in making it a tech dive. Does any one know if, even as a recreational dive, the shops would allow me to double up the 80's (would be using a doubles wing and long hose setup)? I realize I would only have two tanks for the day, but I could easily make the two recreational dives on the same set of tanks, sole reason would be redundancy.

As for my experience, during the summer months I dive several times a week, with technical wreck dives on weekends in the Northeast. Never done cave's though, and not much interest, besides the photos I've seen of the Angelita Cenote.

Thanks for the heads up about the 6-packs I'll keep my eyes open. I'd be fine with a larger boat, as long as they don't expect everyone to follow one DM. For the most part with the exception of the one cenote trip I will probably stick with dives near Cancun so names of those op's would be great.

Thanks again


Edit: "Touristy" probably wasn't the best word. What I meant by it was the difference between places were people dive while they are on vacation (where the crowds are people who dive once or twice a year or less), and places were people go on vacation for the purpose of diving. An example would be, if I am with my family, I would likely be in Aruba, as opposed to Bonaire if with other divers.

Do what you gotta do, but my God this all sounds like a lot of trouble for a 100 ft dive (all the good stuff is at 75-90 ft). I'd just stick with the DM and remember my emergency air is no farther away then he is. This isn't an overhead environment, it won't be dark, and there shouldn't be any danger or silting, the water will be so clear you won't even be able to tell you're in water, unless you hire a tech guide you're going to be on a recreational dive and subject to those limitations anyways.