Former FLL Now MSP Diver
Contributor
We had four airline vouchers from Spirit that we had to burn off before they expired at the end of June. Not wanting to go to Detroit, we decided to do a long weekend in Cancun. This was not a dive trip by any means as I went with the family for a beachy weekend. But I did take my computer, just in case. 
After all the rain that the area had the previous weekend, we had five days of hot sunshine. We stayed at the Westin on the far south end of the hotel zone. It was nice, with a great beach, but a bit out of the action. But with the family there it was fine. We spent a day on the bus, going into downtown and Market 28 for hair braiding and souvenirs. We found the Wal Mart where we stocked up on snacks and water. Did the obligatory dinner and and t-shirt purchase at Senor Frogs. We also rented a car and drove down to Tulum for sightseeing, and spent the afternoon wandering through Playa Del Carmen, settling into a small restaurant/bar to watch both the Portugal/Spain and Russia/Greece games on big projection TV's while eating local food washed down with Coronas. Great fun.
After a day there I got the missus to agree to let me out to dive one morning. I had exchanged email with Cancun Mark to get some ideas of who to book with, but ended up booking with Aquaworld as they ran the water sports concession at the hotel I was at and it was just easier to do.
Aquaworld is a huge operation in Cancun, offering all kinds of water sports out of their main location. They also have a bungee chair ride suspended between two mock missiles out front. A 2 tank dive was $65, and another $10 for a shorty. We also had to pay 20 pesos for the marine park fee. The dive boat was big and fairly new looking, clean with a blue rubberized deck. It was very comfortable as there were only 7 other divers on it plus staff.
Since it wasn't a dive trip, we didn't have any equipment other than our computers. Regs were mix of Mares Axis' and Aqua Lung Calypsos - I had an AL and Melissa had the Mares. They worked OK though the bite tabs were bitten through on my mouthpiece. BC's were Mares Origins - all slightly faded and no hose clips, so we had to tuck the console and octopuses into pockets. Masks were generic and OK. Fins were full foot rental type that were a hard plastic and truly sucked underwater. I never kicked as hard as I did that day in a moderate current any didn't go anywhere. This was my first and last time traveling without any of my equipment and I will not do that again.
First dive to San Toribio. DM George led the dive, along with a Genny, a rescue diver who also shepherded us along, Jaxvier and Jorge lead the other group. They were all pleasant and talkative, making the cruise across the lagoon and out to the ocean pleasant.
I'm not used to and don't like escorted (herded) dives, but since this was a last minute thing we accepted it. We started off on top of the reef, but after some furious finning into the current, we made it to the ledge. I got a few interesting shots of some corals and hydriods I didn't recognize, but didn't see anything earth shattering. We then went back up to the top of the reef and drifted along at a fair clip. The reef top was pretty bare. I got quacked at twice by George for lagging the group as I took pictures. Water temp was 81°, max depth was 55 feet for 40 minutes when the dive got called as the first person hit 700 psi.
I was surprised at the pre-dive briefing that we were NOT to a safety stop, but just surface slowly and we could do a stop after the second dive. We did our stop anyway, which prompted the two DM's to keep looking down and flashing us the OK sign when we didn't break surface with the rest of the group.
We were offered water and soft drinks during the SI, chatting with the other divers and staff. Since there weren't many divers on board, instead of swapping out tanks we swapped out whole kits. My reg's mouthpiece also had the bite tabs barely hanging on.
We didn't move far to the second location, Grampin Reef.
Much better life on this reef, if only I could have seen more of it. The didn't have any no-fog on board, and I must have washed out whatever spit protection I has as I fogged terribly all dive and was spending all my time clearing my mask. I also again got stuck trying to fin into current. I was cranking with all I had and was barely moving. Stupid fins. Max depth 50" for 41 minutes, again turning the dive when the first person signaled 700 psi.
In all my dive trips this is the first time I've seen the behavior by divers bemoaned by the anti-PADI crowd. A couple of the folks were worst than those on their first OW dives - not be able to submerge, crashing into the reef, scraping bottom. None of these folks were newbies either - just folks mostly from the midwest who only dive on vacation. I now understand why the dive operators run their ops like they do with DM's and fairly strict rules regarding bottom time.
All in all, I'd rate the diving a seven and a half, with marks off for crummy fins, no no-fog on board and a so-so reef on the first dive. But I was able to get wet when I really didn't plan to, so all in all not bad way to spend an unplanned morning. I had left emails for Mark before I left, but we didn't get a chance to hook up.
We had a great time when we were leaving. We watched the Britain/Croatia match in the departure lounge with about 500 Brits waiting for their charter flights back home to Manchester. Pure bedlam and great fun.
Cancun's OK, but it's definitely geared toward a younger crowd in the entertainment areas. I witnessed things that made me vow my daughters will never go there alone. I didn't like that lots of restaurants were American chains, and you had to look hard for something different. We really liked Playa Del Carmen, it was smaller, more relaxing, catered to more upscale and sophisticated crowd. Next time we go back we'll stay there if we're not going to Cozumel specifically to dive.
