We actually stayed at an Iberostar about 10 minutes north. But, most of our diving was done out of the sister hotel right next to Allegro, and I'm pretty sure they use the same dive shop (but not 100%). The only dive operator we found in the area is Dressell Divers. They run shops out of the Hotels from just south of Cancun to just north of Akamul in addition to similar setups in Punta Cana Domican Republic and Puerto Plata also DR... and somewhere else too... Point Being, a corporate Dive Shop with offices around the Carribean and Europe. When we were in Playa Del Carmin 5 months ago, they were the only game in town. But, just opening their doors in our location.
Dive the Cenotes, see the Dos Ojos thread on this board under Mexico.
We had a ton of fun. Retrospectively, the dive shop wasn't bad. Certainly their DMs/Instructors are youthful and energetic and many have lots of dive experience (a fair amount of Europeans who have DM'd Red Sea.. Maldives.. Seychelles etc.) The appealling part of working for this company is they train you.. either instructor certifications (cave cert is big, they handle all the Cenote diving for 6 or more large hotels), or business management. So, you have a motivated staff.
That being said, they were still getting their act together when we were there in February. The hotel we stayed in had plans to put a dock in, but didn't have an ETA as Mexican red tape can be thick. If there was even the slightest wind it made boat access impossible on rock bottom beach. So we would drive 10 miles down the road, suit up, walk across a beach to an anchored, bobbing boat and climb on (right next to the Allegro) No dock there either, but a sand bottom made shore access to the boats possible. There aren't a whole lot of dive sites boat distance from this hotel, but the ones that are there are nice and you can get a ride to another Dressell shop (including the one at the very nice Iberostar on Cozumel.. if they are doing Allegro, maybe the same deal there) and do a day or two there. Negotiate with them. We got a pretty good deal, we did two days of shore diving locally, two days of Cenotes, and two days in Coz. We paid for the 17 tank and the excursion price of one Cenotes day ($45) add on. We did not pay for the excursion price to Coz ($90/day) or the second Cenote day. To use our dives, we had to wait around and do night dives 10 miles away from our hotel (so, we left our hotel between 5:30 and 7am and returned after dark).
But, we had a blast. Loved all the diving. I still want to put a trip together to go back and do 3 days Cenote, 3 days open Ocean, just not in front of the Iberostar or Allegro resorts. I've heard the reefs north and south of there are beautiful, one is home to many many turtles. There is a pretty cool wreck in 100ft... gloves would be good on that dive.
Now, if the hotel to the north had a dock, from what the DMs told me, they were still doing discover dives and many of them thought the area was nicer/prettier than Cozumel. It could be the next hot spot. I'd really like to dive that mainland again... and Coz. If I could just find someone to go with...
