ZapDiver
Contributor
I've just returned from a week in cancún, in which I dived 5 days.
My buddy contacted Scorpio Divers in advance, and I think that was the best desition we could ever made.
DAY 1 - Cenotes.
Jorge picked us up in the hotel and took us to The Pit cenote near Tulum, it's located about 20 minutes from the main road on a dusty road. There we met with Gonzalo, a cave instructor. When we arrived, we put on our gear and walked sometihing like 60-100 meters down a path until we reached the cenote, It's basically a hole on the ground 6 meters (18-20 ft) above the water, so you must jump with your gear on into the water, that alone was a great experience. We went thru the halocline and a sulphur cloud, down to 44 meters (144 ft.) to see some human bones that are near the bottom. then we started ascending making a spiral while we admired the formations around the pit walls, until we surfaced after the safety stop. We tied our equipment a rope attache dto a pulley on the edge of the pit and made an easy climb out of the cenote, to finally retrieve the equipment ad return to the van. We headed then to the Dos Ojos cenote, where we made a shallow dive (10 meters - 30 ft) thru the tunnels looking at spectacular stalactite and stalagmite formations, this was a totally relaxing dive.
DAY 2 - Puerto Morelos
We made an afternoon dive with both Ben and Jorge in Puerto Morelos (20 minutes drive from Cancún) into the C-56 wreck, an amazing wreck with a max depth of 30 meters (100 feet) that is can be easily penetrated, where we travelled along it's three decks, and admired the coral formations that grow along the exterior of the wreck. After this, we went to the reef barrier and dived in a site calles "Cañones" (canyons in english), where we admired some huge coral formations, a big variety of reef fish and, since we exited at sundown, we were able to se how all the underwater "landscape" changed right before our eyes.
DAY 3 - Cozumel
The only bad thing about this day was the early pickup (6:15 a.m.) other than that this was an excelent dive, this we drove to Playa del carmen, where we took the first ferry to Cozumel, we met again with Gonzalo on the ferry and he offered to take us to a deep dive along the Santa Rosa wall, WOW!!! what an experience, all the fauna and flora along the wall were incredible, we saw some eagle rays, a lot of colorfull fish, and was basically a wonderfull dive! We went then to a nearby dock to take some shrimp lunch and complete the surface interval, and went back to San Clemente to make a drift dive, the clarity of the water was impressive, we saw a turtle eating that was not bothered by our presence and let us take it pictures and video, and since this was a drift dive, we could just relax and enjoy the views.
DAY 4 - Cancún
This dive was not planned, but since we where having such a great time, we asked Jorge and he made this for us, we went to Punta Negra and The Tunnel, on the reef near cancún, and let me tell you that if I thoutht that the marine life was great in the previous dives, I was wrong, diving here was like diveing directly into the Finding Nemo Set, there were huge schools of fishes everywhere, and they were not bothered at all by our precense (something that striked me as odd, since I'm used to the fish running away when you come 3 feet from them), I've never seen so much marine life togheter!
DAY 5 - Playa del carmen
Like the day before, this was an unplanned dive, But after asking jorge for another dive day, he arranged this dive with some of his friends, and we went to playa del carmen, where we dived in a small wreck called "Mama Viña" located at a 90 ft depth, Here there was a really strong current, so we had to roll back from the boatr and inmediatly sink and dive directly to the boat. There was a huge school of Jacks surrounding the wreck, and the life on the outside of the wreck war really beautyfull, we spent some time diving around the wreck and on the upper deck, and then we did a drift dive while we made our safety stop. Then we made another drift dive in a site called Tortugas, where we saw 4 turtles and ended the day with a night dive in Jardines, really close to the beach, where we sow turtles, eagle rays, octopi, and a a lot of coral and a lot of colorfull fish.
Well that was my dive trip, day 6 was to rest and on day 7 I returned to my home city.
I want to really thank my dive buddy (Damage), and all the friends I left there: Jorge Ben, Gonzalo, Angel, Ana, Jules, John and Charlie for a really great diving experience.
