FAQ

Fabric behaves completely differently underwater than on land, so think in terms of drag and movement, not just style. A long dress or skirt in a light, flowing fabric will billow and trail as you move; anything heavy or structured just sinks and clings. Color matters too: cenote light is filtered blue-green, so warm tones — yellow, orange, red, coral, white — read as vivid against that backdrop, while dark or cool tones tend to disappear into the water.

For a surface-level underwater portrait, not really — you’ll be close to the edge or a platform, and I stay within arm’s reach the whole time. What matters more is comfort putting your face in the water. Let me know in advance if you’re nervous, and I’ll build the session around that: shallower, slower, more time to get used to it. I’m also a certified yoga and meditation instructor, and I bring that into every session — simple breathing and relaxation techniques that help you feel calm and steady in the water, whether or not you consider yourself a strong swimmer.

Plan for a minimum of 2 to 3 hours for any freediving or scuba diving photo session, including transport, briefing, and time in the water — it’s never a quick in-and-out. If we’re heading to cenotes further from Playa del Carmen, along the Ruta de los Cenotes near Puerto Morelos or toward Tulum, it can take half a day, sometimes closer to a full day once you count travel time. I edit everything myself and deliver your gallery within a few days, not weeks.

Yes, with a few adjustments. We keep it to shallow water, minimal depth, and short breath-holds, and a freediving instructor is there with us as a safety, in addition to me. Every pregnancy is different, so I always recommend checking with your doctor first to confirm it’s safe for you specifically. Just flag it when you book so I can plan the right cenote and timing for you.

It depends entirely on depth. Near the surface — the classic cenote “floating dress” shot, for example — no certification or freediving background is needed; that’s about comfort, not training. For photos deeper into a cenote, though, you’ll need a freediving certification, because the cenotes themselves require it at the entrance for anything past the shallow zone — that’s local regulation, not my personal preference. For the deeper cenotes, I organize everything together with a certified local freediving instructor, who’s in the water with us the whole time as your safety while I focus on the camera and the light.

For a shallow, surface-style session, a few seconds is genuinely enough — I shoot in short bursts with plenty of recovery time between takes. For a deeper freediving session, we’ll talk beforehand about your personal best, and I’ll design the dive plan around it, never past what you’re certified and comfortable for.

Of course you can — that’s exactly what I’m here for, and it’s one of the most beautiful experiences you can have in the water. You focus on the dive, I handle the rest: I organize everything so you have an instructor and a photographer with you at the same time, and I already know every dive site, cenote, and boat schedule, so there’s no logistics for you to figure out. In the cenotes specifically, I dive sidemount because I’m a certified cenote guide — it’s what lets me move freely through the formations to get the angles that make a photo actually look like the place. As for experience: if this is your Discover Scuba Diving in the ocean, no prior diving is required at all, and I’ll be right next to your instructor capturing everything. For a deeper or more technical dive — a cenote dive or the bull shark dive, for example — you’ll need to already be a certified diver at the right experience level for that specific dive.

Cenote photography doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world the way it does here, and a shaky GoPro clip rarely does it justice. Light beams cut through a hole in the stone ceiling, tree roots reach down for meters, and the halocline bends the water like glass — none of it holds still, and it changes by the minute depending on the season, the weather, and the time of day. I’m not just a photographer, I’m a cenote guide: I know these systems from the inside, I dive sidemount so I can move into spots a photographer with standard gear simply can’t reach, and I know exactly which cenote to choose and where to stand for the light on any given day. On top of that, I edit and deliver within a couple of days, not weeks, so you can enjoy and share the photos while the trip is still fresh — not a month later back home.

Not if it’s a regular group dive — I move as part of the group, positioning myself and timing my shots without holding anyone back or breaking the pace. If you’d rather have more freedom to pose and stop longer for photos, I can also organize a private or semi-private dive, where we set our own rhythm.

It depends a lot on the type of session — ocean or cenote, private or group — so the best number for your specific dive is something to ask me directly when you book. As a general idea, sessions usually include 30 to 90 edited photos and 5 to 20 video clips.

The bull shark dive happens every winter, roughly November to February, and it’s one of my favorite dives to shoot. You’ll need to already be a certified diver with real experience and at least 15 years old, since it’s a deep dive to 26 meters, descending along a rope and diving negative with extra weight for the current. Once we’re down, everyone lies shoulder to shoulder along the rope while I swim around capturing photos and video from different angles. The best shot comes at the end: we ascend together following the instructor, drifting and swimming right alongside the sharks — that’s when you get your personal photo with one.

