Mayan Riviera - Best dive sites?

[Squbanut karen]

Headed for Mayan Riviera and staying at the Sandos Caracol in February. Looking for tips on:

1) A good dive shop in the area?
2) Recommended /best dives in the area?
(Small group of advanced divers who love to take pictures!)
3) Any recommendations on ceynote diving?
4) Planning a day trip to Cozumel - where's the best area for a
one day trip /2 tank dive?
5) Any tips about staying at the : Sandos Carcol ?

Tanks.
Squbanut Karen

 

[Allen Herron]

My favorite dives are the wreck Mama Venia and the Tortugas reef dive. They are close together near Excaret. Tortugas is a swift drift dive. Lots of turtles and if you get lucky like we were, a large school of huge tarpon!

 

[Byte Me]

Jason of Fantaseadive.com is a great DM and guide for the area. He can set you up with a day trip to Coz, Cenotes and take you to any of the local reefs as well - gotta love one stop shopping! Not to mention his service is top notch! I've dove Mama Vina, Barracuda, Cerebros, Jardines, Isolote, Punta Venados and Los Archos.

Los I'd like to do again, and of the rest my favorites were Cerebros, Jardines (which are similar) and Isolote and Punta Venados, again those two are similar.

The cenote I dove was Dos Ojos, Jason set me up w/ Luis from Playa Scuba who was a great guide - love the tacos on the way down to the Cenote! It was a blast and I'll do a cenote on every trip now! Love them. In Coz I dove Paradise reef and Santa Rosa wall. I'd like to do those again as well because the current was ripping the day we were there and we basically FLEW past everything on Santa Rosa.

Search for playacountryboy posts here to check out his videos of various sites around the area for an example of what to expect from the sites!

 

[cavew0man]

If I'm not mistaken, the dive shop at Caracol is Scuba Libre, who also have a location in Playa. It's Italian owned. I ocean dive with them once in a while, no complaints.

Recommendation for cenote diving? Don't miss it!

 

[Squbanut karen]

Hi Cavewoman

Thx for the tips. Q. Do Scuba Libre's boats have a bimini (roof) to get in out of the sun; and do they have ladders for re-entry. Tanks again.

Squbanut Karen.

 

[Squbanut karen]

Jason of Fantaseadive.com is a great DM and guide for the area. He can set you up with a day trip to Coz, Cenotes and take you to any of the local reefs as well - gotta love one stop shopping! Not to mention his service is top notch! I've dove Mama Vina, Barracuda, Cerebros, Jardines, Isolote, Punta Venados and Los Archos.

Los I'd like to do again, and of the rest my favorites were Cerebros, Jardines (which are similar) and Isolote and Punta Venados, again those two are similar.

The cenote I dove was Dos Ojos, Jason set me up w/ Luis from Playa Scuba who was a great guide - love the tacos on the way down to the Cenote! It was a blast and I'll do a cenote on every trip now! Love them. In Coz I dove Paradise reef and Santa Rosa wall. I'd like to do those again as well because the current was ripping the day we were there and we basically FLEW past everything on Santa Rosa.

Search for playacountryboy posts here to check out his videos of various sites around the area for an example of what to expect from the sites!

Hi Byte Me,

Thx for the tips, much appreciated. I forgot to ask about dive depths. Part of my group are very conservative divers and prefer max 70-80 foot dives; unless there is something unique to see. Do you recall depths, by chance?

Tanks. Squbanut Karen.

 

[Squbanut karen]

My favorite dives are the wreck Mama Venia and the Tortugas reef dive. They are close together near Excaret. Tortugas is a swift drift dive. Lots of turtles and if you get lucky like we were, a large school of huge tarpon!

Hi Allen,

Thx for the tip. Love seeing /photographing turtles. Will have to check out those dive sites. Squbanut Karen.

 

[Tigerman]

How impressive the corals and wreck dives in Mexico might be, Id say the cenotes is by far the most awsome dives to be done in Mexico. That is assuming you have fairly good bouyancy control, which I assume you do given the number of dives your profile indicate..
The good thing is theres so much nice diving anyways that more or less anywhere you go (atleast as far as the "popular" sites goes) youll get a nice dive. Downside is of course that some of the sites is pretty crowded..

 

[BEM]

We highly recommend Dennis at Diablo DIvers - great guy, great briefings, very safe and the best dives we did in Mexico.
Diablo Divers - Home

We dove Taj Mahal and Ponderosa.

 

[cavew0man]

Hi Cavewoman

Thx for the tips. Q. Do Scuba Libre's boats have a bimini (roof) to get in out of the sun; and do they have ladders for re-entry. Tanks again.

Squbanut Karen.

I'm thinking yes on both counts, but my memory is not that reliable... I'd email and ask.