I'm hooked on Cancún and will try to go back as soon as possible.
My buddy contacted Scorpio Divers in advance, and I think that was the best desition we could ever made.
DAY 1 - Cenotes.
Jorge picked us up in the hotel and took us to The Pit cenote near Tulum, it's located about 20 minutes from the main road on a dusty road. There we met with Gonzalo, a cave instructor. When we arrived, we put on our gear and walked sometihing like 60-100 meters down a path until we reached the cenote, It's basically a hole on the ground 6 meters (18-20 ft) above the water, so you must jump with your gear on into the water, that alone was a great experience. We went thru the halocline and a sulphur cloud, down to 44 meters (144 ft.) to see some human bones that are near the bottom. then we started ascending making a spiral while we admired the formations around the pit walls, until we surfaced after the safety stop. We tied our equipment a rope attache dto a pulley on the edge of the pit and made an easy climb out of the cenote, to finally retrieve the equipment ad return to the van. We headed then to the Dos Ojos cenote, where we made a shallow dive (10 meters - 30 ft) thru the tunnels looking at spectacular stalactite and stalagmite formations, this was a totally relaxing dive.
DAY 2 - Puerto Morelos
We made an afternoon dive with both Ben and Jorge in Puerto Morelos (20 minutes drive from Cancún) into the C-56 wreck, an amazing wreck with a max depth of 30 meters (100 feet) that is can be easily penetrated, where we travelled along it's three decks, and admired the coral formations that grow along the exterior of the wreck. After this, we went to the reef barrier and dived in a site calles "Cañones" (canyons in english), where we admired some huge coral formations, a big variety of reef fish and, since we exited at sundown, we were able to se how all the underwater "landscape" changed right before our eyes.
DAY 3 - Cozumel
The only bad thing about this day was the early pickup (6:15 a.m.) other than that this was an excelent dive, this we drove to Playa del carmen, where we took the first ferry to Cozumel, we met again with Gonzalo on the ferry and he offered to take us to a deep dive along the Santa Rosa wall, WOW!!! what an experience, all the fauna and flora along the wall were incredible, we saw some eagle rays, a lot of colorfull fish, and was basically a wonderfull dive! We went then to a nearby dock to take some shrimp lunch and complete the surface interval, and went back to San Clemente to make a drift dive, the clarity of the water was impressive, we saw a turtle eating that was not bothered by our presence and let us take it pictures and video, and since this was a drift dive, we could just relax and enjoy the views.
DAY 4 - Cancún
This dive was not planned, but since we where having such a great time, we asked Jorge and he made this for us, we went to Punta Negra and The Tunnel, on the reef near cancún, and let me tell you that if I thoutht that the marine life was great in the previous dives, I was wrong, diving here was like diveing directly into the Finding Nemo Set, there were huge schools of fishes everywhere, and they were not bothered at all by our precense (something that striked me as odd, since I'm used to the fish running away when you come 3 feet from them), I've never seen so much marine life togheter!
DAY 5 - Playa del carmen
Like the day before, this was an unplanned dive, But after asking jorge for another dive day, he arranged this dive with some of his friends, and we went to playa del carmen, where we dived in a small wreck called "Mama Viña" located at a 90 ft depth, Here there was a really strong current, so we had to roll back from the boatr and inmediatly sink and dive directly to the boat. There was a huge school of Jacks surrounding the wreck, and the life on the outside of the wreck war really beautyfull, we spent some time diving around the wreck and on the upper deck, and then we did a drift dive while we made our safety stop. Then we made another drift dive in a site called Tortugas, where we saw 4 turtles and ended the day with a night dive in Jardines, really close to the beach, where we sow turtles, eagle rays, octopi, and a a lot of coral and a lot of colorfull fish.
Well that was my dive trip, day 6 was to rest and on day 7 I returned to my home city.
I want to really thank my dive buddy (Damage), and all the friends I left there: Jorge Ben, Gonzalo, Angel, Ana, Jules, John and Charlie for a really great diving experience.
I'm hooked on Cancún and will try to go back as soon as possible.
