Diving in Riviera Maya in July

[FunkyDiver]

Hi All,

I will be going down to Riviera Maya this summer with my family (2 divers and 2 non-divers). Currently we are going to be staying at the Occidental XCaret (suggested by AAA). I was wondering if anybody has any reviews or opinions about this hotel. Then I am looking for good dive ops in that area. My son and I dive, but don't have a lot of experience (24 dives to date). I think we would be better off staying to some relatively shallow (less than 50') reefs. I saw in another post saying that Aquanauts was a good operation. Any others that you would recommend? Also, I was wondering if anybody had done the snorkeling with whale sharks. I think that would be great and also something my wife and daughter could do as well so they don't feel so left out. Thanks in advance for you help

 

[yak]

Hi All,

I will be going down to Riviera Maya this summer with my family (2 divers and 2 non-divers). Currently we are going to be staying at the Occidental XCaret (suggested by AAA). I was wondering if anybody has any reviews or opinions about this hotel. Then I am looking for good dive ops in that area. My son and I dive, but don't have a lot of experience (24 dives to date). I think we would be better off staying to some relatively shallow (less than 50') reefs. I saw in another post saying that Aquanauts was a good operation. Any others that you would recommend? Also, I was wondering if anybody had done the snorkeling with whale sharks. I think that would be great and also something my wife and daughter could do as well so they don't feel so left out. Thanks in advance for you help

Dennis at Aquanauts runs a great operation. You might also try a cenote dive with him once you've got your buoyancy dialed in.

I think you're a bit early for the whale sharks. I believe the prime time is September-October.

 

[Tanked Monkey]

My wife and I stayed at the Occidental Xcaret a couple of years ago. We had a great time. They have a beach, but it's not what you may think a beach would be. Can't describe it, you'll just have to see it to know. We had a nice time at the Xcaret Eco Park next door, as well. Next time I would bring a little uw flashlight to peer into the cavern openings when snorkeling down the river. The spring-fed river was chilly, so I would probably also bring a wetsuit, but that would most-likely attract some funny looks. Although cheesy, the night show at the Eco Park was interesting. We stayed for the ball game, then left. Tip: If you want to eat at any of the hotel's "specialty" restaurants, you'll have to make reservations early.

We dove with DiveMike, in Playa del Carmen. They were great, and their service was excellent. When doing ocean dives, we took a cab to their shop. When we did cenote dives, they picked us up in a van. Our cenote guide was Victor, and I recommend him highly. In fact, when we go back, I would probably skip the ocean dives and go straight to the cenotes. I've also heard good things about Tank-Ha and Abyss. We didn't reserve our diving beforehand and weren't limited by that. There are several dive shops in Playa del Carmen, and I would recommend walking to each and see which one feels best.

If you have a car, Tulum and Chichen Itza are great if you get there early, before all the tour buses arrive around 10am. It also get's hot/humid pretty early in the day. We also had a good time at Coba. Spring for renting bicycles at Coba and you'll cover alot of ground at this enormous site. We also visited about 12 other ruins in the Yucatan as part of our 15 day trip, if you like going off the beaten path. If you're renting a car, driving in MX is quite a different experience than in the US.

Complaint: I'm not sure if all hotels are like this, but we had some confusion getting a cab from the hotel. I'm used to just hopping into a cab right after the previous fare gets out. We jumped in and the cab pulled away, only to have the hotel's "cab guy" chase after us and made us get out of the cab. He said the hotel had to call us a cab. Seems kinda silly, as the cabbie was ready to take us to our destination, and the hotel strong-armed him out of a fare. When I asked why, the hotel cab guy only said that the hotel had to call the cab, and then made himself busy with something else. Oh well.

Mike

 

[fasorud]

I dive with Dive Aventuras every time I am in Mexico. Fantastic shop, excellent Service.

 

[FunkyDiver]

Thanks for the info everyone. Some nice, specific info. Just what I was looing for. I do have another question- do you have to be cave certified to dive the cenotes? I have seen quite a few people on other threads say that they would skip the ocean dives and just do the cenotes, but I'm wondering if there are any prerequisites to doing that.

 

[Tanked Monkey]

You don't have to be cave certified to dive the cenotes, but your guide does. All you have to do is be good in your bouyancy control and know how to do non-silting kicks (such as the frog and modified flutter kicks).

Mike