Playa del Carmen dive ops

[driftin' by]

Does anyone have any comments on anyone of the following 3 DO's in Playa del Carmen?

Dive Mike
The Abyss Dive Shop
Tank Ha

I am pleased to announce that we will be going to Playa del Carmen next month but honestly wish we were going to Coz or Roatan or some place more diver oriented. This is our 6th trip to the area and our first as fully certified divers. We had plans to go to Key Largo for our first certified diver vacation but we keep going back to PDC because of the great prices. We are only paying $599 per person for 7 nights all inclusive and round trip air from Cleveland! It was too good to pass up. We are staying at Iberostar Paraiso for the second time but unfortunately, their on-site DO is Dressel and we have all heard about them. Besides their prices being 25% - 50% higher they only run single tank dives! One at 9:00 am and one at 2:00 pm. Now I love diving but I don't want it to occupy the entire day just to get in two tanks. So we are forced to go elsewhere and I know it is going to be a hassle. We are considering the above 3 DOs for 2 days, 2-tank ocean dives and 1 day, 2-tank Cenote dives. We are also planning a day trip to Coz for hopefully 3 dives. Finally, just out of convince, we might do 1 night dive at the resort with Dressel. It is not as much diving as I would like for a 7 night trip but I think all the hustle and bustle is going to be taxing alone. All of these 3 DOs are priced about the same so any info or comments on them would be greatly appreciated.

We are also considering Aqua Safari in Coz for our day trip. Any comment on them?

Thanks.

 

[Soggy]

Don't use AquaWorld...they are the only one's I have any experience with and they are a machine/cattle organization.

 

[fowlplay]

We have dove with Tank-Ha last two years on our trips to PDC over spring break. They are a good outfit and do a quality job.

They also run a boat directly to the reefs at Cozumel. This saves alot of time and ferry money. I believe they do this on Mondays. Unless you wanted to tour the island I would go this route.

 

[Divedoggie]

Scuba Caribe. They run a first class outfit and sub cenote diving out to some incredible guides. Request Bernie for the Cenotes. She is a true pro and informative guide.

 

[CUunderH2O]

Abyss Dive shop was good, smaller boats and great service & staff. Good prices too. I have heard that Dive Mike is good too but I haven't personally used them.

 

[geraldp]

Does anyone have any comments on anyone of the following 3 DO's in Playa del Carmen?

Dive Mike
The Abyss Dive Shop
Tank Ha

I am pleased to announce that we will be going to Playa del Carmen next month but honestly wish we were going to Coz or Roatan or some place more diver oriented. .
.
.
.
We are also considering Aqua Safari in Coz for our day trip. Any comment on them?

Thanks.

jbone9: I don't have experience with those three DOs, but I can still offer some advice (advice is always cheap . Don't downplay the diving on the Riviera Maya - a lot of it is REALLY good, and you do get a lot more fishes to look at w.r.t. Cozumel. Anyway, according to my map Iberostar Paraiso is actually about half way between Puerto Morelos and Playa Del Carmen - You might consider heading North into Puerto Morelos and diving with Cat Brown at Dive Puerto Morelos. I had good experiences there 2 weeks ago.

As for Cozumel, i dove with Aqua Safari last February on the advice of my LDS (who had used them for a group trip). For the most part they were really good - fast boats that were big enough to do a giant stride off the back, and DMs who were really good at finding fishes for us. Great choice of beverages/snacks during the SI. My two buddies and I came over from PDC on the early ferry and did two tanks with them in the morning, went back to San Miguel and had lunch, then went out again in the afternoon with a different DM for a 3rd tank (which they only charged us $10 more for). My only complaint with Aqua Safari was that they mixed us with some divers who were a lot more experienced than we were at the time, and we had "some confusion" about when we were suppose to surface (we unwittingly assumed we would all surface together, and he didn't cover that in the briefing). Had I learned about ScubaBoard before my trip and read about Cozumel drift dives I would have known what was normal for many DOs in Cozumel. Anyway, everything worked out fine (though one of my buddies went OOA), and we were only "confused" on the first dive, I just wish his briefing had explained this better.

Jerry

 

[DiveExtreme22]

whichever shop you dive with, ask to do tortugas reef. its a great dive, it was also my first dive as a certified diver in mexico, and it was relatively shallow, max depth only 60 feet spending most of the dive around 50'. i saw more stuff on that dive then i have in my life including, sharks, at least 20 turtles, barracuda,huge schools of tuna and tarpon, rays, a moray eel, and grouper

have fun with your trip

 

[driftin' by]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

fowlplay:

That Cozumel trip with Tank Ha is a nice option but Monday doesn't work for us and we'd like to get in 3 dives if possible.​

Divedoggie:

Doesn't Scuba Caribe only operate from other resorts like Dressle Divers? We used them for our Discover Scuba and Resort Course last November when we stayed at the Palladium. I agree, very good and professional operation but I don't think it will be a option for us this trip ​

geraldp:

Oh no, I'm not downplaying the Riviera Maya... the diving is awesome. Like I mentioned above, we did the Resort Course there last November. In May we completed Open Water cert via referral followed by a couple of our "first" certified dives in Puerto Aventuras at Dive Aventuras. Technically, these won't be our first certified dives in the Caribbean but our first certified diving vacation. The only reservations I have is that we have been to the area so many times but I am not complaining... I'll die a happy man having experienced what I have by going to Mexico. I just know that there are so many other interesting places to go and life is short.

