Good diving in Mexico other than Cozumel?

[kdufour]

My family and I are planning a trip for late December and are looking to do quite a bit of scuba diving. Mexico appeals to us because it is easy to get to, but we have been to Cozumel several times and are looking for an alternative. The diving there was great, but we would like to go elsewhere, and are hoping to find great diving elsewhere in Mexico. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!!

 

[rodman4085]

This is like asking if there is good fishing in Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan.....have you done any other research to really tempt the readers/writers here....?
I'm a rookie diver, and the patch between Cancun and Isla Mujeres has been fun for me........

 

[GFuterfas]

I can highly recommend Scorpio Divers in Cancun. Ben and Jorge are fantastic and they tend to dive spots that don't have tons of other divers on them. Scorpio Divers // Scuba Diving // Diving the way it should be.// Scuba Diving Cancun Puerto Morelos Cozumel Cenotes

On my to-do list of Cancun dives: Underwater Art Museum

Cancun tends to be easy to get to, as well.

Best,
-Graham

 

[andreslee]

I highly recommend Alvaro Gonzalez +1

 

[Mike]

My family and I are planning a trip for late December and are looking to do quite a bit of scuba diving. Mexico appeals to us because it is easy to get to, but we have been to Cozumel several times and are looking for an alternative. The diving there was great, but we would like to go elsewhere, and are hoping to find great diving elsewhere in Mexico. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!!

Here are some generalizations based on my personal experiences.

Puerto Vallarta - cold water, not terribly known for great diving. You'll have to really work at it and wring the place out to make the diving worth while

Cabo - same as above (now get to the sea of cortez side and things are different, but its not easy access and accomodations are sparse)

Cancun - some pretty okay diving, but if you're going to cancun, unfortunatly you're in cancun. You make the call if cancun is okay or not for you to hang out in.

Isla Mujeres - same diving as cancun, infact the better dive sites are when you leave the isla area and dive the cancun sites. Great small island, unique experience, not great dive ops serving the place though

Playa, Akumal, Talum - decent diving, each area has a little bit different things to do and see

Cozumel - quality of diving beats all of the above, just plain consistently above average diving no matter what you do, some of the best dive ops you'll run into are based in Cozumel. Few places seem to have so many dive masters with over 10,000 dives then Cozumel.

My 2 cents

Keep in mind all the above are generalizations, time and circumstance can turn any mediocre dive into a great one. All it takes is a manta or whale shark to show up when not expected and you're on the dive of your life!

 

[margaretreiko]

I highly recommend Playa SCUBA in Playa del Carmen. They are a small dive shop - very friendly, honest, and knowledgeable. They respond to email very quickly so if you ask them for suggestions for places they recommend other than Cozumel, they will get back to you very quickly with helpful advice. Email address is info@playascuba.com

I just returned from diving with them and if you are looking for a unique and beautiful experience, I recommend diving in the cenotes, which are very unique to the Yucatan peninsula. I dove both Dos Ojos and El Eden cenotes - check out El Eden on YouTube to get an idea of what a dive is like... YouTube - El Eden Cenote

 

[Giap]

With the exception of remote islands like Socorro or Guadalupe, Baja California/Sea of Cortez has the best diving in Mexico in my opinion ,with much more marine life and big fishes than the caribbean.(but if you expect tropical coral reef and warm water year round, then Yucatan is a better option)
The water temperature varies from 15 celcius (59F) in june to 30 celcius (86F) in october.
The visibility can go from 5 feet in winter to 100 feet in october.sea lions ,spotted eagle rays ,mobulas and pelagic fishes are very common.
The best spot is the remote "Cabo Pulmo" National Park ,but La Paz ,Loreto and Los cabos can also have some great diving in october and November ,the dive site "Gordo Banks" being one of the few places worldwide where one can spot schooling scalloped hammerheads quite regularly .

 

[divexplor.com]

Good options for diving in Riviera Maya area:
- Puerto Morelos National park
- Cenotes
- Holbox whale shark snorkeling. Whale Shark season is May - September, dont miss it!

Puerto Morelos reef is protected and its a national park so its guarantee to have better condition than example on reef front of Playa del Carmen. Our Photos from Puerto Morelos

What we recommend for our divers are Cenote dives, wreck dive and shark dive. Bull sharks season in Playa del Carmen start about december and you can see these amazing creatures on your dive. Puerto Morelos wreck has group of eagle rays in winter season November - March.

Cenotes are unique place here in Riviera Maya.
Here some of our diving photos from Cenotes: Cenote Photos

Gerardo guiding:
[video=youtube;H5l2QWALObY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5l2QWALObY&feature=player_embedded[/video]

You dont need to be advanced to go in cenotes but experience from night dive is a plus. Cenotes are not closed places but some areas you have overhead environment and you need also a light to see.

Welcome to Riviera Maya!

Saludos Anna and Gerardo
from DiveXplor.com

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

Diving I Playa Del Carmen is great. It is true that the reef system is not as extensive as it is in Cozumel, but you will see bigger and more fish, in my opinion. There have been a huge 50+ school of tarpon in the area, as well as a huge school of barracuda. We have sites where the turtles are abundant. There have been several large eels, and I mean large, in the area, as well.

 

[ScubaDyer]

I live in Puerto Vallarta. Whenever I want to dive, I leave Puerto Vallarta.