Playa del Carmen Dive Report

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

February 21, 2009: Mama Vina and Sabalos

Today was a little windy with the wind blowing 12.6mph/11knots from the ENE. The temperature at the time of our was 75F/24C. Mama Vina was great today, visibility was at about 75ft/23m and of course lots of BIG fish. Huge school of Jacks hanging around the wreck and a very large school of Permits. Water was a little cold at about 74F/23C at 90ft/27m.

We followed up Mama Vina with Sabalos. Visibility was at about 60ft/18m. Same things we always see there. Saw a nice Hawksbill Turtle on top of the reef feeding. The swim through is great at Sabalos as well as all the over hangs and small caves. They are always full of life and sometimes you get lucky and get to see the big Green Moray Eel that lives there. Gerardo said he saw about 5 large Tarpon in the distance, but I don't think anyone else saw them. Hope it wasn't a fish story. But I wouldn't doubt it because the Tarpon are here and should be seen regularly in about a week or so when the Bulls leave for good.

Nothing for tomorrow, day off.....YES!!!


Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ - Arizona's Dive Training Choice

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

February 23, 2009: Mama Vina and Barracuda

Yesterday the water was great at the time of our dive. It had just rained for most of the morning so the water was very flat. Not much wind at 6mph/5knots blowing for the ESE. The temperature was kind of cold at 73F/23C. Mama Vina was great today. Visibility was great at about 80ft/24m. Huge schools of Jack and Permits again today. A few Barracuda here and there looking for a cleaning, and we saw one turtle towards the Bow of the boat. Mama Vina is a great multi-level dive always with so much life around it. Definitley one of my favorite dives here in Playa.


Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ - Arizona's Dive Training Choice

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

February 24, 2009: Pared Verde (Green Wall) and Moche Shallow

This morning at the time of the dive it was quite cloudy. With about 41% cloud cover, the temperature was 75F/24C and the wind was blowing at 12.6mph/11knots from the NE. Even though the weather was sub par and it was kind of chilly today was an absolute magnificent day!!

Pared Verde: I think this is our first report about "the Green Wall". This is a big reef wall about 12 minutes North from the shop. Full of sponges, bright coral, and teaming with life! We reached the bottom at 90ft/27m and within 4 or 5 minutes we saw a huge 11ft/3.3m Bull Shark just swimming casually about 15ft/4.5m from us. Great dive, saw a couple lobsters, and eels as well. Visibility was around 65-70ft/19.6-21m.

Moche Shallow: Good dive, visibility wasn't great at about 50ft/15m. Saw a couple big Green Moray Eels and very nice Southern Stingray. Max depth was 49ft/15m.

Both dives were very nice, but what happened after the dive made all of us forget about everything very quickly. We reached the surface and our captain was yelling "get in the boat, get in the boat", and the first thing that popped in my head was, "oh great, SHARK". The reason he was yelling is that the boat crew spotted a Whale Shark right before we surfaced. So we all piled into the boat and drove North for about 5 minutes and there it was! A beautiful 25+ foot gentile giant of the sea! We jumped in and snorkeled with it for about 10 minutes, lost it, found it again and snorkeled with it again for another 15 minutes. This was the first time I have ever seen one in Playa del Carmen, we swam with them up north in Punta Sam, but this is my first sighting here in Playa. I am still jacked up about it and I think Pat, Gary, Irene, and the crew are as well. I hope this in not the last time we encounter one of these magnificent creatures.

Keep checking for the shark dives as well as regular dive reports. Happy Diving everyone and safe travels.


Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ - Arizona's Dive Training Choice

 

[Mark Rappaport]

Just back from Mexico. Dove with Ben from MAD on 2/21, at PdC. BULL SHARKS galore. it was a wonderful, amazing, scary dive. At least 8 - 190 sharks, up to about 10'. They seemed a bit interested in us, but not threatening.

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

February 25, 2009: Tortugas and Sabalos

Today the water was literally like glass in the morning. There was hardly any wind either with it blowing from the NE at 7mph/6knots. The temperature at the time of our dive was 75F/24C.

