Meet Ricardo Castillo

Ricardo Castillo | Diver,  Explorer,  Expedition Leader. 

Ricardo is a diver, instructor, and expedition leader with more than 20 years of experience. He has spent the majority of his life exploring, diving, and teaching a wide range of skills, from basic scuba to cave diving and CCR (Closed Circuit Rebreather) diving. Ricardo organizes expeditions to accompany adventurous souls in exploring oceans and caves across the world, capturing unique moments through the lens of his camera, whether through photography or videography.

This journey as both a photographer and a diver has taken him to the depths of the world’s oceans and caves, to locations such as South Africa, Mozambique, the Mediterranean Islands, Canary Islands, Maldives, Antarctica, Arctic, Iceland, Norway, Great Lakes, Cocos Island, Galapagos, Bahamas, Truk Lagoon, Scapa Flow, Hawaii, Cuba, Tonga, Fiji, Indonesia, and numerous trips along coastlines, islands, and submerged cave systems in Mexico.

Ricardo had the privilege of testing the first Cho2ptima prototype units in 2019 before their official release in 2020. Since then, he has accumulated over 1000 hours of diving and teaching with the unit in various environments, ranging from caves in Mexico to icy caves in Norway.

He has also participated in television documentaries and films centered around cave exploration, shipwrecks, and sharks. As a recreational and technical diving instructor, Ricardo boasts over 5000 dives, with his deepest dive reaching around 450 feet and his coldest one at -1.7ºC. His specialties include decompression, gas mixtures, nitrox, trimix, rebreathers, cave diving, and underwater photography and videography. He holds instructor certifications from NSS-CDS, PADI, TDI, IANTD, and DAN agencies.

Ricardo is a co-owner of “Dive Rite Mexico,” a dive shop, and the diving operation “Zotz Local Diving Experts,” both based in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico.