Cancun in Jan

[Moese]

We're going to be in Cancun for 5 days in Jan (25-29th) anyone else going to be down there?

Haven't yet chosen a dive operator and I'm slighty torn. My wife and I are newer divers and have dived with Aquaworld 2x before (once as Discover Scuba and again after certification last Oct right before Wilma). Though the boats were big and they do rush you into the water, we had no issues with them. I've read mixed reviews on Scuba Cancun and Manta Divers so am unsure of who to choose.

Anyone have any recent experiences that can offer some help?

And what water temps are we looking at in Jan?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Spratman]

Water temps should be in the mid to upper 80's.

I've dove with ScubaCancun before and have no issues. Email Ben at benrmooney@yahoo.co.uk. He used to work for ScubaCancun and has opened his own dive op, just down the road from ScubaCancun. Mayan Aqua Divers KM 5.5 on the hotel zone. I dove with him the end of August. You won't be disappointed. His website should be up in the next week or two.

 

[Moese]

Thanks! Scuba Cancun has come back to me with a good price so I'm leaning that way but before I book I'll check with Ben.

I'm trying to decide on all three days diving in Cancun or two in Cancun and one in Cozumel. How is the day trip with Scuba Cancun? What operator do they use in Coz? Is the transportation down to PDC clean and comfortable? Any other general tips on these day trips?

 

[Spratman]

Depends on you. They have a van that they run down to PDC. It's about an hour boat ride over to Coz, don't know who they work with over there. If you don't mind boat rides, that would be an option. Another option would be to do a day of cenotes.

I have a buddy that dove cenotes with Scuba Cancun and they scared the bejeebers out of him. Manta Divers and Leif get high marks, or check with Ben. He has a guy that is guiding cenotes now.

And last but not least is Pez Diablo, Dennis, here on the board. Very highly recommended, but you have to provide your own transportation down to PDC, where he is located. www.diablodivers.com

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[rjsimp]

Water temps should be in the mid to upper 80's.

Uh.. 80's

I don't think so.. mid to upper 70's for January.. I would plan for 75-78..

Moese, I would HIGHLY reccomend making your ocean dive trips to Cozumel and maybe do the cenotes in Cancun. The Cancun ocean dives are not very good, water is usually rough, and the reefs are not that interesting (what there is of them).

I have done the cancun dives before and I try to tell people to steer clear of them. However, a friend just returned from a trip there (October) and did it anyhow since he was there on business. He was VERY disappointed in the diving and the experience overall.

One experience my wife and I had with Aquaword; they took us out on a "Black Flag" day where they didn't even allow swimming. The water was so rough the port had been closed just before our trip. To make a long story short, everyone on the boat was sea sick except me who had to watch as everyone else was green. My wife and I were not found on the surface after a dive for over 45 minutes and only after signalling for a while did they finally see us (the ocean had very high waves that were cresting and crashing on us).

Just my 0.02..

 

[fisherdvm]

Becareful about taking dive boats to cozumel. The trip is long on a boat, and you might get sea sick. Aquaworld has bigger boats, and can go out in the harbor when smaller dive boats can't. But that doesn't mean your stomach can handle it. Scubacancun was fine for me, however, their dive boats have short ladder that is rough and rusted on the bottom. It can cut your leg up if you are not careful. Some of the helper are not always helpful. They could do a better job assisting you back on the boat.

 

[stevenatlaw]

I just gopt back from Cancun last week. We dove through Mana Divers. I was impressed with the frendly treatment they gave. We dove with Leif in the cenotes and it was a lot of fun. We then dove with Alex in Cozumel and he was a great instructor as well as a excelent photographer and cameraman. Finally we dove in Cancun. The viz was pretty good and the the divemaster was very helpful.

A great aspect of manta divers is they try to make things easier for you. For example when we dove in the Cenotes Leif helped put our tanks while we were in the water. When we dove in Cozumel and Cancun the boat captins had us take off our bc's to make it easier to get out of the water.

Overall they were a pleasant operation. I liked the fact that the Owners John and Mimi were from the states and were very accomidating even when we decided to cancel last minute because of the weather.

I would dive with manta divers again!

 

[rescom]

I went diving while in cancun and went with an operation called Scuba Cancun. They were pretty good although the water was definetly rough(1st week in January 2005). I would tryto get a dive brief before you get to the dive site as the noise from the boat, waves, and broken english makes it difficult to understand important things about the dive. The diving I did was all drift and although it wasn't bad, I may have decided to do something different being that I had rented equipment and the stress from fighting the current. As for the others on the boat, two people ended up yaking and feeding the fish. the waves were a good 6-8 foot swell. I love to dive and would dive again, but just prepare for some challenging conditions. My dive log says I had great visibility, 80 degree water, 85 air, and I wore a shorty for protection. With the currents I only managed a 45 min bottom time average. Shallow dives with 60' being the max depth. Hope this helped!!!!!

 

[Spratman]

You make a good point, Rescom. You definitely need to keep an eye on the weather. Many of the dive ops will take you out, nearly regardless of the weather, so they don't have to issue a refund.

 

[Spratman]

good point, rescom. Watch the weather. Many ops will take you out in a monsoon, so they don't have to issue you a refund. Climbing a boat ladder is always a challenge. Try doing it in rough seas....