Miserable cenote experience out of Cancun.

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EstrellaCaribe

Registered
Messages
8
Reaction score
9
Location
Virginia
# of dives
25 - 49
A couple of weeks ago I had a terrible experience with a divemaster at a large dive shop in Cancun Mexico that resulted in an ear injury for me, and ruined the rest of my planned dives for that trip. He was completely uncommunicative above the water, and then once under water, he wouldn’t leave me alone (or respond adequately to the one thing I needed a moment to deal with). His behavior was bizarre and unprofessional. Here’s what happened:

Due to rough seas we opted for some cenote diving, and headed out with one guide and four divers – three men (including my husband) and myself. We had a 1+ hour drive to get there. During the drive, divemaster did not introduce himself or share any information about where we were going, etc. It was a bit odd. I only found out what his name was by asking another diver. He asked a cursory question about diving weights, but didn’t really listen to the answers. Once on the property he told a brief story about a U.S. Navy Seal who couldn’t handle this cenote because of its cave-like entrance. He wanted us to know we needed to “get our minds right” to do this cenote.

Once at the cenote, he exited the van and began prepping gear, again, pretty much without a word. In the water, he wanted me to go first behind him, since I was the least experienced diver (25 dives), which seemed reasonable. He rushed through the dive plan right before we got in the water. His main points were to follow him and to not disturb the sediment on the bottom, so as not to reduce visibility for subsequent divers. We began our descent and I noticed some trouble with my right ear. This cenote requires a pretty steep initial descent, and I signaled him that my ear wasn’t clearing and I needed a little time. He came up beside me and grabbed my arm, which made it difficult for me to maneuver to clear my ear. I don’t know what assumptions he made about me or what was going on, but from that moment on he did not leave my side.

The ceiling of the cavern limited how much upward movement I could make, so down we headed, me still struggling with my ear. It eventually cleared, painfully and in stages, with him pulling me along. That was unpleasant enough, but MUCH MUCH more unpleasant was that throughout the whole dive he wouldn’t leave me alone and swim ahead. I was not in any distress besides the residual discomfort in my ear – I signaled over and over that I was ok, that he should proceed with the dive and let me follow in accordance with the plan – but he never did that – he stayed glued to my side, half a foot behind me, which made it impossible for me to really swim in any kind of normal way, or get my bearings.

Every time I tried to relax, he was right there tugging at me, or adding or subtracting air from my BCD (seriously, WTF), shining his light in my eyes...I mean, WHY? I was not disturbing the sediment, I was breathing normally, I was not panicking, I was physically ok – but he wouldn’t let me be. He NEVER moved into his position at the front of the line like a normal divemaster should, but instead ran the whole dive with one hand on my elbow. Since he was slightly behind me, it was hard for me to really tell where we were headed (leading to constant prodding and redirection from him). It was an absolutely miserable experience – I got zero enjoyment from it, despite the cavern itself being quite intriguing. He never checked on the other divers. I have never been treated with such utter disrespect on a dive, and I am certain that he would not have treated a male diver in this way.

What was worse was that after we surfaced, he didn’t ask me a single question, or offer any explanation for his behavior. I had a bloody nose from barotrauma, and was again having pain in my right ear. He saw my bloody nose and had to be aware I had an ear injury, but he didn’t even ask if I was ok. Nothing at all – he just climbed out of the water and went to prep the second dive.

I was not getting back into the water with this guy, so I went back up to the van. Even then, he had nothing to say to me – he dismantled my rig in silence, and went back down to conduct the second dive without me. At no point did he address me directly, or even ask my husband why I wasn’t continuing. It was extremely rude, unprofessional, and inconsiderate behavior from a supposed professional.

We packed up and had a silent ride back to the dive shop. I had originally planned for more dives, but I canceled, both because of my ear and because I didn’t want to give this shop any more of my money. It took most of the week before my ear was back to normal.

For me, the worst thing was that since getting my certification I've always had to get through a bit of pre-dive anxiety...but that day was the first time I hadn't had any! I was super ready, super relaxed, and would have had a great time. Has anyone else ever had an experience like this, or have a guess as to what this guy was doing?
 
From your description it sounds like the guy was absolutely petrified of losing you. Of all the ways to mess up your dive, trying so very, very hard , NOT to let dive get messed up, doesn’t sound like the worst guy in the world.
Just a heads up, when men go silent like that, they are already upset about something. It might have been something you said, someone else said, or his cat died.
From you I have learned this: if dive guide is so stiff he can’t introduce himself, i am better off canceling first dive, so i can enjoy rest of planned dives with a different, relaxed leader.
 
Good thing you were calm.
Any sign of panic would probably have resulted in a headlock position to hold your reg in.
This looser missed his calling.
He shouldn't be allowed to work with customers let alone care for their wellbeing.
So happy for you he didn't cost you an eardrum.
I say name him so that we are never inadvertently left in his care.
If I had witnessed this, I would have tried to stop him and resurface.
You have to equalize to continue a dive.
I'm interested in the cenotes but not the tour you got...OMF....
NAME PLEASE
 
@Bubblesong - losing me how? Seems to me that if he was so petrified I was already having a crisis during the first 3 minutes of the dive, he should have sent me back up to the surface while we were still in a part of the cenote that showed daylight. That would have been the responsible thing to do. Once we had descended, I had no choice but to keep following his instructions - this was more of a set of connected cavern cenotes than a regular open cenote. For the vast majority of the dive, we could not see an opening (that in itself is also potentially problematic), so choosing to ascend was not really an option.

I agree that life brings all sorts of things that might affect someone's ability to do their job...but seriously, if he can't hold it together to do THIS job safely and professionally, he shouldn't be taking anyone down, especially not in that environment. I have definitely learned that I will not go on a dive with anyone who gives off such an unfriendly vibe, and is so uncommunicative. Will do more due diligence in the future!
 
A few years ago my wife, son and I were staying at the all-inclusive DREAMS resort in Puerto Aventuras (great property and stay by the way - lots of restaurants, nice rooms, ...) I wasn't there for a full fledged cave diving trip (in fact not a diving trip at all really) but all the cenotes I knew so well and had dove many times before are literally within a mile or less from there. When I go down with by buddies we rent tanks and cave dive out hearts out - haven't bothered with local guides for years. Fun just to explore. Anyway, I was all by myself so I decided to sneak away for a morning's cave dive with a guide who was recommended to me (and more importantly could furnish me with a complete cave rig as mine was at home). I met up with him, said Hi, he pointed out my gear in the back of his truck and off we went to dive Cenote Esqueleto (Temple of Doom) which is one of my favorite dives. He said nothing. Grunted a few times before and after the dive. He let me lead and do what i wanted to do on the dive and explore a passage I've had my eye on for a long time. Never said a word. I paid and tipped him afterward. I thanked him. Not so much as a thank you or a gracias from him. So a few months later I ran into my friend who had recommended him and told the story of my silent guide. My friend started laughing. Apparently my guide was not very good at speaking english. In fact he was so bad that he would say things that were highly offensive but not because he meant to but because he just didn't have the language down well at all. Apparently he unintentionally offended so many American dive tourists in the past that his wife told him he wasn't allowed to say anything to any client - ever. Great guide though.
 
Note to self....only dive cenotes with female dms....
Oh, was that my "outside" voice?
 
He probably prejudged your skills without any knowledge and treated you like a beginner who shouldn't have been there in the first place.
I also once had a bad cenote experience in playa.
I arrived with another diver I knew on the morning ferry and the shop decided to split us up so they could make two groups of three rather than 4 and 2. Told us we could either split up or not go with them. We split up. My guide ignored me for the entire ride to the cenote and spent the time talking in French to the young couple that the shop wouldn't split up. The guide spoke at length in French while we set up our gear. He would occasionally turn to me and say a few words in English. He carried her gear and focused all attention on her. They were unskilled and clueless divers.
I realized part way into the dive that I was solo diving even though I was with other divers and a cave certified guide.
Some people that work in the dive industry are less professional than others. Some are better at customer service than others.
At my current shop, some dm's really go out of their way to provide great service and others are just doing the bare minimum. Some are always pointing out wildlife and others rarely do.
My advice is to try not to take it personally and seek out recommendations for a better guide.
 
This cenote requires a pretty steep initial descent, and I signaled him that my ear wasn’t clearing and I needed a little time. He came up beside me and grabbed my arm, which made it difficult for me to maneuver to clear my ear. I don’t know what assumptions he made

The guys an A$$!
 
