Dive Timing for a Trip to the Riviera Maya

[Traijin]

I am looking for a little insight. I am taking a trip at the end of January and staying at the Sapphire. This trip is not primarily for diving, I get to see some friends and see some bands play on the beach. I am the only diver in the immediate group.

I arrive just after 11:00 AM on a Wednesday. I also have a potential ocean dive lined up for Friday.

My main question is regarding Wednesday. The rest of my friends do not arrive until the evening so I have an entire afternoon on Wednesday. In a perfect world, I would like to land, drop my bags off and figure a way to get in on a 1 or 2 tank dive. I am not too picky as to whether its a cenote or oceanic, the water conditions can dictate that.

Is that thought unreasonable? My hotel is 20-30 minutes South of Cancun, so I am not a quick taxi ride away. Some dive shops pick up the divers from their hotels, does anyone know if that extends all the way to a place like the Sapphire?

I put out a few emails to places like Always Diving and haven't heard back yet, just curious if anyone has some personal experience with these circumstances.

Thanks

[TSandM]

Well, assuming your flight gets in on time, it will take you at least a half hour to get through immigration and Customs (and can take twice that long). How are you getting to Puerto Morelos? If you are taking a taxi, it will be about 20 minutes or so; if you are waiting for a shuttle bus, it may be longer. So I wouldn't really expect, as a practical matter, that you would be in your hotel before 1 pm. You're still about forty to sixty minutes north of the major tourist cenotes, and most places close by 5:00. I think trying to fit in cenote dives in that afternoon would just be too ambitious, even if you could find a private guide who would do an afternoon tour and pick you up in Puerto Morelos.

There are at least two dive shops in Puerto Morelos, so you could email them and see what they think about your timing, and whether they do afternoon trips. They might disagree with me about the possibility of doing cenotes that afternoon.

I don't know what the beach at the Sapphire is like, but I've had a lot of fun snorkeling in the bay at Puerto Aventuras, and you can do that on your own schedule.

[Martina Brandl]

Hey!
I can recommend the diving school diversity diving in playa del carmen. they pick up thier clients from the hotels and are a really professional place with a huge amount of offers like going to cenotes, cozumel or just in playa to the beach. they have their own building with swimming pool and restaurant and also accommodations and the team is international and fun to hang out with..just visit their website Playa del Carmen Scuba Diving | Diversity Diving in Playa del Carmen, Mexico (http://www.diversitydiving.com)

[Traijin]

Thanks folks,

I appreciate the replies.