Best Mexican Destination for Beginners

[Dash]

Another question if you guys dont mind. I checked airfares and it was around $800.

I also checked a couple of vacation packages and found 4 night stays with air included for ~$800.

DO any of you use these vacation packages? Does anyone know of any specific scuba packages?

And, has anyone actually used the vacations advertised in SCUBA magazine?

 

[Spratman]

Unless you are booking through Apple Vacations, you can probably do better ala carte. I checked about a month ago with US Scair and it was $400 rt. We have a time share in Cancun, but I would look at some of the hotel packages available from just rooms to all inclusives. Good prices can be had on those, too. Dive packages, most all dive ops have a package dive program. For comparison, drop a email to allen.mason@britsincancun.com. He'll give you a range of hotels and prices.

No, I've never used any of the places advertised in Scuba Mag. Nothing wrong with them, I just think I can do better on my own.

 

[livewire]

I generally book my own a la carte packages as well for the same reason, I think I can do better price wise. However, I have used Caradonna Tours in the past and it worked out just fine... They're a travel agency like Apple that focuses on dive travel and they were knowledgeable and pleasant when I booked that trip a few years ago. You can find them here:

Caradonna Dive Adventures - Dive Travel and Vacations

A tip for airfare: If you can, flying mid-week rather than the weekend is a monstrous difference in price. Frontier Airlines now flies to Cozumel from Orange County and the mid-week fare is half the weekend fare.

Also, a generic tip for going to any of the Mexican resort destinations: Don't get sucked into the timeshare pitches!

 

[Fyshebait]

Good point. Diving here in SoCal is a challenge and it explains why tropical diving for us is just so nice and easy.

Maybe that's why the diving in the Caribbean always seems so nice to me, too...being in PEI, Canada, I'm used to the north Atlantic. Caribbean current is no more than Canadian current; visibility in the 100' range as opposed to the 15' range; and temperatures hovering around 25 C year round, a good 5-10 degrees warmer than the warmest weeks of the year here.

Only 9 days to go until Cancun...hey Spratman, I've been in regular contact with Ben...can't wait to meet him in person.

 

[Fyshebait]

DO any of you use these vacation packages?

Don't know if this will really be applicable to anyone travelling to Mexico from the southern states; I'm assuming you can go much cheaper than we can from Canada. We've always booked all-inclusive flying out of Halifax. We have looked into doing the a'la carte thing, but at least from here it tends to be more expensive...booking a flight alone would end up running us just about as much as the all-inclusive. We just start surfing the travel sites, and wait for what appear to be good deals. For sure, the first few years we travelled we ended up paying more than we probably should have, but lately I think we've been doing better. At least, when we watch the prices online we've ended up beating most of them. To give you a comparison, you said a return flight was about $800, from So Cal? We ended up paying about $1200 each all-inclusive, that's flying from Halifax, Nova Scotia (considerably longer) to a 4.5 star resort. That's actually the most we've paid in the past four years, but prices this year seem to be up a bit all over. One thing we've found about going all-inclusive, is that it's nice to just get there and not have to worry about anything...we've always been very well taken care of, you don't have to be concerned about how much you're spending on food or drinks, etc. We always do end up spending more, because we don't hole up on the resort for the entire week, but that's all optional.

By the way, I've always booked my diving separately, by checking out dive shops in the area on-line and getting suggestions, then making e-mail contact ahead of time.

 

[b1gcountry]

I agree Cozumel is not the best place to go unless you have some decent underwater skills. In cozumel, you will have:

Strong currents. Just because you are drift diving doesn't mean this is trivial. You won't be able to rest on the bottom many places, and you will at times have to swim against it to see something, or to get to a particular part of the reef. At least one dive op crosses to another reef in pretty strong current.

Blue water ascents. When you do your safety stops, you won't have anything to reference or hold onto. This is very hard for some.

Deep dives. Unlike places like Bonaire, you will be sticking pretty close to a DM, so you will have to be about as deep as they are. Things get harry-ier quicker the deeper you go, so smaller problems become bigger.

Just ask yourself if you are comfortable with everything above. Different people have different abilities at 30 dives.

Tom

 

[furious]

I am new to this posting a thread thing be gentle. I am putting this reply hear sense I see others have recommended Cancun. I was thinking that location would work sense we are also new to scuba diving. We would go in December during Christmas week. I am asking for some hotel recommendations from others and opinions on this choice. This is a honeymoon and would like something nice. Let me rephrase it, she would, I am in the Army, the beach looks good to me. We are working on getting certified so something not to exciting would be nice for both sense it would be a first trip. Thanks

 

[livewire]

Furious: We might be hijacking the thread here, but I guess it's related, so I'll be quick about it. My wife and I stayed at the Westin Regina in 10/06 which is in the hotel zone in Cancun and really enjoyed it. Very peaceful, the beach out front was nice, and there are views on both sides of the hotel so you can't go wrong. There are nicer places though, and the question of your budget can really determine what's available to you, so I would recommend doing your research on tripadvisor.com.

Originally posted by b1gcountry:

Unlike places like Bonaire, you will be sticking pretty close to a DM, so you will have to be about as deep as they are. Things get harry-ier quicker the deeper you go, so smaller problems become bigger.

If you do choose to go to Cozumel, I'd recommend choosing a reputable dive outfit and you won't have any worries with this. Like anywhere, there are easy dives and more advanced dives, days with good conditions and days with bad, deep dives and shallow ones. Once the DM understands what level you're at, if they're worth their salt they'll keep you out of places you can't handle. While I've never dove with you or your wife, I can confidently say that if you're California divers, conditions in Cozumel are generally much much easier. There is a lot of variety with many sites to choose from and literally thousands of divers of literally all levels that go to Cozumel every year. Those thousands of divers are not all experts with perfect skills in all areas, and yet the incident rate in Cozumel remains extremely low. If you have the opportunity to go there, you should take it, as it's the kind of diving that is on many people's "must dive before I die" lists.

Geez. The Mexican government should be paying me for all the promo work I do for them!

 

[Spratman]

I am new to this posting a thread thing be gentle. I am putting this reply hear sense I see others have recommended Cancun. I was thinking that location would work sense we are also new to scuba diving. We would go in December during Christmas week. I am asking for some hotel recommendations from others and opinions on this choice. This is a honeymoon and would like something nice. Let me rephrase it, she would, I am in the Army, the beach looks good to me. We are working on getting certified so something not to exciting would be nice for both sense it would be a first trip. Thanks

Hey Furious,

Since you are active duty, then definitely give Al Mason a call. allen_mason@hotmail.com or on his website Brits In Cancun, Holiday Discounts, Advise and Information for Brits on Holiday in Cancun, Mexico. Al caters to military and he is retired Brit Army. He's a great guy and quite a piece of work! He can get you some slammin deals with hotels. He also works closely with Ben from Mayanaquadive. (you know how those Brits are...)

I met Al when I was trying to track down Ben a couple of years ago. Since then, the three of us have had many a beer together. I'm a disabled vet with 17 years on the book active.

Between Ben and Al, you will be WELL taken care of. PM me if you have any other questions.

 

[Spratman]

Here is another good site if you are looking for inexpensive Caribbean vacations.

Cheap Caribbean