Tim Ingersoll
Contributor
Spent four days in Playa de Carmen staying at the H10 resort just north of Playa de Carmen.
The Resort. Its an all-inclusive that includes booze. Price pp including airfare out of Rochester, NY and all transfers was $725.00. Can't beat that. The resort itsself was above average in all respects. If you expect the Four Seasons you may be disappointed but if you want clean relatively modern accommodations with average food you won't be disappointed. Very cosmopolitan crowd. Met people from Brazil, former East Germany, Spain and England. The buffet is available during breakfast, lunch and dinner and there are three specialty restaurants which require a reservation. We only tried the Japanese and I can say skip it. If your room smells a bit its normal. Just turn on your bathroom fan when you get there and don't turn it off.
The diving. I did one dive in Playa de Carmen, two in Cozumel and two centotes dives.
The dive operation at the resort was top notch. They had enthusiastic staff and the diving was surprisingly good. The vis at Mox Che and was in the 60 foot range. It was a drift dive with mild current. We dove an eight foot wall with plenty of soft coral life. Saw a couple turtles, a moray eel and a very large crab. I also saw some very large schools of reef fish. Overall I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the diving.
The second day I got up at 5:30 a.m. to catch the 6:00 a.m. ferry to dive with Aldora in Cozumel. Yeah I know crazy huh? I have been diving with this outfit for nine straight trips to Coz since my first trip to Cozumel in 2000. I love the steel tanks, great divemasters and extended bottom times. Both dives were in excess of an hour and the second was eighty mintues. I was with a good bunch of very experienced divers and it was a pleasure to dive with them. I think everyone on the dives was actively looking for and finding stuff for all to see.
The first dive was Maracaibo Deep and as advertised it was! I maxed out at 130 feet within ten minutes of getting in the water. You definitely need to watch your depth and computer on this dive. I dive a pretty conservative Suunto and I spent the last half hour of the first dive twenty feet above the group just to stay out of deco mode. Despite the wonderful wall and coral formations the wildlife was pretty scarce. Saw a turtle at the surface and one moray eel. Still a great dive.
The scond,and one of the longest dives I've ever done on one tank, was Delilah. This classic Cozumel second dive is a critter hunt from start to finish. Spotted the usual suspects. The reef seemed somewhat recovered from the hurricane damage I saw two years ago.
The last two dives were in the cenotes. It was my first experience with cavern diving. I dove with a dive operation out of Puerto Adventuras. It was a short drive from the resort by cab. The dive op was professional and I never felt uncomfortable in the overhead environment. I would classify this diving as beginner skill level and a good lesson in bouyancy control. We dove the two sides of the Chac Mool cenote. Generally its small passageways underwater opening into chambers. Some are completely submerged but some are open to the light. There is really no wildlife although we did see several small freshwater tropical fish and a box turtle. There also a lot of fossils in the walls. One of the most interesting things about the dive was the halocline. This is where slatwater has seeped into the fresh water system and formed a bottom layer that is a little warmer. It also disorts light coming from above the halocline. Trippy is the ony word that works.
Travel both ways was a little unpredictable. We ended up being delayed in Rochester because the Delta plane couldn't close the outside door. So we took an American flght to NYC instead of IAD and flew United instead of Delta to Cancun. Confusing but we got into Cancun at 7:00 p.m. instead of 4:00 p.m. Big whoop! I am a firm believer in positive attitude while travelling. No matter what happens keep your attitude positive and good things will happen. Oh, and as soon as they think a flight may be cancelled get in line first to be reticketed and still hold your seat on the original flight until its actually cancelled. Its the only reason we got out on the same day when they couldn't close the door. As soon as you are told to disembark due to a technical problem or that the flight may be delayed get in line to reticket.
Overall a great trip. Cheap, quick and I finally did the cenotes dives.
The Resort. Its an all-inclusive that includes booze. Price pp including airfare out of Rochester, NY and all transfers was $725.00. Can't beat that. The resort itsself was above average in all respects. If you expect the Four Seasons you may be disappointed but if you want clean relatively modern accommodations with average food you won't be disappointed. Very cosmopolitan crowd. Met people from Brazil, former East Germany, Spain and England. The buffet is available during breakfast, lunch and dinner and there are three specialty restaurants which require a reservation. We only tried the Japanese and I can say skip it. If your room smells a bit its normal. Just turn on your bathroom fan when you get there and don't turn it off.
The diving. I did one dive in Playa de Carmen, two in Cozumel and two centotes dives.
The dive operation at the resort was top notch. They had enthusiastic staff and the diving was surprisingly good. The vis at Mox Che and was in the 60 foot range. It was a drift dive with mild current. We dove an eight foot wall with plenty of soft coral life. Saw a couple turtles, a moray eel and a very large crab. I also saw some very large schools of reef fish. Overall I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the diving.
The second day I got up at 5:30 a.m. to catch the 6:00 a.m. ferry to dive with Aldora in Cozumel. Yeah I know crazy huh? I have been diving with this outfit for nine straight trips to Coz since my first trip to Cozumel in 2000. I love the steel tanks, great divemasters and extended bottom times. Both dives were in excess of an hour and the second was eighty mintues. I was with a good bunch of very experienced divers and it was a pleasure to dive with them. I think everyone on the dives was actively looking for and finding stuff for all to see.
The first dive was Maracaibo Deep and as advertised it was! I maxed out at 130 feet within ten minutes of getting in the water. You definitely need to watch your depth and computer on this dive. I dive a pretty conservative Suunto and I spent the last half hour of the first dive twenty feet above the group just to stay out of deco mode. Despite the wonderful wall and coral formations the wildlife was pretty scarce. Saw a turtle at the surface and one moray eel. Still a great dive.
The scond,and one of the longest dives I've ever done on one tank, was Delilah. This classic Cozumel second dive is a critter hunt from start to finish. Spotted the usual suspects. The reef seemed somewhat recovered from the hurricane damage I saw two years ago.
The last two dives were in the cenotes. It was my first experience with cavern diving. I dove with a dive operation out of Puerto Adventuras. It was a short drive from the resort by cab. The dive op was professional and I never felt uncomfortable in the overhead environment. I would classify this diving as beginner skill level and a good lesson in bouyancy control. We dove the two sides of the Chac Mool cenote. Generally its small passageways underwater opening into chambers. Some are completely submerged but some are open to the light. There is really no wildlife although we did see several small freshwater tropical fish and a box turtle. There also a lot of fossils in the walls. One of the most interesting things about the dive was the halocline. This is where slatwater has seeped into the fresh water system and formed a bottom layer that is a little warmer. It also disorts light coming from above the halocline. Trippy is the ony word that works.
Travel both ways was a little unpredictable. We ended up being delayed in Rochester because the Delta plane couldn't close the outside door. So we took an American flght to NYC instead of IAD and flew United instead of Delta to Cancun. Confusing but we got into Cancun at 7:00 p.m. instead of 4:00 p.m. Big whoop! I am a firm believer in positive attitude while travelling. No matter what happens keep your attitude positive and good things will happen. Oh, and as soon as they think a flight may be cancelled get in line first to be reticketed and still hold your seat on the original flight until its actually cancelled. Its the only reason we got out on the same day when they couldn't close the door. As soon as you are told to disembark due to a technical problem or that the flight may be delayed get in line to reticket.
Overall a great trip. Cheap, quick and I finally did the cenotes dives.
