Playa Del Carmen, Akumal, Tulum or anywhere in between

[billeelou]

or tortugas for the ocean dive- tank ha is solid operation

 

[teamheatwave]

Someone already beat me to the suggestion. A cenote dive is an absolute must!

 

[CaribQueen]

I just returned from the RM. Dove the Akumal/Tulum areas. The reefs are pretty decent, lots of turtles, eels & plethora of tropicals. Really easy & enjoyable diving. I dive with Akumal Dive Center and would recommend them to anyone.

 

[muckle]

I was in Playa May, 2006, and Nov 2004. Dove with Tank-Ha (very good outfit, in my opinion). Nohoch cenote, Tortugas reef, Mama Vina wreck, Barracuda reef. In 2004 I saw a whale shark. Playa is a fun town, very cosmopolitan.
My avatar is a picture of me in Nohoch. I have some photos of Playa sites at :

www.mainelyscuba.com/Club/index.htm

 

[Fire Diver]

My wife and I dove with Tank-Ha Dive Center last year in PDC. Great Dive operation. Very professional, safe and courteous. If you dive with them ask for Allesandro as your guide. Tortugas was our favorite dive site. We dove both reefs and cenotes with Tank-Ha and would return in a heart beat!

 

[aquaagua]

Hey there,

I'll be starting in Playa Del Carmen and meandering south staying in various hotels and B&B's for a week. Where would I find the best diving?(outside of Coz of course.) I plan on doing some cenote diving but am curious as to where the best ocean dives might be.....

Many thanks,

Jason

Please do a trip report when you return RE: the diving and the places you stayed. We will be on Coz for 6 days and then in the PDC area for 6 but don't have a place in PDC booked yet... so need any info we can get.
thanks

 

[Hutchel]

We dove with Paul from Wetset.com (Porto Morales) did both ocean and Cenotes (Adv Open Water) while we were at it. Liked this area better than further north off of Cancun. We stayed at Moon Palace.

Lee

 

[Boatlawyer]

Jason, I just returned from a week in Mexico. We stayed mostly in Playacar, but the real reason for our trip was a whale shark tour in Holbox, an experience which should not be missed. We took a bus from the PDC Terminal to Cancun for $3.40 (1 hour) and then a 3 hour bus trip from Cancun to Chiquila for $6.70. Then we boarded the ferry for Holbox for $4.00 and a golf cart/taxi to our posada (Mawimbi-fantastic) for $1.00. Our room was $60 and the whale tour was $80. Our guide from the Posada was Alex who is wonderful. We did the whole trip in reverse to make it back to our Playacar digs for a 1:30 dive, so we had to get started at 4:15 in the a.m. We made it by 11:30 a.m. It was worth it to swim with the whale sharks.

 

[Bondgirl23]

Deffinately must do a cenote dive whilst your here - they really are spectacular, provided of course that you get good light that day to experience the light rays doing their thing!

Diving in Puerto Aventuras is pretty good, the reef is only around 5 - 10 minute boat ride away and we have some nice sites, at Aquanauts we go to loads of different sites compared to the other centres which tend to only use 2 or 3 which in my opinion is a huge shame. here are some of the sites we go to..

Veros Gardens is very pretty 18-22m nice coral formations/large heads of coral, french angelfish, almost always turtles, stovepipe sponges, queen parrotfish, its really a lovely dive and nice and relaxing.

Cannales 22-40m, backs onto veros and is a very similar dive site, we have a resident turtle on that reef we've named "tri-pod" as he is missing one fin/leg!

Cuevitas 12m, is one of my faves, its got loads of swim throughs and caves and loads of sea fans and loads of fish - really cool place.

Paradise deep is annother good site especially if you are into photography, loads of high colour coral and sponges, loads of fish activity up to 42m.

You're likely to see turtles on most dives and maybe nurse sharks too.

Puerto Aventuras is about 20mins south from Playa, expect to pay around 120 pesos or 12usd for a taxi ride, or get a colectivo (a small mini-van which alll the locals cram into) for around 15 pesos, 1.50 usd.

Puerto is a little development which has all inclusive hotels, loads of condos all centrered around a eally attractive main marina with dolphins, sea lions and manatees, loads of cafes and restaurants, the dive boats are in the open marina a 2 min walk from the dive shops (depending who you dive with) most will carry your kit down to the boat for you.

Hope this is of some use to you!

 

[Bondgirl23]

Jason, I just returned from a week in Mexico. We stayed mostly in Playacar, but the real reason for our trip was a whale shark tour in Holbox, an experience which should not be missed. We took a bus from the PDC Terminal to Cancun for $3.40 (1 hour) and then a 3 hour bus trip from Cancun to Chiquila for $6.70. Then we boarded the ferry for Holbox for $4.00 and a golf cart/taxi to our posada (Mawimbi-fantastic) for $1.00. Our room was $60 and the whale tour was $80. Our guide from the Posada was Alex who is wonderful. We did the whole trip in reverse to make it back to our Playacar digs for a 1:30 dive, so we had to get started at 4:15 in the a.m. We made it by 11:30 a.m. It was worth it to swim with the whale sharks.

ive also just been on this trip and stayed at the mawimbi and also had alex as my guide! hes great isnt he?!?! (he does wear the smallest bikini bottoms in the world but i'l forgive him for that!) i paid a bit more as i stayed there for 2 nights and also had a mini bus to take us direct to Chiquila which got us there in 2 1/2 hours. we stopped at the dry caves on the way and at Coba to cycle around the ruins on the way back. The whale sharks were awesome though and i have some wikid video footage and stills! we got to see 52 wale sharks in total and were very lucky to encouter a ton of manta rays (around 23) wich were doing a mating ritual in which the female is at the front then followed in a line by 6-7 males all snaking through the water - very bizare, thrilling and slightly scary experience when they are all circling around you and under you!