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Consider renting a car and the guide, if you want one, at the site. You can rent a car for around MXN 1k or less for a day right at the airport if you can drive a manual transmission - and it is really just a little bit more for a bigger automatic. In the end it is just a few hundred MXN more...

I dive an Oceanic Geo 4. I’m perfectly happy with it. Had it for 40 something dives and I haven’t gotten bent, so it seems to be doing its job. Oceanic does a fine job of advertising the pros, so here are the cons I have found: The interface is not the most user friendly thing you will come...

That is a great shot of the free-swimming green moray!!

Interesting, didn’t know it had a name. Thank you for the info !

I don’t know about plugs, but for alternative methods, I “fake yawn” and it works. I did my first course when I was 14 years old and that is how they explained it to me - it stuck and when I got back to diving after decades, still worked. If that is not descriptive enough, I’d detail it as...

Hi! Echoing what everyone said - you should fine just taking normal traveling precautions. I am not a female so I hope I am not "downplaying" any real peril, but for reference, I live in Playa del Carmen with my wife and spent almost 4 years before this in Mexico City, traveling back and forth...

Yup, could be that it is reef-friendly sunscreen. No way to tell if not looking at the bottle, and may still be frowned upon by the boat crew. Given that this thread is about raising a red flag for the boat crew, I would still recommend you acknowledge the requests to not wear sunscreen and...

One thing I have often heard crews comment on, and that has made me cringe myself here in Mexico, is the diver putting on a full-tube-thick layer of white sunscreen all over before and after each dive. There are posters about it in dive shops, boats, cenotes - typically hard to miss and usually...

I guess if a) your air consumption tends to run a bit high for the dives you do and you end up on the limit often, b) dive in low biz where it is very easy to get separated from your buddy and/or c) have run into common entanglement hazards it might be worth looking into it? I certainly don’t...

Good points above regarding Cozumel, but if you are set on coming to Playa the winter might be better. You get to see the bull sharks and other big marine life, the heat is not so overwhelming (or it is, but less so in the evening) and you are unlikely to run into sargasso at the beaches which...

Hi all! Just reviving this old thread to thank everyone for your input. Went to Spain, loved it, came back with regs, bcd and goodies - but most of the extra kilos I brought back are on my belly (Spain is yummy). Scubapro was the final choice, partly based on this thread and also given stock...

Hi there! Cenotes are usually around 23 degrees (celsius) and the dives tend to be shorter than ocean dives - usually around 30 minutes. If you dive one with a halocline, water tends to be warmer beneath it. What that means is very personal, of course. I am fine with a 2.5 mil, but usually add...

I have seen several fished out of cenotes (snorkelers drop them like pennies into a fountain) and they are always flooded, even at shallow depths. So, there is likely a time limit as well as a depth limit to what they can stand.

Hi! The Health Questionnaire is a very simple thing you can do on your phone. It'll just ask you name, passport, etc., then contact info, en the usual "I have not had the following symptoms" statement. When you are done, you get a QR code. Keep it on (and maybe screen cap it). Showing that is...

The guide came out of a cenote bathroom looking equal parts amused and terrified. Gave us a heads up that he had some trouble unlocking the door. Looked in, big a** tarantula right by the lock, straight out of some Indiana Jones scene. Luckily he had told me it was there - I would’ve crapped my...

Banging my wedding ring on the tank worked. Until I lost the ring in the Pacific Ocean :facepalm:

Thank you for taking the time to reply! This has been helpful to guide my research a bit. So, from what I read here: 1 - Oceanic should be just fine in terms of getting service/parts. 2 - Environmentally sealed is nice to have, but not 100% required - so the AL Core or other options should be...

Hi everyone! It looks like I might end up doing more than a bit of diving in the Bay Area next year. I am in the process of buying gear here in Mexico, in the meantime, and I'm looking to ensure it is appropriate for the NorCal environment. 1. Does Oceanic have a decent service network in the...

Thanks!! Your comments landed me on YouTube looking for what these modified kicks look like. Found a full series on kicks from sidemount.com that is pretty thorough. If anyone else looking at this thread was wondering what a modified kick looks like, that’s a good link!

That looks like a great dive, thanks for sharing! Rookie question for those here with overhead training. From the video, it seems there are points there where it is too tight for a frog kick - you would get your fins all over the walls to the sides. In passages like this, what is most...