Newbies and Cenotes

[laurin]

TS&Ms comment regarding the buoyancy control was excellent, I would take it a step further and apply those same principles when on a living reef, whose inhabitants are all alien creatures --surviving in spite of us-- and the footprints of man do not belong.

Don't touch, don't kneel, don't prod with a stick...

I don't think anybody would disagree. However, there's still a huge difference between the cave environment and a coral reef - the coral reef repairs itself (from diver-caused damage, that is) in timespans measured in decades to multiples of human lifetimes; with the cenotes and the speleothems and even ecosystems in them, we're talking about timespans ranging from tens of thousands of year right up to geological time scale. And there's a whole lot of more coral reefs in the world than diveable underwater caves.

While seeing a reef take a beating from inept divers is annoying, seeing the damage in the cenote cavern tour areas (and even some of the more popular main lines) is downright sad. They're still beautiful places, though. They would just be so much better if the speleothems were intact and just about every conceivable surface hadn't taken a hit from a tank, fin or hand.

//LN

 

[laurin]

Thanks all for the great responses. I was leaning towards waiting until we had more experience, and this seals the deal. We will have plenty to do with our days on Cozumel and a trip down to Tulum.

Taking a snorkeling trip in a cenote would still be a great idea.

//LN

 

[TSandM]

Honestly, I think the snorkeling tour in Pet Cemetery would be darned near as good as the cavern tour. I was completely blown away by that place, even while we were surface swimming, looking for where the cavern line started!

 

[lamont]

There are two problems with cenote dives for very novice divers. One is that poor buoyancy control damages the delicate formations, which once ruined, cannot be repaired or replaced. The other is that the cenote tours DO take place under an overhead environment, and if you have any kind of problem or anxiety, you CANNOT surface. Therefore, I think it is highly advisable that divers have done enough dives to know how they react to minor problems, before they enter the overhead.

When I did cenote tours there was another group of divers that came up with one woman complaining that she was terrified the whole time, and one guy had given himself a massive nose bleed from mask squeeze. It didn't seem like a good situation. And I don't even want to think about all the bicycle kicking we saw from other groups.

Its certainly possible to find someone to take you on a cenote tour in MX, but it may not be wise at all to go, even if they swear that it'll be fine...