Need recommendation for Akumal for Open Water Diver certification

[thegrandpoohbah]

My apologies if this has been asked a million times. I searched but all I could find are recommendations on which outfit to do a dive with. We have booked a 9 day stay at Akumal Beach Resort in early April. My wife already has her Open Water Diver certification and is going to pay for me to do my certification as a birthday present. Which of the shops in Akumal would you recommend (for or against) doing my certification course with? Thank you.

 

[driftwood]

You have two easy choices staying at ABR, Akumal Dive Shop and Akumal Dive Center. Knowing an old local cave diver, who has sites named after him, go with Akumal Dive Center.

 

[wknight0691]

If you are going to stay at the Akumal Beach Resort I would suggest you have a look at using Blue Experience Diving. They dive from Akumal Bay, just like the other 2 shops mentioned. They will collect you free of charge from the resort and take a quick look at their reviews on Trip Advisor.
Their website is www.blueexperiencediving.com

Dived with them before and they are great really!!!.

 

[nimoh]

You have two easy choices staying at ABR, Akumal Dive Shop and Akumal Dive Center. Knowing an old local cave diver, who has sites named after him, go with Akumal Dive Center.

what does knowing an old local cave diver have to do with anything about the two dive shops?


I have been diving with Akumal Dive Center a few times and they were well run dives. I especially like the small boats and the friendly staff.

I have never been diving with Akumal Dive Shop, so can't really comment on them, but I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be just as good as Akumal Dive Center, as from what I can see they have a very similar setup.

 

[gopbroek]

I got my certification at the Akumal Dive shop in the fall of 2011 and would recommend them without hesitation. You can do course work on-line and finish up at the shop. I did my first 30-40 dives with them and always enjoyed myself and respected their professionalism. Most of my diving with them was during off season but I do not think that they would ever sacrifice safety due to being ‘busy’during high season. They are a great bunch. The only thing they lack is Cozumel’s reef system.

 

[thegrandpoohbah]

Thanks for the responses. I was just a little concerned as safety standards can be a little lax in other countries, especially when it's a tourist area. I've contacted a number of shops in the area for more info.

 

[Reelman1]

A huge +2 for Blue Experience...

 

[driftwood]

what does knowing an old local cave diver have to do with anything about the two dive shops?


I have been diving with Akumal Dive Center a few times and they were well run dives. I especially like the small boats and the friendly staff.

I have never been diving with Akumal Dive Shop, so can't really comment on them, but I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be just as good as Akumal Dive Center, as from what I can see they have a very similar setup.

Hi Rob,

Would you dive with a shop that sends Discover divers on regularly scheduled open water dives? I have seen it happen with ADS.

BTW, ADS had a couple of tourists die on a cenote dive. When I heard of the accident, it was not a surprise which shop was at fault.

Knowing Hillario, I will give some weight to his experience and judgement about which shop in Akumal runs a tighter operation.

One trip using ADS and after that Akumal Dive Center.

 

[Grover48]

Dive With Natalie & Ivan, Akumal, Riviera Maya, Mexico PADI MSDT Master SCUBA Diver Trainers

These folks use the facilities of Akumal Dive Center. Both are great people and give individualized attention to their students. They offer flexible class times.

I have used Akumal Dive Center for over 100 dives and have found them to be reliable, safe and courteous in their operation. When I arrived in Akumal the first time, I went to the Akumal Dive Shop. After trying to talk to the people there and not receiving answers I needed as a new diver beyond "Grab your gear and get on a boat." I tried Akumal Dive Center. I have used ADC exclusively since. Oh yes, you can run a tab for the time you are there and pay with a check when you are finished.

 

[mikeycanuk]

ADS lost our son 2 minutes into our very first OPW dive. He turned 10 a few days before we left for Akumal so we had to do the whole course in Mexico. We had done some of our pool work in the bay and part 1 and 2 of classroom. We were assigned to Luis and after lunch we were going to go on our very first dive. From what I recall there wasn't a pre dive briefing just a back roll and follow Luis down. There were other students on board just attached to other DM's. We descend to 40' and Luis takes off with us following. 2mins later Luis turns around and so do we, only to find our son is missing!!! We start looking around and before we know it we hit the surface board the boat and Luis goes to look for our son. The boat drives around and 20 terrifying minutes go by, I'm trying to keep my wife calm ( not working), losing my lunch (rough seas) and realizing just how big the sea is. I'm also trying to keep that "what if....." To the back of my head. Thankfully our son took the Seal team 5 pool lessons at home a few months ago! After 20 minutes he popped up WAY away from the boat. We picked him up and waited for the other divers to board. All the while I'm a funky shade of green and staring at the horizon trying not to barf anymore.

My wife went to PDC the next day for Valium and me and my son did one more dive to get our scuba cert. we also found out later that we were never told about logging our dives, we got odd looks when the LDS asked for our log books "log books?" "What log books?"

All in all a total farce that could have ended badly. We re did all or OPW dives in Barbados 2 months later.


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