Recommendations : Cozumel + Playa Del Carmen (Mexico)

[caribou]

Hi,

I'm gonna stay at Playa Del Carmen for a week in november, half of it
for scuba diving. I heard Cozumel is gorgeous for diving and is just
a ferry ticket away.

However, being open water only, I'm not into cave diving or wreck
penetration. However, using this trip to discover some specialty
dives (drift ? wreck ? night ? deep ?) with an instructor I imagine,
would set me on my way to advanced open water.

so the questions are :
-for my level, is it worth going to cozumel to dive ?
-it is doable without staying in cozumel ?
-is Playa Del Carmen a satisfying dive site ?

Thanks

Caribou

 

[Scott Riemer]

so the questions are :
-for my level, is it worth going to cozumel to dive ?
-it is doable without staying in cozumel ?
-is Playa Del Carmen a satisfying dive site ?

Thanks

Caribou

-Yes, go to Cozumel, just be honest about your experience level.
-Yes, we dove one day in Cozumel and we were staying in Cancun. It's a straight shot on the ferry from PDC (less than an hour).
-I don't know, we dove in Puerto Morelos which is north of PDC.

 

[DivingDoc]

You shouldn't miss Cozumel-- it's a great place to dive. I've been there 4 times -- once, staying at El Presidente and diving with ScubaDu and 3 times staying at Fiesta Americana and diving with Dive House.

All the diving in Cozumel is drift diving because of the currents and the boats are pretty good at following the divers. If you are new to diving, you might want to consider Scuba Du because they are smaller -- probably will only have 6-8 people on the boat with one divemaster and another crew person on the boat.

Dive House is very good, but I have only experienced diving with them with a large group that all came down together -- last time 26 of us. Alex is the best divemaster there. For the 26 of us, we had 3 divemasters, but then we also had Jim, who owns the local dive shop and has done >5000 dives and most of the divers were Advanced Open water, Nitrox and some were Rescue Diver certified. Our group is known by the boat crew to be good tippers, so we got great service -- better every year, in fact.

ET

Hi,

I'm gonna stay at Playa Del Carmen for a week in november, half of it
for scuba diving. I heard Cozumel is gorgeous for diving and is just
a ferry ticket away.

However, being open water only, I'm not into cave diving or wreck
penetration. However, using this trip to discover some specialty
dives (drift ? wreck ? night ? deep ?) with an instructor I imagine,
would set me on my way to advanced open water.

so the questions are :
-for my level, is it worth going to cozumel to dive ?
-it is doable without staying in cozumel ?
-is Playa Del Carmen a satisfying dive site ?

Thanks

Caribou

 

[fmw625]

No one has said anything about Playa Del Carmen. We are going on a cruise next may and Playa Del Carmen is one of our stops. The cruise line does not offer a diving excersion there. Can diving be done there in a timely fashion so as not to miss my boat?

 

[DocVikingo]

As your question is about diving in Mexico, I have taken the liberty of moving it to our dedicated Mexico travel forum in the hopes it will receive wider response.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[ednedfred]

We've gone to Coz in 2002 and 2003. This year we visited Playa for a week. My trip report for Playa is located:
www.scubaboard.com/t59934-.html
Playa and Cozumel are both very different. The drift diving in Coz has a bit stronger current, but the coral formations are incredible. You can generally dive deeper in Coz than in Playa, however Playa typically has more fish. I personally like Coz better for ocean diving than Playa. In Cozumel, I use Blue Angel Divers and have been very happy with them. While in Playa, dive the Ceynotes. They are amazing.

Safe Travels!

 

[geraldp]

so the questions are :
-for my level, is it worth going to cozumel to dive ?
-it is doable without staying in cozumel ?
-is Playa Del Carmen a satisfying dive site ?

Caribou:
I would vote a huge YES to taking the ferry over to Cozumel for at least one day. We did that in February and got 3 tanks in with Aqua Safari. We took the 6AM ferry over to Cozumel so we could take the early boat out for diving. After 2 tanks we came back for lunch, then we went out again around 3 for a 1-tank dive that cost an extra 10 bucks. We got back to our condo around 7pm and were pretty exhausted, but it was well worth it. The diving in Cozumel really spoils you.

The diving in Playa Del Carmen is great and safe. They do drift dives there as well as in Cozumel, and the boat operators are pretty good at following your bubbles. Just remember for both Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen that you shouldn't blindly follow your Dive Master, but you should plan your dive, dive your plan, and stick with your buddy.

I really enjoyed diving Tortugas dive site out of Playa Del Carmen. We counted a dozen large turtles. Pretty cool. The vis was slightly less in the Riviera Maya as compared to Cozumel when we were there in February, and I don't think Playa has the wall dives that you can get over in Cozumel. The fish life is more abundant, however.

I've yet to dive in any overhead environment, and the cenotes kind of make me nervous. However they are hugely recommended by ScubaBoard members, even for beginners. Apparently you'll always have a guide with you, and for caverns you'll always be within site of the opening. I might try that on my next trip (30 days and counting .

Jerry

 

[geraldp]

No one has said anything about Playa Del Carmen. We are going on a cruise next may and Playa Del Carmen is one of our stops. The cruise line does not offer a diving excersion there. Can diving be done there in a timely fashion so as not to miss my boat?

fmw625: How long is your stop in PDC? There are several dive operations in Playa Del Carmen, and some of them are pretty flexible as to when they go out. I recommend you do a search here for recommended Dive Operations in Playa Del Carmen, then email/call them to find out if they can work around your cruise schedule.

Jerry

 

[rje634]

Was in Coz 9/2 - 9/8 and the diving is some of the best I've experienced, truely a place to be seen. Stayed at Fiesta Americana which was OK for the price and dove with Dive House. Dive House will separate the divers based on their ability, we were on the intermediate/advanced boat and there were at most 10 divers on the boat (3 of the days it was 6 -8) and for that they had two DMs. If your up to it Palancar caves is not to be missed (don't worry this is not cave diving just a few swimthroughs).
If you want more info PM me...
Have a great time, you won't be disappointed with the diving

 

[M_B]

Hi,
....
-is Playa Del Carmen a satisfying dive site ?

Thanks

Caribou

Who dived Cozumel will never be back...
:dazzler1: