What About Playa del Carmen?

[Dyan]

I've been to Cozumel several times and loved it. Now I'm looking at Playa del Carmen. Has anyone been diving there? How does it compare to Cozumel - is it good diving? We're on a very-y-y-y tight budget at the moment and want to get in a dive trip and looking for the best deal we can find. I'm thinking Playa may be less expensive than Cozumel. Any/all feedback and thoughts welcome. Any suggestions on hotels/dive shops?

Thanks!

[paulw]

Playa has some very good diving but only if you pick a good shop (JMHO). I won't say who I have not liked but here are two shops in Playa that will please, The Abyss Dive Center and ask for Todd or Fantasea Dive and ask for Jason. I hope this helps.

[driftwood]

Playa isn't that much less than Coz. If its the air fare that is driving the decision, fly into Cancun (CUN), take the ADO bus to Playa ($8) and the ferry to Cozumel. Otherwise prices are going to be about the same.

[Scott M]

The diving between PDC and Coz are night and day. Both have good diving but Coz is just really hard to beat. PDC does not have the spectacular reefs and color Coz does. In PDC it is all walking out to the boat through the surf which most of the time is a non-issue but on those days when the wind does nto want to cooperate it can be a bear. Coz is dock to boat back to dock. PDC seems to get more of the constant winds Coz does not see. PDC has the Cenotes which are my favorite dives.

With that said I much prefer staying in PDC hands down.

Price wise I can get tickets to Coz cheaper than Cancun and both offer very reasonable accomodations but they are a little harder to find than the resort type stuff.

For diving I use Tank Ha in PDC and Aqua Safari in Coz both have never let me down.

Regards

[Dyan]

Thanks for the input. Very informative. Based on all this, I think I'll stick with Cozumel. I've dove Cenotes in Akumal - and for all their beauty, nothing beats the open ocean for me!

Thanks again.

Dyan

[jaybob217]

Just returned from there last weekend. We dove with Jason from fantaseadive.com. Great experience. We just emailed him, met him the morning we scheduled down on the beach, end of Calle 2 in Playa where it hits the beach. His boat is there and picks you up and off you go. Great experience.

We dove the Barracuda and Mocha-Shallows reefs. Saw a lot of turtles and this incredible swim through filled with glass fish. It was amazing.

[jaybob217]

Correction, Fantasea dive is at Calle 4 not Calle 2

[CWSWine]

Just returned from there last weekend. We dove with Jason from fantaseadive.com. Great experience. We just emailed him, met him the morning we scheduled down on the beach, end of Calle 2 in Playa where it hits the beach. His boat is there and picks you up and off you go. Great experience.

We dove the Barracuda and Mocha-Shallows reefs. Saw a lot of turtles and this incredible swim through filled with glass fish. It was amazing.

I never dived with Jason but we had dinner with him and some other peeps from Playa del Carmen, Mexico's Virtual Guide Book : Playa.Info (http://www.playa.info) - sure seems like a nice guy!!! Was willing to out of his way to do discovery scuba with us but we never got around to it.

[PlayaCountryBoy]

Hey guys! Thanks for all the good words! Much appreciated! And Jaybob you had it right the first time...we're located where Calle 2 dead ends with the beach. And hey ..those millions of glass fish shrouding that swim thru was quite a site, eh?!;):D

[Byte Me]

In May I dove both Coz and Playa w/ Jason - the current was ripping in both places and Coz was really nice but the current was bad enough that visibility was severely reduced due to the sand being kicked up. Playa was still very nice and short of the wall we dove I thought the animal life was pretty similar.

Have to say though, I've done three times as many dives in Playa as Coz.

Cenotes were great too!!

[Bloor]

My wife and I dove for a week with PLUTO Dive in Playa. We really liked them. Alberto was fantastic at finding the little critters hiding like crabs, lobster, moray etc.

The coral is 100x better in Cozumel. Much more built up and the previous poster about the colors is also correct.

But don't not dive Playa just because of that. Playa really is terrific with lots of shallow dives for loooooong bottom times.

There are lots of popular spots but one I would suggest that is less often mentioned is Jardines Reef in Playa. It's a short reef, not more than about 20 minutes long. But if the current is calm you can zig zag it. We had over 60 minutes bottom time on Jardines and saw some really cool stuff.

We even spotted two Stonefish on Jardines.

Best,
Robert

[Sideways]

I'd highly recommend this gentleman....:D For some serious personalized diving...no cattle boats.

Paulo Macarico - Formerly co-owner of GeoFish Dive

Contact - pauloinplaya@hotmail.com

[Maredsous]

Diving is not as good as Cozumel, although I did see a whale shark on one of my safety stops. Personally, I like the topside stuff better than in San Miguel. Plus, you can also dive the cenotes and visit Tulum without having to deal with the ferry. Mosquito Blue hotel was fabulous, and I did all my diving with Tank Ha right around the corner; perfect combo.

Hotel Mosquito Blue Playa Del Carmen Mexico (http://www.mosquitoblue.com/)

Tank Ha Dive Center Playa del Carmen Riviera Maya Mexico Close and Beautiful Reef Dives Scuba Diving Training Snorkeling Cenote Cavern Diving (http://www.tankha.com/)

[tlmainer]

We stayed in Playa and dove w/Jason of Fantasea Dive and had a great time! Jason and I took the ferry to Coz and dove there during the same trip. Obviously, Playa does not have the massive walls as Coz but we saw many, many more fish in Playa and great color and lots of turtles.

[Oside Jimc]

I dove PDC with Jason last Feb and had a really good time, Coz was nice too, but the whole scene there was just too hectic for me (too many pod people) and I guess my expectations were so high that the "walls" just didn't live up to my expectations. PDC had very rich marine life with schools of fish so thick you has to push them away to swim through. Along with the "usual suspects" we got to dive with turtles, tarpon, dog tooth snapper and stingrays. Of course it helps that Jason took us "off the beaten path". Can't wait to get back this winter.

[cromagnon]

reef its much better in cozumel, but the good thing about staying in playa is that is cheaper and you very close to the cenotes and the area from puerto aventuras to tulum which is the largest and uncrawded reef of the peninsula

[driftwood]

reef its much better in cozumel, but the good thing about staying in playa is that is cheaper and you very close to the cenotes and the area from puerto aventuras to tulum which is the largest and uncrawded reef of the peninsula

A lot of the reefs from Tulum to PA are in pretty bad shape, especially the middle and outer reefs. Just not enough current to dilute the runoff from the shore. If you dive the coast there, the inner reefs are generally in better shape. There are still good spots and that is the reason you hire local DM's.

[billeelou]

both are wonderful.....

[scubabob08]

I've been to Cozumel several times and loved it. Now I'm looking at Playa del Carmen. Has anyone been diving there? How does it compare to Cozumel - is it good diving? We're on a very-y-y-y tight budget at the moment and want to get in a dive trip and looking for the best deal we can find. I'm thinking Playa may be less expensive than Cozumel. Any/all feedback and thoughts welcome. Any suggestions on hotels/dive shops?

Thanks!
The best thing about Playa Del Carmen is the town. Mexico at its best a small town with frendly people.
I have always been able to bargin a few dollars off the dive price there where as in Coz they wont.Also the trips are shorter so you have time to see the town.

[leistb]

I just returned from Playa a couple of days ago and dove with Luis from Playa Scuba; on the web at playascuba dot com. While in Playa I did a total of eight dives; two with one organization, two with another and four with Luis. Two of those were in open water and the other two were cenote dives. Luis proved to be extremely professional with his dive briefs, local water knowledge and attention to detail while on each of our dives. He gave personal attention where needed and seemed to have a keen sense of when to know when to help and when to let you just dive and enjoy the surroundings.

If you're so inclined, be sure to ask about his photography and video services. I did take advantage of them after my camera failed and I was glad I did. Lot's of good, in-focus and colorful pics and videos.

