Cave Diving Courses and Technical Training in Tulum
The Yucatan Peninsula is home to some of the best cave diving in the world. There are hundreds of kilometres of explored and mapped cave passages which offer us the possibilities of cave diving. Particularly in and around Tulum the underground rivers (cave systems) with mostly freshwater are endless. Cave diving starts with cavern diving. Caverns are basically the entrances to the caves. Caverns are also known as cenotes. The word cenote comes from the Mayan word dzonot and means "sink hole".
We offer all levels of TDI cave training from Cavern Diver to Full Cave Diver - We also offer Sidemount course and TDI Advanced Nitrox. For more info about Cavern Diving, please click here. If you want to know more about how the caves were formed, please click here.
Cave & Tech Diving Courses
Explore our range of cave & tech diving courses designed to advance your diving skills and to teach you about overhead environment diving. Join us today!
Cavern Diver
The TDI Cavern Diver Training is the start of your journey into diving within the overhead environment. The course is taught in either sidemount or backmount. The course will teach you preservation of a unique environment. We will teach you gas management, procedures for laying lines, and the use of reels. Furthermore, you will learn how to solve problems, specifically in an overhead environment.
Policy of Cavern Diving:
*Gas management procedures
*Psychological considerations of overhead environment diving
*Equipment considerations, tank options, doubles or Sidemount, regulator options and hose routing, harness and wing options
*Communication, light, hand and passive
*Proper weighting
*Swimming techniques, body posture/trim buoyancy control, finning and guide line following
*Breathing techniques and Stress management
*Cavern environment and conservation
*Problem solving, emergency procedures and equipment failures
*Accident analysis
*Cavern diving etiquette
*Review of decompression theory
The duration of this courses is performance based. Generally, 3 to 4 days.
If you are not already an experienced sidemount or backmount diver, you will have to learn this before starting you TDI Cavern Diver Training.
Price: $235USD per day/person
Deposit: $70USD
Intro to Cave Diver
The TDI Intro to Cave Training is the second stage of the training to become a Full Cave Diver. This course takes you from the cavern zone into the cave, leaving the sunlight behind.
Are you ready to leave the light and head into the darkness?
We will be building directly upon the theory and techniques that you learnt in your TDI Cavern Diver Training.
This course is an introduction to the basic principles of cave diving. The Intro to Cave course is not intended to teach you everything you need to know about cave diving, rather to improve on the skills that you learnt in your Cavern Diver course. The course will also teach you the skills that will enable you to make shorter and routine cave dives utilising a single primary guideline.
Protocols will be taught for connecting to a cave line, having a lost diver, and a lost line. You will progress in your cave diving abilities, you will learn new skills, and you will become competent to safely dive in a cave without supervision while following these requirements:
*Dive in conditions similar to those of training.
*Diving not to exceed current certification level.
*Penetration limited to 1/6th of available gas and to a maximum of 40 metres.
*Proper cave diving equipment is used.
*Follow a continual guideline.
*Upon certification, divers are able to enrol in the next step; Full Cave Diver, although gaining experience at the Intro level is highly recommended.
The duration of this course depends on your performance and progress but generally takes 3-4 days. Course combinations are possible. Combine the Cavern and Intro to Cave diver course, this usually takes 5 days.
Price: $235USD per day/person
Deposit: $70USD
Full Cave Diver
The Full Cave Diver course is the third and final stage of overhead environment training in the TDI Full Cave Diver program. We will continue where we left off in the TDI Intro to Cave Diver Training. We will develop your skills and techniques. This is where you will learn to extend your limits away from the main line.
The main objectives of the course are to teach you how to successfully complete complex cave navigation with the use of
lines and markers, gas planning techniques to best use your gas supply, and skill perfection through actual cave penetration.
Once you have completed this course, a whole new world opens up to you. It will feel like you have just learnt to dive all over again, but better!!
