Best good value diving in Mesoamerica or western Mexico

[Asanoth]

Hello,
we are planing a 30 days trip over Christmas and January, flying form Europe, from which we would like to allocate up to half (depending on costs) to diving. We have not decided where to go yet, but one of the three or even two alternatives we are considering is fly to GUA, do Guatemala and move to Yucatan, fly home from CUN, and another is to do Mexico only, ideally MEX - CUN and apart Yucatan visit also Baja California, see Monarch migration and possibly even some Aztec sites around Mexico City (probably not possible to do all in 30 days).
We have only been diving in south-east Asia (PH, ID, TH) and the southern Red sea.

I know many people praise Conzumel, but I am not sure, if it is in line with our interests. We are not so keen on true fish. We like more macro, all kind of creepers, on one side and rays and sharks on the other side - I know these are generally exclusive except for the world's best sites such as Raja Ampat or places in Oceania. We also like beautiful coral (which is probably technically "creepers" ) and my taxon no. 1 are cephalopods (and I only saw very few as of now). Green and hawksbill turtles are nice-to-have, but I would love to see other species. I photograph, so I am not fan of too much drift, but I would go diving to an objectively better drift site over worse non-drift.

We are also quite budget conscious: We are willing to spend money when it provides a good diving/travel experience (think bull sharks in Playa Carmen - we would definitely do that if flying to/from CUN), but, for example, it might not make sense for us to go to Belize, if the diving at the good(=far?) sites is more expensive than Conzumel/Roatan but provides similar experience (this might not be true). We could split the diving over the whole travel period, or concentrate it. Given our budget-minding, I am not sure it would make sense for us to go to a (remote) island such as Bonaire, but I have not looked at costs.

Quite importantly, I do not dive for the sake of diving, but I dive to see animals that live underwater. Please, do not scowl at me .

Now, I know that given our interest in macro we would probably be way better off in south east Asia, but we spent 6 months of the last year there, and as we are looking for land travel as well, we are looking also at other options. Furthermore, I would enjoy seeing new species that Carribean (or the other side) has to offer, way more than an average diver does (that applies for land species as well - but I went to Costa Rica last year, no diving, so Guatemala would be quite similar but worse in that manner). That said, we are considering doing 2 weeks Phillipines and 2 weeks land trip Thailand/Peninsular Malaysia. We are also thinking about Colombia, but that is more of a plan C or E.

Would you please have any tips on what to focus?

Thank you.

 

[34109411]

Hello,
we are planing a 30 days trip over Christmas and January, flying form Europe, from which we would like to allocate up to half (depending on costs) to diving. We have not decided where to go yet, but one of the three or even two alternatives we are considering is fly to GUA, do Guatemala and move to Yucatan, fly home from CUN, and another is to do Mexico only, ideally MEX - CUN and apart Yucatan visit also Baja California, see Monarch migration and possibly even some Aztec sites around Mexico City (probably not possible to do all in 30 days).
We have only been diving in south-east Asia (PH, ID, TH) and the southern Red sea.

I know many people praise Conzumel, but I am not sure, if it is in line with our interests. We are not so keen on true fish. We like more macro, all kind of creepers, on one side and rays and sharks on the other side - I know these are generally exclusive except for the world's best sites such as Raja Ampat or places in Oceania. We also like beautiful coral (which is probably technically "creepers" ) and my taxon no. 1 are cephalopods (and I only saw very few as of now). Green and hawksbill turtles are nice-to-have, but I would love to see other species. I photograph, so I am not fan of too much drift, but I would go diving to an objectively better drift site over worse non-drift.

We are also quite budget conscious: We are willing to spend money when it provides a good diving/travel experience (think bull sharks in Playa Carmen - we would definitely do that if flying to/from CUN), but, for example, it might not make sense for us to go to Belize, if the diving at the good(=far?) sites is more expensive than Conzumel/Roatan but provides similar experience (this might not be true). We could split the diving over the whole travel period, or concentrate it. Given our budget-minding, I am not sure it would make sense for us to go to a (remote) island such as Bonaire, but I have not looked at costs.

Quite importantly, I do not dive for the sake of diving, but I dive to see animals that live underwater. Please, do not scowl at me .

Now, I know that given our interest in macro we would probably be way better off in south east Asia, but we spent 6 months of the last year there, and as we are looking for land travel as well, we are looking also at other options. Furthermore, I would enjoy seeing new species that Carribean (or the other side) has to offer, way more than an average diver does (that applies for land species as well - but I went to Costa Rica last year, no diving, so Guatemala would be quite similar but worse in that manner). That said, we are considering doing 2 weeks Phillipines and 2 weeks land trip Thailand/Peninsular Malaysia. We are also thinking about Colombia, but that is more of a plan C or E.

Would you please have any tips on what to focus?

Thank you.

bullshark in PCD are mainly in november i think. There is not much of a reef in PDC and CUN.

Cozumel is nice if you like walk dive, they're is a nice reed also.

In the area you could visit coba, chichenitza and tulum ruins.

Either fron playa or cancun you could take a bus to belize city about 10-12 hours trips. From there you head dowm to the cays. In the mainland you have also the mayan ruins but i forgot the name. (you could skip the bus trip and take and airplane from cun to bze about and 1 hours ish flight.

From bze you could head down by bus, boat or plane to honduras. Again mayan ruins on the mainland. Reached to cost to la ceiba and get to roatan and utila.

The diving it s self is not cheap in mexico or belize i dont know whats you budget in mind.

Honduras is quiet cheap for diving back in the days it was like to tank dive for less than 45 us i could not tell you how much it is now.

if you have further questions let me know i lived there 3 years and visit multiple time those place.

cheers

 

[Asanoth]

Thank you, but I am not looking for general overview, but for specific recommendation of where to go over other destinations. I would be able to do some 20 dives (around 800 USD, less if we do PDC - I believe shark season is November - March).
According to the internet, Conzumel is now around 40 USD per tank plus gear. I would imagine Honduras would be way cheaper, but also way harder to get to and I have not yet read anything that would tell me it is worth the trip over Yucatan.