Playa del Carmen

[Irish28]

Planning a trip to Playa del Carmen in March 2014. Interested in any advice someone might have on the following: dive locations, dive charters, camera settings for GoPro, restaurant suggestions, or any other tips you feel would be helpful.

Thank you in advance.

 

[scubamarketing]

First, contact the guy at Playa del Carmen SCUBA Club. It’s kind of a social/diving club for English speakers traveling to the riviera maya.

As for dive locations:
* Any of the cenotes
* Day trip to Cozumel for some reef/drift dives
* I think that’s too early for whale sharks, but if not, do that

Dive Charters:
* Planet Scuba Mexico - Serving Puerto Aventuras, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Cozumel, and the Riviera Maya can help you plan the entire dive portion of your trip

GoPro:
* I use 720p60 wide with pro tune on

Restaurants:
* Depends on what kind of food. El Fogon is the semi-famous late night taco place. Nativo, La Ceiba, and La Cueva del Chango are some of my favorite breakfast/brunch spots. Don Chendo is a good pizza/italian place. Zenzi is where I usually go first when I get there because it’s a great spot on the beach and the food is decent.

 

[DandyDon]

Yeah a little early for whale sharks, and they are never common in PDC waters. They migrate to the northern end of the Yucatan in June - from Isla Mujeresto Holbox, altho day tours are available from PDC.

For best results, check out this SB forum: Mexico

 

[Irish28]

Thank you for the replies gentlemen. After doing some quick reading, I definitely want to check out the Cenotes, as well as re-visiting the reefs off of Cozumel. I have also heard a lot of good things about the "wall". Any experience or advice on that?

 

[Dirty-Dog]

It's the wrong time of year for Whale Sharks or Bull Sharks, and other than that the diving off Playa del Carmen itself is only pretty good, not fantastic. My favorite sites there are the Aquarium and the Arches.
The cenotes are close by, and are excellent, but with less than 24 dives you should take a good (and honest) look at your skills before you commit to going into them. The guided tours are excellent and reasonably safe for inexperienced divers, but there are still issues that need to be considered before you hit the water (do a search, it's been discussed many times).
Cozumel is close, but if you're going to Playa to dive, I'd consider staying on Cozumel instead.
Pretty much all the diving off Cozumel is a wall. The top (shallower) portion of the reefs are relatively horizontal. Go just a bit further out and you can drop over the wall. When we're on Coz, we tend to drop down the wall for the first part of the dive and then work our way up and we approach the NDL.

 

[Eva Dirks]

Cenotes are really worth visiting! Very unusual experience, and interesting light for the pics

 

[Irish28]

Eva, do you have any experience filming in them? Does the "interesting light" necessitate the use of some additional artificial lighting for exposure?

Thank you for the comment, btw.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

You will not have any luck at all trying to shoot in the cenotes with ambient light, except for a few shots aimed directly at the entrances.

 

[Irish28]

Thank you Dirty-Dog. Still taking your advice about experience seriously.

Assuming we do it, does anyone have any lighting suggestions or favorites?

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Honestly? Given your inexperience at diving in general and cenotes in particular (which require anti-silting kicks and really close attention to buoyancy), just leave the camera at the resort.
Most of the cenotes that are commonly used for the OW diver tours are on private property and there will be people shooting video with professional gear. Buy the video. They're cheap.

Your level of experience doesn't automatically rule out a visit to the cenotes. Our first visit was dive #22, at Chac Mool. But I do think you need to make an honest assessment of your skills. The areas used for OW diver tours are fairly difficult (but not impossible) to silt up, so you need to have decent buoyancy and trim. You also really should know how to frog kick to reduce silting. And you need to be comfortable with the idea that, although you can always reach open air pretty quickly, you won't be able to go straight up.

[video=youtube;V7LlZLKecoU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7LlZLKecoU[/video]