Referral/Op Recommendations for PDC area

[jporis]

I am taking my family (wife, 4 kids, niece, nephew, father, step-mother) to PDC in June (12-19).

We will be staying at the RIU Tequila.

My 2 older sons (14 and 18) are taking their OW class right now and plan to do their OW referral dives in PDC.

We're considering having them do the cert dives here (Michigan) if time and weather permit, but for now are planning to do it in PDC.

I've been reading posts on here all morning and have seen recommendations for DiveMike, CyanHa, Sealife, Tankha, Abyss, and 1 for ScubaCaribe (the operator at our hotel).

What I'm looking for from an operation is:

1. GOOD, patient, thorough, safety conscious instructors for my sons (hey, they're my children!)
2. Setup with boats on the more comfortable side
3. Well maintained, modern rental equipment
4. Personalized service
5. Ideally, pickup from our hotel
6. Reasonable cost (e.g. ScubaCaribe appears to be more expensive than most of the others).

Can anyone provide a targeted recommendation for me?

Also, since this is my first time on this site, it would be rude to not introduce myself, I think.

I'm a male, 49, certified at Aqua-Sport in Eilat in 1981. Sporadic diving since then - at about 55 dives now. Have dived Eilat, Cozumel, Brazil (near Sao Paulo), Key Largo, Epcot's Aquarium (VERY cool dive!!), and a quarry in Ohio a few times (cold!). Recently did my PADI AOW and Nitrox in Aruba (on my honeymoon - wife wasn't too pleased, she doesn't dive). This appears to be a great site, thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.

Thanks!!

John

 

[Firefyter]

I am taking my family (wife, 4 kids, niece, nephew, father, step-mother) to PDC in June (12-19).

We will be staying at the RIU Tequila.

My 2 older sons (14 and 18) are taking their OW class right now and plan to do their OW referral dives in PDC.

We're considering having them do the cert dives here (Michigan) if time and weather permit, but for now are planning to do it in PDC.

I've been reading posts on here all morning and have seen recommendations for DiveMike, CyanHa, Sealife, Tankha, Abyss, and 1 for ScubaCaribe (the operator at our hotel).

What I'm looking for from an operation is:

1. GOOD, patient, thorough, safety conscious instructors for my sons (hey, they're my children!)
2. Setup with boats on the more comfortable side
3. Well maintained, modern rental equipment
4. Personalized service
5. Ideally, pickup from our hotel
6. Reasonable cost (e.g. ScubaCaribe appears to be more expensive than most of the others).

Can anyone provide a targeted recommendation for me?

Also, since this is my first time on this site, it would be rude to not introduce myself, I think.

I'm a male, 49, certified at Aqua-Sport in Eilat in 1981. Sporadic diving since then - at about 55 dives now. Have dived Eilat, Cozumel, Brazil (near Sao Paulo), Key Largo, Epcot's Aquarium (VERY cool dive!!), and a quarry in Ohio a few times (cold!). Recently did my PADI AOW and Nitrox in Aruba (on my honeymoon - wife wasn't too pleased, she doesn't dive). This appears to be a great site, thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.

Thanks!!

John

I highly recommend Scubamex, just south of PDC in Paamul. I'll address each of your points, and you decide which is more important.

1. Very good, patient instructors. My wife did her first ocean dives with them, and they were outstanding. Taught her a lot, and showed her things she mght never have seen otherwise.

2. Boats are not what I'd call comfortable, but it's a VERY short ride to the reefs, and they take care of setting up your gear. I always recommend double checking your gear, but they always did a great job with ours.

3. All their rental equipment is brand new, mostly Scubapro. They recently had a terrible fire, so they had to replace all their gear. Their dive shop looks pretty primitive for now, but they are in the process of building a new one.

4. Very personalized service. You can deal directly with the owners, and they are EXTREMELY helpful. As a plus, all of their instruction is on a one to one basis. You're not part of a class, you ARE the class. Also, thie safety record is impeccable.

5. No pickups from hotels that I'm aware of. You might email John Everett and ask him. His email address is on their website, http://www.scubamex.com

6. Out of all the places I checked in that area, they were one of the most reasonable. Again, check their website, I think the prices are listed. Email John Everett for more info, and tell him Thomas and Peyton sent ya!

We were just there the first week of April, can you tell I was impressed?

Oh yeah, Welcome to Scubaboard

 

[Paddles]

I am taking my family (wife, 4 kids, niece, nephew, father, step-mother) to PDC in June (12-19).

We will be staying at the RIU Tequila.

My 2 older sons (14 and 18) are taking their OW class right now and plan to do their OW referral dives in PDC.

We're considering having them do the cert dives here (Michigan) if time and weather permit, but for now are planning to do it in PDC.

I've been reading posts on here all morning and have seen recommendations for DiveMike, CyanHa, Sealife, Tankha, Abyss, and 1 for ScubaCaribe (the operator at our hotel).

What I'm looking for from an operation is:

1. GOOD, patient, thorough, safety conscious instructors for my sons (hey, they're my children!)
2. Setup with boats on the more comfortable side
3. Well maintained, modern rental equipment
4. Personalized service
5. Ideally, pickup from our hotel
6. Reasonable cost (e.g. ScubaCaribe appears to be more expensive than most of the others).

Can anyone provide a targeted recommendation for me?

Also, since this is my first time on this site, it would be rude to not introduce myself, I think.

