Playa del Carmen

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Scuba Diving & Snorkeling

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ISRA
ISRA
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5 out of 5
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5
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Snorkeling and scuba in Cozumel

  • December 21, 2005
  • Rated 5 of 5 by vernbm from shawnee, Kansas
My oldest boy and I wanted to see the corals and colorful fish we all had heard about. I have never dove before. They had a training session at our pool at the Iberostar and offered a free dive class. I did two training dives there and went through some diving rules with them there. The next day we met at the dive shop and went by ferry to Cozumel, where we were picked up by there by the dive boat and taken to the first dive site. The training was great, as it was a lot to learn in just one day. The people there were experienced and friendly and made me feel safe, as I have never done this before. The instructor was always with me on my dive, and we saw a ton of fish. The hurricane did little damage to the life under the water. As I dove, my boy was taken around snorkeling by one of the dive team members, and he had a blast, too. I want to go back.

From journal Week away from the snow of KC

Editor Pick

Scuba diving in a cenote

  • May 17, 2005
  • Rated 5 of 5 by JesusW from Mexico city, Mexico
Scuba diving in a cenote

I started in Playa del Carmen, where the instructor picked up two other guys and me in town and proceeded to the cenote site in his truck. It took less than 15 minutes to get there. The place can vary, as there are many cenotes in the area, and the guides will choose one not too crowded. I dove Chaak Mol, which is very rustic--no facilities, just the sinkhole in the middle of the jungle.


Cenote Chaak MolWe suited up in a full 3mm wetsuit (rental included) as water is cool all year round, at a steady 75F (24C). In a cenote, you have to do the frog kick in order to avoid stirring the sediments at the bottom--novice divers can (and usually do) reduce visibility from 200 feet to none in a matter of seconds. It's better if you don't dive behind one. If you are the novice, please keep in mind that visibility is your main reason to dive a cenote, and by fogging the water, you can get your buddies lost and in trouble.

In the cenotes in the Riviera Maya, you never go below 30 feet, and you are always "near" a source of daylight (no more than 50 meters, according to cenote guidelines). Visibility is incredible--you may feel you are diving in thin air or inside an aquarium. You should always follow the guide and respond to his checking signs all the time to make it a safe trip--getting lost in one of these caves can be scary, as options are endless, and a search would take its time, especially if you lose your dive light.

Safety is the name of the game. Certified cavern divers are the only guys allowed to take people inside the caves and only three at a time per instructor. As long as you don't stay too far in the back, you can enjoy a incredible experience in a cave. As mentioned in the title, this is like flying, but without wings, and you can stay motionless if you want in order to examine a formation with more atention or to take pictures. Be aware that you need a very strong strobe and very sensitive film or a digital camera to get good pictures--this is tricky.

You do two tanks, spending the surface interval eating a couple sandwiches provided by your guide outside the cenote and warming under the sun.

If you love scuba, this is amazing.

From journal Flying in the Middle of a Cave

scuba diving

  • April 13, 2004
  • Rated 5 of 5 by santiagodeldf from mexico city, Mexico
All of the Mayan Riviera is full of dive shops. Most of them are in Playa, but you can also go to Puerto Morelos, which is a fisherman’s town just about 10 minutes from Playa.

It’s more virgin than other sites in the Riviera and of course cheaper!! The beach is very clean and it’s perfect for those who want to be away from all the crowds.

From journal Playa Paradise

Viva Diving

  • January 9, 2004
  • Rated 5 of 5 by scenicgrrl from San Francisco, California
Viva Diving

The diving around the Palancar reef was wonderful. There is a full range of life you can see, including hammerhead sharks if you are lucky. You can choose from the dive sites available -- they try to take you to the locations you would like to see. Taking the trip to Cozumel is a must.

From journal Diving the Yucatan Peninsula

SCUBA WORLD

  • December 30, 2003
  • Rated 5 of 5 by ISRA from MEXICO CITY, MEXICO, Mexico
Please, if you go to Playa del Carmen, practice snorkeling or scuba diving. There's no better place in the world to practice this activity and you are going to have an unforgettable experience. If you want to try something easy, you can have all the snorkeling equipment for $20 dls. That will include a 1-hour tour to the best reef in the Caribbean for snorkeling. If you want to experience something better and have a great adventure, for $80 to $90 dlrs, you can get a quick course to practice scuba diving, go to the reefs, 1 hour deep diving, see an amazing underwater world, and take all this home on a video.

From journal INCREDIBLE PLAYA DEL CARMEN

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