Puerto Aventuras or Placencia, Belize

[jejton]

I'm trying to take the family away for a vacation next week, very last minute, and have narrowed my options to the villas at the above two. Any thoughts to help me sway one way or the other? I will be the only diver so will need topside activities
( dont care about nightlife or dining out, won't be doing either ) and of course will be spending time at the beach. Will have a week to spend. Thanks in advance.

 

[TSandM]

Is that Puerto Aventuras, Quintana Roo, Mexico? It's a very nice gated development. The bay is very pretty and has some quite good snorkeling. The center of the development is one of those dolphin experience outfits with lagoons, and around them is a circle of restaurants and shops. None of the food is fabulous, but there are decent options and the prices aren't terribly high. The margaritas, on the other hand, are fantastic . . .

If you rent a car, you have very easy access to Akumal and Tulum, where there is better food. Tulum has a small compound of Mayan ruins, and up the Coba road from there is a much larger area of ruins. 20 minutes north of PA is Playa del Carmen, which has a wide variety of shops and restaurants, as well.

I don't know a lot about the reef diving, since I dive caves when I am there. I've done exactly one salt water dive, and I was not blown away, but it really depends on what you have to compare. We talked to two of our students who did their first dive trip to Akumal, and they thought it was great fun. Lots of turtles and reef fish.

If the other people traveling with you are theme park type folks, there are at least two big ones, with Mayan-themed presentations, and floating through caverns.

Getting to PA is easy -- you fly into Cancun and either take a bus or a rental car about an hour south. The area is pretty safe, so long as you don't park somewhere very secluded and leave valuables in the car. Food seems pretty safe -- I eat salads there, and I've never had a GI problem, although my husband has. The people are very pleasant.

We really like the area. In fact, we'll be there in two weeks!

 

[jejton]

Yes that would be the same Puerto Aventuras. Thanks for the info. Dining out and nightlife will not be a factor as we will not be doing either. I'm having a hard time deciding still. PA will be easier and a little cheaper to get too - don't know how the prices of diving, excursions, groceries compares - but Belize is more different, exotic. What I'm trying to decide is whether the exoticness and diving will be enough to justify the higher cost and more challenging ( we are taking a 5 y/o and toddler ) aspect of getting to Placencia ( via the jumper flights).

 

[ibj40]

Yes that would be the same Puerto Aventuras. Thanks for the info. Dining out and nightlife will not be a factor as we will not be doing either. I'm having a hard time deciding still. PA will be easier and a little cheaper to get too - don't know how the prices of diving, excursions, groceries compares - but Belize is more different, exotic. What I'm trying to decide is whether the exoticness and diving will be enough to justify the higher cost and more challenging ( we are taking a 5 y/o and toddler ) aspect of getting to Placencia ( via the jumper flights).

We go to PA almost every year (and sometimes at least twice), and do so for the convenience. For diving I'd like to recommend Dive Aventuras. We have used them every time we've been there, and they are reliable, professional, and full service. Maybe the diving out of PA doesn't seem exotic, but we have never been bored with the ocean diving, and you just can't beat a day in the cenotes with either Mario, Michel, or Alex.

If you are staying in one of the condos and intending to cook, one of the best things to happen to PA in recent times is the opening of a Chedraui market directly across the highway from the main entrance to the compound. Before Chedraui, you had to either rely on what was available inside the compound (was challenging sometimes) or make a grocery run to Playa del Carmen. For excursions, we have relied on Dive Aventuras to set up a whale shark tour out of Cancun, but we usually research our own, and then rent a car from Avis which has an outlet just outside the front gate. PA is easily day trip accessible to Coba and Tulum via a rental car, or a taxi away from Xcaret (which is like an organic Disneyworld). And assuming you can find a babysitter (which I am sure your condo rental company can line up), one night out via cab to Playa del Carmen's Avenida 5 is a must.

Never been to Placentia, so can't make a comparison, just offering up information on PA.

