Mayan Palace Riviera Maya (Cancun)

[blackfin]

We are going to be traveling to Cancun in October and staying in the Mayan Palace Riviera resort. I am sure that someone on this forum has stayed there and could maybe recommend a dive shop that is close by the resort. I contacted the conceierge of the resort and he/she mentioned a "water sports" shop nearby which didn't convince me it was a "real" dive store. Thanks for any help.

 

[Wannabee]

Can't speak to dive shops in Cancun, but just be careful that you don't succumb to any requests to do the time-share sales pitch!!! We got suckered into it at the Mayan Palace in Acupulco, & couldn't get out!!!

If you decide to head further south for a day trip (only about 40 minutes south of Cancun), the Akumal Dive Shop is great!!

Have Fun!

 

[tropicalfan]

Yucatech divers in Playa del Carmen is a great op. When we stayed at the Mayan Palace a few years ago they were the op group that came to the hotel to do the pool stuff. Not sure if that is who they(Mayan Palace) still contract with. We liked them so much that we used them again on a later trip. Small boats and small groups. DM "Polo" was great!

 

[blackfin]

Thank you so much...I will check these guys out!

 

[GoBlue!]

We used Yucatec as well (stayed there a couple years ago....it was a breeze to just signup for some dives at the resort, get driven from the resort to PdC for diving, etc.)

One caution: my wife & I joined 4 other divers going with Yucatec from Mayan Palace on the same day. The other 4 divers just wanted to do 2 boat dives & call it quits; we said in advance that we wanted to spend the morning on the boat, the afternoon in the cenotes. Yucatec treated us very well, but the other 4 divers had to either (1) find their own transportation back to the resort or (2) wait until we got back from the cenotes late afternoon to go back to the resort.

So, be ready to be flexible, or confirm the travel arrangements in advance if you don't think you're going to spend a whole day diving.

Jim

 

[EricJ]

We heard good things about Dive Puerto Morelos, although we ended up not doing any ocean dives while on the mainland. Puerto Morelos is a neat little coastal town just north of the Mayan Palace. We dove some cenotes with Hidden Worlds and had a good experience. I've heard good things about Yucatek.

 

[goneballistic]

We stayed in Mayan Palace about a month ago for a week. We got up and went to Playa Del Carmen every day but didn't see any dive shops local to the Mayan Palace. The Mayan is a really nice place but it's a bit removed from the local stuff.

Go to playa and you'll have more good dive shops than you can shake a stick at. If you rent a car you are good-to-go, we didn't have a car we just took the white shuttle buses that go by every few minutes. They were 10 or 20 peso's per person each way so they are really inexpensive. It's about a 15-20 minute ride from the Mayan into Playa.

We also go suckered into a timeshare presentation (well, suckered isnt' the right word, we went in knowing it was a timeshare deal but instead of a small room we got the whole suite for a week by attending it so we just suffered through it and then spent two-three hours saying "no thanks, not thanks, we already have one, no thanks, I know it's a good deal, I know this price will never be this low again, yes I'm sober, no thanks, I know it's a good deal, no I don't want to buy one at half the price, etc.... )

I used both Yucatec divers and Studio Blue while I was there. Yucatec was nice but Studio Blue was AWESOME. They were very accomodating of my pregnant wife, I went on one dive out at Cozumel with them and when they heard my pregnant wife was sad she couldn't dive with them they offered to let me go with one of the "Discover Scuba" classes at Paraiso Reef where I could dive and she could snorkel along with us so she could go too. Then they took her on a sweet snorkeling trip while I went on a wreck dive.

I think their website is www.cozumel-diving.net/studio-blue
you can also see pictures from some of our dives at www.phantomdivers.com

They were totally great. They have a store in Playa del Carmen and also one out at Cozumel.

The Mayan is great but make sure you have some mosquito dope, we were in Cancun for two days and no bites but in the Riviera Maya I got *hammered* by mosquitos. I'm 6'5" and a hair over 300 lbs so I am a traveling buffet for skeeters and they took full effect.

Have fun down there, we had a blast and want to go back in two years so my wife can go diving too. She was pretty mad I got to go and she didn't.


matt

 

[geraldp]

We are going to be traveling to Cancun in October and staying in the Mayan Palace Riviera resort.

Hey we're going to be there too on 10/22-29. On my last trip there (last October) I dove with Dive Puerto Morelos, and am planning on doing that again this year. They are very good and come well recommended on this board. The town of Puerto Morelos is about a 15 minute taxi drive North of the Mayan Palace resort, whereas Playa Del Carmen is closer to 25 minutes South of the resort. If you don't rent a car you might take that into account as it gets expensive taxiing back and forth every day. The bus is a very cheap alternative, but you have to drag your gear around. On multi-day dives some dive-ops will hold your gear for you (DivePuertoMorelos does).

The onsite dive op (for Mayan Palace) that I looked at only did 1-tank dives, and they wanted the same price as everybody elses 2-tank dive trips, so you might be careful there. Other than price I haven't heard any bad reports from them.

If you've never been to the Mayan Palace before you're in for a treat... it's a wonderful destination resort with fantastic pools. This will be my 3rd trip in 18 months. I've never been into Cancun itself, but Playa Del Carmen is a great little town, and last trip I discovered that the town of Puerto Morelos is a lot of fun too. Good food and relaxed atmosphere. I always ferry over to Cozumel for a day of diving as well.

Jerry

 

[shiekarj]

Hi, I posted a similar reply in another thread. In case you did not see it...

7 of us (including small children) stayed at the Mayan Palace in June 2004. I was the only diver in our group. We rented a car and drove about 10 minutes north to Puerto Morelos. I dove with Dive Puerto Morelos. They made me feel welcome and they took great care of me! Not crowded at all!!! I have a journal posted at:

http://www.rcicommunity.com/plannin...JournalID=33576

It is mostly information about the Mayan Palace, but I also posted some basic info about Dive Puerto Morelos.

Wish I were going with you... We are going back in July 2006.

 

[blackfin]

Excellent information - thank you all!