yak
Contributor
Well... this report will be shorter than my usual, mainly because I was shut out of all boat diving as the PDC harbor was closed every day I was there! 
I had booked a dive package with the local op (Dressel) at the Iberostar to minimize the time away from my family. I had also booked a trip to Coz with TankHa because they ran their own boats from PDC and got you back early, which ended up also biting me ass as they were also shut down on the day I went there. They offered a cenotes trip, which I took.
The cenote was Chac Mol, which has two separate entrances. Our first dive was from the Chac Mol entrance, which was a long strip of water under a protruding rock band. It was quite deceiving, as the bottom opened up to a large cavern below it. We roamed through it, maxing out at about 40 feet where we twice broke through the halocline (mmm nice & warm). It was cool looking at the ,cline from below, you could see the line in the water separating the two. Temps were 78-76 in the fresh water, 80-82 in the 'cline.
Second dive was via the "Little Brother " entrance, again scrambling down over rocks to the entrance. Another visit to the 'cline, and a trip to the Dome Room, where we surfaced for a minute to check out the dome, with trees extending down to the water line. Cool dives.
Another two days of closed harbors, then another cenote dive - Dos Ojos. This was my orginally-scheduled cenote dive through Dressel, and the only 2 dives I used out of a 6 dive package. I got a credit for the rest.
I think Verona's post confused the Bat Cave for Dos Ojos, as there is no climb-down-through-a-hole entrance at Dos Ojos. It's a wide, man-made stairs & path leading to a wooden platform with steps on both sides into the water at the edge of a large, open grotto with bats fluttering about. These were two spectacular dives, one through each "eye" (we passed the crocodile/Barbie shrine on the "Barbie line" on our first dive). It was very pretty, with stalactites & 'mites that looked like melted wax. They were very up & down dives, so perfect weighting was important to prevent, as our DM put it - "becoming spider man on the ceiling". They shot a video, which I purchased on DVD.
I had been a bit wary of cavern diving, and was always checking my surroundings to maintain my bearings regarding the closest open water (which was not always apparent). At one point I thought we had completely lost sight of the lighted entrance, only to look up and see the legs of snorkelers inside a domed cave. For that reason, the DM stressed that the fastest way to open air was not always behind you, and both DM's payed a lot of attention to the group on each dive that I did.
The Iberostar Paraiso was a big place. Nice grounds, peacocks and speckled hens running around. Large pools and plenty of lounge chairs, although earlier in the week you had to play the towel game to get your favorite spot. Shows were average, and the kids kept us from seeing the latin band, although they sounded great as we passed the stage. This was my 3rd all-inclusive in the PDC area (others were Barcelo Maya and Riu Palace), and the first time I was disappointed in the food. Not enough variety, especially at the lunch buffets near the pool. Nobody wanted to schlep all the way up to the lobby buildings for lunch, as it was almost 10 minutes walking with kids. The reservations-only restaurants were so-so, most of the meats were overcooked and were dried out, same with the fish. I did eat a lot of Mexican food, which was ok, but the Riu's was much better. Pool bars were great, other than the so-so draft beer, and at the kid's bar the ice cream was scooped not soft-serve, and they would also make milk shakes using cold honey-milk and ice cream - yum!
We ate a La Parilla in town one night - awesome nachos & tortillas!
Not quite the dive trip I expected, but I made lemonade from the lemons as best I could.
I had booked a dive package with the local op (Dressel) at the Iberostar to minimize the time away from my family. I had also booked a trip to Coz with TankHa because they ran their own boats from PDC and got you back early, which ended up also biting me ass as they were also shut down on the day I went there. They offered a cenotes trip, which I took.
The cenote was Chac Mol, which has two separate entrances. Our first dive was from the Chac Mol entrance, which was a long strip of water under a protruding rock band. It was quite deceiving, as the bottom opened up to a large cavern below it. We roamed through it, maxing out at about 40 feet where we twice broke through the halocline (mmm nice & warm). It was cool looking at the ,cline from below, you could see the line in the water separating the two. Temps were 78-76 in the fresh water, 80-82 in the 'cline.
Second dive was via the "Little Brother " entrance, again scrambling down over rocks to the entrance. Another visit to the 'cline, and a trip to the Dome Room, where we surfaced for a minute to check out the dome, with trees extending down to the water line. Cool dives.
Another two days of closed harbors, then another cenote dive - Dos Ojos. This was my orginally-scheduled cenote dive through Dressel, and the only 2 dives I used out of a 6 dive package. I got a credit for the rest.
I think Verona's post confused the Bat Cave for Dos Ojos, as there is no climb-down-through-a-hole entrance at Dos Ojos. It's a wide, man-made stairs & path leading to a wooden platform with steps on both sides into the water at the edge of a large, open grotto with bats fluttering about. These were two spectacular dives, one through each "eye" (we passed the crocodile/Barbie shrine on the "Barbie line" on our first dive). It was very pretty, with stalactites & 'mites that looked like melted wax. They were very up & down dives, so perfect weighting was important to prevent, as our DM put it - "becoming spider man on the ceiling". They shot a video, which I purchased on DVD.
I had been a bit wary of cavern diving, and was always checking my surroundings to maintain my bearings regarding the closest open water (which was not always apparent). At one point I thought we had completely lost sight of the lighted entrance, only to look up and see the legs of snorkelers inside a domed cave. For that reason, the DM stressed that the fastest way to open air was not always behind you, and both DM's payed a lot of attention to the group on each dive that I did.
The Iberostar Paraiso was a big place. Nice grounds, peacocks and speckled hens running around. Large pools and plenty of lounge chairs, although earlier in the week you had to play the towel game to get your favorite spot. Shows were average, and the kids kept us from seeing the latin band, although they sounded great as we passed the stage. This was my 3rd all-inclusive in the PDC area (others were Barcelo Maya and Riu Palace), and the first time I was disappointed in the food. Not enough variety, especially at the lunch buffets near the pool. Nobody wanted to schlep all the way up to the lobby buildings for lunch, as it was almost 10 minutes walking with kids. The reservations-only restaurants were so-so, most of the meats were overcooked and were dried out, same with the fish. I did eat a lot of Mexican food, which was ok, but the Riu's was much better. Pool bars were great, other than the so-so draft beer, and at the kid's bar the ice cream was scooped not soft-serve, and they would also make milk shakes using cold honey-milk and ice cream - yum!
We ate a La Parilla in town one night - awesome nachos & tortillas!
Not quite the dive trip I expected, but I made lemonade from the lemons as best I could.