I'm a male, 49, certified at Aqua-Sport in Eilat in 1981. Sporadic diving since then - at about 55 dives now. Have dived Eilat, Cozumel, Brazil (near Sao Paulo), Key Largo, Epcot's Aquarium (VERY cool dive!!), and a quarry in Ohio a few times (cold!). Recently did my PADI AOW and Nitrox in Aruba (on my honeymoon - wife wasn't too pleased, she doesn't dive). This appears to be a great site, thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.

Thanks!!

John

Hi John,

I'm new to SB and new to diving...Sorry to sound stupid, but my questions and concerns mimic yours and don't want to repeat posts since responses to yours might answer mine!
I too am taking my kids to Mexico in July and was wondering where PDC is. We're going to the Moon Palace in Cancun and from all the posts I've read, the kids and I should stay out of Coz since we're all inexperienced...

I'm currently reading thru all the posts trying to educate myself so the kids and I can have fun, but only SAFE fun...

Paddles

 

[jporis]

Hi John,

I'm new to SB and new to diving...Sorry to sound stupid, but my questions and concerns mimic yours and don't want to repeat posts since responses to yours might answer mine!
I too am taking my kids to Mexico in July and was wondering where PDC is. We're going to the Moon Palace in Cancun and from all the posts I've read, the kids and I should stay out of Coz since we're all inexperienced...

I'm currently reading thru all the posts trying to educate myself so the kids and I can have fun, but only SAFE fun...

Paddles

Paddles - PDC is Playa Del Carmen - about 30-40 miles South of Cancun in what's called the Mayan Riviera. There are several towns there, notably PDC, Tulum, Akumal, and a few others. It's just across the channel from Cozumel - there is a ferry from PDC to Cozumel.

 

[Paddles]

Paddles - PDC is Playa Del Carmen - about 30-40 miles South of Cancun in what's called the Mayan Riviera. There are several towns there, notably PDC, Tulum, Akumal, and a few others. It's just across the channel from Cozumel - there is a ferry from PDC to Cozumel.

Thank you!

 

[catbrown]

Hola John

The RIU Tequila is at the south end of Playacar which adjoins Playa del Carmen - it is a 30 min walk north into Playa del Carmen - the good news is the taxis are only about 40 pesos. (USD4). Scuba Mex has an excellent rep - I am glad to hear they are setting up again. But they are in Paamul which is even further South down the highway. There are excellent dive ops in Playa del Carmen which will be much more convenient for you. We refer people to Abyss www.abyssdiveshop.com , they have excellent instructors and are a training centre, so their training standards are high. I also hear good things about Dive with Mike. Hope you can drop in one day while you're here
Cat
Dive Puerto Morelos

 

[Scott Riemer]

We're going to the Moon Palace in Cancun and from all the posts I've read, the kids and I should stay out of Coz since we're all inexperienced...

I'm currently reading thru all the posts trying to educate myself so the kids and I can have fun, but only SAFE fun...

Paddles

Paddles,

Had to respond to your post. I was at Moon Palace last week. There, next to the pools, you will find people offering diving. These people are representatives of AquaWorld. They are only interested in selling you their packages. I would not (and many others on the board will agree) dive with them.

Here's my short report of my week. My dive buddy and I went Monday morning by taxi to Puerto Morelos about 15 miles south and dove with Dive Puerto Morelos www.divepuertomorelos.com . Catbrown is a member of the Scubaboard community and runs the place. We did one dive on Monday to about 45 ft. on a reef. Jan was our Divemaster and he's from California. Tuesday we went back and dove a wreck (intentionally sunk C-56 Minesweeper). Max Depth was 88 ft. This was a multilevel dive. We did not penetrate since this was only my buddy and I's 7th OW dive. Then after a Surface Interval we dove another reef called El Puente at around 65 ft.

Catbrown also booked us with 2 afternoon dives at Cozumel on thursday. We dove with a company called Deep Blue. They tailored the dives to our experience level and we dove Palancar Gardens on first dive to about 85ft. After SI, we dove Yucab Reef at around 55ft. Our Divemaster Gabriel was very aware of our newbie-ness but also did not baby-sit us. I never felt uneasy about anything.

I hope you find this info useful. I highly recommend Dive Puerto Morelos. If you have any other questions about the hotel or anything, just ask.

 

[jporis]

Thank you all for your replies. Cat - how far is Puero Morelos from PDC?

 

[catbrown]

Puerto Morelos is a 20 minute drive North from PDC - 16 pesos in the bus! then 15 pesos in taxi to shop becuase the bus stops up at the highway which is 2k from the beach.......

 

[teamheatwave]

Diving in Puerto Morelos with Cat Brown (Hi Cat!) or Scuba Mex in Paamul with John are both good decisions. They both run a good dive op and you can't go wrong with either. Heck, if you have time, why not give 'em each a day! I have personally been to both shops and met both of these individuals and without any hesitation would recommend them. As for Abyss, they have two locations - PDC and Tulum. We were supposed to dive with David out of their Tulum facility however, we ran out of time and never got there. Although we cannot give first hand knowledge of visiting their shop or seeing the operation, I can tell you that David spent a lot of time answering all of my questions and recommending overnight lodging if we wanted to spend the night. Each of these locations may seem similar on paper, offer something unique about their area. As for staying away from Cozumel because of inexperience I would recommend a great novice shore dive from Chankannab Park. If you bring your own bc and regs, it is very inexpensive and a fun, enjoyable, easy and safe dive. By the way, asking questions is not stupid. People NOT asking questions are the stupid ones. There is a wealth of information on this scuba board for you to tap into. If you don't ask you won't learn. Welcome to the board.