Mexico Resort Diving Questions

[Mark Duddridge]

Hey everybody!

I'm planning on booking a trip to Mexico with my family in January 2009. While my family enjoys the sun, I'll be diving.

I have found a great deal in the Maya Riviera. It's a 5-star all-inclusive resort called Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda for $850 + taxes including airfare. That's about $400-$500 less than an equivalent resort in Cozumel.

I have a few questions though...

1. Is the diving in the Maya Riviera/Playa del Carmen area as good as Cozumel?

2. Are there dive shops in Playa del Carmen who will pick divers up from out-of-town resorts? The Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda is apparently 10 minutes out of Playa del Carmen.

I don't want to arrive at the resort only to discover that (a) the diving sucks or (b) I don't have access to any diving because I can't get anyone to pick me up from the resort.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Regards,

Mark

 

[dive pro]

Hey everybody!

I'm planning on booking a trip to Mexico with my family in January 2009. While my family enjoys the sun, I'll be diving.

I have found a great deal in the Maya Riviera. It's a 5-star all-inclusive resort called Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda for $850 + taxes including airfare. That's about $400-$500 less than an equivalent resort in Cozumel.

I have a few questions though...

1. Is the diving in the Maya Riviera/Playa del Carmen area as good as Cozumel?

2. Are there dive shops in Playa del Carmen who will pick divers up from out-of-town resorts? The Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda is apparently 10 minutes out of Playa del Carmen.

I don't want to arrive at the resort only to discover that (a) the diving sucks or (b) I don't have access to any diving because I can't get anyone to pick me up from the resort.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Regards,

Mark

Hola from Cancun
Find diveop in Playa del carmen .check out: dennis weeks. diablodivers.com, or research on this board. Have them take you diving to playa it does have good dives and let them take you to dive Caverns. Do Coz on your own take the ferry, get in touch with papahogs.com or bluextsea for 2 days of diving, I know they all will provide exact info of pickups or what you need to do to get anywhere. Cancun isnot far and transportation can be provided but it will cost you, or a dive shop may quote you with transportation included. I recommend 1day dive playa, 1 day caverns,2days Coz. shops in Playa do a coz tour for one or a couple of people it is easier faster to do your own, to me at least.
Hope this helps and when you visit Cancun check out Manta Divers! Cancun! Cenote! Cozumel! Selvatica Zip Line! - Home give us a toll free call to design your own diving package.

 

[Mark Duddridge]

Thanks a lot for your help, Miguel!

 

[dive pro]

Thanks a lot for your help, Miguel!

Your very welcome, another good choice for playa diving is jason or playacountryboy on this forum phantasea divers check him out let me know if I can be or service.

 

[DET]

I have a few questions though...

1. Is the diving in the Maya Riviera/Playa del Carmen area as good as Cozumel?

2. Are there dive shops in Playa del Carmen who will pick divers up from out-of-town resorts? The Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda is apparently 10 minutes out of Playa del Carmen.

I don't want to arrive at the resort only to discover that (a) the diving sucks or (b) I don't have access to any diving because I can't get anyone to pick me up from the resort.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Diving is different between PDC and Coz overall. Coral structure can be huge on some reefs in Coz., but some of the fish life is larger in PDC.

I don't know where your resort is, but it sounds like it could be 10 miles either side of PDC. I dought the local PDC shops would pick you up being that far away. Your resort may have an on-site dive shop. If you don't have an on-site or want someone else, you'll need to travel to downtown PDC where there are a dozen or so shops available. Google or use PADI's website to find some of them.

You do have the option of getting on the ferry to dive in Coz, or diving mainland cenotes as well.

 

[ItsBruce]

I was in the area in June. I could not find any shops that would pick me up at the resort, which was probably somewhere near yours. As a result, I scheduled a dive in the cenotes with a private dive guide, a gentleman named Octavio Perez (c_bluedive@hotmail.com) He supplied tanks and weights and picked me up and dropped me off and gave me one of the best dives of my life. I did manage to do some ocean dives through the resort, which were "so-so." (They may have been "so-so" because they followed the cenotes dive.)

 

[Oside Jimc]

I was at the Grand Myan last Feb and dove PDC, Cenotes, and Coz. IMO the coz diving from the mainland is a PITA, lugging gear on the ferry, hooking up with a dive boat once you get there, getting back, etc... Made for a REALLY full day for just 2 tanks. On the plus side I had outstanding dives from PDC. No walls like Coz, but lots of fish life, rays, turtles, etc. Good reefs. The Cenotes are NOT to be missed (unless you have bouyancy problems or are claustrophobic), Jason (Playacountryboy) talked me into trying them, and BOY what an eye opener!! My plans for this winter are a week back at the Grand Myan with at least 2 days of Cenote diving (probably with Klaus @ Playa Scuba), PDC diving with Jason, then move over to Coz for 4 additional nights to stay there and dive Coz with Aldora Divers. As for getting into PDC, taxies are your friends, from the Grand Myan it was $20 each way so next time I may just rent a car so I can visit Xcaret, Tulum etc when I'm not diving.

 

[Byte Me]

The two times I've been in PDC we stayed a $5 cab ride (well, who are we kidding? EVERY cab ride around downtown PDC is automatically $5!!) away from Calle 2 and the beach - which is Jason's shop address. So, transport wasn't a problem, but even where you are they have to have a cab stop there so you can get into town. Might cost more than $5 but not too much.

First trip I did 5 dives w/ Jason - Playa reefs are different than Coz, yes, but some of them are really nice. This last time I did Coz & Playa w/ Jason and Cenotes w/ Luis of Playa Scuba, through Jason. Great dives all. Coz the current was ripping and not exactly your typical relaxing PDC drift dive. Still fun but poor vis as a result. Didn't get to do any of the swim throughs he normally does. I will agree that schlepping your gear to the ferry, onto the dive boat, back out and across on the ferry makes for a long day - especially when you have a wife/family waiting for you back at the resort. I've really enjoyed my dives in Playa, lots to see and where I've gone w/ Jason usually have no one else around. I'll definitely be back! And for sure doing a cenote again. That was much fun!

One other important thing to mention that I don't think has been yet. While it may be a bit more "work" on your part to get into Playa to hook up w/ a dive op IMO it's worth it. While I'm not familiar with where your staying or if they have someone on site I can tell you that once Jason has an idea of your ability it's pretty much your profile you're diving. I've never had him look over at 1/2 hour and give me the thumbs up to surface. We've stayed at Riu resorts both times there and I didn't want a cattle boat w/ 1/2 hour tops of bottom time. There is plenty to see down there and I'd like to take my time doing so!!

 

[Mark Duddridge]

Thanks for the advice everybody!

So... here's where I stand so far...

We're booked at the Blue Bay Grand Esmaralda for January 7-14. Apparently the BBGE is 10 minutes north of PDC.

I've contacted a number of the shops in PDC. So far, the one that interests me the most is Phantom Divers. They offer a dive package for $340 that includes 13 dives (8 reef, 2 cenote, 2 Cozumel, and 1 night). At less than $30/dive, that's a pretty awesome deal. It seems from the feedback I've seen on Scubaboard that they have a pretty good reputation. I'm also waiting for some prices from Octavio from Nautilus. I've heard nothing but great things about him as well.

I'm totally excited about this trip and really appreciate all the good advice you've offered. The people in this forum are great!

 

[TSandM]

See if you can schedule the cenote dives early in the trip. You may decide not to do much ocean diving, once you've seen them!