DiverDave65
Contributor
Just returned from a short dive trip to Playa. Primary intention was to dive the cenotes. Overall, they were fabulous, and I would encourage anyone to try them. I dove with Scuba Libre, mainly cause they were close to my hotel. Met at the dive shop every day at 0830 and was picked up by either one of their dive guides or a freelance dive guide. I dove with three different guides on three different days: each was very professional and capable and pleasant to dive with.
We piled our stuff into their truck and headed off to one of the cenotes. Some of the cenotes have two "routes" in them for two dives and some only have one "route." So you move to a different cenote for the second dive.
Each cenote is kind of like a small privately owned park, with outdoor benches and tables near the actual cenote opening, convenient for staging your gear. There were always several groups of divers at each cenote from different shops; some serious cave divers or cave training in progress.
After gearing up and splashing in, our diver leader always checked over our gear and checked for bouyancy; a bit of a pain in the ass for me but I put up with it....I'm sure they get lots of novice/noncurrent divers. Then we headed down the line through the cenote "trail". I was very impressed with some of the huge cavern rooms we went through.....fantastic stalactites and stalagmites growing out of the ceilings and floors; fabulous vis and cool refreshing fresh water. Temps were 74-75F.....I wore a 3/2 full suit and a 3/5 hooded vest and was glad to have the extra protection. The hood wasn't always necessary on first dive but felt good on the second dive. We each had a small light and the dive guide usually carried one of those really powerful lights powered by a separate battery.
Max depth usually only 30-40 feet, dive duration around 45-50 mins.....I usually came up with over 1000 lbs of air, still. Some of the cenotes were a lot more cave like than cavern....a little eerie in spots when going through the haloclines caused my mixing of salt and fresh water.
I dove in Dos Ojos, chuk-mool, Gran cenote and Garden of Eden. Chuk-mool was the best for formations.
Did the bull shark dive one day and was disappointed.....current on the bottom was very strong so we drifted along and saw a couple bull sharks but nothing like the big herd of 6-8 sharks we were told might be there. Just a bad day.
I've been to Cozumel several times and contemplated taking the ferry over one day but decided the cenotes were just too fascinating for me to pass up
I'll try to attach some pics.....sorry no underwater pics, too dark for my little camera.
We piled our stuff into their truck and headed off to one of the cenotes. Some of the cenotes have two "routes" in them for two dives and some only have one "route." So you move to a different cenote for the second dive.
Each cenote is kind of like a small privately owned park, with outdoor benches and tables near the actual cenote opening, convenient for staging your gear. There were always several groups of divers at each cenote from different shops; some serious cave divers or cave training in progress.
After gearing up and splashing in, our diver leader always checked over our gear and checked for bouyancy; a bit of a pain in the ass for me but I put up with it....I'm sure they get lots of novice/noncurrent divers. Then we headed down the line through the cenote "trail". I was very impressed with some of the huge cavern rooms we went through.....fantastic stalactites and stalagmites growing out of the ceilings and floors; fabulous vis and cool refreshing fresh water. Temps were 74-75F.....I wore a 3/2 full suit and a 3/5 hooded vest and was glad to have the extra protection. The hood wasn't always necessary on first dive but felt good on the second dive. We each had a small light and the dive guide usually carried one of those really powerful lights powered by a separate battery.
Max depth usually only 30-40 feet, dive duration around 45-50 mins.....I usually came up with over 1000 lbs of air, still. Some of the cenotes were a lot more cave like than cavern....a little eerie in spots when going through the haloclines caused my mixing of salt and fresh water.
I dove in Dos Ojos, chuk-mool, Gran cenote and Garden of Eden. Chuk-mool was the best for formations.
Did the bull shark dive one day and was disappointed.....current on the bottom was very strong so we drifted along and saw a couple bull sharks but nothing like the big herd of 6-8 sharks we were told might be there. Just a bad day.
I've been to Cozumel several times and contemplated taking the ferry over one day but decided the cenotes were just too fascinating for me to pass up
I'll try to attach some pics.....sorry no underwater pics, too dark for my little camera.
