Akumal Dive Center or Dive Adventures?

[diverrex]

My wife and I are headed to Akumal the end of October. Anyone have any recommendations for choosing either Akumal Dive Adventures or Akumal Dive Center to dive with. We're looking to do 4-5 days of ocean diving and 1-2 of cenote diving. I had also previously considered Akumal Dive Shop but lately have been hearing of them limiting dives to 40 minutes.

We'll be staying on Half Moon Bay (Playa Caribe) so I've been leaning toward Akumal Dive Adventures as being closest, but could be talked into Dive Center for good reasons.

Any thoughts?

 

[daniel f aleman]

I first dived Akumal in 1975 - we had to hack our way through the jungle to get there - really. Now, you don't have to.

Akumal Dive Cnter is where you want to go for scuba instruction, technical instruction and cave diving instruction; for technical diving and cave diving; it's more gringo and Euro centered. Akumal Dive Adventures is more the classic vacation dive operation, and more Mexican centered. Both do cavern, cave, and reef diving well. Both offer fishing excursions. Both offer dive packages. Both are PADI. Each shop is recommended

There are several other shops in the Akumal area that do similar and two cave specialty shops.

 

[scubawife]

I've been diving with Akumal Dive Adventures for about 5yrs and prefer them over the other Akumal shops (there are only 3 shops, any others are on resorts). Great service, very laid back, never rushed and we have always been allowed to dive our tank and computers. Other shops I've dived with are very regimented to their time schedule, or at least that's been my experience.

They all dive the same sites and are about the same price. Dive Adventures will be the most convenient for you as it's on Half Moon Bay, only a few minutes walk from Playa Caribe. You can save a bit of money if you pre-book and pay for at least 6 dives per person. (They do 3, single tank trips a day). Any additional dives you do would then also be at a discounted rate. www.akumaldiveadventures.com

The other shop I would use in the area is Aquanauts in Aventuras. If you want to do any cenote dives, my first choice is always Diablo Divers (same owner as Aquanauts).

Have a great trip. You will love Playa Caribe. Very nice units and location!

 

[diverrex]

Scubawife you and I are heading in opposite directions. We were in Curacao in June now we're headed to your old area- Akumal. I hope you enjoy Curacao - we thought it was great, not much big stuff, even though we did see one manta, but nice clear water with healthly reefs of small stuff.

Thanks for the thoughts on Dive Adventures. I'm sure we will use them. Their website says they do cenote dives, wouldn't it be easier just to dive with them all week both ocean and cenote? Or is Diablo Divers really that much better for cenotes?

 

[AZTEK DIVER]

Akumal Dive Cnter is where you want to go for scuba instruction, technical instruction and cave diving instruction; for technical diving and cave diving; it's more gringo and Euro centered.

Up until about 5 years ago this was true, but now it's just a tour guide shop like the other one.

 

[scubawife]

Scubawife you and I are heading in opposite directions. We were in Curacao in June now we're headed to your old area- Akumal. I hope you enjoy Curacao - we thought it was great, not much big stuff, even though we did see one manta, but nice clear water with healthly reefs of small stuff.

Thanks for the thoughts on Dive Adventures. I'm sure we will use them. Their website says they do cenote dives, wouldn't it be easier just to dive with them all week both ocean and cenote? Or is Diablo Divers really that much better for cenotes?

Dive Adventures doesn't have a cave diver or cavern guide on-staff. They'll book you with Hidden Worlds or they have some free-lance guides they can make arrangements with. We've done both through them prior to finding Dennis (Diablo Divers/Aquanauts) on our own. I have used others when he wasn't available, but he's always my first choice if I want to do a cavern dive, and my first recommendation to anyone looking.

You won't see much big stuff on Akumal reefs either. This time of year you will see lots of turtles as it's nesting season. Year-round there are also usually a good number or stingrays, and in the winter months eagle rays. But mostly you'll see small stuff. It's not a protected or marine reserve area and in the last couple years the reefs have started to take a bit of damage from the boom in development in the area. I haven't been there since Dec and won't be back until the end of September, so I can't tell you what to expect right now.