Diving in the cenotes is pretty damn awesome though! You just have to make sure to dive the ones that have been explored and have designated routes. My third and fourth dives after getting my open water certification were in cenotes around Playa Del Carmen and that experience was just mind blowing. Would love to do it again.
He also has some amazing IMAX footage of cenotes, among other caves, in his film Ancient Caves, which is still playing on a few IMAX screens, though it's run is mostly over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSZL9YbXDGs
Thanks so much for sharing this! Quite wonderful. I'd love to go back with my 360 camera to get some footage because flat screen video never quite catches the feeling of being in those kinds of spaces.
> My third and fourth dives after getting my open water certification were in cenotes around Playa Del Carmen and that experience was just mind blowing.
Overhead diving, especially in caves, is extremely dangerous without extensive training. Too many operators down there will take new divers on very questionable “cavern” tours with sections of no natural light / visible exits, single primary lights, and single tanks.
Do your due diligence and remember nothing in the cave is worth dying for.
In the Yucatan most divers consider there to be a difference between 'cavern diving' and 'cave diving'. Cave diving requires extensive training and is very dangerous. In cavern diving you stay within the naturally illuminated part of the cave and, while there might be something overhead of you at periods, you're not functionally farther from a safe exit than you would be at 130ft depth with no overhead. Of course any overhead obstruction is an added risk but that situation happens in regular recreational diving too.
It wouldn't surprise me to hear that some tour operators bend the guidelines but the diving I did there felt appropriately careful.
Cavern diving certification is still a multi day course, open water certification does not prepare you for it. The 130 ft PADI guideline (AOW cert) applies to open water wreck diving and is quickly broken at most sites I’ve seen. Dos Ojos is particularly sketchy. On overcast days it can be impossible to see an exit at several points even when not silted out. Your guides will usually be side mount with two tanks, backup lights, and a safety spool. That redundancy isn’t for you, it’s because they are trained not to take the same risks you are. Caves are pretty awesome though.
In this particular case it was a very spacious set of cenotes with a guiding string along the safe route. So it felt pretty safe. It was also the day after we had done some open water diving so the dive master got a feel for our skills (I would assume) and none of us were particularly foolish. I doubt I'd ever want to go diving in actual caves with anything even remotely tight for space.
