PDC/Cancun.

[sam51]

hi all planning on go to mexico next year. first time, around january, for 10 days is this a good time to go.
will be doing a bit of diving, any good dive operators in that area,
what dive sites should i look into.
is it best to go AI or bed and breakfast,and eat out in the evening.
thanks sam.

 

[gopbroek]

Go to PDC and take the ferry to Cozumel. Check the Cozumel forum for loads of info on hotels. The downtown area is inexpensive and safe and loaded with great restaurants which makes an AI a waste. As for OP's I am partial Tres Pelicanos Scuba Diving Cozumel -Dive Packages-Top Rated Cozumel Dive Shop , but there are a lot of good dive OP's on the island.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Or... go south from PDC to Akumal. Check out the Akumal Dive shop on line for more info. But don't tell anyone else. It's secret place. (or used to be).
DivemasterDennis

 

[gopbroek]

Or... go south from PDC to Akumal. Check out the Akumal Dive shop on line for more info. But don't tell anyone else. It's secret place. (or used to be).
DivemasterDennis

Nice folks, they did my OW

 

[cavtrooper]

I went with Beyond Diving this last month and had a great time. Erik and his team were great and set me up with a great diving trip.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I would go with an all inclusive, then there's one less thing you have to worry about, and there's nothing that says you can't go out for dinner a night or 2 if you stay A/I. I would stay between PDC and Akumal if you are going to dive. I recommend Nicolas fromhttp://www.cenotexperience.com.mx/ I have dove with Nico & his brother Martin for over 6 years. They are great guys and excellent dive guides. I would do some cenote dives while you are in Mexico. It is the only place to dive cenotes.

 

[ibj40]

If you are set on staying on the mainland, you might consider Puerto Aventuras. It is a gated community, centered around a man-made marina (that has been converted, partially, to a dolphin discovery operation). There are both condos and AI hotels, and it is convenient to multiple off-site attractions, as well as the cenotes. We dive with Dive Aventuras, which can provide both ocean and cenote experiences.

If you are interested in more specific information, please feel free to PM me.

 

[kimmerscuba22]

Kathryn and Tim from Blue Experience Diving are great! Home Page. They are south of Puerto Aventuras and north of Akumal, can't say enough about them!!

 

[JoJo Armani]

Check the Cozumel forum for loads of info on hotels. The downtown area is inexpensive and safe and loaded with great restaurants which makes an AI a waste.

How far away is downtown from the beaches? How would one get from downtown hotels to dive shops?

 

[gopbroek]

Tres Pelicanos dive shop (who I dive with and cheerlead for) is located downtown (7 minute walk from the ferry pier) and will provide transportation to and from the marina, predominately by taxi or sometimes with the staff in the shop truck. There are other shops that travel up to the piers downtown and use them for pickups and others will require you to go to the marina by your own means. If you do need to take a taxi it is 90 -100 MXN (100 MXN = 5.37 USD at today’s rate) from downtown to the marina, which in the great scheme of things is pretty cheap. Many of the shops have a physical presence downtown and if not, provided you have made arraignments ahead of time, they will normally meet with you in town the night prior to get you set up. The Cozumel forum has multiple threads on who is ‘the best dive shop’ but the bottom line is unless a dive op has dedicated source of new clients (read: in house hotel or cruise ship affiliated shop) there are so many dive ops in Cozumel that they all are pretty good if not excellent, there is too much competition for a poor outfit to survive.

As to beaches they predominately on the south end of the both the east and west sides and the best method of transportation is either a rental car (about $40 USD a day) or a scooter (about ½ that).