Cenotes trip details - The Sea of Cortez Travel

Sea of Cortez Scuba Center

Cenotes
Trip Details

Dive Expedition April 2006

The Sea of Cortez Scuba Center and IDEA International will be participating in an expedition to the Cenotes of Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. The expedition is in cooperation with the Mexican government and the Government of the Yucatan. We are working directly with the Secretary of Ecology and their dive team members. The team members are all IDEA instructors or IDEA dive masters. During the expedition IDEA will be filming a documentary on the Cenotes and the exploration of them.

IDEA and the Sea of Cortez Scuba Center has been chosen to assist the Department of Ecology in developing a program for safe diving in the thousands of cenotes in the Yucatan. The plan is to introduce Eco-Tourism for the Yucatan peninsula that is Eco friendly and safe for open water and cavern divers. We have arranged for members of the Yucatan Government to lead a group of open water divers in exploration of numerous Cenotes.

The Cenotes of the Yucatan are still pristine and have had little or no exploration. The Cenotes were formed many thousands of years ago as dry caves and caverns. These areas over the centuries have filled with rain and seepage of ground water. The water is crystal clean and the temperature is 80 degrees. Cenote diving will be conducted in only safe areas that are not considered cave dives. The Department of Ecology has provided us with a list of over 2000 located Cenotes to be explored and mapped. Many of the Cenotes were used by the Mayans for religious worship and have artifacts present. The government divers will chart any finds and register them for future recovery.

All team members will receive Cavern certification and Explorer Dive Recognition. Team members will receive official letters of recognition for participation in the exploration of the Cenotes from the Secretary of Ecology and the Governor of the state of Yucatan. There will be a banquet and an official presentation of the letter from the Secretary of Ecology on our last evening in Mexico.

Even though we will be diving in remote areas we will not be roughing it. The dive team will be headquartered at the Best Western Hotel in Merida. The hotel has a four star rating with pool, restaurant and bar. Merida is a large metropolitan area and has a population of 1.6 million. The streets are safe and we will be only a few blocks from the Governor's Mansion and the central park. Surrounding the park are many department stores and shops for shopping and sightseeing. Many of the uncharted and unexplored Cenotes are within a 1 and 1/2 hour drive from our Hotel. We will depart each morning at 8:00 Am after breakfast.

There will be an open bar on the plane to and from Mexico. There is no charge for any beverage on the plane. The dive expedition will be all inclusive except for all beverages once we arrive in Mexico. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included. Day one after our arrival will be sightseeing at the Mayan ruins. There will be two dives each day for 5 days; tanks and weights are included. All Taxes and gratuities are included. We will have porters to handle our equipment at the Cenotes. Breakfast will be at our Hotel each morning. A box lunch with fresh pineapple, watermelon, mango and other local fruit will be included each day we are in the field. Dinner will be at the Hotel and at a local restaurant. The restaurant provides a local band and dancing. As a special event we will be providing a dinner and entertainment one night at the famous Cuba Review Night Club.

Total Cost all Inclusive including air fare from Houston is $2199.00

Space is limited. A $700 Deposit is required by February 15 .

Full balance is due March 15 . Make checks payable to Sea of Cortez Scuba Center or call 1-888-547-3483 with credit card information. If charging on credit card there will be an added 3% Charge.

A true Dive Adventure

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