PARADISE HUNTER
Contributor
My wife and I visited Akumal from 4/9 - 4/17, it wa our first trip there. We had a great overall trip and look forward to going back . We stayed at the Akumal Beach Resort and dove with the Akumal Dive Center.
The ABR was a great place to stay. The rooms where clean, good sized, plenty of hot water and are all ocean front. You can hear the waves hitting the shore when you go to bed at night. The room was not a luxury class room, but still a nice room and well decorated. A few other amenities: plenty of closet space, wall mounted safe, fresh water coolers on every hallway, ceiling fans and strong a air conditioning unit if you needed it.
The food was pretty good, although more variety would be appreciaed by the end of the week. Lots of fresh fish, fresh fruit and good salads. If we stay at an all inclusive, we always eat at least one meal out every day. This was the case this trip as well and we found several nice options within walking distance or a short drive away. Lol Ha, La Buena Vida, El Pescadoro, La Luneta and La Cocina Economica are a few of them.
The beach was awesome and the best part of this resort. White sand beach with a sandy entry into the water. Lots of lounge chairs and plenty of palapas or palm trees for shade. There is some minor security that keeps everything safe and no hassles from beach vendors. It was a Corona commercial wating to happen.
The diving was a mixed bag. The Akumal Dive Center did a good job. They are a very laid back group. Emails before the trip where returned quickly, but not many of my questions where answered complelely. This is not a full service type operations. You carry your own tanks to and from the boat (27' panga) and set up your own gear. I like setting up my own rig, so it was fine with me. No nitrox, but with their dive profiles you wont need it. 5-10 minute boat rides to the reef. The boat was full each time with 8 -12 divers. Most were new to the sport, so we had short bottom times, as everyone comes up at the same time. The reef looked stressed, a fair amount of dead coral and much of the shallower areas were covered in algae. The biggest dissapoinmnet was the lack of life. Very few fish and not many over 12 inches in length. It is a real shame because you can tell from the size of the reef that it was once a large healthy organism. Visibilty was only around 50' due to some rain before we got there and heavy surf from high winds that lasted the entire trip. Diving was called off one day do to the high southern winds.
The good news is that the cenote diving was wonderful. We only dove Dos Ojos and Chac Mul, taking two dives in each cenote. It was only a sampling of what the area had to offer, but it was great. The water was so clear, I am guessing the vis to be 150' - 200'. The temp was 75 degrees so a 3 mil was fine. We got there early, so we avoided the crowds that came as we were heading to the truck. It is definately an overhead environment, but with multiple openings throughout. Chac Mul had a halocline (sp), a point in the water where salt water and fresh water meet. Before it is disturbed it looks like a sheet of glass is in the water. After it is swam through, it mixes like oil and water and really cuts down your vision when trying to look through it.
It was a great time and Akumal is centrally located for diving the cenotes. Many cenoted within a half hour drive.
We also visited Tulum and Coba. Very different stye of ruins and a must see if you are in the area.
Sorry about the long post, but I hope you find it helpful.
The ABR was a great place to stay. The rooms where clean, good sized, plenty of hot water and are all ocean front. You can hear the waves hitting the shore when you go to bed at night. The room was not a luxury class room, but still a nice room and well decorated. A few other amenities: plenty of closet space, wall mounted safe, fresh water coolers on every hallway, ceiling fans and strong a air conditioning unit if you needed it.
The food was pretty good, although more variety would be appreciaed by the end of the week. Lots of fresh fish, fresh fruit and good salads. If we stay at an all inclusive, we always eat at least one meal out every day. This was the case this trip as well and we found several nice options within walking distance or a short drive away. Lol Ha, La Buena Vida, El Pescadoro, La Luneta and La Cocina Economica are a few of them.
The beach was awesome and the best part of this resort. White sand beach with a sandy entry into the water. Lots of lounge chairs and plenty of palapas or palm trees for shade. There is some minor security that keeps everything safe and no hassles from beach vendors. It was a Corona commercial wating to happen.
The diving was a mixed bag. The Akumal Dive Center did a good job. They are a very laid back group. Emails before the trip where returned quickly, but not many of my questions where answered complelely. This is not a full service type operations. You carry your own tanks to and from the boat (27' panga) and set up your own gear. I like setting up my own rig, so it was fine with me. No nitrox, but with their dive profiles you wont need it. 5-10 minute boat rides to the reef. The boat was full each time with 8 -12 divers. Most were new to the sport, so we had short bottom times, as everyone comes up at the same time. The reef looked stressed, a fair amount of dead coral and much of the shallower areas were covered in algae. The biggest dissapoinmnet was the lack of life. Very few fish and not many over 12 inches in length. It is a real shame because you can tell from the size of the reef that it was once a large healthy organism. Visibilty was only around 50' due to some rain before we got there and heavy surf from high winds that lasted the entire trip. Diving was called off one day do to the high southern winds.
The good news is that the cenote diving was wonderful. We only dove Dos Ojos and Chac Mul, taking two dives in each cenote. It was only a sampling of what the area had to offer, but it was great. The water was so clear, I am guessing the vis to be 150' - 200'. The temp was 75 degrees so a 3 mil was fine. We got there early, so we avoided the crowds that came as we were heading to the truck. It is definately an overhead environment, but with multiple openings throughout. Chac Mul had a halocline (sp), a point in the water where salt water and fresh water meet. Before it is disturbed it looks like a sheet of glass is in the water. After it is swam through, it mixes like oil and water and really cuts down your vision when trying to look through it.
It was a great time and Akumal is centrally located for diving the cenotes. Many cenoted within a half hour drive.
We also visited Tulum and Coba. Very different stye of ruins and a must see if you are in the area.
Sorry about the long post, but I hope you find it helpful.
Al
