How is the diving off Playa del Carmen?

[ReginaL]

Hi Folks, I'm new to this forum. I've dived many sites off of Mexico and I'm considering Playa del Carmen for economic reasons. Can any of you give me your opinions on the health of the reef and diversity in 2024? Thank you!

 

[LFMarm]

Not sure about the reef but the cenotes are world class.

 

[lowwall]

It's one of the best places to dive cenotes if that's your thing. As far as the ocean, I'd dive it if I were stuck there for some reason, but otherwise there's a reason that PdC dive shops all offer (expensive) excursions to Coz.

 

[34109411]

not much of a reef in PDC it s a sandy botom. back in the days that 25 years ago cancun diving was actually quiet nice.

Cenotes are welll worth it. Otherwise head down to cuzomel if you could make it akumal is nice also.

 

[CHdivers]

Hello,

i did dive there last year, the ocean was nice, but you have to be careful about the currents, they can be very strong.

As the others before said, the ceynotes there are definitely world class...
Usually prices there are reasonable.

You just have to watch that you go with the right guides, there is some really bad ones that are even stealing.
Security is unfortunately always a big topic in mexico and yucatan...

If you have any specific questions, you can ask.

regards

 

[rongoodman]

Jardine's Reef is nice and there is a sunken shrimp boat a little farther south, the Mama Vina. The cenotes are the main draw, though.

 

[ibj40]

Reefs get better if you go further south. We used to dive frequently from Puerto Aventuras, and the reefs there had good structure and abundant marine life.

 

[jonhall]

considering Playa del Carmen for economic reasons

PDC is a pretty good size city with 20 miles of coastline. I'll concur with and add some of my suggestions to what others have said.

If you're into cenotes (even if you're not), a day of 2 dives in a cenote is an experience. They're not my thing - I like the ocean - but if all that was available were cenotes, I'd dive them - there are fantastic geologic features to see.

The reef along the coast is nothing special, IMO. Not much, if any (as I recall), color and not super fishy.

I would suggest, if you go, to find a resort that has a dive op on site, unless you rent a car and don't mind driving. A dive op, such as Dressel Divers, is located at several resorts and also picks up from different resorts. They offer different packages that can include a day trip to Cozumel for 2 dives, as well as cenotes - prices are reasonable. But definitely do a day trip to Cozumel.

The first time I dove in PDC, I took a taxi to Puerto Morelos (about 15 minutes north from where I was staying) to dive. I would recommend this over diving in PDC. Saw more life, reefs, and a nice wreck.

 

[arew+4]

I did a 2 dives last year out of pdc, diving on a vacation as opposed to a dive vacation. I would say it's similar to the middle keys not a lot of structure more or less patchy reefs. Usual suspects.

 

[Leobendive]

I was there in December 2018. We did 2 dives on pdc reefs - it was nice but nothing special. Depending on the season they have a non feeding-bullshark dive on offer. The first dive is to 25m with the bullsharks (jardines deep), the 2nd dive at the reef close by (jardines shallow) - did that twice - not only the bullshark-dive was great, also jardines shallow was a nice coral garden with lots of fish. We could not dive cozumel because on the day we went there, the harbour was closed, as soon as we got on the dive boat (It was actually not that bad but it seems they were overly cautious as they had a boat sinking a few days before). Together with the cenotes pdc was definitely a nice diving trip. We did the cenotes the pit, dos ojos and dreamgate, dreamgate being my favorite. As a substitute for cozumel we also did chikin ha upon return from cozumel - it was not as good as the other cenotes but better than not diving that day . As it was already 6 years ago I cannot say if anything changed since.