Henry
Contributor
Date: Feb 20 - 27, 2004
Hotel: Oasis
Dive shop: Dive Aventuras, www.diveaventuras.com
Gear used: 0.5mm full suit, no gloves, no hood.
This was my first time to Mexico and first time warm water diving. The trip started out as a kick back on the beach for a week vacation with my girlfriend, but it ended up being more of a dive trip.
The Puerto Aventuras area use to be a little fishing village. It is now a gated community with many hotels, condos, private residents and one marina. The Oasis hotel was one of the first big hotels in the area. Which meant that it has seen better days. The building and rooms could use a good renovation. But having said that, the all inclusive food was good and the staff was friendly. I think it was priced well because the other all inclusive hotels were newer and better but also much more expensive. Be prepared for many families with kids and older retired types.
The dive shop is located in the marina, which not only serves as docks for the boats but also home to the swim with the dophin people. The marina also has some small shops, pubs and eateries. I think Dive Aventuras is the largest dive shop operations there. I didn't really see anything else of that size.
The owner Karen and her husband (can't remember the name) were there on most days and were super friendly and helpful. I dove with 4 different DMs. All solid divers and made sure everyone was comfortable.
The shop has at least 3 boats that I saw and used. They range from 24 feet to 36 feet. The boat captains are very capable of getting you out there and back (which we found out during some pretty big waves due to a wind storm that ended up closing the port for a day). The 36 foot boat was helpful on one of the really bad days because none of the smaller boats were allowed out due to the large waves and we still managed to get 2 dives in with the large boat.
The dive location is only a 3-4 minute boat ride away from the marina and ranged from about 110 feet to less than 40 feet in depth. The terrain can be best described as reef gardens. Canyon Lands is the deepest of them and Paradise Shallows is probably the shallowest. The reefs were full of life. Lots of fish. I also saw turtles, one good sized ray and lots of lobsters. The boat captain also saw a whale shark while we were in the water, but it was too far away for us to see. The current was very mild (it's all current dives). The surge was kind of bad on the few stormy days and settled down when the storm passed.
I also did 2 cenote dives (Kukulkan and Chac Mol). Very interesting experience. I used my 0.5mm full suit and was fine. But one of the guys in the group who was using a 3mm was kind of cold. So I guess you will have to figure it out for yourself. I didn't have to use a hood at all.
I would definately use this shop again, but I have a lot of other dive locations to visit before I will get back there again. My next dive trip will probably be Playa Del Carmen, Cancun, Cozamel or Turks.
Any questions or comments are welcome.
Henry
Hotel: Oasis
Dive shop: Dive Aventuras, www.diveaventuras.com
Gear used: 0.5mm full suit, no gloves, no hood.
This was my first time to Mexico and first time warm water diving. The trip started out as a kick back on the beach for a week vacation with my girlfriend, but it ended up being more of a dive trip.
The Puerto Aventuras area use to be a little fishing village. It is now a gated community with many hotels, condos, private residents and one marina. The Oasis hotel was one of the first big hotels in the area. Which meant that it has seen better days. The building and rooms could use a good renovation. But having said that, the all inclusive food was good and the staff was friendly. I think it was priced well because the other all inclusive hotels were newer and better but also much more expensive. Be prepared for many families with kids and older retired types.
The dive shop is located in the marina, which not only serves as docks for the boats but also home to the swim with the dophin people. The marina also has some small shops, pubs and eateries. I think Dive Aventuras is the largest dive shop operations there. I didn't really see anything else of that size.
The owner Karen and her husband (can't remember the name) were there on most days and were super friendly and helpful. I dove with 4 different DMs. All solid divers and made sure everyone was comfortable.
The shop has at least 3 boats that I saw and used. They range from 24 feet to 36 feet. The boat captains are very capable of getting you out there and back (which we found out during some pretty big waves due to a wind storm that ended up closing the port for a day). The 36 foot boat was helpful on one of the really bad days because none of the smaller boats were allowed out due to the large waves and we still managed to get 2 dives in with the large boat.
The dive location is only a 3-4 minute boat ride away from the marina and ranged from about 110 feet to less than 40 feet in depth. The terrain can be best described as reef gardens. Canyon Lands is the deepest of them and Paradise Shallows is probably the shallowest. The reefs were full of life. Lots of fish. I also saw turtles, one good sized ray and lots of lobsters. The boat captain also saw a whale shark while we were in the water, but it was too far away for us to see. The current was very mild (it's all current dives). The surge was kind of bad on the few stormy days and settled down when the storm passed.
I also did 2 cenote dives (Kukulkan and Chac Mol). Very interesting experience. I used my 0.5mm full suit and was fine. But one of the guys in the group who was using a 3mm was kind of cold. So I guess you will have to figure it out for yourself. I didn't have to use a hood at all.
I would definately use this shop again, but I have a lot of other dive locations to visit before I will get back there again. My next dive trip will probably be Playa Del Carmen, Cancun, Cozamel or Turks.
Any questions or comments are welcome.
Henry