Cenotes are natural freshwater sinkholes found only in the Yucatán Peninsula, carved through limestone over thousands of years by underground rivers. Diving here looks nothing like ocean diving: crystal-clear water, light beams cutting through the stone ceiling, ancient stalactites, tree roots reaching down from above, and the halocline — the shimmering line where fresh and salt water meet and refract light differently. Every cenote system (Dos Ojos, The Pit, Angelita, Carwash, and dozens more) has its own personality, so no two cenote dives feel the same.

Yes — cenote diving with tanks happens in an overhead environment, meaning there’s a ceiling above you, so a scuba certification is required by law and by common sense. You don’t need hundreds of logged dives, though. I match the cenote to your real certification and comfort level: some are open and sunlit, ideal for a newer Open Water diver; others are deeper or more cavern-like and better suited to Advanced divers. A certified local guide is mandatory at every cenote, no exceptions.

No. Recreational cenote dives stay inside the cavern zone, where natural light and a clear exit are always visible — that’s a very different discipline from true cave diving, which requires dedicated technical training and full penetration beyond daylight. Diving a cenote with a certified guide, in the right cenote for your level, is safe and doesn’t require any cave certification.

Cenote water sits at a steady 24–25°C (75–77°F) year-round, and the ocean here runs warm too. A 3mm wetsuit is enough for most divers; if you run cold, go with 5mm, especially for a longer session where we’re stopping often for photos.

It really depends on your certification and comfort. Chac-Mool and Carwash are shallow, open, and beginner-friendly — a great place to start. Dos Ojos I consider an intermediate dive, not a beginner one: the navigation between its two connected cavern systems takes a bit more awareness, even though the depth stays moderate. Sites like The Pit, Angelita, Zapote, Maravilla, Taak-bi-ha, and Taak be Luum are for Advanced divers with strong buoyancy control, given their depth or the delicate formations along the route. I’ll recommend the right cenote, or combination of two, once I know your level and what you want out of the dive.

The PADI Open Water course accepts divers from age 10, and most cenotes set their own minimum age for certified-diver visits. You’ll need basic swimming comfort and to complete a short medical questionnaire — most healthy people qualify without issue.

Absolutely, that’s exactly what Discover Scuba Diving is for. No experience or certification needed: we start in a swimming pool learning to breathe underwater, then move to a shallow reef dive (8–12 meters) with a certified instructor at your side the entire time. It’s one of the best ways to try diving for the first time, and I can capture professional photos and video of your very first breath underwater.

The PADI Open Water Diver course usually takes 2–4 days: theory (which you can start online before you arrive), pool sessions to build your skills, and four open water dives between 12 and 18 meters on our local reef, five minutes by boat from shore. Once certified, you can dive anywhere in the world up to 18 meters, for life.

It’s a good idea to log a couple of dives, or more, after your Open Water certification before starting Advanced — it helps you feel more comfortable in the water before adding new skills. Once you’re certified, it opens up deeper reef dives, the Mama Viña wreck, and more cenote options — you’re qualified to dive to 30 meters (100 feet). You’ll complete five Adventure Dives: a Deep dive and a Navigation dive are mandatory, and we choose the other three together depending on the day — weather, where the boat can go, what’s actually possible in the water that week. The theory can be done online before you arrive, and the dives themselves usually fit into a single weekend. The only requirement is your Open Water certification.

I recommend Playa del Carmen over other spots along the coast. Its downtown is prettier and more walkable than most of the Riviera Maya, and it sits centrally between the reefs, the cenotes, and Tulum. It’s also the easiest base if you want to dive Cozumel too — we go straight there by fast boat, no ferry transfers involved. Transport to the cenotes is included whenever you dive or shoot with me, so you don’t need to arrange anything on your end.

Only in summer, roughly May to September, when the sun sits high enough overhead to send a beam straight down through the opening in the ceiling. Outside those months the light comes in at more of an angle and the effect isn’t the same, so if that specific shot is on your list, plan your trip for summer and we’ll aim for around midday.

It’s a thin, reddish-brown layer that can form near the surface of some cenotes, like Chac-Mool and Carwash, after very heavy rain washes tannins from the jungle into the water. It’s genuinely rare: you need a serious storm the day before, it usually clears within about a day, and there’s no way to predict it in advance. If we happen to catch it, it makes for a striking, unusual photo, but I never promise it since it’s entirely up to the weather.

Cenotes are sheltered from ocean conditions, so temperature and visibility stay fairly stable year-round, and light beams are most dramatic around midday. I choose the specific cenote and time of day based on the season and the light on that date, so we get the best possible result whenever you visit.

Playa del Carmen is one of the most visited, tourist-oriented destinations in Mexico, and the areas where we dive and shoot — the reefs, the cenotes, downtown — are well established for tourism. To book, contact me directly with your travel dates, and I’ll help you plan the right dives, cenotes, and sessions for your certification level, experience, and what you want to bring home. I’m also happy to recommend where to stay — I know which areas of Playa del Carmen are safest and most central, close to everything.