Akumal Travel And Dive Report

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PARADISE HUNTER

Contributor
Messages
1,195
Reaction score
114
Location
Michigan
# of dives
200 - 499
My wife and I visited Akumal from 4/9 - 4/17, it wa our first trip there. We had a great overall trip and look forward to going back . We stayed at the Akumal Beach Resort and dove with the Akumal Dive Center.

The ABR was a great place to stay. The rooms where clean, good sized, plenty of hot water and are all ocean front. You can hear the waves hitting the shore when you go to bed at night. The room was not a luxury class room, but still a nice room and well decorated. A few other amenities: plenty of closet space, wall mounted safe, fresh water coolers on every hallway, ceiling fans and strong a air conditioning unit if you needed it.

The food was pretty good, although more variety would be appreciaed by the end of the week. Lots of fresh fish, fresh fruit and good salads. If we stay at an all inclusive, we always eat at least one meal out every day. This was the case this trip as well and we found several nice options within walking distance or a short drive away. Lol Ha, La Buena Vida, El Pescadoro, La Luneta and La Cocina Economica are a few of them.

The beach was awesome and the best part of this resort. White sand beach with a sandy entry into the water. Lots of lounge chairs and plenty of palapas or palm trees for shade. There is some minor security that keeps everything safe and no hassles from beach vendors. It was a Corona commercial wating to happen.

The diving was a mixed bag. The Akumal Dive Center did a good job. They are a very laid back group. Emails before the trip where returned quickly, but not many of my questions where answered complelely. This is not a full service type operations. You carry your own tanks to and from the boat (27' panga) and set up your own gear. I like setting up my own rig, so it was fine with me. No nitrox, but with their dive profiles you wont need it. 5-10 minute boat rides to the reef. The boat was full each time with 8 -12 divers. Most were new to the sport, so we had short bottom times, as everyone comes up at the same time. The reef looked stressed, a fair amount of dead coral and much of the shallower areas were covered in algae. The biggest dissapoinmnet was the lack of life. Very few fish and not many over 12 inches in length. It is a real shame because you can tell from the size of the reef that it was once a large healthy organism. Visibilty was only around 50' due to some rain before we got there and heavy surf from high winds that lasted the entire trip. Diving was called off one day do to the high southern winds.

The good news is that the cenote diving was wonderful. We only dove Dos Ojos and Chac Mul, taking two dives in each cenote. It was only a sampling of what the area had to offer, but it was great. The water was so clear, I am guessing the vis to be 150' - 200'. The temp was 75 degrees so a 3 mil was fine. We got there early, so we avoided the crowds that came as we were heading to the truck. It is definately an overhead environment, but with multiple openings throughout. Chac Mul had a halocline (sp), a point in the water where salt water and fresh water meet. Before it is disturbed it looks like a sheet of glass is in the water. After it is swam through, it mixes like oil and water and really cuts down your vision when trying to look through it.
It was a great time and Akumal is centrally located for diving the cenotes. Many cenoted within a half hour drive.

We also visited Tulum and Coba. Very different stye of ruins and a must see if you are in the area.

Sorry about the long post, but I hope you find it helpful.
 
Akumal is our favorite place along the coast. I agree with you about the reef and cenote diving. The only difference is that we only saw big fish on the reef and few if any small ones. What the divemaster considered a great dive was just ok to us. We can do as well or better by snorkeling at Akumal.

You mentioned that the beach is good for a Corona commercial. Actually, the first Corona beach commercial was shot just south of Akumal in Soliman Bay. I guess that they agree with you on the quality of the beaches on that part of the coast. I know that I do! One restaurant that we really liked was that was not on your list is Turtle Bay Cafe, it is THE place for breakfast.

Next time you go back, try to time your trip for either June or August. The turtles will be laying/hatching all along Half Moon Bay and Akumal Bay. The CEA holds nightly turtle walks at those times that you can join. Well worth the time and money. Here is a link to their site, Centro Ecologico: Akumal, Mexico, Ocean Research, Environmental Education, Sea Turtle Protection, Marine Research. Great organization doing their best to protect the turtles and the reefs. Very deserving of our support.

Glad you had a good trip and we will be there, again, in early May.
 
