First Mexico cave dives

[Jaaron82]

I’ll be in Merida next March and would like to do a day of diving. Any caves in the 80-100 ft range or are they all deeper ? Any dive shop recommendations?

 

[Jaaron82]

I’m in Mexico now and so far have done naharon , taj maha , Otoch ha , nai tucha , absolutely love the dives down here !

 

[Lorenzoid]

I’ll be in Merida next March and would like to do a day of diving. Any caves in the 80-100 ft range or are they all deeper ? Any dive shop recommendations?

I know you posted this in October, but in anticipation of a stay in Merida I was in contact with Areli at Yucatan Dive Center, inquiring about Intro-level diving opportunities. He said "The average depth of caves near Mérida is 30 to 40 mts (100 to 130 ft)...." I figured that with that being the average, there was no point in using up the better part of a day for what is likely to be 30-minute dive on Intro-level gas rules.

I’m in Mexico now and so far have done naharon , taj maha , Otoch ha , nai tucha , absolutely love the dives down here !

 

[lostsheep]

I’ve only done a handful of caves down there but Nahoch was straight up life changing for me. I’ve been dry caving for about 20 years and I think I saw more pristine formations on my first dive in Nahoch than I’ve seen in every other cave combined. Getting to “fly” through it was beyond surreal.

ETA: I’m not counting show caves ; there’s just a different feeling when there’s no sidewalk , handrail , stairs , etc

 

[Merida Cave Diver]

I’ll be in Merida next March and would like to do a day of diving. Any caves in the 80-100 ft range or are they all deeper ? Any dive shop recommendations?

Hey man, I live in Merida. How can I help? What would you like to know?

 

[Jaaron82]

So I just returned from my third Mexico trip. This trip was a solo trip with just cave diving. It was absolutely amazing and beautiful!

Lodging: I stayed above Protec in their accommodations called the base camp. The room had ac and a comfortable bed and private bathroom. Hangers to hang my drysuit undergarments on and a little desk. Completely comfortable and I would easily stay there again.

I mostly ate street food ( tacos pastor ) but there are tons of options in the general area.

The Dive Shop: I dove out of Protec tulum and hired a guide every day for the duration of my trip. My guide arrived every morning and we analyzed tanks and loaded gear in the truck then reviewed the site we would visit and looked at a map.

We did a different site every day which was cool.

Day 1 : cenote Taj Mahal first dive we dove to the Chinese garden line. Second dive we took the line towards the room of reflections then jumped to the city of Agre loop then jumped on a line towards cenote nachich

Day 2: Naharon first dive was the southwestern sacbe ( loved this dive )
Dive 2 was the line past desconcido domes ( really dark cave )

Day 3 : Nariz/ Otoch ha : first dive we Td left , second dive T right then jump left ( loved this dive passage was huge) also saw the clear cut jungle the the train if going to run through it’s quite shocking a giant cleared swath of jungle as far as I could see in both directions

Day 4 : Nai tucha / Tux kapaxa
Amazing system definitely want to go back here

Day 5 : cenote monkey dust ( quite a trek with tanks but well worth it. )

Day 6 : cenote Concha

I can’t wait to go back!

 

[halocline]

Those are some classic dives! Taj is really an under-rated place, I guess because it's used for training.

 

[Merida Cave Diver]

Nice, looks great. I’ll be diving with them for my CCR training.

 

[garyh]

Chan Hol is a must do for me every trip.
Regina is a must do as well, a bit south of Tulum on the right side of the hwy.
Can't access it from the property there but can get in from the other side of the hwy through Chan Actun Ha.
Very lets say snug entrance, wouldn't try it without a guide 1st time.
Worth the effort !

 

[Merida Cave Diver]

I'm not sure where I will be diving or how much "look around" time I will have vs training time, but there is so much great stuff to explore. I do like that side of the peninsula and the dives are very very different than where I live.

At the same time, I also love Merida because we don't really have the huge tourist population and dare I say prices. One thing for sure, there is a lot of great diving, great schools, guides, etc.