Hi,
Recently, I asked for itinerary suggestions in this post and received very useful help. As a proper thank you, and also to for those that are in need of recommendtations in the future here is my first trip report:
Itinerary suggestions in Yucatan
Background: We had around 15 days in Yucatan region in the first half of May, and made dives in Mahahual, Tulum and Cozumel. We were budget travellers with PADI AOW certification and 100+ dives.
Mahahual (Banco Chinchorro):
We stayed in Hidden Jems Mahahual. It was not fancy, cheap and ok. They have kitchen if you want to cook some things to cut on costs as beach side restaurants are quite expensive. As a cheaper and definitely fine eating option is Camaroncito Caribeño.
Divingwise, we went to Mahahual because of the nurse sharks. We really wanted to see our first nurse sharks and heard that it is nearly sure to see them. Their character is a bit different than usual though. They are super or over friendly based on your likes. One of them came and touched my mask with its head! Therewere many lobsters as well. Here the main deal is nurse sharks but there is small island where you can see huge interesting looking iguanas and also big crocodiles. We definitely enjoyed the trip.
As operator, we made dives with Pepe dives. It was not cheap (3300 mxn or ~190 usd) including everything (rental gear, park fees, lunch, etc) but I would say worth it considering the long trip and what you see in 2-tank dive. We met around 8 or so and came back around 16-17. I dont know if it is common but the sea was rough and borderline not possible to sail (around 1.6 - 1.7 m high waves). The dive shop said they have relatively larger boat. It was not really a big boat but perhaps for Mahahual, I dont know. We were 8-10 people with 6-7 divers and 2-3 snorkelers. Overall, the dive shop was really good. They gave a good briefing before we went, due to the rough conditions they informed us timely, and the DMs were also quite good. And one of the DMs (Jean) shared full resolution videos that he took with me going the extra mile. One advantage of this dive shop is that they guarantee trips to Banco Chinchorro, while others are a bit vague saying based on the number of divers they may or may not leave. Their gear was nothing fancy but in working condition. Actually, in the second dive, my BCD was leaking from the connection point of the inflator. Jorge, the other DM came and just disconnected it. It was a learning point for me. Yes, I was not able to inflate it using the button but if I needed, I could through my mouth. In the end, you don't need to inflate-deflate all the time.
We were considering to got Xcalak to see manateesbut we did not due to time and money. Pepe dive did offer Xcalak trips as well.
Tulum (cenotes):
Here, we made 2 dives (one day) via Green Divers Tulum. The reason was that Marc, who is active in this forum reached out to me after seeing my post. He was really knowledgeable and professional. He took us from our hotel and dropped back. It was basically a private service as we were all alone in the group (me, my wife and Marc). We dived in The Pit and Dos Ojos. Instead of trying to rush in the morning to avoid crowds in the dive site, we took it relaxed. Went there a bit late and it was indeed not crowded. Overall, it was definitely different and nice. It was worth it but considering the prices, we did not do a second day of diving. The price is all like this in Tulum (I guess) due to entrance fees etc. It was around 180 usd per person for 2 dives including everything. ouch.
Cozumel:
We checked nearly all the dive shops and decided to dive with Nirvana dive shop. I definitely recommend them as they gave the best price by a margin (plus a discount because we made multi day dives) and their service was great. We made 4 dives in 2 days. First day we dived with a rather fresh DM (she was fine, dont remember the name. Since she is not experienced, she could not calibrate how chilled she should be or control us. I mean when doing the safety stop where I was just still with no sign of positive buoyancy, she came and deflated my BCD herself only to see that it was already fully deflated. She did the same to other divers
She is nice, really positive and enthusiastic about diving but needs time and experience I think). Second day, we made dives with Socrates, the local DM with 20+ years in Cozumel. I strongly recommend diving with him. He was calm, knew the sites well and chilled. As opposed to diving in Utila, Honduras with a max dive time of 45 mins sharp regardless of air consumption or no deco time (my god such a horrible experience it was), our first dive was 70+ mins, second 60 mins but we were already tired to be honest. We were in a small boat, which is just what we wanted because with big boats, it is like a mass production. No personal touch, the dive site is already crowded because of the divers of our boat, noisy, etc etc. So yes, if I go to Cozumel again, I will not hesitate to go with Nirvana dive shop.
We did not dive in Playa del Carmen because it was not the time for bull sharks.
The dives: well, it is no Indonesia yes, but especially the second day dives with Socrates were really really good. We saw a rather large nurse shark wandering in around 20m, a good eagle ray sight, many turtles, huge crab, nice swim throughs, baracudas. Our group was 3 divers + Socrates!
Well, that's that. Hope I covered everything. I dont remember the dive sites in particular but it is not so important for these locations I think.
