Winter 2011-2012, questions...

[Tristan.ak]

Currently I have only dived cold water (3-0*C) and really enjoy it, but I would like to get into some warm water that is not a pool or tub. This winter Im going to be going to San Francisco for my winter break from school (Im a college student with a limited budget) and will be doing some local dives there and up and down the Coast. I want to surprise my GF since she did get tickets for Cancun for May of 2011 and I backed out due to the cost of getting from Fairbanks Ak to Seattle Wa (600$ per person).

I have done a bit of research for the Yucatan and since I have a huge interest in research I think I went overboard. My questions are that of the diving nature. What is the normal viz and since normal is all personal my normal viz is to the tip of my fins and bad is when the SPG is inches from my face. How about for the marine life, do they move out in the winter and seek deeper waters? What are the best spots for winter diving? I have trolled around and have a few on my mind and I like shore diving since I don't like groups and tours. Im the type that if I see something interesting like a rock I will not leave. Most of my dives are just looking at rocks with glacier scaring and beach benches from isostatic rebound in Southeast Alaska.

I have done some diving at St Croix Vi and that was nice but with the high temps and very high humidity I spent most of my time diving, snorkeling, and turning into a prune. This is why I want to visit then, just to avoid the tourists and hot weather, since I will be coming from -40F anything is to hot.

Thanks!

 

[DandyDon]

How interesting...

Now the Yucatan peninsula is a big place but diving is pretty much east coast of Quintana Roo - from Cancun south to Playa del Carmen and perhaps a bit further, with developing interests in diving some banks much further south close to Belize, but the best overall diving is across from PDC at Isla Cozumel - aside from the Cenotes around Tulum. How long of a visit are you planning? Have you developed an interest in a particular locations? Hi-def zoomable map at http://www.locogringo.com/lgunet/images/maps/roads/masterQR.png

The viz tends to be outstanding with 100 ft not uncommon. There are some migrations of sharks, large rays, and a few other species but most pretty much stay in the area year round as the air temps in the winter may only be 10F less than in the summer with maybe that much difference in the water temps. The North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre circulates from Africa to Venezuela then north between Cancun and Cuba so you have a constant flow.

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Now there are occasions in the winter where a north front will blow in cooling things off a bit and causing dive operations to cease at times. That's a good day to have a cenote trip lined up.

As far as the best spots for winter diving - same as the rest of the year really. Now diving is generally done in groups of 6 to 8 with a DM required in the Cozumel park and still included for other sites, but he will usually allow you a lot of leeway. Shore diving on Coz can be interesting in spots where you can sit and watch a coral head to see what comes out or swims by.

Hope that helps you some.

 

[Tristan.ak]

Yeah it did answer what I asked and more, I was the and from what I have found out Coz is the spot to dive and the deep trench sure helps with up swells of nutrients to feed the coral. We would be there for a few weeks, all depending on flights and the flexibility of my work and what I can take on holiday. The trip is still on the stove and Cali is still nice and I really enjoy cold waters.

 

[DandyDon]

A few weeks - how nice. You might spend a week or so on Coz, then ferry over to PDC to explore other areas, dive cenotes, visit renown ruins if you'd like. Easyway car rental doesn't charge a drop charge if you want to fly into Coz, pickup a car in PDC, then leave it at Cancun.

For info on Coz, you really want to check & post on that sub-forum but I'll watch this thread in case I can help with peninsula info. This is an excellent source for very informative maps: http://cancunmap.com/

 

[phantom divers]

Hello there
It seen that you are looking forward to do this trip my friend...well let me tell you that if you come to laya del carmen you should come to meet us we are a fullservice dive shop and we can offer you diferent options around this area we do dives in playa del carmen we have around 20 diferent sites we do cozumel we do cenotes also we do whale shark tours wich is awesome season just started and we can give you a very good deal if you do diferent thing with us
If you need more info send us an email at info@phantomdivers.com or visit our web page Buceo en Playa del Carmen - Phantom Divers hope we can meet sometime my friend
regards from playa del carmen

 

[diving-community-site]

How interesting...

Now the Yucatan peninsula is a big place but diving is pretty much east coast of Quintana Roo - from Cancun south to Playa del Carmen and perhaps a bit further, with developing interests in diving some banks much further south close to Belize, but the best overall diving is across from PDC at Isla Cozumel - aside from the Cenotes around Tulum. How long of a visit are you planning? Have you developed an interest in a particular locations? Hi-def zoomable map at http://www.locogringo.com/lgunet/images/maps/roads/masterQR.png

The viz tends to be outstanding with 100 ft not uncommon. There are some migrations of sharks, large rays, and a few other species but most pretty much stay in the area year round as the air temps in the winter may only be 10F less than in the summer with maybe that much difference in the water temps. The North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre circulates from Africa to Venezuela then north between Cancun and Cuba so you have a constant flow.

View attachment 95410​

Now there are occasions in the winter where a north front will blow in cooling things off a bit and causing dive operations to cease at times. That's a good day to have a cenote trip lined up.

As far as the best spots for winter diving - same as the rest of the year really. Now diving is generally done in groups of 6 to 8 with a DM required in the Cozumel park and still included for other sites, but he will usually allow you a lot of leeway. Shore diving on Coz can be interesting in spots where you can sit and watch a coral head to see what comes out or swims by.

Hope that helps you some.

Thanks DandyDon for this information.

"Whale Shark season" officially started last Sunday May 15th when the first exploration boats went out in search of this friendly shark and confirmed sightings. At the begining of season you only see a few Whale Shark (however, still lot easier to spot than at Belize), but at middle of season some days you have 300 Whale Sharks on same area. Yeah... you heard that right, above 300 animals.

oth our Holbox and Isla Mujeres partners have confirmed the sharks are here! The animals are still a little far from coast (about 1.5 hour boat ride from either destination) but probabilities of finding and swimming with the animals are 95% in good weather conditions.

We will be posting reports on this page, everybody is welcome to post their own reports.

Visit our Whale Shark Tour and Whale Sharks information posts.

Hope you enjoy the Mexican Caribbean 2011 Whale Shark season!

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks DandyDon for this information.

"Whale Shark season" officially started last Sunday May 15th when the first exploration boats went out in search of this friendly shark and confirmed sightings. At the begining of season you only see a few Whale Shark (however, still lot easier to spot than at Belize), but at middle of season some days you have 300 Whale Sharks on same area. Yeah... you heard that right, above 300 animals.

oth our Holbox and Isla Mujeres partners have confirmed the sharks are here! The animals are still a little far from coast (about 1.5 hour boat ride from either destination) but probabilities of finding and swimming with the animals are 95% in good weather conditions.

So why did you spam this thread on Winter diving...??