How far are the cenotes from Cozumel?

[evilclown]

I'll be in the cancun area, thinking about staying in Cozumel. How far are the cenotes dives? Any other recommended dives in the area (Playa, Holbox, Akumal, etc) or should i just stick to Coz. Any suggestions?
Thanks!!!

[driftwood]

Your questions are too general. Like asking, what is there to see in Rome while I am in Italy. You go from Holbox to cenotes to Coz, while you want stuff for your Mother to do while you are diving. Need to set priorities and do basic research.

[TSandM]

Most of the cenote tours are run on the mainland. To get there from Cozumel, you take a ferry (about half an hour) and then you need transportation from Playa del Carmen to the caves (about 30 to 60 minutes, depending on site). At least some of the Cozumel dive ops can arrange a day of cenote tours for you, or you can arrange it with a mainland dive op who will meet you in PDC with a van.

There are caves on Cozumel, and German Yanez is a cave instructor/tour leader who lives there, but I don't know if he leads cavern tours in the Cozumel caves. At least in the one I've dived in (Aerolito) there wasn't that much of a cavern zone.

[deco_martini]

We dove Dos Ojos (sp?) the last time we were in Coz. It wasn't too far of a ride once we got to the mainland. It was worth the trip, but only because it was our second trip to Coz. We did it on our last day of diving, so those were our "long stop" dives. (each of those dives was less than 30 feet)

[evilclown]

Your questions are too general. Like asking, what is there to see in Rome while I am in Italy. You go from Holbox to cenotes to Coz, while you want stuff for your Mother to do while you are diving. Need to set priorities and do basic research.

Thank you so much for your response. It is so informative and helpful! People like you are what make this forum such a special place, can't thank you enough.

[mikerault]

Just got back. Give Scuba Caribe a call, they can take to Kukulcan and Little Brother on the mainland which are good beginner sites (never out of site of a possible exit, pre-run lines, etc.) I took the ferry from Cozumel, they picked me up at the dock and delivered me back there at the end of the day. Here is a link to some of my pictures, I was having camera issues so they aren't the best but it will give you an idea (Cenote pictures start at around number 36.) We were about 11 KM out of Tulum when we dove the Cenotes if that gives you a reference point.

Cenote Pictures (http://www.scubamage.com/images/cozumel/cozumel_dives/album/index.html)

[ddeborahdelamar]

Another idea would be to cavern dive from Cancun -- you eliminate the round trip ferry & shoot straight down the Cancun-Tulum highway to the cenotes.

If you're going before the end of summer, you may want to snorkel with the whale sharks (north of Cancun.) I've never been diving in Cancun but there are recommendations & reviews here at Scubaboard.

There are some interesting ocean dives from Playa del Carmen: Tortugas Reef (lots of Turtles), Barracuda Reef, Sabalos Reef and the Mama Vina wreck.

But you won't beat Cozumel's awesome & easy reef diving at any other Riviera Maya location.

[driftwood]

Thank you so much for your response. It is so informative and helpful! People like you are what make this forum such a special place, can't thank you enough.

You are welcome. You caught me on a good day. Sorry, but you just sounded lazy to me. Try using the search function or a map. Combined with your question in the Mexico thread, the area you asked about covers better than 100 miles of coast line, has around ten big tourist areas with thousands of hotels containing hundreds of thousands of rooms, and three islands that are hours apart and very different from each other.

Effectively, a trip to the cenotes from Coz is a full day with a early morning wakeup and late afternoon return. Plenty of previous threads on the subject.

[TSandM]

You know, the fun thing about SB is that there ARE people on the board who are happy to wade in and explain such things, even if they've done it before. As for me, I love talking about the Riviera Maya and the diving there (because I'd move there, if I didn't have to work for a living). So I don't mind saying things over again, or helping people reframe their questions to get more precise answers.

[driftwood]

I agree with you completely. My visceral reaction to evilclown's post can be best described by Cluelessness (http://www.despair.com/cluelessness.html).

[bdshort]

No need to attack anyone. It seems to me in everyone used search or google to look for answers to their questions, then there would never be any questions asked here, and thus not as much interesting discussion. I don't see why people get so uptight about repeat questions...

I'll (hopefully) be in Cozumel in January, and definitley plan on a daytrip to the mainland to do a cenote tour. Probably I'll arrange one through one of the Coz dive ops.

Brian

[diverrex]

evilclown - I also did not realize that you must do X amounts of research and search through X amounts of old (possibly outdated posts) before you were allowed to ask a question on ScubaBoard. Feel free to keep asking, some of us don't mind answering, and the questions I think are stupid, I just ignore anyway.

