Riviera maya November Grand palladium colonial and ketenah resort and spa

[Steve A]

We have booked for our first time in Mexico from the uk. We are stopping at Grand Palladium Colonial and Katenah resort and spa, riviera maya in November.
The onsite water sports and dive centre is Aqua excursions Riviera maya.
Has anyone used these or have any other recommendations for dive operators who will pick us up from the hotel, allow us to store our gear with them and generally look after us?
We are looking to do a couple of dives in the cenotes, a couple of dives on Cozumel, a couple of dives local and hopefully a couple of dives off cancun at the underwater museum but the onsite dive operator does not offer the last option.
Any recommendations for local dive sites? What are our best options in November.
How far is riviera maya from the underwater museum cancun?
We have dived the Red Sea and Indian Ocean Maldives so are not expecting to be blown away by the coral etc but would be good to see something different. It is primarily a holiday with diving so don't want to be stuck waiting for transfers etc. Hence trying to sort everything out in plenty of time.
Cheers Steve

 

[Wah]

Hello! I stayed at Grand Palladium Kantenah a few years ago when the dive center was run by underwater technical world. I don't know if the diving is run the same way by this company but I wrote little blurb on tripadvisor about my trip that I'll just paste below... I dove local PDC with UTW and the cenotes with Playa Scuba. I didn't want to make the trip over to Coz since I've been diving there before and wanted stay local. Anyway, here's what I wrote in 2013.

"The ocean dives I did (two days, 4 tanks) were all a quick 5 min boat ride. You suit up at the dive shop, walk to the boat with your BCD, mask and fins, set up your BCD as you ride out to the site, do your dive, come back to the shop, and do your surface interval at the resort. This means you can spend your SI at the pool or eat a quick lunch with your family. This isn't a typical dive boat where you hang out all morning on the boat until you are done diving. They do 3 dives a day at 8am, 10am, and 1pm. They also do daily cenote dives at 9:20am. The 8am dive is deep (~70 feet), and the other two are relatively shallow (~40 to 60 ft.). One thing that might bother some divers is that they end the dive at 45min and ascend as a group even if you still have a lot of air left.
I did 2 days of cenote dives with another shop offsite but I'd probably go with UTW next time since they pick you up at the dive shop. I read somewhere that outside dive shops are not allowed to pick you up inside your resort (ie, at the lobby), so for me this meant I had to lug my gear across the enormous property and meet the guide outside on the highway."

Basically, diving at the resort was extremely convenient. Since I travel with my non-diving family, it was nice to be able to spend my SI with them. I did really miss hanging out on a boat with new friends like most other diving I've done, though. My impression of PDC diving was... it was OK, not great, but not terrible. Diving Cozumel is definitely worth the trip over the channel if you have the time. The diving there is still some of the best I've done.
The really memorable diving in the mayan riviera was in the cenotes. UTW offered cenote diving back then but I opted to use Playa Scuba because it was so much cheaper. What I didn't know at the time was that the taxi unions are pretty tough over there and somehow they made it illegal for anyone other than a licensed taxi to pick you up at the resort. What this means is that if you use an offsite dive shop that picks up, you will have to meet them on the road. For some hotels its no big deal since the road is right in front of the lobby... but at the Palladium, it means walking quite a distance with all your crap slung over your back. If I had done the cenote dives with UTW, they pick up on the beach at the dive center. Nonetheless, Klaus @ playa scuba was great and I had an awesome time. I will also recommend CenoteXperience, as they are whom I dove with on my 2nd trip to PDC.

I am also going to PDC (staying at Barcelo) in November and Im pretty sure I will do 1 or 2 dives with the onsite shop (Dressel) and 1 or 2 dives with CenoteXperience in the cenotes. I did like Kantenah, but my wife wants to try other places. If you have any questions feel free to PM me!

 

[Steve A]

Thanks! Is it possible to dive the underwater museum off cancun from here or is it too far?

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I recommend you contact Nicolas from CenoteXperience They can handle all your diving requirements. Nico & his brother Martin are great guys and excellent dive guides. I have been diving with them for over 6 years and we have become good friends. Tell Nico that Steve from Canada sent you.
You can do ocean dives almost anywhere but you can only dive cenotes in Mexico, so I would focus on them. That being said, I would go over to Cozumel for your ocean dives. I would look at some you tube videos of the cenotes and see which ones interest you, such as Angelita, Gran, The Pit, Tajma Ha, Calavera, Dreamgate, Dos Ojos, etc. The Grand Palladium is located between Puerto Adventuras and Akumal which is close to all the cenotes. We stayed there last Sept. and really enjoyed the resort. Unofficial Palladium is a good site & forum about all things Grand Palladium. Grand Palladium Riviera Maya Info – Unofficial Palladium The underwater museum is too far away from the Palladium to dive. You would have at least a 2 hour drive each way and there are a lot more interesting things to see.

 

[spc751]

I agree with everything Wah said about Aqua excursions (UTW). I dove with them on four trips and was happy everytime. I dove with their shop in Playacar last year and was happy with it as well.

 

[Steve A]

Thanks guys. We travel over to Cozumel for a couple of dives which dive spots should we concentrate on for the best marine life?