Franklyhooked
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This is my first try at sumitting a dive report -- had a great vacation to Playa del Carmen (3/27 - 4/2).
Saturday - Cenote diving (Dos Ojos cenote) with Luis and Klaus from Playa Scuba (playascuba.com). Luis was a great divemaster very safety conscious; one divemaster with the three of us. The routes are laid out with guide ropes. First dive off to the right, basically just cave formations. Second dive to the left into the batcave. Surfaced to see a few bats before heading down and back to the exit. One nice plus to cenote diving it's fresh water, so the gear's already rinsed! Way fun; cenotes are great, but I'll leave real cave diving alone.
Sunday/Monday dove with Jason at Fantasea (fantaseadive.com), Playa Country Boy on this forum. Our first dive at his "secret place" we looked up and saw a sailfish circling us. Great reef dives, good visibility, water about 78 degrees. Couldn't find the six inch seahorse he'd seen a few days earlier. Sea turtles, brown & white, yellow, and giant green morays. We were a bit late to see bull sharks. Monday we dove the Mama Vina wreck at 90 fsw. Great dive with easy penetration route through the wheelhouse (watch out for the stinging black hydroid! Wear full exposure suit). Our group of four left just as a crowd descended from one of the large charters. Final dive on the Jardines reef was just fun. Sand was kicking up and Justin and my dive buddies complained of "poor vis" (about 40 feet); I normally dive the Puget Sound, so anything over 15 feet is a good day.
We had traded weeks on our time share to stay at the Mayan Palace beach resort; I wouldn't (couldn't) afford to stay there on my own dime so I can't recommend a specific place to stay.
Restaurant recommendations (we don't party, we just like good food!)--
Playa del Carmen: Carboncita's (recommended by Jason) great lunch, good price; the chipotle shrimp is outstanding. Casa Adella for supper (good live music, including great mariachi); Yaxche for supper (best meal of the week and very reasonably priced).
Puerto Morelos: Pepe Ole's nice authentic Mexican restaurant with great food and a salsa that hurts you and makes you want more. We were told that Puerto Morelos has several good restaurants, but only got to sample one.
I posted some pictures
I'm happy to give more details if you want to PM me.
Saturday - Cenote diving (Dos Ojos cenote) with Luis and Klaus from Playa Scuba (playascuba.com). Luis was a great divemaster very safety conscious; one divemaster with the three of us. The routes are laid out with guide ropes. First dive off to the right, basically just cave formations. Second dive to the left into the batcave. Surfaced to see a few bats before heading down and back to the exit. One nice plus to cenote diving it's fresh water, so the gear's already rinsed! Way fun; cenotes are great, but I'll leave real cave diving alone.
Sunday/Monday dove with Jason at Fantasea (fantaseadive.com), Playa Country Boy on this forum. Our first dive at his "secret place" we looked up and saw a sailfish circling us. Great reef dives, good visibility, water about 78 degrees. Couldn't find the six inch seahorse he'd seen a few days earlier. Sea turtles, brown & white, yellow, and giant green morays. We were a bit late to see bull sharks. Monday we dove the Mama Vina wreck at 90 fsw. Great dive with easy penetration route through the wheelhouse (watch out for the stinging black hydroid! Wear full exposure suit). Our group of four left just as a crowd descended from one of the large charters. Final dive on the Jardines reef was just fun. Sand was kicking up and Justin and my dive buddies complained of "poor vis" (about 40 feet); I normally dive the Puget Sound, so anything over 15 feet is a good day.
We had traded weeks on our time share to stay at the Mayan Palace beach resort; I wouldn't (couldn't) afford to stay there on my own dime so I can't recommend a specific place to stay.
Restaurant recommendations (we don't party, we just like good food!)--
Playa del Carmen: Carboncita's (recommended by Jason) great lunch, good price; the chipotle shrimp is outstanding. Casa Adella for supper (good live music, including great mariachi); Yaxche for supper (best meal of the week and very reasonably priced).
Puerto Morelos: Pepe Ole's nice authentic Mexican restaurant with great food and a salsa that hurts you and makes you want more. We were told that Puerto Morelos has several good restaurants, but only got to sample one.
I posted some pictures
I'm happy to give more details if you want to PM me.
