hola - got a cheap flight to cancun and want to head south to dive. looking for recommendations on an affordable dive shop that will take me to beautiful dive sites and for a clean,cheap hotel/hostel. not sure if i should stay around akumal, pdc, cozumel or tulum.. i just got my advanced cert in December so have about 20 dives in since i started last Sept and hope to dive 2 days with 2-3 dives a day..any help would be appreciated. gracias!
Welcome to Scubaboard.
One place you can cross off your list is Akumal. Nothing is cheap in Akumal but you can get some great deals on condo rentals.
If you are on a tight budget, PDC or Coz is your best shot. I would highly recommend that you get the Coz, PDC, and Mayan Riviera maps from
Can-Do Travel Guides. The three of them will run you about $30. On them you will find all the hotels listed, many broken down by price, and the webisites (if available). They also list most of the tourist restaurants, the major 'local' places to eat, super markets, dive ops, etc. I promise you that the maps are worth their weight in gold and will save you tons of time and money.
Since you are flying into Cancun, take the ADO bus to Playa. From the old bus station, you can catch either the ferry to Coz or a bus to Tulum. I think that the cost is still less than $10 each way and beats a $75 taxi ride from the airport.
Most of the dive ops seem to be charging around $35 an ocean dive. This may change since business is down and you may well see prices increase. Right now, the best ocean diving seems to be around the PDC area and the cenotes for diving are generally within an hour south of PDC.
Here are my three favorite sites for the coast,
Playa del Carmen, Mexico's Virtual Guide Book : Playa.Info Riviera Maya Hotels, Resorts, Rentals: Mexican Caribbean Vacation Mapchick.com home page
Hope this helps and have a great trip.
