Since getting a rEvo certification was a bit out of the normal I did a separate review of the technical training here. So this will focus on the rest of the trip.
One of the very fortunate aspects of living in San Diego is access to the Cross Border Express (CBX) port. This allows secure and convenient access to the Tijuana airport. You park in secure lots on the US side of the border at their facility, then enter the CBX facility, immigrate into Mexico on what is technically a land border crossing, and are immediately in the Tijuana airport terminal. While there were direct flights out of San Diego to Cancun they were far cheaper out of Tijuana. We also had a ton of checked bags. Wife and I each had a pelican case with a rebreather, a suitcase that held all the other dive gear and our clothes, and then an additional shared check bag that contained our sorb for our rebreather (yes the checked bag fees were far cheaper than buying local). We had backbacks and roller bags for carryons that held our loops and other electronics/batteries etc. So it was a lot of bags, for parking, checked bags, flights it was about $700 total for 2 people. Immigration was really easy, they saw the rEvos on the xray asked what is was, said scuba and that was that. We did have inserts in the lid of pelican cases that in English and spanish said they are scuba / life support equipment and to be careful. We taped a laminated copy of the sorb sheet (again in english and Spanish) to the keg, just in case. The Tijuana airport while relatively small was very nice and enjoyed the lounge before our red eye flight to Cancun.
Flight was uneventful, only real note is that the seats didn't recline so not super comfy but oh well.
Landing in Cancun was easy since it was a domestic flight, just grabbed our checked bag and then got our rental car. We used budget rental car and got a VW Jetta (equivalent). Boy what a hunk of junk that thing was. I was tired after not sleeping great on the flight but think we got screwed on a scam at checkout. Basically we were told if declined the insurance offered, they would charge us a mandatory $30/day (or something) fee for some sort of GPS tracking/monitoring. I probably should have fought back more but whatever, wanted to get going and get to PDC. So onto the actual car. The covers on the seat belt receptacles was missing and the car wasn't registering the seat belts not being fastened. This caused the car to beep for 15 minutes after every full stop, car being started, or over 100 kph. It was maddening. Key fob didn't work, the doors only unlocked when the car was started, and it was dinged/dented to hell and back. But it got pretty good fuel economy. That car was probably the worst part of the trip, ultimately it didn't break down and cost us a minimum in fuel but won't be using budget again.
We stayed at The Fives Downtown. The location was great, just a block off 5th near the pier. Restaurants and bars were nearby and plentiful, parking on site (but paid). The room had a limited kitchen setup that we didn't use outside of the fridge but while not small wasn't large either. Furnishings in the room were nice, well maintained, and recently renovated. Only nitpick was limited spots to hang stuff out to dry. The lobby area featured a bar area (that we never used), a bob marley coffee shop, and a resteraunt (we had the breakfest buffett here once). The rooftop bar we did use a few times, it was nice spot with view of Cozumel island, but a bit spendy. The hotel overall was really nice, for a few days one of the 2 elevators was out of order and that did create some long long wait times, but overall not a big deal. Our room had a courtyard (which opened to the sky) view, and one of the few nights it wasn't raining they had a concert/DJ up on the rooftop deck area and it was noticeably loud, so keep that in mind.
While the training was done by Paragon Dive Adventures, the local shop support was provided by Dive Rite Mexico. They were excellent. Everything was sourced, and arranged for us, the facilities were great for learning, and they were gracious enough to let us some of their drying room for our gear so we didn't have to lug it back and forth. Throughout the week Pablo was more or less assigned to us, and he was constantly going above and beyond to make the trip and training successful, no way we could have done it without him. Behind the scenes Victoria was also working diligently to make the trip a success, and we didn't have any issues so their combined efforts were greatly appreciated and noticed. I would aboslutely recommend reaching to them for diving in PDC, they also have a solid storefront/inventory so if you forget/break/loose something they are a solid resource in the area.
With us learning CCR basics, we didn't do any of the fun cavern area cenotes and instead stuck more or less to the bigger open area cenotes. We did two that we didn't do last time by visiting Mara Villa and Azul Ha. For the ocean dives we did 3 reefs (1 I would more consider a drift dive than anything else lol), and 1 wreck. Dives were off 2 local boats, both were more ponga style, which was fine, just a different experience with the CCR. Captain and crew for the boats were accommodating and helped with passing up bailouts (and my wife's CCR).
The food in PDC was as always amazing. Just like last time the standout meal was Primo, that place is just mind melting good. It's expensive for PDC but still affordable for what you get. Food on this trip also pretty wide ranging and excellent. Ranging from cheap but amazing tacos to Thai/Indian. The food on PDC for us just next level (just in taste and value) and one of the major reasons that for a good long while we will always take PDC over Cozumel.
We had 2 half days to explore and goof around. On the first day we explored the ruins at Tulum and had a wonderful, if hot/sweaty experience. Entrance was reasonable and the ruins were beautiful. The only negative was the beach was closed/smelly to due to the sargassum present. Parking is free if you take the longer way around that goes through Tulum instead of the right off highway thing (also means you have a bit of a walk). Still worth a visit and great way to spend part of a day. The other thing we did was the Xcaret park. It was actually really well done and would be a great place for the non diving members of a trip. I'm not in a rush to go back but that's not their fault, just other things to do in the region.
