PDC Cenote safe?

[Basheirt]

Son (15) and I are PADI AOW, Rescue, etc. About 75 dives in open oceans and Bahamas liveaboard. Decent experience.

Have dived PDC two vacations from Barcelo Maya (Dressel Divers) and had great experiences.

This Xmas we are staying at Grand Sirenis and using their dive shop. They offer a 2-tank cenote dive for $117. Not sure which cenotes they dive. We have never dived in a cenote. My wife (non diver) is very anxious about this concept (and YouTube vids are not selling it!).

Are cenote dives safe? How greatly do they differ from cave dives?

Anyone dive with Grand Sirenis shop?

Help?

 

[ednedfred]

I have dove most of them and they are very safe assuming you follow the rules. I dive exclusively with Dave at Abyss and have done so for 12 years. Favorite cenotes (no order): Chac Mol, Tajmaha, Gran Cenote and Dos Ojos. Make sure your buoyancy is good before diving as fresh water is lighter than salt...also colder, around 74 degrees year round.

 

[KenGordon]

At Dos Ojos the first dive they take you on (the right hand loop) is never very far from clear surface. This means a diver could freak out, be taken up and to air and calmed down without terrible drama.

You are often in a place where you cannot actually see light, even following the cavern line. Maybe if we had hidden our torches for a while we might have seen some. Thus there is the feeling of being in a cave if not the same risk.

You will literally be trusting your lives to the guides.

I'm not sure I'd take my son in. Does your wife have spares?

A 15 year old has lots of years to see the sights, maybe some should be kept back to savour?

 

[Lorenzoid]

There are some good threads on the safety issue if you do a search. As with most things, it's not black and white. Depends on your abilities, the dive op's adherence to certain standards, etc. I did a few of these dives and loved it. But I'm not sure I'd do it again, knowing what I know now (from having read these SB threads). For one thing, my guide exceeded what I understand are now accepted limits and took me farther than he should have.

 

[sethw]

I think you will have a better time if you arrange these dives with a shop that specializes in overhead/cave diving, of which there are quite a few down there. I can recommend ProtecPlaya. You will learn more about the caves, you are more likely to do private dives with just you two and a guide, and the guide is more likely to be competent and respectful of your limits as open water divers in an overhead environment. The thought of a group of four or five open water divers plowing through the Chac Mool cavern area (which happens every day) is pretty unappealing.

The cavern dives are statistically safe, though you might wish to review this thread from two years back:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...ool-riviera-maya-2-brazillian-1-spaniard.html
In my opinion, the moral of that story is, if you do a trust-me dive, which these undoubtedly are, you better be able to trust your guide, which goes back to choosing the right shop.

If you search on "cenote" here you will find many posts with lots of information and different points of view.

Cenote dives are basically cave dives with limited penetration in the "light zone" of the cave, following a permanently installed "cavern line." Your guide is required to be cave-trained and cave-equipped. The water is clear, relatively warm, with little current, and low likelihood of silting out. They are amazing places, really beautiful, and you might decide that they are a good reason to get real overhead training down the line.

 

[TSandM]

Thousands of these dives are done each year, with an extremely low incidence of problems. The key, as already stated, is to have a guide who will follow the voluntary rules for guides. This includes the guide being fully cave trained and at least a divemaster, diving in full cave gear, taking no more than four clients at a time, all with lights, and staying on the guidelines. When you book, ask if the guides follow the APSA rules. If they don't know what you are talking about, you might want to find another shop.

 

[Roman_66]

According to some definitions in parallel thread (#60) it is not rec dive.
And actually here I will support it. Cenotes, even it is not complicated dive, but more than simple recreational.
No currents, but more cold water with sometimes bad visibility and some places no sun light at all.
As people said above - good buoyancy is more important in Cenotes as it is pretty shallow here and diver doesn't have too much vertical space.
Theoretical 75 dive should be enough to not panic in new environment.
I saw people with less experience in Cenotes.
The best point that YOU understand that the dive might be more complicated and hope you will be able to explain it to your son.
The dive should be fun anyway.

 

[Hintermann]

As has been said, provided the guide is a good, experienced cave diver, assesses his charges ability correctly and everyone follows regulations, cenotes are safe. In November 2008 my wife and I went to Cozumel and Tulum, the latter to use as base for cenote diving. We were both AOW with me about 120 dives and the wife fewer than 35. Neither of us had ever been in an overhead environment; my wife is claustrophobic and I was uncertain how she would cope.

We went with an ex-Royal Navy fellow-Brit named Eric "Budgie" Burgess - he still runs cenote diving ops there. We dived Chak Mool, Tajma Ha, Gran Cenote, Dos Ojos, Bat Cave (part of Dos Ojos), both parts of Dreamgate and of course Angelita. Everything went very well and it was a hugely enjoyable experience. Whatever you do, do not miss the non-cenote cenote Angelita; a surreal dive if ever there was one.

 

[rockystock1]

I've stayed at the grand sirenis and there dive shop is called underwater technical world..

I didn't dive the cenote but I did go on 3 or 4 reef dives


Rocky

 

[Rich Keller]

Any time you go into an overhead environment you are putting yourself at much greater risk. I do not make penetration dives of any kind unless I am diving surface supplied. I would avoid the cenote and stick with the open water reefs.