Cenote Cavern Instructor & Guide

Responsibilities

• Lead guided cenote cavern dives at Tulum's major accessible cenote systems: Gran Cenote, Dos Ojos cavern zone, Casa Cenote, Cenote Cristal, and others — each site has specific access protocols, depth profiles, and silting risk characteristics that require site-specific pre-dive briefing
• Conduct PADI Cavern Diver certification courses: the cavern certification prepares divers to enter overhead environments while remaining within the daylight zone and within sight of the entrance — the course includes theory sessions, pool and confined water practice, and 3 open-water certification dives in cenote cavern environments
• Apply SEMARNAT ecological protocols rigorously: touching the cenote walls disturbs the bacterial mats and microbial ecosystems that maintain the water's extraordinary clarity — zero-touch standards are enforced throughout every guided dive and course
• Manage buoyancy discipline in the freshwater silt environment: poor buoyancy near the cenote floor creates silt plumes that can eliminate visibility — the instructor monitors and corrects buoyancy during all guided and course dives
• Navigate the halocline briefing: the freshwater/saltwater interface in many Tulum cenotes creates a visual distortion effect that can disorient divers — clear pre-dive explanation and in-water monitoring prevent halocline confusion from becoming a safety incident
• Coordinate with the cenote landowner or park management for access: most accessible Tulum cenotes are on private land or managed parks — the dive operation's relationship with landowners is maintained through the instructor and guide team

Requirements

• PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor certification minimum
• PADI Cavern Diver certification or equivalent (IANTD, GUE, or NAUI Cavern/Cave programs accepted)
• 100+ cenote dives logged; Tulum cenote system familiarity
• SEMARNAT cenote ecological protocol knowledge
• English fluency for the predominantly international cenote diving visitor demographic

Benefits

• IMSS, aguinaldo, paid vacation + premium
• Housing support in Tulum
• Fixed monthly + guided dive tip income
• Free cenote access for personal dive development during off-hours with management permission
• Technical cave diving development support for advancing toward full cave certification

Work environment

Cenote cavern dive instruction and guided tours in the Tulum cenote system. The world's most extraordinary freshwater dive environment as the daily workplace.

About the role

Descending into Dos Ojos for the 200th time — watching the morning light column penetrate 40 meters into the cavern zone, lighting a stalactite that has been growing since before the Mayan civilization — is still something. The guide who has been diving this system for three years still pauses at that moment. That's the Tulum cenote instructor's workplace, and there is genuinely no equivalent anywhere else on the planet.