This sounds pretty messed up. First thing I thought before reading your story was "cenote diving from Cancun?" The best cenote diving is south of Playa Del Carmen. I don't know where they took you but 1+ hour drive doesn't surprise me. I tend to stay down near Tulum if I'm going cenote diving. I'd question whether someone who works in Cancun would have much experience diving in the cenotes.

After reading your story, the drive sounds weird. EVERY time I've been diving cenotes, the guide tends to chat up the divers. As a Divemaster, I chat up the divers in any group I take out. I'm not just being friendly but I'm getting an idea of who I'm taking out. Who is going to be trouble, who is acting a little too macho, who is nervous, etc. I can see that he didn't say anything about the cenote you were going to; it could be that he just didn't know much about it.

The story about the U.S. Navy Seal makes me think he was nervous about diving in cenotes. I know I will not take divers out to a site that I have not been diving for a while. I need to be familiar and comfortable with a dive site. I know I can handle things when I'm at a new dive site but I don't have enough confidence to handle a group of divers if things go a little sideways.

Telling you that you needed to "get [your] minds right" then rushing you through the briefing tells me that HE needed to get his mind right.

Diving in open water and having too much weight is a little annoying. Many divers dive this way all the time. In a cenote, there are many places you don't have a lot of clearance. The first time I went to a cenote, the guide spent time making sure everyone's weights were spot on. I'm pretty good at getting my weights dialed in +/- 2 pounds. My guide was insistent I could drop one more pound and he was right.

If you had something like 6 dives I'd might be worried about taking you into a cenote but 25 dives might be acceptable. I would have been chatting you up on the 1+ hour drive to see if this was 25 dives over 10 years, when was the last time you went diving, any cold water diving, are you over-confident, are you nervous, is this your first dive without your original instructor (I've seen this but she was fine once I dealt with her nerves), etc.

One thing I immediately noticed was the number of time novice divers would shine their light in my eyes in a cenote. I think if you are diving in open water, the visibility isn't as good as in a cenote. So someone flashing you with their dive light in open water isn't as annoying. But in a cenote, I totally realized when the guy in front of me hit me with his light. This leads me to believe this Divemaster isn't used to using a light in a cenote.

As a Divemaster, physically touching someone I'm guiding is a no-no. If we are diving in heavy current with low visibility, I'll tell the person I'd with that I might have to grab hold of their harness and we'll agree before we get in the water what that will look like. Just grabbing you underwater is a real rookie move.

I have NEVER seen any guide notice blood from the nose or ear and not say something. That is REALLY unprofessional.

This sounds like the Divemaster didn't have the experience to be a Divemaster. I have seen guys who go from zero to hero in a record time. I've never seen any who actually got work. But this sounds like this guy needs more time just diving and getting comfort in the water THEN he need to spend time watching other people diving and what can go wrong.

Sorry you had such a bad time. I'd ask which shop and who the guide was but I'll probably never dive in Cancun. When I go to Mexico I always go south of Playa Del Carmen.

Tip, I drop in the shop a little early and chat up the staff. Find out who is taking me out. See if they are experienced. They should be very comfortable and chatty. I like to see that the staff dive for fun as much (if not more) than they dive for work.
 
@scubadiver888 - we didn't plan on cenotes, but the weather was too windy to be safe for anything else until the last day of our trip. The cenotes were kind of a plan b - we were south of Playa del Carmen by the time we reached Cenote Tajma Ha (which is a beautiful place). You sound like an awesome divemaster with all the right instincts!

@ScubaLawyer - I'm ok with silence...and I also speak Spanish, so if he had been saying anything at all, I would have been able to understand. He's not the person we spoke to while setting up the dives - everyone in the shop was very relaxed and friendly, but we didn't have any contact with the actual divemaster until 6:30am the next day when it was time to head out. Nice 1968 quote, btw. Oy!

@Coztick this is only my first post on this forum, and I didn't want to do something that was counter to the etiquette around here. I searched for other posts of bad experiences, and didn't have any luck, so I took the name out. But since you asked, the shop was called Solo Buceo, and the guide's name was Jaime. I posted a bad review on a couple of travel sites.

I really appreciate the feedback and perspective from you all.
 
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