Marc
After all the rain that the area had the previous weekend, we had five days of hot sunshine. We stayed at the Westin on the far south end of the hotel zone. It was nice, with a great beach, but a bit out of the action. But with the family there it was fine. We spent a day on the bus, going into downtown and Market 28 for hair braiding and souvenirs. We found the Wal Mart where we stocked up on snacks and water. Did the obligatory dinner and and t-shirt purchase at Senor Frogs. We also rented a car and drove down to Tulum for sightseeing, and spent the afternoon wandering through Playa Del Carmen, settling into a small restaurant/bar to watch both the Portugal/Spain and Russia/Greece games on big projection TV's while eating local food washed down with Coronas. Great fun.
After a day there I got the missus to agree to let me out to dive one morning. I had exchanged email with Cancun Mark to get some ideas of who to book with, but ended up booking with Aquaworld as they ran the water sports concession at the hotel I was at and it was just easier to do.
Aquaworld is a huge operation in Cancun, offering all kinds of water sports out of their main location. They also have a bungee chair ride suspended between two mock missiles out front. A 2 tank dive was $65, and another $10 for a shorty. We also had to pay 20 pesos for the marine park fee. The dive boat was big and fairly new looking, clean with a blue rubberized deck. It was very comfortable as there were only 7 other divers on it plus staff.
Since it wasn't a dive trip, we didn't have any equipment other than our computers. Regs were mix of Mares Axis' and Aqua Lung Calypsos - I had an AL and Melissa had the Mares. They worked OK though the bite tabs were bitten through on my mouthpiece. BC's were Mares Origins - all slightly faded and no hose clips, so we had to tuck the console and octopuses into pockets. Masks were generic and OK. Fins were full foot rental type that were a hard plastic and truly sucked underwater. I never kicked as hard as I did that day in a moderate current any didn't go anywhere. This was my first and last time traveling without any of my equipment and I will not do that again.
First dive to San Toribio. DM George led the dive, along with a Genny, a rescue diver who also shepherded us along, Jaxvier and Jorge lead the other group. They were all pleasant and talkative, making the cruise across the lagoon and out to the ocean pleasant.
I'm not used to and don't like escorted (herded) dives, but since this was a last minute thing we accepted it. We started off on top of the reef, but after some furious finning into the current, we made it to the ledge. I got a few interesting shots of some corals and hydriods I didn't recognize, but didn't see anything earth shattering. We then went back up to the top of the reef and drifted along at a fair clip. The reef top was pretty bare. I got quacked at twice by George for lagging the group as I took pictures. Water temp was 81°, max depth was 55 feet for 40 minutes when the dive got called as the first person hit 700 psi.
I was surprised at the pre-dive briefing that we were NOT to a safety stop, but just surface slowly and we could do a stop after the second dive. We did our stop anyway, which prompted the two DM's to keep looking down and flashing us the OK sign when we didn't break surface with the rest of the group.
We were offered water and soft drinks during the SI, chatting with the other divers and staff. Since there weren't many divers on board, instead of swapping out tanks we swapped out whole kits. My reg's mouthpiece also had the bite tabs barely hanging on.
We didn't move far to the second location, Grampin Reef.
Much better life on this reef, if only I could have seen more of it. The didn't have any no-fog on board, and I must have washed out whatever spit protection I has as I fogged terribly all dive and was spending all my time clearing my mask. I also again got stuck trying to fin into current. I was cranking with all I had and was barely moving. Stupid fins. Max depth 50" for 41 minutes, again turning the dive when the first person signaled 700 psi.
In all my dive trips this is the first time I've seen the behavior by divers bemoaned by the anti-PADI crowd. A couple of the folks were worst than those on their first OW dives - not be able to submerge, crashing into the reef, scraping bottom. None of these folks were newbies either - just folks mostly from the midwest who only dive on vacation. I now understand why the dive operators run their ops like they do with DM's and fairly strict rules regarding bottom time.
All in all, I'd rate the diving a seven and a half, with marks off for crummy fins, no no-fog on board and a so-so reef on the first dive. But I was able to get wet when I really didn't plan to, so all in all not bad way to spend an unplanned morning. I had left emails for Mark before I left, but we didn't get a chance to hook up.
We had a great time when we were leaving. We watched the Britain/Croatia match in the departure lounge with about 500 Brits waiting for their charter flights back home to Manchester. Pure bedlam and great fun.
Cancun's OK, but it's definitely geared toward a younger crowd in the entertainment areas. I witnessed things that made me vow my daughters will never go there alone.
I didn't like that lots of restaurants were American chains, and you had to look hard for something different. We really liked Playa Del Carmen, it was smaller, more relaxing, catered to more upscale and sophisticated crowd. Next time we go back we'll stay there if we're not going to Cozumel specifically to dive.Marc