You're correct about the location of Iberostar Paraiso and I was considering going to Puerto Morelos and diving with Cat Brown. Would you mind providing more info regarding your diving experience with him? How many divers per boat?

Thanks for the info on Aqua Safari. My only reservation with them is that it seems like they use cattle boats. This notion appears to have some merit from what you said about being mixed with divers of different experience levels. I do like their 3rd tank option for $10 and diving 3 tanks in Coz is a top priority as long as we can do it safely. That is pretty scary about the OOA situation but it's nobody's fault but your buddy's own. I don't care where I'm diving or who I'm with, when I hit 500 psi, the dive is over! I'm not going to risk my life not to piss off some other divers and I'll deal with getting picked up by the right boat when I'm at the surface and air is not a factor. It is my understanding that in Coz you surface with or without the DM but with your buddy when you or your buddy have reached your limit. Is this correct?​

 

[catbrown]

All of those DOs you chose are good safe operations in Playa - I favour Abyss, they are great teaching school as well and only use the smaller boats. They are a lot of fun as well and have a great barbecue on Sat nights - say hello to Nicola from me. Of course I'd love you to come and dive with us, you'll enjoy the diving here and you are closer to Puerto Morelos than Playa... 2 tanks in the mornings, 1 tank in the afternoon, cenotes in the mornings best catbrown at prodigy.net.mx

 

[geraldp]

You're correct about the location of Iberostar Paraiso and I was considering going to Puerto Morelos and diving with Cat Brown. Would you mind providing more info regarding your diving experience with him? How many divers per boat?

I've been working on a trip report for the last week and a half since I got back, but haven't finished it yet. Anyway, I really enjoyed diving with Dive Puerto Morelos. Cat was extremely responsive via PM and email (even though she was out of the country and on vacation until shortly before I arrived). We agreed on a fixed price for 5 dives plus 2 dives in Cozumel with an op called Deep Blue. I would say the boat I was on could probably hold 6, but since it was early season we didn't have that many. In fact on the first 2 tanks it was just the Dive Master and myself - the one other diver got seasick on the way out. The DM (Bret) and the boat captain (Vincente) were both very good, and I enjoyed diving and visiting with them. We dove "The Bridges" and "The Last Bouy" off the Puerto Morelos reef. The third tank (two days later) was a cenote dive - about a 45 + minute drive straight West from Puerto Morelos. That was my first cenote dive... we went to a cenote called "Tres Bocas". Frankly I was disapointed that the visibility wasn't as good as I had read about. Apparently recent rains had muddied the waters a bit. The vis was about 10-40 feet or so. My final two dives with them, which were supposed to be a wreck and reef dive, didn't happen for me, as I got sick on my last day. Cat refunded my money for the last two dives without hesitation, which I really appreciated.

My two-tank Cozumel dives with Deep Blue went off very well - we dove Palancar Gardens and Chankanaab reef. Small fast boat (4 divers plus a snorkeler), and they were able to provide me with a steel 100 for my first dive and Nitrox for my second dive.

Thanks for the info on Aqua Safari. My only reservation with them is that it seems like they use cattle boats. This notion appears to have some merit from what you said about being mixed with divers of different experience levels. I do like their 3rd tank option for $10 and diving 3 tanks in Coz is a top priority as long as we can do it safely. That is pretty scary about the OOA situation but it's nobody's fault but your buddy's own.

Well yea, except I should have been a better buddy, plus the DM completely ignored me when I repeatedly showed him my pressure guage as I got lower and lower on air. Finally I went up by myself when I got down to about 400PSI. Since the DM had sent up a lift bag the boat captain was waiting for me when I got to the surface.

I wouldn't call Aqua Safari a cattle boat operation (at least not compared to what I've read about here on the board). We went out with 6-7 divers, so it wasn't too large. Their boat was bigger than Deep Blues, though.

I don't care where I'm diving or who I'm with, when I hit 500 psi, the dive is over! I'm not going to risk my life not to piss off some other divers and I'll deal with getting picked up by the right boat when I'm at the surface and air is not a factor. It is my understanding that in Coz you surface with or without the DM but with your buddy when you or your buddy have reached your limit. Is this correct?

That's mostly true - some ops have you all ascend together, but most of them send up a lift bag when the first hoover gets low on air, then the DM stays down longer with the others. I only had 8 dives under my belt that first time in Cozumel, but I still should have known better. The Dive Master briefed us that he would be our buddy during the dive. I was kind of overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the dive (we were on Columbia Deep), and just was kind along for the ride and forgot my basics. Had I gathered my buddies and surfaced when we got low it would have gone off without a hitch.

Jerry