Cancun or Cabo
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Chavodel8en
Contributor
I've never been to Cabo, but Ive been to La Paz, which is generally regarded as much better diving than Cabo. And Ive dove from Cancun. IMO Cancun >>> La Paz (and hence Cabo) diving. Warmer, clearer water, more sea life.
What I hear about Cabo is that the diving is meh, and overcrowded. I will let folks who've actually dove there input. I only did two dives from Cancun, but I was impressed by the amount of sea life. I went in the winter, so lots of eagle rays floating by, and even saw a juvenile bull shark out in the wild. Eels, a turtle, grouper, some lionfish.
The one cool novelty about Baja diving is the sea lions, which are easily accessible at Los Islotes from La Paz. Im not sure how accessible sea lions are from Cabo. It was very fun diving with sea lions at Los Islotes.
Note that you can take the bus/taxi and ferry to Cozumel, which Im sure alot of folks are going to chime in with. You can also take a 2hr + shuttle from Cabo airport to La Paz.
What I hear about Cabo is that the diving is meh, and overcrowded. I will let folks who've actually dove there input. I only did two dives from Cancun, but I was impressed by the amount of sea life. I went in the winter, so lots of eagle rays floating by, and even saw a juvenile bull shark out in the wild. Eels, a turtle, grouper, some lionfish.
The one cool novelty about Baja diving is the sea lions, which are easily accessible at Los Islotes from La Paz. Im not sure how accessible sea lions are from Cabo. It was very fun diving with sea lions at Los Islotes.
Note that you can take the bus/taxi and ferry to Cozumel, which Im sure alot of folks are going to chime in with. You can also take a 2hr + shuttle from Cabo airport to La Paz.
mcohen1021
Contributor
If you do Cancun, you have the cenote and the bull sharks possibly available
Rob9876
Contributor
At the risk of perhaps stating the obvious, but just in case you're not very familiar to the area, flying into the Cancun airport means that you are within fairly close shuttle or rental car distance to Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Akumal and Tulum -- Cancun being the only commercial airport that serves those areas.
Additionally, many of us will find good flights into Cancun and then do the "bag drag" to Cozumel, which is about a 45 minute shuttle or bus ride from the Cancun airport to the Playa del Carmen ferry, and then about a 45 minute ferry over to Cozumel. So, basically only 45 minutes extra to go to Cozumel from PDC (even less difference versus Akumal or Tulum). If you do the bag drag, be sure to schedule your return flight from Cancun late enough to allow for the process (I usually try to fly out after 1 p.m. if possible, though a little earlier can work).
It really depends on what diving you want to do. Cenote diving is generally on the mainland scattered all around, you may want to pick which ones you want to dive before picking where you stay. If you want bull shark dives I believe most go out of Playa del Carmen. If you mainly want reef dives, then you can get those from the mainland, but Cozumel would be better. Night life would be more active on the mainland, while Cozumel can be fairly quiet at night after the cruise ships leave.
halocline
Contributor
If you are considering a dive trip to Cancun, you're missing it by a short distance. You can instead go to Cozumel, which certainly has much better diving than Cancun or Cabo. Actually you can easily fly to Cancun, take the bus to Playa (one hour) then the ferry to Cozumel (another hour). I have done that many times when airfare to Cozumel is much more expensive.
As others have said, Cancun is not a dive destination; rather, we who dive in that area fly into Cancun and then go to Cozumel or Playa del Carmen to do our diving, as it's an easy bus or shuttle ride.
Now that we have that out of the way, if we're debating Coz/Playa versus Cabo, I'd argue in favor of Coz/Playa. I did not think the diving in Cabo was that much fun, but then again, I lived in SoCal a long time and seeing sea lions was not a novelty for me. If the goal is seeing pretty fish and/or coral, then Coz/Playa is the winner.
Now that we have that out of the way, if we're debating Coz/Playa versus Cabo, I'd argue in favor of Coz/Playa. I did not think the diving in Cabo was that much fun, but then again, I lived in SoCal a long time and seeing sea lions was not a novelty for me. If the goal is seeing pretty fish and/or coral, then Coz/Playa is the winner.
You will have a great time.
Don't pass up a trip to the ruins at Tulum.
Look into visiting the ruins at Coba, about 45 minutes west of Tulum. While not as spectacular as Tulum, you can still climb the pyramid, which is generally not possible anywhere else. The view from the top is best in the morning, when the sun is to the east. There is a building on top that blocks your view to the east, so your only view is to the west, ergo early morning light is best.
Don't pass up a trip to the ruins at Tulum.
Look into visiting the ruins at Coba, about 45 minutes west of Tulum. While not as spectacular as Tulum, you can still climb the pyramid, which is generally not possible anywhere else. The view from the top is best in the morning, when the sun is to the east. There is a building on top that blocks your view to the east, so your only view is to the west, ergo early morning light is best.
Coba
A Mayan ruin in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Learn more about this ancient site and over 60 others.
www.themayanruinswebsite.com
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