Just got back from Cancun thought I would post a report for those interested in Cancun diving. My wife won a trip to Cancun on a radio station through Apple Vacations. My first thought was everyone says diving in Cancun is bad, go to Cozumel, well my mind has been changed and I was wrong. We stayed at the CAncun Riu Hotel and dove with Mayan Aqua Divers.
First the hotel:
Cancun Riu is a very nice hotel, big rooms, most face the ocean. Fullly stocked mini refrigerator (water,pop and beer). Many pools for that after diving nap on a lounge chair. There were 4 restraunts, 2 buffets and 2 that you had to make reservations for and 1 sports bar that was open 24 hours a day. The food was great. Only con was the walls were thin but after the first night got used to it.
The dive op:
After hearing the good reviews on SB we chose Mayan Aqua Divers run by Ben Mooney. I have nothing to say but good things about Ben and his entire dive op. Dropped him an e-mail and got quick responces, great comunications. All the people that work with Ben are friendly and do whatever they can to help you. He had someone pick us up every morning and take us back every day. Ben was our DM every day and Isidro was our boat captain. Ben does everything he can so you have a great time on the dives. He gets as excited as we do when a school of squid cross under you or you see the biggest turtle you have ever seen, you get the idea. If he has more than 5 divers there would be another DM and we never had more then 8 diversthe entire trip. The boat was nice and big but very quick as well. It had plenty of room for 10 -12 divers plus DM's. Ben always gave great dive briefs before each dive. I would highly recomend Ben and Mayan Aqua Divers.
Now the diving:
We did 4 days of diving the reefs and a wreck in Cancun and one day of Cenote diving. The reefs have a max depth od between 50 -55 feet, for us we had vis of between 50 -100 feet. Like diving in Cozumel it is drift diving but there is alot of surge. Bottom time for us averaged about 50 min. The reefs are not towering as in Cozumel but they have great color and sea life. Big fans and an abundance of coral. The The number of fish was amazing, there were times that you could not see the reef with the amount of fish covering it. We would desend into the fish and they would engulf you till you found the reef. There were some small swim throughs.
The wreck was a high point for me as it was my 100th dive. I had never done a wreck before and this was nice and open, it was in two parts with about a 4 -5 min swim to find the bow. We decended and viewed one of the biggest groupers I have seen as we drifted to the wreck. We saw 1 spotted eagle ray as we approached the wreck, 2 more as we circled it. After going though the wreck, where there were a ton of fish using it as a shelter, we saw 3 more rays. We then looked above the wreck and saw 7 more ray playing in the current. WOW, I thought nothing could beat that till 3 of us plus Ben heade over to the bow. After we got over to the bow and it was time to ascend up the line, aswe started up, we looked to the right andgot to see 17 -20 spotted eagle rays in formation. What a 100th dive to remember!!
The next day we went with Alvaro and Ivan to dive the Chac Mool Cenote. This was an incredible experience as well. Al has done over 15000 dives and still has such a pasion for the cenotes. Both dives lasted for about 1 hour long. If you have never dove a cenote it is well worth it and in April when I go to Cozumel I will do it again. Vis was amazing, haloclines were wild and the formations were intense. I cuold go on and on about this experince.
Overall if someone says there is no good diving in Cancun, they either have never dove it or went with the wrong op, we had a fantastic time. Dont be afraid of Cancun, drop Ben an e-mail and have a great time.
Tom
First the hotel:
Cancun Riu is a very nice hotel, big rooms, most face the ocean. Fullly stocked mini refrigerator (water,pop and beer). Many pools for that after diving nap on a lounge chair. There were 4 restraunts, 2 buffets and 2 that you had to make reservations for and 1 sports bar that was open 24 hours a day. The food was great. Only con was the walls were thin but after the first night got used to it.
The dive op:
After hearing the good reviews on SB we chose Mayan Aqua Divers run by Ben Mooney. I have nothing to say but good things about Ben and his entire dive op. Dropped him an e-mail and got quick responces, great comunications. All the people that work with Ben are friendly and do whatever they can to help you. He had someone pick us up every morning and take us back every day. Ben was our DM every day and Isidro was our boat captain. Ben does everything he can so you have a great time on the dives. He gets as excited as we do when a school of squid cross under you or you see the biggest turtle you have ever seen, you get the idea. If he has more than 5 divers there would be another DM and we never had more then 8 diversthe entire trip. The boat was nice and big but very quick as well. It had plenty of room for 10 -12 divers plus DM's. Ben always gave great dive briefs before each dive. I would highly recomend Ben and Mayan Aqua Divers.
Now the diving:
We did 4 days of diving the reefs and a wreck in Cancun and one day of Cenote diving. The reefs have a max depth od between 50 -55 feet, for us we had vis of between 50 -100 feet. Like diving in Cozumel it is drift diving but there is alot of surge. Bottom time for us averaged about 50 min. The reefs are not towering as in Cozumel but they have great color and sea life. Big fans and an abundance of coral. The The number of fish was amazing, there were times that you could not see the reef with the amount of fish covering it. We would desend into the fish and they would engulf you till you found the reef. There were some small swim throughs.
The wreck was a high point for me as it was my 100th dive. I had never done a wreck before and this was nice and open, it was in two parts with about a 4 -5 min swim to find the bow. We decended and viewed one of the biggest groupers I have seen as we drifted to the wreck. We saw 1 spotted eagle ray as we approached the wreck, 2 more as we circled it. After going though the wreck, where there were a ton of fish using it as a shelter, we saw 3 more rays. We then looked above the wreck and saw 7 more ray playing in the current. WOW, I thought nothing could beat that till 3 of us plus Ben heade over to the bow. After we got over to the bow and it was time to ascend up the line, aswe started up, we looked to the right andgot to see 17 -20 spotted eagle rays in formation. What a 100th dive to remember!!
The next day we went with Alvaro and Ivan to dive the Chac Mool Cenote. This was an incredible experience as well. Al has done over 15000 dives and still has such a pasion for the cenotes. Both dives lasted for about 1 hour long. If you have never dove a cenote it is well worth it and in April when I go to Cozumel I will do it again. Vis was amazing, haloclines were wild and the formations were intense. I cuold go on and on about this experince.
Overall if someone says there is no good diving in Cancun, they either have never dove it or went with the wrong op, we had a fantastic time. Dont be afraid of Cancun, drop Ben an e-mail and have a great time.
Tom