Great report. I dove Chak Mool last year for the first time. Truly and awesome experience! The halocline was so bad at some points I could hardly see the guy ten feet in front of me.

Actually one of the things I don't like about Cancun is the crowds. However, we have a time share there, and I get picked up at the hotel and delivered back by the dive op. Less action would be a nice change.

Glad you had a great time.
 
Paradise Hunter, glad you enjoyed your vacation and I see your impressions of the diving are pretty much in line with what I'd described you'd experience on another thread before your trip. I've been going to Akumal for several years and it is heartbreaking for me to see the amount of macro algal coverage, dying, dead and diseased coral and lack or marine life. Even worse to know what's causing it and how preventable it is... with the exception of the hurricane damage to the amazing elkhorn and staghorn that Akumal was known for.

We've made all our trips at pretty off-peak times and never had more then 5 on the boat, and that's rare. We do most to of diving with Dive Adventures and stay in a condo on Half Moon Bay. Not nearly as busy as the Akumal Bay shops, and our dives are never cut short. We do set up our first tank in the morning, but they carry everything out to the boat and our gear is already set up for the next dive by the time we get to the boat for each subsequent dive.

Dive Center can get nitrox fills but they need to know a couple days in advance.
 
Quote"My wife and I visited Akumal from 4/9 - 4/17, it wa our first trip there. We had a great overall trip and look forward to going back . We stayed at the Akumal Beach Resort and dove with the Akumal Dive Center."
writing your report before leaving, I'll have to try that next time.:D Al
 
Quote"My wife and I visited Akumal from 4/9 - 4/17, it wa our first trip there. We had a great overall trip and look forward to going back . We stayed at the Akumal Beach Resort and dove with the Akumal Dive Center."
writing your report before leaving, I'll have to try that next time.:D Al

Oops! 3/9 -3/17 is more like it.

I've got my April Coz trip on my mind.:wink:

Report is not long! In the Cenotes can we go to the cave diving?

I know that you can not enter the cave system without a cave cert. Even with the that certification, I am not sure if you still need a guide. Others on the board could better answer that. There are some very forbidding signs at the entrances to the caves that warn of all the deaths that have occured in them. Gives you a pretty good reality check as you happly cruise through the cavern system.

For those who do not have a cavern or cave certification (myself included) and have some interest, this area would be the perfect place to get them. I would not recommend Akumal Dive Center for that training. I just didn't get a comfort level that I need before I would have any of them as my instructor. But there are several respected instructors in the Riviera that I would consider organizing classes with. Dennis from Diablo Divers and German Yanez from Yukatech Expeditions (Cozumel) come to mind. I tried to set something up with Dennis for this past trip, but I was a little to late and he was booked during the time I was there. Maybe next time.

PH
 
Paradise, who did you use as a guide for the cenotes?

I've done Hidden Worlds, which is great for a first-time experience or if you need flexibility to only book a day ahead or same day. I've also gone out with Dennis and with German. My first choice is Dennis, but yes, he has gotten more popular and you do need to plan ahead, even in low season. German was on teams that mapped out many of the cave systems and he lived in Akumal for about 12 yrs before going to Cozumel. Very interesting guy.
 
Scubawife, we dove with Chepo. He was a nice person and paid close attention to saftey. But he was a very quite person. My wife and I speak spanish fluently and it was hard to get much conversation from him. I would have no problem using his guiding services in the cenotes again, but if I was looking for an instructor, I would look for a more engaging individual. You can only ask a person so many questions in row before you feel like you are imposing on them. An open dialogue with your instructor is very important to me.
 
We are staying in Playa Blanca, Half Moon Bay in June. We were so excited about diving but have read very disheartening reports about how poor the diving is now in Akumal and how damaged the reefs are. We are planning to dive with Dive Adventures, we have two certified divers and our three teens who have finished the bookwork and will be certifying there. Do you recommend Dive Adventures? Do you book in advance or can you negotiate a better price in person with pesos? Also considering Hidden Worlds, did you dive there or snorkel the cenotes? Is the diving considerably better than the snorkeling there?
Thanks for any help, we are so excited for this adventure, but anxious for any inside information we can have before arriving.
 
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