Category — Newsletter

Cozumel and Cenote / Cavern diving

Cenotes and Caverns are the entrance areas of water filled cave systems, large areas with clear water and lots of sunlight. Cenotes and Caverns are fun, easy and safe to dive and the only thing necessary is an open water certification. During the last dive shows we have attended we have heard comments again and again that many people have been diving in Cozumel, have heard about the Cenotes but never have dived them even if they like to do so, but did not know how. If you like to change that, here it is the how to. Take the ferry to Playa del Carmen, book the Cenote and Cavern diving with us at least three days ahead of time, just send an email to info@protecplaya.com , we will pick you up at the ferry dock and take you onto a Cenote and Cavern diving tour. The Cenotes are located some 25 – 40 minutes south of Playa del Carmen. More information about the Cenotes you can find on our www.protecplaya.com and www.mexicocavediving.info web pages. We will take you onto a two tank Cavern tour in two different Cenotes, provide tanks, weight, lights, a guide, refreshments and a box lunch. When all done we drop you at the ferry dock to get you back to Cozumel, or if you like, you drop your dive gear at our dive shop and go out to discover Playa. When ready to head back we get your gear down to the ferry dock. That is how easy it is to be diving in Cozumel and do a Cavern Cenote tour.

Tacoma Dive Show

In May 2010 Matt went to the Tacoma dive show held for the 3rd time in Tacoma Washington, some 40 miles south of Seattle. Over the years ProTec developed a very good relationship with Capital Divers owners Craig and Deb Brown who come to the Riviera Maya to cave dive for the 13th year in a row by now. The show was great with old friends to be met and new ones to be found. The booth location was quite nice right at the pool area where most of the action was and close to a lot of related providers and manufacturers such as Silent Scuba, Shearwater, ISC Megalodon, X-Scooter just to name  few. The weather was to be cold and rainy and I was not disappointed. I had the chance to give two presentations about our ProTec dive store in Playa del Carmen and the Cenote and Cave diving in Mexico at Capital Divers in Olympia and Tacoma Scuba in Tacoma.

Xcuba Ha Photo contest

From December 4th to 11th we will hold our second underwater photography contest here in Playa del Carmen. The event is organized by the Riviera Maya Dive Alliance (RMDA) and ProTec is one of the founding members. The Xcuba Ha photo contest is leaning heavily on the educational side with lots of seminars, workshops and input from our photographer Len Bucko. December 4th we will open the event with a welcome, greet and meet with a wine and cheese hang out. Seminars and workshops range from basic to advanced camera techniques in the pool to macro, wide angle and cavern / low viz shooting techniques. The diving we will feature within the Xcuba Ha event is ranging from local Playa del Carmen diving to Cozumel, Pto. Morelos wreck diving to cenote diving. For more information on the event please visit our Xcuba Ha web page www.divingphotocontest.com . For more information on the Riviera Maya Dive Alliance please visit our RMDA web page  www.scubadivinginmexico.com

Underwater Cave Photography – Painting  

Matt recently started to get into underwater cave photography. As most people are working and diving in the area it was and is difficult to find talents or meat puppets with time to spare to hang motionless in front of the camera in the cave to give Matt some time to practice. A lot of great underwater cave photographers actually go on a regular cave dive and shoot while diving along. Matt is not there yet, not having the practice to do so – yet. In came the light painting technique where the camera is placed on a tripod with the shutter set open, and the photographer swimming through the cave in total darkness “painting” the cave with strobe light. Practice makes masters and a lot of practice is needed. But fun it is. Have a look at our ProTec DiveCenter www.facebook.com page for some of the images. The header image of this email was “painted” by Matt in Grand Cenote. We would like to congratulate Matt as well for winning 1st and 2nd place in the international Dive Rite www.diverite.com underwater photo contest.