His prices were very competitive and the service by far has been the best of my limited dive experience. I would highly recommend him and be sure to ask for his recommendations on local eating establishments! That's worth the price of admission alone!

[visibilityunlimited]

The last two trips to Cozumel we dove with Blue Angel divers who took us by boat over to Playa del Carmen for a 2 tank dive. The size and number of turtles were amazing and we even got to see huge Tarpon. They weren't cattle boats and the divemasters were superb.
blueangel-scuba.com (http://www.blueangel-scuba.com/)
I think Cozumel has more diversity on diving so I will continue going there and make that my home base so to speak.

[mckinness]

playa is great talk to carlos at diversity diving the cenotes is awsome and the diving is definatly cheaper

[jmb]

If I'm going alone and primarily for the diving, I prefer Cozumel. When traveling with non-divers, we go to Playa. I love both places - the diving at Cozumel is awesome but so are the cenotes on the mainland. Playa and Cozumel can be busy during the day when cruise ships are in, but much more relaxing in the evening. Lots of great restaurants both places - Playa has more nightlife and shops that tend to stay open later, but it's a short easy ferry trip between the two either way.

[wierts]

i will be there next week.How are the conditions?

Hope to do both ocean and cave dives. Does anyone have suggestions on who to contact for both ?

[guggie]

Don't know about conditions, but contact Jason at Fantaseadive. He'll do the PDC dives with you (no cattle boat, all personal attention, etc.) and then he'll arrange cenote dives with either Klaus or Luis from Playa Scuba. This will be a dive trip that you'll never forget!

Playa Scuba Dive Center * Diving in Playa del Carmen * Diving in Cozumel * Diving in Cenotes* Diving in Mexico (http://www.playascuba.com/)
Scuba Diving, Fishing, Dive Packages, and Extreme Sports in Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Riviera Maya, Yucatan, Mexico and Caribbean (http://fantaseadive.com/)

[DROY]

I was there a couple of weeks ago. Try Playa Scuba they offer six dives 2 from Playa, two from Cozumel (you pay for ferry) and two to cenotes for $200 equipment included.

[Mark Duddridge]

I'm in the same boat, Dyan. I'm doing a dive trip to Mexico and am trying to keep it as reasonably priced as possible. I found that a similar all-inclusive resort in PDC versus Cozumel (including flight) is about $500 cheaper. So... I booked in PDC. I'll still be doing two tanks in Cozumel, but I will also be doing 8 tanks on PDC reefs, two tanks (at least) at the cenotes, and 1 night dive. I'm really thrilled by the variety of diving you can do in PDC.

[wierts]

I am just back from PDC. I ended up diving with Fantasea dive (Jason). Due to the high seas the PDC port was closed so we ended up doing two trips to COZ. My girlfriend did her AOW with Jason. We got extremely good service and did the complete AOW course in COZ.
BE sure to verify the number of people a Divemaster takes on a dive. I have seen groups of up to 8 to10 people going into the water with one divemaster!!!!

We had 1 divemaster for 2 persons!! (thanks for that Jason).

WE also did the Cenotes dive, this is something you have to do the viz is almost unlimited and the experience is worth all of it.

[Byte Me]

I am just back from PDC. I ended up diving with Fantasea dive (Jason). Due to the high seas the PDC port was closed so we ended up doing two trips to COZ. My girlfriend did her AOW with Jason. We got extremely good service and did the complete AOW course in COZ.
BE sure to verify the number of people a Divemaster takes on a dive. I have seen groups of up to 8 to10 people going into the water with one divemaster!!!!

We had 1 divemaster for 2 persons!! (thanks for that Jason).

WE also did the Cenotes dive, this is something you have to do the viz is almost unlimited and the experience is worth all of it.

I'm JEALOUS!!

Sound like my experience w/ Jason during my AOW - but we were able to do it in Playa rather than Coz.

There's a reason I'll call him and him only every time I head down to PDC and I'm glad you experienced the same thing!