Apart from polishing off and improving all the skills learnt in the previous courses of Cavern and Intro to Cave Diver, we will now be moving away from the main line and exploring side passages and other connecting tunnels. To stay within the number 1 gold rule of cave diving “Always have a continual guide line to the open water” we must be able to perform “Jumps”, connecting the line we are following to the line we are now going to follow with our own spool or reel. Specifics of what type of reel to use, how to mark it as ours, how to lay it correctly, how to be able to identify it as ours even in zero visibility and how to communicate with our team so we all agree that it is placed correctly will be covered extensively in this course.
Furthermore, at Full Cave Diver level, you will learn to to dive in smaller spaces, restrictions, and areas where 2 divers cant fit side by side.
During the course we will also encounter T intersections, where the cave splits into 2 or more passage ways. You will learn how to dive safely through T intersections. We will practise how to mark our exit, identify it even in zero visibility, and how to communicate it with our team.
Also dive planning, map reading, and note taking will be vital parts of your journey to becoming a competent and safe Full Cave Diver.
The duration of this course depends on your progress and performance as do the other two stages. This stage generally takes 4-5 days.
Price: $235USD per day/person
Deposit: $70USD
Sidemount Diver
This course is for the certified diver looking to use sidemounted tanks rather than the standard backmounted unit. Sidemount is a new configuration where the diver will use 2 completely independent tanks. This enables the diver to:
*Carry more breathing gas.
*Be more independent as both tanks will have their own 1st and 2nd stages.
*Easier carry and find 2 available single tanks rather than a traditional set of doubles.
The SDI Sidemount Course takes an in depth look at all of the following and more:
*Gas management utilizing independent tanks
*Equipment considerations:
Cylinder options
Regulator options
Wing and harness choices
Proper weighting
Hose routing
*Communication and hand signals
*Problem Solving incl. gas sharing and gas leaks
*Water entries both shore and dock
S Drills
Sharing gas
Valve manipulation
Some of the required skills you will have to demonstrate are:
*Plan Dive
*Test and check all equipment
*Familiarisation with area
*Demonstrate the ability to safely manage gas in independent cylinders
*Descend to planned depth and not exceed any pre-planned limits
*Safely manage gas in independent tanks
*Attach tanks while on the surface and at depth
*Perform regulator switches
*Execute safety stops
Upon successful completion of this course, graduates may engage in sidemount diving activities without supervision, provided the following limits are adhered to:
*Safety Stops as appropriate
*Planned dives do not exceed divers current level of certification e.g. depth and decompression obligations.
The TDI Sidemount Training is open to any diver already certified.
The duration of this course will be at least 3 days covering topics such as tank and harness set up, confined water practice, and open water dives.
Price: $700USD
Deposit: $70USD
Advanced Nitrox
Looking to extend your dive time? The TDI Advanced Nitrox Course can help you get the knowledge and skills to stay submerged longer.
This course qualifies divers to use enriched air nitrox blends ranging from EAN 21 up to 100% oxygen, within their current certification limits, to a maximum depth of 40 metres (130 feet). It is designed for dives that do not require staged decompression.
Advanced Nitrox is widely regarded as a key stepping stone into technical diving. It is also an essential certification for SCR and CCR divers.
Building on the foundations of TDI Nitrox, this course takes a deeper dive into the theory and practical use of higher oxygen gas mixes, including:
*The physics and physiology of diving with gas mixtures containing more than 40% oxygen
*Gas planning, dive tables, and dive computer usage
*Understanding oxygen and nitrogen exposure limits
*Equipment considerations, including cylinder labelling and oxygen service ratings
*Nitrox analysis and gas blending procedures
Throughout the course, you’ll refine essential diving skills such as:
*Maintaining precise buoyancy and hovering effortlessly without hand or fin movement
*Demonstrating strong team awareness through communication and positioning
*Managing a free-flowing regulator and executing a controlled shutdown and switch to backup
*Performing a proper safety stop while maintaining neutral buoyancy
*Sharing air effectively as both donor and recipient while maintaining position in the water column
*Achieving correct body positioning and streamlined trim
*Assessing and managing stress in both yourself and your dive buddy
Price: $750USD
Deposit: $70USD
