Good multi-day dive itineraries starting out of Cancun?

[kanuck]

Hey folks, I'm going to be visiting Cancun in November and would love to plan a 4-5 day dive itinerary _from_ there (not necessarily doing the dives while based out of Cancun). I see this recent thread on Cancun diving:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/mexico/504624-cancun-diving.html

and I gather the diving "around" Cancun itself is not terribly remarkable. What are some options worth considering? For example:
1) Flying in and out of Cancun, but making my way to Cozumel (car/taxi/ferry?) and staying there for diving?
2) Fly on from the Cancun/Cozumel area to someplace completely out of the area like the Caymans?

I've got ~200 dives (mostly Hawaii and US West Coast), would bring my own gear and an SLR rig. This would definitely be a diving-focused trip.. I'd love to do a liveaboard in the area since it would maximize time in the water, but it doesn't seem like there's anything like that around Cancun/Cozumel (I found some discussion a few years back about a boat called the Moon-diver, but nothing recent and all web links to it are dead).

I'm mostly interested in the sealife and tend to prefer macro photography (though the big macrolife like sharks/whales/rays are always welcome .. I've never dived cenotes or anything like that, so would probably want to spend a day/2-3 dives doing that just to have the experience, but I'd want the bulk of the trip's diving to be in the ocean..

thanks,
ken

 

[Wookie]

Going to Cancun and missing the cenotes would be a terrible mistake in my book. I wouldn't spend all of my time in them, but a 1/2 day with a 1/2 day in Akumal would not be remiss at all. South of Cancun is Playa del Carmen, where the bull shark dives take place. I like bull shark dives, and it's an easy way to spend a day diving. Off of Isla Mujeres (which is North of Cozumel) there are whale sharks aggregating, as well as billfish. You have to time your visit, but it's a pretty awesome sight to see a couple of hundred whale sharks in the water at one time. No scuba, but then, you don't need it. The billfish diving is a sight to behold, I'm told.

Cozumel is nice, but it's a whole package, I go there because of the beer as much as the diving. Not that the diving isn't spectacular, but it's like being on a liveaboard with a queen sized bed. As much diving as you can stand, and beer. Good restaurants, too. I would not consider Cancun a day trip to Cozumel. The bag drag each way is a pain in the butt.

 

[kanuck]

Going to Cancun and missing the cenotes would be a terrible mistake in my book. I wouldn't spend all of my time in them, but a 1/2 day with a 1/2 day in Akumal would not be remiss at all. South of Cancun is Playa del Carmen, where the bull shark dives take place. I like bull shark dives, and it's an easy way to spend a day diving. Off of Isla Mujeres (which is North of Cozumel) there are whale sharks aggregating, as well as billfish. You have to time your visit, but it's a pretty awesome sight to see a couple of hundred whale sharks in the water at one time. No scuba, but then, you don't need it. The billfish diving is a sight to behold, I'm told.

Cozumel is nice, but it's a whole package, I go there because of the beer as much as the diving. Not that the diving isn't spectacular, but it's like being on a liveaboard with a queen sized bed. As much diving as you can stand, and beer. Good restaurants, too. I would not consider Cancun a day trip to Cozumel. The bag drag each way is a pain in the butt.

Thanks Wookie, definitely will work at least a day into the schedule to do some cenotes.

I'll be there mid-November, and while it sounds like that's bull shark season (November-March) down in PDC, it looks like I'm out of season for whale sharks (June-Sept) and billfish/sailfish (Jan-March) around Isla Mujeres.

So based on that.. I'm thinking about either:
a) 2-3 nights in PDC and doing a bull shark day and a cenotes/caverns day.. then make my way to Cozumel and spend 3-4 nights there
a) doing a shorter trip just staying in PDC, maybe 3-4 nights total and not having to deal with hauling all my gear around.

Thoughts?

 

[Wookie]

Yup, either one sounds like a dive fest to me.