Tortugas was great today! So many turtles and the visibility was great at about 85ft/25.7m. We saw around 6 or 7 turtles, all just eating coral and not minding the strong current that we were struggling with to see them. These are the days that you really see why Tortugas is one of the main attractions in diving Playa. We are so lucky to be able to see this many Hawksbill Turtles in one dive. Also saw a school of huge Cubera Snapper and the always beautiful Atlantic Spadefish. Great dive!

Sabalos was so colorful and in your face today. The colors of the coral we really eye-popping and this is the first time in a long time that it has been like this. The main reason it was so nice today was due to the great visibility which was around 85-90ft/25.7-27m and also the sun was shining so bright today it really penetrated the water nicely. Saw 2 turtles on top of the reef one feeding and one surfacing. Saw a beautiful Black Grouper swimming in the open water, probably looking for a nice snapper or grunt to eat. We also saw 2 lobsters and several Spotted and Green Morays. All in all another great day of diving and we are looking forward to tomorrow.

On deck for tomorrow 26th Feb: Shark Dive. Really hope we get to see them.

By the way, still super stoked about the whale shark encounter yesterday. The divers that we saw it with came in today and we were just non stop talking about it. Safe travels Pat and Gary. Hope to see you soon. I still need to upload the video to youtube so look for it tomorrow.


Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ - Arizona's Dive Training Choice

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

February 26, 2009: Tortugas and Sabalos

Today was super windy, 16mph/14knots from the E so that means the water was pretty choppy. We usually don't go out on days like these even if the port is open just because if the water is rough and the visibility is bad then it is far from enjoyable for the customers. But they couldn't do it any other day, so we went and saw the Turtles. The temperature at the time of our dive was 77F/25C, so a very nice day minus the wind.

Tortugas was really nice again with about 4 or 5 turtles. We saw about 10-15 Tarpon towards the end of the dive as well. It's so amazing when you see the gigantic Tarpon just swimming against the current so effortlessly. Visibility wasn't great at around 60ft/18m, but all in all a really nice drift dive.

Bummed we didn't get to see if the sharks were there, but maybe tomorrow.


Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ - Arizona's Dive Training Choice

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

So here is the video of the Whale Shark. It was filmed on a picture camera, while swimming.....HARD, so it's kind of shaky but very cool!

YouTube - Whale Sharks

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

February 27, 2009: Tortugas and Sabalos (yes I know....Again???)

Today was pretty windy again with the wind blowing at 12.6mph/11knots from the ESE. The temperature at the time of our dive was 77F/25C.
Tortugas was great once again. I know I know, we have done it the last 3 days, but when the clients ask for turtles we give them turtles. And today we really showed them turtles. There were about 7 different turtles that we saw 2 of them were Loggerhead turtles and the other 5 were Hawskbill Turtles. The current was very strong today making it quite difficult to stay in place while looking at the turtles. Great dive though, but to be honest I am glad we are diving somewhere different tomorrow.

On Deck for tomorrow February 28, 2009: Don't know yet hopefully shark dive!


Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ - Arizona's Dive Training Choice

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

February 28, 2009: Mama Vina and Barracuda

Today was another pretty windy day with the wind blowing 11.5mph/10knots from the ESE. The temperature at the time of the dive was 77F/25C.

Mama Vina: Mama Vina was very nice today. The visibility at 92ft/27.8m was around 100ft/30m. The water temperature was 74F/23.5C. Saw a huge school of Barracuda, Permit, and Horse Eye Jacks. The current was ripping today along the port, but all in all a great dive!

Barracuda: The visibility at Barracuda was about 80ft/24m. Very strong current as well. Saw a Loggerhead Turtle that looked to be very old. He had Barnacles on his head and was magnificently huge. Great dive and barracuda, behind Tortugas, is the next best place to see Turtles right now.

This Afternoon we have courses and the water is pretty ugly so the next report will be on Monday March 2, 2009.


Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ - Arizona's Dive Training Choice

 

[buffa2]

I have enjoyed all of your daily trip reports now for sometime, and my wife and I are planning a trip April 23-28th. We have dove Cozumel a few times, but have never dove the mainland side at all, and are looking to book with someone. I have checked out your home website, but I have a few questions---where exactly are you located, where do you load your boats, is it by pier entry, or shore entry ? And last of all, what kind of boats do you have, and how many divers do you typically take out on a boat ?? Thank you in advance for all the info!!