Three divers lose their lives at Chac Mool in Riviera Maya. 2 Brazillian, 1 Spaniard

[diverrex]

Here is what I mean by regular practice......The news stories and other divers have comments that would lead one to believe every single tour operated there ever was always safe and never violated any rules. Now we have someone state that he was told guides have been seen leading divers out of the caves, IMO that just changed from 0% to at least some of the time or regularly. Also if you read between the lines in the news stories, it seems that the rescue divers and public officials said everything but exactly that. They labeled it negligence but fell short of saying they know it goes on to save safe. Now they are all screaming about how they need to be regulated and how some cenotes are in fact exploited. As a matter of fact here is today's news....15 of 30 local cenotes exploited.......

Google Translate

I read this translation simply as 15 cenotes are "used" for tourist purposes and 15 are not "used". I don't I see anything negative in that statement.

 

[WSOPFAN]

Also from today's news:
Google Translate

Rossy Lopez / SIPSE
Tulum, Q.Roo. - The association of divers found that after the unfortunatecase in Playa del Carmen, it is necessary to regulate the activity of diving, because they are often foreign guides who allow their customers to stay longer than necessary in caves or appropriate, take them when they are about to get dark, leading undoubtedly to a certain death.

Alejandro Alvarez Enriquez, representing Cenotes Diving and Sea AC., (Bucema), recommended that the authorities greater control and rigorous training for those who offer these services, it explained that cave diving is a high risk activity that should be carefully practiced, since last Thursday killed three people, a couple and their guide, all foreigners, in a cenote located between Solidarity and Tulum.

Alvarez Enriquez noted that the community of divers in Tulum, offer more training and rigorous control of their services, since the couple from Brazil and your guide resident in the country, although of Spanish origin, had had a little dip recommended for began almost at five in the afternoon, when close to dusk and reported missing until nine pm on Thursday.

The cenote in the events is located on the outskirts of the towns of Tulum and Solidarity, even in the territory of the latter, but the community of divers in the ninth district, where the activity is supposed to be one of the largest in the area tourism, was dismayed, but recalled that the sport is high risk and requires so much regulation and preparation of both of who guide and those who practice it.

The interviewee said that diving in caves known as cave diving and is one of the main attractions that the ninth township has in its territory with the network of underground rivers longest in the world, discovered since 2007."But this sport can never be considered as underwater recreational sport but as a technician, the last Thursday is one of the most serious accidents in recent years," said the interviewee.​

 

[Quero]

Did anyone read the Spanish-language versions of these reports? If so, you might have noticed that one commenter points out that the regulations are already in place, but it's a question of getting people to comply with them. If you didn't read the originals in Spanish, let me just say that a great deal is lost in translation. There is a difference between a law and a regulation, and between a regulation and a standard. Sometimes the phrase chosen for the computer translation to English gives a different twist than what the author actually wrote in Spanish.

 

[darkstar]

I have been waiting for someone to confirm if this was a regular practice. Thanks for the info.

I didn't say it was regular practice and certainly didn't confirm it. The guide just said that it had happened. I have never seen a single tank diver entering or exiting the cave.

I've been on a lot of cenote dives with 3 other divers, one other diver and with just a guide. There is no way that a customer 'strayed' from the guide and 100' past the death sign. With every other explanation being very unlikely, the most logical explanation is that the guide led them into the cave to see something you don't usually see on the cavern tour.

Most divers in a cenote for the first few times only follow the guide and are not even aware of the line. The guides often lead the groups off the line for some distance (50' or so) in the wide open areas of the cavern zone.

 

[sethw]

So sorry to hear about that as you never want to see that. I really took to this post as I'm going to Playa Del Carmen in 2 weeks. I'm definetly never going to go into a Cenote that is for sure. That is one limit that I know I cannot do. My hats off to all of you who do Cenote diving or penetrate wrecks. I'm probably the most conservative diver out there.

I would never encourage anyone to do a dive they didn't want to do for any reason, but I also think it would be a shame if someone chose not to experience this type of diving based on this awful incident. It is, as far as I can tell, unprecedented.

I can tell you that I felt way more comfortable doing the cavern loops at Dos Ojos with my 16 year old son (he was AOD at the time) single-file behind the guide and in front of me at 25 ffw in a confined space than I did with him on an open water wall dive at 90 fsw with no bottom, lots of distracting things to see everywhere, current, etc. Not exactly an objective measure of danger, just my personal internal dad dial.

As far as rules, they obviously work when followed. in my opinion any guide who is known to have taken non-cave trained clients beyond the cavern zone for any reason should be immediately and permanently banned from such cavern-guiding activity without exception. There is no sane reason to do it. Hopefully this incident will lead to clarification of any pattern of rule-breaking and better enforcement, and the uncovering of any collusion among guides who may choose not to "tattle" on others. IF this practice has happened with any frequency the guiding community there knows about it.

 

[rongoodman]

Most divers in a cenote for the first few times only follow the guide and are not even aware of the line. The guides often lead the groups off the line for some distance (50' or so) in the wide open areas of the cavern zone.

It's been three years or so, but that's the way I remember the guided dives we did. We were certainly much farther off the line than I would ever be now.

 

[DMmexico]

it's a shame all this thing... but YES, there are some that like to brake standards and safety rules... again IT'S A SHAME..!!!!

 

[TSandM]

My cavern tours were right on the line, but given who I did them with, that isn't surprising.

I have certainly seen cavern tours run outside of the APSA rules, including exceeding ratios, guides not in full cave gear, and not everyone with lights. That's why I warn folks here to ask their dive operator if they follow the rules. Adherence is voluntary.

 

[Scuba-dan]

I'm too chicken and I know I wouldn't feel confortable being in a cave. So for now I'm just enjoying diving and looking at the fishes....

 

[Ayisha]

There's definitely a difference between LOOKING like you're bringing along 160 cu. ft of gas (twin AL80's being the the standard Mexico caver twinset) versus having substantially less than that amount in reality!

Some of our full cave guides were wearing twin 120's plus two 80's each and we had three of them with our group of 9 - 12. I remember thinking the first time that they had enough gas if every one of us ran out of gas (not that we would).

All were very capable and we had excellent dives. Two out of our 3 cave divers were skinny young women and I didn't know how they didn't fall over with all their gear that weighed twice as much as them. I was going down the stairs gingerly carrying my single tank set up with nothing to hold onto and one of the girls wearing her entire kit swoops down, picks up my kit and someone else's tank and just goes down the stairs without missing a beat. Wow, I needed to get stronger. I was very impressed by the skills of all of the cave diver guides that I've had and the attention to safety and observation.