 

[seapro divers mexico]

Hello, if you are thinking on going to Puerto Aventuras besides of the options that are mentioned, we can offer to your family a snorkeling tour in the afternoon 13:30 hrs,in the local reefs and a cove which is very nice. We do also cenote cavern diving and local reefs diving and this is a really nice area for both. In Puerto Aventuras there is a dolphinarium too, a museum, a golf course,nice beaches.

 

[jejton]

I ended up booking Puerto Aventuras. Really interested in Placencias but the flight prices jumped $200 in 4 days and decided 7-9 hours of plane time with a toddler would be too much. Thanks for the advice and we do hope to make it to Belize in a future trip. I contacted the three dive ops i found in PA, two mentioned above and one more. Went through some guide books and am lining up some activities to choose from - Xcaret, Tulum or Coba, and a Biosphere tour are the top three as I think they are all doable with a toddler, especially if I get a baby carrier. Any advice re Tulum vs. Coba. Seems like Coba is less crowded, better sites ( minus the beach ) but more off the beaten path. Any safety concerns if we go there? As for PDC, I'd love to give it a night but am not crazy about having a complete stranger watch my children, espcially when I'm in a foreign country. I'm a bit neurotic like that.

---------- Post Merged at 06:17 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:08 PM ----------

Also, I will be a regulator and BC, as well as want to hire a private guide for my trips. Does that change any suggestions? Being a novice diver, I dont want to dive with a random buddy, nor do I think a random buddy want to dive a novice who will slow them down. I hired one on my first trip and it was big factor in the success of it.

 

[ibj40]

I ended up booking Puerto Aventuras. Really interested in Placencias but the flight prices jumped $200 in 4 days and decided 7-9 hours of plane time with a toddler would be too much. Thanks for the advice and we do hope to make it to Belize in a future trip. I contacted the three dive ops i found in PA, two mentioned above and one more. Went through some guide books and am lining up some activities to choose from - Xcaret, Tulum or Coba, and a Biosphere tour are the top three as I think they are all doable with a toddler, especially if I get a baby carrier. Any advice re Tulum vs. Coba. Seems like Coba is less crowded, better sites ( minus the beach ) but more off the beaten path. Any safety concerns if we go there? As for PDC, I'd love to give it a night but am not crazy about having a complete stranger watch my children, espcially when I'm in a foreign country. I'm a bit neurotic like that.

---------- Post Merged at 06:17 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:08 PM ----------

Also, I will be a regulator and BC, as well as want to hire a private guide for my trips. Does that change any suggestions? Being a novice diver, I dont want to dive with a random buddy, nor do I think a random buddy want to dive a novice who will slow them down. I hired one on my first trip and it was big factor in the success of it.

For an excurision with a toddler, I'd recommend Xcaret as being much more kid-friendly than one of the ruins sites (which tend to be a little on the rustic side). Coba is spectacular, but a very large ruin with lots of walking between features (they have bicycles for rent, as well as three wheeler pedi-cabs for hire, though, to ease some of the pain), Tulum is more compact, but the surface is irregular, and a stroller may be a challenge.

We've never hired a baby sitter, but are familiar with folks who have, and our experience is that they go to someone they trust, such as their rental agent (or in PA, I'd have no problem asking around at the dive shop) for an employee, employee's spouse or adult child who is experienced in child care.

In PA, our only dive shop experience is Dive Aventuras, and we have been on plenty of boats where there was a party consisting of an assigned dive master and one or two associated divers, along with the rest of us going with a different dive master and diving a different plan and profile.

Glad you chose PA, I think you will enjoy it and look forward to hearing about your experience.

 

[blue sky buckeye]

We dove with Aquanauts out of the PA marina with our recently certified 12 year old daughter last summer and they were great. Nick and Mauricio were both great DM's. We also dove the Dos Ojos cenote with Mauricio and it was great. We stayed in a condo at Villa Del Mar, which was a short walk to the dive shop and had a nice pool/ beach for the younger nondiving kids.