What is the difference between cavern and cave diving

I want to dive in the cenotes but want to know the difference between cave diving and cavern diving

Diving in the cenotes, one could say, is the cornerstone of the scuba diving industry in Playa del Carmen as well as the whole of the Riviera Maya.  To be able to answer your question, I have written this blog post. I hope you stay, read it and enjoy it.  Of course, if you still have any questions, you call always get in touch via email or whatsapp!

Let’s begin.

What are Cenotes?

A Cenote is a natural sinkhole where the ceiling of the cave has collapsed. The word Cenote, which is pronounced as “seh-no-tay”, is a Spanish conversion of the Maya word “D’zonot” or “Ts’onot”.

Cenotes come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. The most common types of cenotes are Cave, Semi-Open and Open Cenotes. Cave cenotes being the youngest and the open cenote being the oldest as it’s cave ceiling has fallen into itself.

The Yucatan Peninsula is like Swiss cheese. There are thousands of cenotes scattered throughout.  Now, I won’t give you a whole history class about how cenotes were formed, what they meant to the Mayan People, and all of that. That’s not what you’re here for. But if you do want to know more about it, shoot me an email, and I will be happy to write another blog post about the subject.

The Yucatan Peninsula is home to the largest underwater cave system in the world. Sac Actun. This cave system has over 360Km of explored passages with 187 cenotes that act as entries. And that’s just one cave system!

So what exactly is cavern diving?

Cavern diving is a type of overhead environment diving. What does this mean? This means that when we go scuba diving in one of the many cenotes, we will have a physical ceiling throughout most, if not all of the dive.

Now, a cavern dive is defined by some very specific rules:

• We are always within what’s known as the “natural light” zone.  This means that our main source of light should ALWAYS be the sun.  Although we do carry flashlights for communications as well as to see in areas where it may get a bit darker, we should never be in total darkness. Also, this means that there is no cavern diving at night. Ever.  At night, all caverns are caves.
• We are never more than 60 meters/200ft away from an exit or source of air. This should always take into account linear distance as well as depth.
• There is no decompression diving during a cavern dive. A cavern dive is a recreational dive.
• The maximum depth within an overhead area should never exceed 30 meters/100ft.
• Divers should always follow a continuous line from the entrance, with no breaks, gaps, jumps or anything that could turn a simple navigation into a complex one.  Leave that for the full cave divers.

Additionally, we have several other rules down here as shown in this pictogram.

So what do I need to go cavern diving in the cenotes?

To do cavern dives in the cenotes, you must be a certified diver, with at least a full open water diver certification. This means no Jr. divers, and no folks with that weird “PADI Scuba Diver” certification.  Additionally, you should have fairly good buoyancy control. This is because everything we see inside the cenotes took thousands of years to form, and if we damage it, it is gone forever. So we should always take conservation into account.

Your guide must be full cave certified, and at least dive master or open water instructor in current teaching status. They should be using full cave equipment as well (either backmount or sidemount), and most important, be proficient in their use and in all practices.

As for you, you can be in regular recreational scuba diving equipment, just like you would use on a night dive.  If you dive in sidemount, well, you can use that… the only difference is that instead of doing rule of thirds, you will be on rule of sixths.

Mind you, different cenotes require different skill levels. While none are apt (at least I don’t think) for a brand new diver fresh out of open water diver course, some are more decorated than others, some are deep, some are both. Some cenotes, because of their physical characteristics require us to only take divers who have dived several other cenotes before, or perhaps we can only take divers who hold an advanced open water diver (or equivalent) certification because of the depth.  Be sure to always ask, and be truthful regarding your experience and certification level. We always find out anyways.

OK, so what’s different from cave diving?

Well, for starters, cave divers undergo very rigorous training. It takes years and hundreds of dives to amass the level of experience required for a diver to be able to successfully and safely complete cave diving training.

Inside the cave there is no natural light. The closest exit/source of air might be several hundreds of feet away, and the navigation may not be as cut and dry (depending on the level of training and experience of the divers).

While it may sound super enticing for an open water diver to perhaps try to bend or break the rules, I urge you no to… There’s nothing inside any cave worth risking your life over. Plus, the caverns offer such marvelous sights, and all kinds of surprises at every turn!  However, if you are ready, and want to further your training into technical or cave diving, please contact me, and I will be more than happy to advise you and help you get there with the right training.