Cancun / Manta Divers Trip Report 07/09–09/11

[macado]

CANCUN 07/09–09/11 Hotel Girsol & Presidente InterContinential
Dive Op: Manta Divers.
DON”T EVER STAY AT HOTEL GIROSOL!

This the part of my trip report from Cancun. I was also in Cozumel for 9 nights. I only did two dives in Cancun so it's not much of a trip report for Cancun but just my comparsion to Cozumel diving. You can view my entire trip report here: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=104134

This part pertains to Manta Divers and Cancun in general.

Manta Divers is a small dive operator in Cancun where I originally completed my Open Water cert. They are good shop with small boats. This is the 3rd time I’ve dove with Manta Divers they have very good prices and they always keep their groups small. When I arrived at the shop the owner immediately recognized me and greeted me. The original instructor who completed my PADI Open Water named Miguel is still working there. He also remembered me. Overall, I had a great time with Manta Divers. I wasn’t even planning to dive in Cancun but I’m very glad I did. My last dive was probably the most enjoyable dive of my entire trip. More fish then I saw in all my dives in Cozumel. The divemaster/instructor on our boat was Juan-Carlos. They are a very friendly shop and I highly recommend them if you want to do any diving in Cancun.

1) Chidales Gardens (Manta Divers, Cancun) 07/10/05
Divemaster = Juan-Charlos
Divebuddy =James (from U.K) completing his dive master certification. He is also a scubaboarder.
Max Depth: 25 ft
Time: 50 mins
Green Moral Eel, two lobsters, cowfish, spotted Scorpion fish, huge schools of yellow fish. I Don’t know what they’re called. Good amount of current.

Good dive, unfortunately, there were 3 people doing the “Discover Scuba” resort course and they kept bumping into things. Two girls & their father, father was being a real jerk to divemaster because he wanted to dive instead of listening to the instructor who was trying go over basic skills before diving. They definitely needed to listen instead of being antsy about jumping in.

2) Chidales Gardens (Manta Divers, Cancun) 07/10/05
Divemaster = Juan-Charlos
Divebuddy =James (from U.K) completing his dive master certification. He is also a scubaboarder.
Max Depth: 23 ft
Time: 45 mins
Massive schools of yellow fish. Words can’t describe how many fish. They were everywhere. Same yellow fish from the last dive. This was the most fish I’ve ever seen on a dive. It was shallow and short but there was far more life than I have ever seen in Cozumel. Also, four large barracuda and what looked like a trumpet fish. This was probably my second favorite dive the entire trip. No cool coral or reef formations but a MASSIVE amount of fish. Me and James sort of went off on our own while the divemaster/instructor took care of the three “discover scuba” resort divers. There was actually quite a lot of current/surge. AWESOME dive!


We did a two-tank afternoon dive on the same reef. I believe this is the correct name of the reef but i'm not 100% sure. Hopefully somebody can correct me, i'll have to email manta divers and vertify if this was indeed the correct reef.

-Mike

 

[dlndavid]

I did my AOW with them and they never gave me the crew kit included in the price. They did give me a polo though. I think they felt guilty about my dive instructor who lost me on our first dive. I couldn't descend fast enough and I got swept away in the current. I could barely see the group as they were getting far away. I kept swimming hard (amongst a bunch of 'cudas) and finally caught up. The instructor blamed me. He called in sick the next day.
Too bad you didn't get to do a wreck in Cancun, there's a real nice one there, big with plenty of safe swim-throughs.

 

[macado]

Wow, sorry to hear about that. The shop itself has always seemed a little disorganized to me but they were pretty good when I did my Open Water.

I liked diving in Cancun, lots of things to see.

-Mike

I did my AOW with them and they never gave me the crew kit included in the price. They did give me a polo though. I think they felt guilty about my dive instructor who lost me on our first dive. I couldn't descend fast enough and I got swept away in the current. I could barely see the group as they were getting far away. I kept swimming hard (amongst a bunch of 'cudas) and finally caught up. The instructor blamed me. He called in sick the next day.
Too bad you didn't get to do a wreck in Cancun, there's a real nice one there, big with plenty of safe swim-throughs.

 

[dlndavid]

Wow, sorry to hear about that. The shop itself has always seemed a little disorganized to me but they were pretty good when I did my Open Water.

I liked diving in Cancun, lots of things to see.

-Mike

It's Mexico, not Manta IMO. I had one other failed dive with them I didn't write about.

 

[joeabroad]

I also did my open water dives with Manta Divers. The shop was a little disorganized, but in an endearing sort of mom and pop way. Once in the water, though, it was great. My instructor (Jon) was excellent, far, far better than the instruction I had back home, and the experienced really lit the diving fire in me.

 

[Spratman]

Are you perhaps referring to Chitales? It's almost off the corner of the "7" of the hotel zone. I'll check again though. I wouldn't say it's much of a garden though, at least when I was diving on it. I guess there is some bragging rights about 100ft dives, but if you want to see lots of marine life, it's going to be on the shallower dives.

Glad you had a great time!

Jack

 

[macado]

You might be right. I wasn't 100% sure of the name.

Are you perhaps referring to Chitales? It's almost off the corner of the "7" of the hotel zone. I'll check again though. I wouldn't say it's much of a garden though, at least when I was diving on it. I guess there is some bragging rights about 100ft dives, but if you want to see lots of marine life, it's going to be on the shallower dives.

Glad you had a great time!

Jack