Diving Akumal Area...suggestions?

[howler93]

I may be able to travel to the Akumal area and I was wondering if anyone had any diving recommendations, or any suggestions about lodging as well. Any ideas are welcome!
We'd like to stay near the Grand Sirinis resort, and I've not done any cave diving before, but I would be very interested to look into getting cavern certified and maybe diving some of the mellower cenotes. I will check for other threads too, of course. Happy New Year!
Thanks, folks!

Howler

 

[Token]

You should have a look at the Mexico forum here...there is some discussion of diving the Akumal area. To sum it all up, diving in the area is not that great. I snorkeled at the Akumal Beach Resort several years ago...there was a nice reef at that location, but there has been a hurricane or two since that time and it may not be good any longer. It appears that cenote diving on the mainland is a more rewarding activity. However, check the other forum...good luck with finding what you want.

 

[howler93]

We'd like to stay near the Grand Sirinis resort, and I've not done any cave diving before, but I would be very interested to look into getting cavern certified and maybe diving some of the mellower cenotes. I will check for other threads too, of course. Happy New Year!
Thanks, folks!

Howler

 

[TSandM]

I've only done one dive off Akumal, and I was not blown away -- a lot of dead coral covered with algae, although we did see some reef fish and a couple of lobsters. The diving off Cozumel was much better. But that's one dive.

The cenotes, on the other hand, are wonderful dives, with the light effects coming down into the caverns, the formations, and the halocline.

Where to stay depends on what you like. There are quite a few all-inclusive resorts along the coast. You can also rent a hotel room in Akumal, which is where I stayed when I was there, or a condo if you prefer somewhere where you can do some cooking.

 

[MC]

We just made our reservations for a summer trip and will be staying in Akumal. Planning on doing a Centotes dive while down there, so interested on if you go and what you do. I do not think you need to be cave certified for some of those dives, although I would assume that more complex dives would require cave certification.

We'll probably save our ocean dive trip for if we go to Cozumel for a day.

 

[TSandM]

The cenote cavern tours do not require any overhead training, or even any advanced training (and I have my own opinions on that). The diver really ought to have good buoyancy control and enough underwater experience to be calm in the face of minor malfunctions.

 

[Martina Brandl]

i can recommend you to the dive center diversity dinging..its a bit away from akumal..like half an hour by bus. but they offer great packages with dives in cozumel and cenotes also...great team and really professional! just visit their homepage Playa del Carmen Scuba Diving | Diversity Diving in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

 

[Mike]

I may be able to travel to the Akumal area and I was wondering if anyone had any diving recommendations, or any suggestions about lodging as well. Any ideas are welcome!
We'd like to stay near the Grand Sirinis resort, and I've not done any cave diving before, but I would be very interested to look into getting cavern certified and maybe diving some of the mellower cenotes. I will check for other threads too, of course. Happy New Year!
Thanks, folks!

Howler

When I have stayed in Akumal (land of toppes! I think there are something like 30 speed bumps between the main gate at the highway and back where we've stayed!), I rent a car and dive outside Akumal. Better ocean diving is a short drive north of you in Playa Del Carmen and just south of you in Tulum. I would book a few dives in Playa and a few in Tulum. Then you also have the big draw there which is you're right in the middle of cenote country. Many people blow large parts of their vacations when in Cozumel to come over to the main land where you will be to do a day of cenote diving. You're already there so I'd do those 3 spots, Tulum, Playa and a cenote or two.

Don't miss out on the La Buena Vida bar in Akumal, it's awesome. Very mellow, but very cool spot. Climb up to a crows nest table and chill out.

The bay in Akumal (half moon bay) is good for a snorkel but I wouldn't dive it, there are some old canons on the bottom, I think about 5-6. You'll see them if you know to look for them. And a lot of turtles usually in the bay you will see snorkeling.

The best attraction is Yakul lagoon, you can see it at the top of the map I posted for you. It's not easy to get to, we used to have to walk down a path to find it, you will probably need to ask around. It's 10 times better snorkeling then half moon bay.

Depending on what time of year you are there, you might be in luck to see turtles nesting on the beaches a short walk south of Akumal. Akumal is prime turtle nesting area!

 

[MC]

This question came up, do you really need a guide to dive some of the "beginner" centoes?

 

[TSandM]

YES!!!!!! Overhead diving is NOT open water diving. Off the cavern lines, there are large rooms in which you can get lost, and passages that can take you way underground. Sometimes two lines run close together, and it would not be difficult to stray from one to the other without realizing it. Floors can be made of fairly fine silt, and although it's not easy to reduce the viz to zero in the caverns, you can drop it quite a lot, and have someone lose the line. In addition, relatively novice divers who encounter a problem may or may not have the skills to cope with it calmly and without losing buoyancy or awareness -- that's what the guides are for, to make sure nobody ends up panicked under the ceiling.

Guys, there is a huge amount of controversy as to whether the cenote tours are advisable to begin with, but they are much too big a business in MX to go away. A group of cave divers/safety officers put together a set of guidelines for the qualifications and behavior of guides, and although they are voluntary and not always followed, I think they have helped keep this activity remarkably safe. When you start thinking you can cavern dive without training or a guide, you need to watch "A Deceptively Easy Way to Die".