Playa del Carmen Dive Report

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

Hello all and Happy New year.

For all of you who are planning to visit Playa del Carmen for a dive vacation in the coming future you can check out our Daily Dive Report right here on ScubaBoard. The Dive Report will state the site, weather conditions, sea life, and more. We will try to stay consistent with posting every day.

If any of you have any other questions about the diving around Playa del Carmen or the Riviera Maya feel free to ask whenever they come up. You can reach me at info@geofishdive.com or you can PM whenever you would like.

You can check out an in depth description and photos of all the dive sites that we frequent in Playa at our website: Geofish Dive - Scuba Diving, Snorkeling & PADI Instruction in Playa del Carmen & Cozumel, Mexico

Happy Diving and a prosperous New Year to all of you!

Maxden Regalado and the Geofish Staff
Geofish Dive
Playa del Carmen, Mexico

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

January 6, 2009:Tortugas and Barracuda

Today at 8:30am the time of our dive the temperature was 83F/26C with clear skies and winds blowing SE at 10 knots/11.5 MPH.

Tortugas: Moderate visibility at about 70-80 ft/21-24 met. Water temp was at 78F/23C at 55ft/17met. Current was moderate, but very manageable. Saw a good size Black Grouper about 3 ft/1met, it's always nice seeing one of these guys since they are so over fished and rarely seen at this size. Saw a good size feeding Permit about 2.5ft rustling around in the sand. The highlight of the dive was seeing a Bull Shark in 55ft/17met of water at a distance of 33ft/10met swimming with a ton of Yellow Tail Snappers and Jacks looking to pick up any scraps they left behind. The Bull Shark appeared to be around 11-12ft/3.5-4met long, no kidding it was really this huge!! On the safety stop we saw about 100 needle fish schooled in about 10-12ft/3-3.6met of water.

In the deeper parts of Tortugas (70-75ft/21-22.7met) you will frequently find a number of feeding Hawksbill Turtles and the larger fish in this area. In the winter you will see the occasional Bull Shark, large Cubera Snapper and good size Parrot Fish along with Eels and lobsters. In the Summer you will find the schools of 50+ Tarpon (Sabalos in Spanish), as well as the Cubera's and Parrot Fish. Great dive for novice divers!


Barracuda: Visibility was at 60-70ft/18-21met with a very light current in 42ft/12.7met of water. As we were descending we spotted a Southern Stingray being chased by a Bar Jack looking for scraps. Saw a young Hawksbill Turtle feeding on top of the reef wall surrounded by 3 Barracuda. Towards the end of the dive in a little depression on the bottom of the reef wall was the always colorful, docile, and dangerous Scorpion Fish.

During the winter months is when you have a very good chance of finding young Hawksbill Turtles feeding on the top of the reef in Barracuda. Barracuda is full of schools of Grunts, snapper, and chubs. Great dive for all skill levels.

 

[scubajcf]

Great service.
Heading back down in March. Look forward to diving with you guys!

JcF



///

 

[oldmaninthesea]

Look forward to reading your daily reports while I'm stuck in Toronto shoveling snow. I just cleared off the latest dump. Hope to see you guys again, maybe in april. Say hi to Gerardo and Irene. Chris

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

January 7, 2009: Moche Deep and Chunzumbul

Today the was a little windy with winds blowing SSW at 5knots/5.8mph. The temperature on the surface at 8:30am was 84.6F/27C.

Moche Deep: Visibility was fair at about 70-80ft/21-24met at our max depth which was 95ft/28.7met. Water temp was 77F/23C at 95ft/28.7met. Wonderful dive before we even hit the bottom we spotted a large Bull Shark that was just cruising on top of the sand, looked to be about 9ft/2.7met. The wall was so vibrant today, one of those days where it seems like everything is out for you to see. We saw at least 6 Spotted Moray Eels. We saw a turtle shooting to the surface for a quick breath. The highlight of the dive was on our safety stop I spotted a Manta Ray swimming effortlessly in about 30ft/9met of water. I tried so hard to get everyones attention that I think I scared our customers because when we got to the surface they told me that they thought I was warning them about a shark. Hahaha great dive!


