Cancun Suggestions

[CA-Steve]

Going on a one week vacation to Cancun over Christmas and plan to get some diving in. Wanted to find out the following from those who have been there:
-- dive operators to use or ones to stay away from
-- dive sites
-- non-diving activities
-- good restauraunts/night life spots

Any input and/or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[rebelrph]

It just so happens that I got back from Cancun at
midnight last night ( or would that be this morning?) Anyway, I tell you what I did.
We stayed at the Cancun Palace which was all inclusive so I can't help much with dining out and I'm a diver not a "night-life" person so I can't help much there either. BUT, before you quit reading... I can help with diving info.

I used Blue Peace Diving which is at the red light
by the Omni Hotel (opposite side of the street).
Dan and Eva are the owners and instructors. I made
4 dives Friday and 2 Cenote dives Saturday.
I made 2 am dives with Eva while my 12 y/o took the DSD course and I made 2 dives with her and Dan that afternoon. These 4 were drift dives due to really strong current. AM dives max depth 54 feet,
afternoon dives 25ft. Overall the diving did not compare to Cozumel, but the sea life was much better than Coz. We saw numerous morays, lobster, schools of fish that literally numbered in the hundreds, 2 tutles, 1 sting ray and due to the shallow dives beautiful colors of both fish and coral. Water temp. 81 degrees , I used a shorty and was very cool , but not terribly uncomfortable. Mary Ann was our videographer and did the best job of any dive operator I've ever used.
The Cenote dive is a MUST do, if you're not fearful of tight spots or dark places. It didn't exactly live up to the "pitch" on Blue Peace's web site. I was picked up at my hotel promptly by a man named Peter who drove me to Playa Del Carmen and handed me off to Jose' who was to be my guide on the dive - this is where the "not exactly" part comes in... the pick-up and transportation in one of our air-conditioned vans .. the a/c part didn't pan out it had been many, many years since Jose's a/c had worked. Luckily , it was an overcast day and wasn't terribly hot , but the potential was definitely there...
About 20 minutes later we arrived at the Cenote and due to a rule of only 4 divers and 1 guide per group we had to do some re-arranging of people and I ended up diving with Natasha which turned out to be wonderful. She was a great guide who spoke 5 languages ( English, Spanish, French, German, and Dutch ). She worked with a dive op in PDC ( I think ).
This was my first Cenote / cave dive , water temp. 77 , visibility over 200 feet ( yes, 200!! ), geological formations absolutely out of this world !! It is well worth the time and defintely a once in a lifetime dive !!

Todd

 

[CA-Steve]

Todd:
Thanks for the info. I am not too comfortable with tight spaces so I think I will be passing on the cenotes diving, Two quick questions for you:
-- Did you make reservations with the dive operator prior to going down or did you just take care of it when you got there?
-- Would you recommend Blue Peace or would you suggest finding another dive operator?

Again, thanks for the info.

Steve

 

[rebelrph]

Steve,
I e-mailed several dive ops before leaving and decided on Blue Peace primarily because it was one that was recommended on this board. The other one that was recommended, Solo Buceo, never returned my e-mail!! I almost used ScubaCancun they had a good website and sounded professional. I chose BluePeace because of the aforementioned recommendation here.

I would not hesitate to use them again. Everyone was professional, services and facilities were good. Also, I trusted them with my 12 y/0 daughter Friday morning for the DSD course while I went diving. That says alot!! Their boat doesn't look the greatest , but it gets you there ( and back ).
The captain is excellent, on the 2nd a.m. dive we had 2 divers get separated ( they refused to stay with the group and got swept away by the current - which was STRONG that day ) the captain followed their bubbles and picked them up before coming to get the rest of the group. In my opinion his skill and knowledge prevented a bad situation.

back to the question... I made reservations and held them with my credit card and paid when I got there. Allen e-mailed me my "tickets" which I printed out and took to the dive shop.

I hope I answered your questions o.k. if not let me know and I'll try again.

Great diving...

Todd

 

[CA-Steve]

Todd:
A couple of more questions(sorry):
1. did you get a package deal with blue peace?
2. did they have a maximum # of divers on each trip?
3. Did you make a trip over to Cozumel? If yes did you go through Blue Peace or just take the ferry over and use another dive shop?

Thanks again.

 

[Warhammer]

I'd just like to second Todd's recommendation of Blue Peace. I dove with them back in August and was pleased. The one thing i should mention is that we had students on board each time I dove with them. It's not a big deal to me, since I just want to dive, but if it is to you........

As far as who to stay away from, Aqua-World. Unless you just want to get in a late dive/night dive and can't get something else going, then avoid them. They load the boat till there is no room left.

I don't remeber Blue Peace offering a package, but they may. You should email them and ask. Their website is at http://www.bluepeacediving.com/.

Their boat is a 6 pack which is one of the reasons I perfered them. They will however take a max of 8 divers, and it is a little crowded with that many on board. Entry is back-roll over the side. When you get back to the boat, you'll remove your gear and the DM will hand it up to the captain, and then you'll shimy up the short ladder.

While I didn't make the rip over to Coz, I dove with a couple that did the day before, through Blue Peace. According to them, the trip was long but worthwhile. Blue Peace provides the transfer to the ferry and has someone pick you up in Coz. They don't operate a boat out of Coz. they use another operator there. I forget who that is, but they will tell if you'll ask.

As far as sites go. If you like wrecks, they have a few that are suppose to be good. I didn't get to dive them due to students being on board and strong currents, but if you have the people willing to go, Blue Peace will take you. I forget the names, but they'll know what you mean. The ultimate dive would probably be the UltraFreeze, which is another wreck dive, but they won't go there unless they know they have an experienced group. The DM told me that about the only they do go there is if a group books the boat and that's what they want. Course you can always ask and see. We ended up doing all reef dives, and you can read my report at the link below.

PS...I removed the double post for you, since I saw that you reposted it here.