One of the very fortunate aspects of living in San Diego is access to the Cross Border Express (CBX) port. This allows secure and convenient access to the Tijuana airport. You park in secure lots on the US side of the border at their facility, then enter the CBX facility, immigrate into Mexico on what is technically a land border crossing, and are immediately in the Tijuana airport terminal. While there were direct flights out of San Diego to Cancun they were far cheaper out of Tijuana. We also had a ton of checked bags. Wife and I each had a pelican case with a rebreather, a suitcase that held all the other dive gear and our clothes, and then an additional shared check bag that contained our sorb for our rebreather (yes the checked bag fees were far cheaper than buying local). We had backbacks and roller bags for carryons that held our loops and other electronics/batteries etc. So it was a lot of bags, for parking, checked bags, flights it was about $700 total for 2 people. Immigration was really easy, they saw the rEvos on the xray asked what is was, said scuba and that was that. We did have inserts in the lid of pelican cases that in English and spanish said they are scuba / life support equipment and to be careful. We taped a laminated copy of the sorb sheet (again in english and Spanish) to the keg, just in case. The Tijuana airport while relatively small was very nice and enjoyed the lounge before our red eye flight to Cancun.
Flight was uneventful, only real note is that the seats didn't recline so not super comfy but oh well.
Landing in Cancun was easy since it was a domestic flight, just grabbed our checked bag and then got our rental car. We used budget rental car and got a VW Jetta (equivalent). Boy what a hunk of junk that thing was. I was tired after not sleeping great on the flight but think we got screwed on a scam at checkout. Basically we were told if declined the insurance offered, they would charge us a mandatory $30/day (or something) fee for some sort of GPS tracking/monitoring. I probably should have fought back more but whatever, wanted to get going and get to PDC. So onto the actual car. The covers on the seat belt receptacles was missing and the car wasn't registering the seat belts not being fastened. This caused the car to beep for 15 minutes after every full stop, car being started, or over 100 kph. It was maddening. Key fob didn't work, the doors only unlocked when the car was started, and it was dinged/dented to hell and back. But it got pretty good fuel economy. That car was probably the worst part of the trip, ultimately it didn't break down and cost us a minimum in fuel but won't be using budget again.
We stayed at The Fives Downtown. The location was great, just a block off 5th near the pier. Restaurants and bars were nearby and plentiful, parking on site (but paid). The room had a limited kitchen setup that we didn't use outside of the fridge but while not small wasn't large either. Furnishings in the room were nice, well maintained, and recently renovated. Only nitpick was limited spots to hang stuff out to dry. The lobby area featured a bar area (that we never used), a bob marley coffee shop, and a resteraunt (we had the breakfest buffett here once). The rooftop bar we did use a few times, it was nice spot with view of Cozumel island, but a bit spendy. The hotel overall was really nice, for a few days one of the 2 elevators was out of order and that did create some long long wait times, but overall not a big deal. Our room had a courtyard (which opened to the sky) view, and one of the few nights it wasn't raining they had a concert/DJ up on the rooftop deck area and it was noticeably loud, so keep that in mind.
While the training was done by Paragon Dive Adventures, the local shop support was provided by Dive Rite Mexico. They were excellent. Everything was sourced, and arranged for us, the facilities were great for learning, and they were gracious enough to let us some of their drying room for our gear so we didn't have to lug it back and forth. Throughout the week Pablo was more or less assigned to us, and he was constantly going above and beyond to make the trip and training successful, no way we could have done it without him. Behind the scenes Victoria was also working diligently to make the trip a success, and we didn't have any issues so their combined efforts were greatly appreciated and noticed. I would aboslutely recommend reaching to them for diving in PDC, they also have a solid storefront/inventory so if you forget/break/loose something they are a solid resource in the area.
With us learning CCR basics, we didn't do any of the fun cavern area cenotes and instead stuck more or less to the bigger open area cenotes. We did two that we didn't do last time by visiting Mara Villa and Azul Ha. For the ocean dives we did 3 reefs (1 I would more consider a drift dive than anything else lol), and 1 wreck. Dives were off 2 local boats, both were more ponga style, which was fine, just a different experience with the CCR. Captain and crew for the boats were accommodating and helped with passing up bailouts (and my wife's CCR).
The food in PDC was as always amazing. Just like last time the standout meal was Primo, that place is just mind melting good. It's expensive for PDC but still affordable for what you get. Food on this trip also pretty wide ranging and excellent. Ranging from cheap but amazing tacos to Thai/Indian. The food on PDC for us just next level (just in taste and value) and one of the major reasons that for a good long while we will always take PDC over Cozumel.
We had 2 half days to explore and goof around. On the first day we explored the ruins at Tulum and had a wonderful, if hot/sweaty experience. Entrance was reasonable and the ruins were beautiful. The only negative was the beach was closed/smelly to due to the sargassum present. Parking is free if you take the longer way around that goes through Tulum instead of the right off highway thing (also means you have a bit of a walk). Still worth a visit and great way to spend part of a day. The other thing we did was the Xcaret park. It was actually really well done and would be a great place for the non diving members of a trip. I'm not in a rush to go back but that's not their fault, just other things to do in the region.
