Mexican Cenotes

[simcoediver]

My wife and are are going to Cozumel this December to dive the reefs. Is it possible to take a one day trip to do some cenote diving on the mainland? Will a dive operator pick us up at the ferry dock once we arrive at the mainland? Can anyone suggest the name of a good place to dive cenotes and the name of an operator?

 

[DeepScuba]

Definately a must do Simcoe.

You usually get a package deal that includes the ferry trip to the mainland, transportation by vehicle to site, lunch, tanks/weights, any entrance fees required.

Usually around $125-$150 per person, and of course it's an all day event, bring your c-card they'll want to see it too.

Do it the last day to get a fairly decent fresh water cleaning of your gear.

You should also bring something warmer than a 3/2mm as it's a little cold than the ocean.

 

[Titletowndiver]

Check out The Abyss in PDC. Excellent OP.

 

[Augustus]

quite a few shops on Cozumel can arrange this but the two most experienced are dive cozumel http://www.divecozumel.net/
and Yucatec which is located across the street from Pepes bunglows on av 15 http://www.comcoz.com/yucatech.html
the link is no longer active but you can pull phone numbers off from it. both these operators are cave divers who know the cenotes and can arrange cavern tours.

 

[DeepScuba]

Last time I was there, I tried to use Yucatech. We went there, talked to somebody, and was told to come back tomorrow to see the right people.

We went back everyday, including calling one day, and we never saw the place open again the whole week.

When I recently saw that the link to their site was "404", I assumed they went bust.

 

[mofosaurus]

check out the "Getting There" section




www.hiddenworlds.com

 

[Otter]

I believe it is generally true that, due to logistics, your two tank dive will be at the same Cenote. This February, we took two days out for the Cenotes with the first day being Dos Ojos and the second day being Choc Maal.

They were two very different dives. Dos Ojos had lots of openings to the surface where sunlight would come through and make incredible beams that looked like something out of Star Wars. Choc Maal was more 'cavernous' with large and stalagtites and stalagmites. Also, in Dos Ojos there were lots of times we hit haloclines i(where fresh and salt water mix) which presented a optical anomoly that should be experieced at least once. There were few, if any, in Choc Maal ( I suspect it is further inland).

Enjoy

Otter

 

[simcoediver]

Are the Dos Ojos and Choc M cenotes close to the ferry dock from Cozumel? Sorry I really do not know my Mexican geography that well.

 

[DeepScuba]

I'm getting old, so I don't remember the one I went to, but I think it was Chac-something-or-other. It was a good 1 hour drive south from Playa Del Carmen.

As for Dos Ojos, I'll let you know in a month! As that's were I'm headed. I had a map once of where they all are, but I can't seem to find it now.

 

[renpirate]

My wife and I did a cenote dive with Yuca-Tek in August. I must say I was pretty disappointed. First off, their rental equipment is not very well maintained and they don't seem to check it. My wife left one of our flashlights in the pocket of one of the BC. We realized as soon as we got back to the hotel and called them. They told us to check back the next day, we did, they told us to come by later on in the afternoon, we did. They said they would call us at our hotel, they didn't. Finally we gave up.

They are also very disorganized and not very helpful. I wanted to get a picture of my wife and I in the Cenote and wanted to rent a camera. They said it wasn't worth it and that their would be someone there to do it proffessionally. This turned out to be false and so we didn't get any pictures, which seems to be standard with many of the other tour groups.

I strongly recommend against going with them.