Diving in Playa del Carmen

[Matt S.]

I did some dives with Tank-Ha as a newb and they seemed OK. The cavern guide was definitely a good guy.

 

[Pez de Diablo]

We are staying at the Occidental Grand Xcaret

You are south of Playa del Carmen about 9 minutes from the center and north of Puerto Aventuras about 15 minutes. I would like to recommend that you contact my dive shop in Puerto Aventuras - Aquanauts or click on Diablodivers in my sig - or if you want to go to Playa del Carmen, try The Abyss.

Cheers,

Dennis

 

[jcbreitbach]

If you are looking for a good dive shop I would recomend Scuba 10. They are a new shop so their gear is in very good shape. The owners (Gerardo and Irene) however have alot of expreience. They both use to work at another local dive shop. I just returned from a week of diving and had a great time. They are located on 10th Ave between 10th and 12th Calle just a few doors down from Coco Bongo.

 

[Jax]

You are south of Playa del Carmen about 9 minutes from the center and north of Puerto Aventuras about 15 minutes. I would like to recommend that you contact my dive shop in Puerto Aventuras - Aquanauts or click on Diablodivers in my sig - or if you want to go to Playa del Carmen, try The Abyss.

Dennis - who would you recommend for us, staying at the Royal Hideway? I understand it is more north?

 

[Jax]

You are south of Playa del Carmen about 9 minutes from the center and north of Puerto Aventuras about 15 minutes. I would like to recommend that you contact my dive shop in Puerto Aventuras - Aquanauts or click on Diablodivers in my sig - or if you want to go to Playa del Carmen, try The Abyss.

Cheers,

Dennis

Dennis,

We are at the Royal Hideway. Do they have an on-site dive shop? When in Cozumel, we simply walked to the end of the pier to our boat -- loved that! Do you offer pickup service? We are not going to rent a car.

 

[Pez de Diablo]

Dennis,

We are at the Royal Hideway. Do they have an on-site dive shop? When in Cozumel, we simply walked to the end of the pier to our boat -- loved that! Do you offer pickup service? We are not going to rent a car.

I am not sure who the on site dive shop is, I will try to find out.

 

[svs]

We are staying at the Occidental Grand Xcaret

I stayed in Occidental Grand Xcaret few years ago and used Xcaret dive shop for 3 dives.
To be honest I don’t remember conditions of their equipment but nothing broke down during my dives (I rented everything at that time).
Pros for Xcaret dive shop: 1. Reefs are pretty good just in front of Xcaret. I did 40, 60 and 90 ft reefs, all very nice; 2. Walking (thought pretty long) distance from a hotel to the boat. You will probably get free one day pass to Xcaret from a hotel but with dive reservation (which you can make at the dive shop kiosk at the hotel) you can get extra pass. I actually got passes each time for myself and for non-diving wife and we visited Xcaret almost every day.
Cons: Poor schedule, morning dive was on time but later dives (they run three one tank dives a day) were delayed by 40-60 min. You can try just one dive and see how it goes. In my experience it is not too crowded but I avoided day when cruise ship was at Xcaret.
Note: information is 4 or 5 years old. Also as I remember taxi asked for much higher price then $5 from Occidental to PDC, be prepared to negotiate.

 

[kungfu_katie]

hi i dived with geofish about 2 weeks ago they were very good

 

[divinglife]

I will go ahead and repeat my favorite recommendation! If you are coming to Playa and thinking of diving with a downtown shop, they are pretty much ALL within VERY SHORT walking distance from each other. When I dive on vacation, I always take a little time to check out the dive shops available and make my decision based on what I see, what I hear, and the vibe I get from the staff. What one random board member likes may be completely different from what you expect. Come down, check us all out and then make your final decision!
Happy Bubbles!

 

[Ed Hatfield]

Thanks so much for the post. I was wondering where Irene went. She and her husband are two of the most respected divers in the PDC area. I understand that they taught most of the local DMs over the years. I had the chance to dive with Irene when she and her husband were with GeoFish and I must say she has been my favorite DM in PDC. I will check out Scuba 10 in FEB/2010.