Chunzumbul: Today was not Chunzumbul's best day. The current was back and forth and the visibility was poor at 30-40ft/9-12met. Water temperature was 78F/23.5C. This is always a nice dive though as far as sea life goes. Tons of grunts, tons of Parrotfish and Snapper, and about 4 or 5 Green Morays. The Garden Eels were out in full force today with the current the way it was, swaying ever so gracefully. And at the end of the dive while on the safety line ascending we spotted a very nice Southern Stingray eating in the sand surrounded by 4 jacks. Good dive, just wish the visibility would have been better.

 

[bvmjethead]

My first dives ever were on Sabalos, Barracuda and one other reef I can't remeber the name of right now.

I love Playa and hope to return soon.

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

January 9, 2009: Sabalos and Barracuda

Sorry for the lack of dive reports, but the last two days have been very slow in town and we didn't dive yesterday.

Today was a beautiful morning with the temperature at 84.5F/27C, a slight wind to the E at 9knots/10.5MPH. The water was like glass today at 8:30am.

Sabalos: At our max depth which was 49ft/15met the visibility was around 70-80ft/21-24met. Sabalos is always an enjoyable dive with the multiple caves and swim through towards the end of the dive. We saw the typical giant schools of grunts and snapper, two turtles on top of the reef before we dropped down to the sand and a massive dog face puffer fish floating in about 25ft/7.5met of water (man those guys are cute!). Great dive, we spent 54 minutes diving Sabalos and like every time at that reef, it was breathtaking.

Barracuda: The second dive was at Barracuda reef and the visibility was as good as I have ever seen it. At our max depth which was 43ft/13met the visibility was at least 85ft/25.7met. Right when we hit the bottom we came up on 2 Southern Stingrays that had buried themselves in the sand. In on of the depressions in the reef towards the end of the dive we spotted 5 Channel Clinging Crabs all in seperate sponges and holes. This was a great dive and it seems like this time of year Barracuda just keeps getting better and better the more you dive it. Oh and of course we caw a turtle (as if it were always expected......so amazing).

Happy Diving to all of you from Geofish Dive!

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

January 10, 2009: Chunzumbul DSD's

Today was a little windier than yesterday, but still a great day. The temperature at the time of the dive at 8:30 was 84.5F/27C......again. The wind was blowing ESE at 11knots/12.6MPH.

Chunzumbul: As always Chunzumbul was chocked full of goodies today. I was very surprised at the visibility being at around 70ft/21met since the current was pretty strong today. The eels were in full force today, we saw about 6 Green and Spotted Morays in a 38 minute dive. The highlight of the dive was seeing a big Green Moray I would say about 5ft/1.5met in one of the caves and right next to it was a Nurse Shark. This was the first time that I have ever seen a Nurse Shark in the 6 years that I have been diving Playa Del Carmen. Great dive and the new divers did great!

On deck: Monday Jan 12, 2009..........Shark Dive!

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

January 12, 2009: Chunzumbul and Jardines (DSD)

The weather today was pretty overcast especially at the time of our dive which was 12:30pm. The temperature was 77.4F/23C and the wind was blowing 8knots/9.2MPH ESE.

Chunzumbul: It seems that this has been the only place we have been diving lately (don't worry we go to a lot of other reefs). Lots of DSD's lately so we have been going to the shallow reefs. Today was a little choppy, but the visibility was still pretty good at 60-65ft/18.1-19.6met at our max depth which was 39ft/11.8met. We saw about 4 spotted Morays and the 2 Green Morays that always grace us with their presence at Chunzumbul. There was actually a lot of rays out today. We saw 2 Southern Sting Rays no more than 10 minutes into the dive. The highlight of the dive was seeing a very nice size Loggerhead Turtle just cruise right past us towards the end of the dive. Good dive, but I am looking forward to tomorrow when we get to switch it up a little and take a trip to the Cenotes.

Jardines: Visibility was poor today at maybe 30-35ft/9.1-10.6met at our max depth which was 38ft/11.5met. Jardines was packed full of divers today as usual, but also as usual it was packed full of fish. The huge schools of grunts, Chubs, and Snapper were handling the stronger than normal current just fine. The 5.5ft/1.7met Green Moray was posing open mouthed in his cave as he always is. I have never seen that many Dog Face Puffer's at one time together. They are usually flying solo, but today we saw 4 of them all together.......can never get over how cute those guys are.

 

[Tom and Cheryl]

Cheryl and I are coming to dive Playa Feb. 18th and I just wanted to say how much we both enjoy reading your dive report. Thank You.