Recently, I asked for itinerary suggestions in this post and received very useful help. As a proper thank you, and also to for those that are in need of recommendtations in the future here is my first trip report:
Itinerary suggestions in Yucatan
Background: We had around 15 days in Yucatan region in the first half of May, and made dives in Mahahual, Tulum and Cozumel. We were budget travellers with PADI AOW certification and 100+ dives.
Mahahual (Banco Chinchorro):
We stayed in Hidden Jems Mahahual. It was not fancy, cheap and ok. They have kitchen if you want to cook some things to cut on costs as beach side restaurants are quite expensive. As a cheaper and definitely fine eating option is Camaroncito Caribeño.
Divingwise, we went to Mahahual because of the nurse sharks. We really wanted to see our first nurse sharks and heard that it is nearly sure to see them. Their character is a bit different than usual though. They are super or over friendly based on your likes. One of them came and touched my mask with its head! Therewere many lobsters as well. Here the main deal is nurse sharks but there is small island where you can see huge interesting looking iguanas and also big crocodiles. We definitely enjoyed the trip.
As operator, we made dives with Pepe dives. It was not cheap (3300 mxn or ~190 usd) including everything (rental gear, park fees, lunch, etc) but I would say worth it considering the long trip and what you see in 2-tank dive. We met around 8 or so and came back around 16-17. I dont know if it is common but the sea was rough and borderline not possible to sail (around 1.6 - 1.7 m high waves). The dive shop said they have relatively larger boat. It was not really a big boat but perhaps for Mahahual, I dont know. We were 8-10 people with 6-7 divers and 2-3 snorkelers. Overall, the dive shop was really good. They gave a good briefing before we went, due to the rough conditions they informed us timely, and the DMs were also quite good. And one of the DMs (Jean) shared full resolution videos that he took with me going the extra mile. One advantage of this dive shop is that they guarantee trips to Banco Chinchorro, while others are a bit vague saying based on the number of divers they may or may not leave. Their gear was nothing fancy but in working condition. Actually, in the second dive, my BCD was leaking from the connection point of the inflator. Jorge, the other DM came and just disconnected it. It was a learning point for me. Yes, I was not able to inflate it using the button but if I needed, I could through my mouth. In the end, you don't need to inflate-deflate all the time.
We were considering to got Xcalak to see manateesbut we did not due to time and money. Pepe dive did offer Xcalak trips as well.
Tulum (cenotes):
Here, we made 2 dives (one day) via Green Divers Tulum. The reason was that Marc, who is active in this forum reached out to me after seeing my post. He was really knowledgeable and professional. He took us from our hotel and dropped back. It was basically a private service as we were all alone in the group (me, my wife and Marc). We dived in The Pit and Dos Ojos. Instead of trying to rush in the morning to avoid crowds in the dive site, we took it relaxed. Went there a bit late and it was indeed not crowded. Overall, it was definitely different and nice. It was worth it but considering the prices, we did not do a second day of diving. The price is all like this in Tulum (I guess) due to entrance fees etc. It was around 180 usd per person for 2 dives including everything. ouch.
Cozumel:
We checked nearly all the dive shops and decided to dive with Nirvana dive shop. I definitely recommend them as they gave the best price by a margin (plus a discount because we made multi day dives) and their service was great. We made 4 dives in 2 days. First day we dived with a rather fresh DM (she was fine, dont remember the name. Since she is not experienced, she could not calibrate how chilled she should be or control us. I mean when doing the safety stop where I was just still with no sign of positive buoyancy, she came and deflated my BCD herself only to see that it was already fully deflated. She did the same to other divers
She is nice, really positive and enthusiastic about diving but needs time and experience I think). Second day, we made dives with Socrates, the local DM with 20+ years in Cozumel. I strongly recommend diving with him. He was calm, knew the sites well and chilled. As opposed to diving in Utila, Honduras with a max dive time of 45 mins sharp regardless of air consumption or no deco time (my god such a horrible experience it was), our first dive was 70+ mins, second 60 mins but we were already tired to be honest. We were in a small boat, which is just what we wanted because with big boats, it is like a mass production. No personal touch, the dive site is already crowded because of the divers of our boat, noisy, etc etc. So yes, if I go to Cozumel again, I will not hesitate to go with Nirvana dive shop.We did not dive in Playa del Carmen because it was not the time for bull sharks.
The dives: well, it is no Indonesia yes, but especially the second day dives with Socrates were really really good. We saw a rather large nurse shark wandering in around 20m, a good eagle ray sight, many turtles, huge crab, nice swim throughs, baracudas. Our group was 3 divers + Socrates!
Well, that's that. Hope I covered everything. I dont remember the dive sites in particular but it is not so important for these locations I think.