Continuing Education for ProTec Staff

As we try to expand our horizons and learn new techniques to further our own diving as well as the ability to convey these new experiences to our students our ProTec Staff is continuously updating their diving curriculum. Patrick completed the GUE Fundamentals Diver training program conducted by Fred Devos at Zero Gravity dive center. Matt became a Essential Diver Instructor Trainer with IANTD as Nando and Patrick are teaching the Essentials program for years. The Essential Diver program is a prep and polishing program focusing on buoyancy, trim, propulsion, configuration and communication. This program is particular successful before any technical or cave diver training programs. Matt worked toward and received his CCR Poseidon MK6 Rebreather Instructor rating.

Scheduled Training Programs

We provide and conduct IANTD Instructor training programs on a regular basis ranging from Adv. Eanx Instructor cross over programs to Cavern Instructor, Intro to cave, Full cave, Technical cave, Sidemount cave, CCR cave, DPV cave, CCR Rebreather MOD I & MOD II, Normoxic Trimix and Hypoxic Trimix Instructor programs to just name a few. If you want to become a IANTD Instructor or feel ready for the next level please send us an email.

Besides the below scheduled diver level training programs we will always have capacity to schedule training programs when you want to take them. We will even travel to your location to train you in your diving environment. For the latest update on scheduled diver level training programs please visit www.protecplaya.com .

- FULL CAVE COURSE IS   JULY 20 – 28

- INTRO TO CAVE COURSE IS   AUGUST 2 – 6

- FULL CAVE COURSE IS   AUGUST 8 – 15

- BASIC DPV COURSE IS   AUGUST 9 – 11

- DPV CAVE COURSE IS   AUGUST 16 – 17

- FULL CAVE COURSE IS   AUGUST 22 – 29

- ADV. REC. TMX COURSE IS   SEPTEMBER 2 – 6

- FULL CAVE COURSE IS   SEPTEMBER 5 – 12

- FULL CAVE COURSE IS   SEPTEMBER 6 – 13

- CCR CAVE COURSE IS   SEPTEMBER 19 – 26

- FULL CAVE COURSE IS   SEPTEMBER 24 – OCT. 1

- CAVE DIVING GUIDING IS   SEPTEMBER 24 – 30

- CCR CAVE COURSE IS   OCTOBER 4 – 11

- SIDEMOUNT CAVE COURSE IS   OCTOBER 13 – 16

- CCR CAVE COURSE IS   NOVEMBER 7 – 14

- ADV. EANX COURSE IS   NOVEMBER 15 – 18

- BASIC SIDEMOUNT COURSE IS   NOVEMBER 19 – 21

- FULL CAVE COURSE IS     NOV. 24 – DEC. 4

- INTRO TO CAVE COURSE IS NOV. 29 – DEC. 1

- XCUBA HA PHOTO CONTEST IS   DECEMBER 4 – 11

IANTD Instructor & IT Training

ProTec continues to conduct IANTD Instructor Development Courses IDC’s, Instructor Evaluation Courses IEC’s and Instructor Trainer Courses ITC’s. The IDC’s and IEC’s are conducted by IT’s Nando and Matt while the ITC’s are conducted by ITT Matt.

We would like to congratulate Mauro for his successful Intro to Cave Instructor Evaluation. Our Instructor candidates Luis, Daniel and Etienne we wish all the best in their quest to become Adv. Eanx and Cavern Instructors.

More information and links

We have published new articles on our ProTec blog www.protecblog.com covering a variety of issues and experiences. We started to publish a number of small video clips on our ProTecPlaya www.youtube.com channel and continue to do so as we go along. Have a look and let us know what you think.  

For more information regarding Rebreather diving on the CCR Megalodon Rebreathers please visit www.ccrmegalodon.com , the CCR KISS www.ccrkiss.com , the CCR O2ptima www.ccroptima.com , the CCR Inspiration / Evolution www.ccrinspiration.com , the cave diving in Mexico www.mexicocavediving.info , Rebreather diving www.rebreather-diving.info , cave diving information in Spanish www.buceoencuevamexico.com , cave diving information in German www.mexikohoehlentauchen.com or CCR cave diving www.ccrcavediving.com please check out our web pages.