The Cenotes are a great diving experience, if you are in the area I would definately consider adding them to Coz dives. The reefs around Akumal are just so so, I like diving them better than cold water SoCal diving, but they are not nearly as good as Cozumel, less fish life and the viz is a little less. Though you will see turtles on almost all dives in Akumal.

If you are coming and going through Cancun airport I'd consider heading straight to Coz for reef dives then heading to Playa (with a 1 or 2 night stop) for cenote dives before you leave. And as my friend at my LDS says, when you do it that way your gear gets a couple hours of fresh water rinse before the flight home (though I would still clean it again once home).

When going to Coz from SoCal it's a tossup between a connecting flight to Coz or the Cancun, taxi, ferry route. Last May we did the Cancun route, this September we're doing the Coz connecting flights route. But one advantage of the Cancun route is it makes it relatively easy to tack on cenotes dives.

[Ms. Ann Thrope]

Cenotes--I'm thinking that you could be at most of them within two hours of Cozumel, ferry dock to door. You have to sort of decide for yourself if you want to stay on Cozumel (the main advantage being the best reef diving in the area) or elsewhere (main advantage--mobility for non-dive activities). I agree that Akumal isn't as stunning for diving as Cozumel--but I do remember the snorkeling in the bay as pretty good, with ok lunch spots mere steps away, which can be nice if you're traveling with people who like the water but aren't certified to dive. Or if you need to get a little salty again immediately after all that cool cenote water.

I've been doing quite a bit of research/querying on Holbox, and I should have my own first-hand info to add in a few weeks, but it's not as casual of an endeavor to get there. It seems the operators who offer all-in-one-day trips can make it pretty easy though.

I've also been diving off of Isla Mujeres, and what I saw didn't impress me as all that good. Lots of people are fans of the IM vibe however.

[DandyDon]

I'll be in the cancun area, thinking about staying in Cozumel. How far are the cenotes dives? Any other recommended dives in the area (Playa, Holbox, Akumal, etc) or should i just stick to Coz. Any suggestions?
Thanks!!!


Your questions are too general. Like asking, what is there to see in Rome while I am in Italy. You go from Holbox to cenotes to Coz, while you want stuff for your Mother to do while you are diving. Need to set priorities and do basic research.


Thank you so much for your response. It is so informative and helpful! People like you are what make this forum such a special place, can't thank you enough.

:lol:
You two are funny.

Really, I thot that Driftwood was right on, even tho maybe he could have said it more politely. Maybe he's read too many of my posts. It's nice of some others to type up their suggestions, but really - it would be good to know howlong Evil has to play with, when he wants to go, his background, etc - and to have an idea of what he's interested in trying based on some internet and SB research before asking. If "everyone used search or google to look for answers to their questions, then there would" be better questions asked and better answers given, but anyway....

Holbox in on my trip plan this year, as it was last year - but I had to abort and evacuate with a hurricane approaching. You might be very bored there if you go outside of whale shark season - but some do, just for the peace and quiet;
There is much to consider in the other areas you mentioned, not my kind of thing, but I don't know what your interests are;
If you have not booked your plane ticket yet, you might consider arriving Cozumel and departing Cancun on an "open jaw" ticket - the way I am approaching it again this year.
The cenotes can be wonderful dives for a diver of enough experience, buoyancy control, night diving comfort and such, but there may be easier ones than the ones I did once; maybe our DM took us to those as he was pleased with our diving abilities on the Coz reefs the day before.
I don't think cavern dives are done on Cozumel, are they?

Whatever, have a wondeful trip.... :pilot:

[evilclown]

Just got back. Give Scuba Caribe a call, they can take to Kukulcan and Little Brother on the mainland which are good beginner sites (never out of site of a possible exit, pre-run lines, etc.) I took the ferry from Cozumel, they picked me up at the dock and delivered me back there at the end of the day. Here is a link to some of my pictures, I was having camera issues so they aren't the best but it will give you an idea (Cenote pictures start at around number 36.) We were about 11 KM out of Tulum when we dove the Cenotes if that gives you a reference point.

Cenote Pictures (http://www.scubamage.com/images/cozumel/cozumel_dives/album/index.html)
Thanks! cool pics!

[evilclown]

No need to attack anyone. It seems to me in everyone used search or google to look for answers to their questions, then there would never be any questions asked here, and thus not as much interesting discussion. I don't see why people get so uptight about repeat questions...

I'll (hopefully) be in Cozumel in January, and definitley plan on a daytrip to the mainland to do a cenote tour. Probably I'll arrange one through one of the Coz dive ops.

Brian
Exacto Mundo!