Dear ProTec Friends
We are back with our Sporadic Newsletter covering diving, training, local affairs and social activities from and within our ProTec Dive Center in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

We are located within the Riviera Maya along the Mexican Caribbean coast and we certainly have good reef and wreck diving but our biggest treasure within the Riviera Maya are the Cenotes and Caves. The crystal clear warm water in the Cenotes is the most special feature in our diving here. Our services range from Cenote guiding, Cavern diving and cave diving either open circuit or close circuit.

We are located within Mom’s Hotel and offer our divers special rates in this small, clean and economic 27 room hotel. As you stay in Moms hotel you have the comfort of knowing your dive gear is never far from you with special ventilated storage areas.

Greetings

Your ProTec Team
ProTec Dive Center Playa del Carmen – Mexico     www.protecplaya.com

The ProTec Blog
After launching our Blog under www.protecblog.com we really enjoy writing about our adventures, courses, experiences as well as equipment and training related issues.

As we cover a wide range of experiences, view points and issues we cover a variety of languages as well. We publish articles in English, German, Spanish and French.

We invite guest writes who dive with us to share their experiences with us or the within the Riviera Maya. Please come on in and join us with our blog.

BTS Show New Jersey
ProTec Dive Center had a booth at the 2010 Beneath The Sea dive trade show held annually in March within the New Jersey convention center.

Hans Kaspersetz, a good friend of ours and avid rebreather cave diver who just returned back to the U.S. to live in New Jersey was helping out big time on the booth.

The show was good with a lot of old friends passing by and new friends to be made. Besides the information about our diving destination we offered seat and sugar for the weary, juice and water for the thirsty, apples, bananas and granola bars for the hungry and a shot of Tequila for the wicked.

Upcoming Events
ProTec is going to the Tacoma Dive Show in Washington State in the Seattle area. We do have a booth # 524 and Matt will be manning the booth. If your feet are tired, you are thirsty, need some food or a shot of Tequila please pass by. We will raffle a cavern course at the end of the show.

For upcoming courses please have a look at our www.protecplaya.com web page where we have listed all scheduled training programs. Besides the courses posted on our web page we offer custom courses at all times, starting a training programs when you have the time and like to do it.

ProTec is a sponsor for the Riviera Maya Dive Alliance bi-monthly social pool side BBQ held at the Abyss pool on the first and second Saturday of each month. Come by and check it out.

ProTec is a co-organizer and co-host of the annual Xcuba Ha underwater photo contest and competition. This year’s event will be held December 4th – 11th of 2010. Check out our web site under www.divingphotocontest.com.

Training
We run quarterly IANTD IDC Instructor programs ranging from Cavern Instructor to CCR Cave Instructor. If you are interested please do not hesitate to contact us by email at any time.

After a number of Instructor meetings we have further developed our basic and advanced sidemount cave diver training program as well as the technical cave diver training program. Our basic and advanced DPV courses are still under review. The further development of our existing courses is based on new techniques and technologies in cave diving and cave diver training.

We, the instructors of ProTec, are taking continuing education training programs to further our horizon and the ability to teach a more diversified customer base. Patrick was taking the GUE Fundamentals course as preparation for future GUE cave diver and tec diver training. Matt took the CCR cross over training programs for the CCR rEvo and CCR Sentinel Rebreathers in order to be able to teach a larger group of CCR divers who are interested in CCR cave diver training. Nando will soon finish up his Classic KISS CCR diver program and will further develope his sidemount cave diving skills while taking a advanced sidemount cave diver course from an expeience sidemount cave diving instructor.

Exploration….
Nando is cave exploring with Mauro in the cave system Misterio Maya where they have re-surveyed existing guideline in order to establish how large the cave system is. After the re-survey they are going to start to push and explore the cave sustem. At the moment the Misterio Maya cave system is at a surveyed length of 1994 feet – 608 meters.

Patrick is cave exploring with Mauro in the Balan Ak cave system which is currently surveyed to a lenght of 8981 feet – 2738 meters. Cenote 307 is still being explored by Patrick and he is planning to go back to the Pit in June of 2010.

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