4 Reasons to dive Playa Del Carmen

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

The local reef diving isn't spectacular but it's decent. The main advantage of Playa del Carmen is the variety! That's what I was trying to point out.

Outside of diving, Playa del Carmen is also a fun tourist destination. 5th Avenue is extremely touristy: lots of bars, restaurants, nightclubs, shopping. But if you get away from there, things get a lot quieter. You can have food and nightlife but also peace and quiet.

And there are plenty of activities to do besides diving: several Mayan ruins, snorkeling, beaches, dolphin swims, cenotes, Xcaret, Xel-ha - all kinds of ways a tourist can be separated from his/her money. If you have a non-diving spouse or kids, Playa is a good option.

Cozumel by comparison is a small island that seemed a lot quieter with not nearly as much to do. That's fine if all you want to do is dive.

If you are flexible, you can spend a little bit of time in the different areas. They are close and the transportation services between them are good. Theoretically you could stay in Cozumel, Playa, and Tulum (and even Isla Mujeres) in one trip. I stayed a week in Playa, did a day trip to Cozumel, and spent a few days in Tulum. It was a great trip!
 
Last edited:
As for the bull shark diving...

There is a season for it. So pay attention to that if the shark dive is a priority.

There are several operations that do that dive. I am told that one of them does feed the sharks. The one I went with did not. We just sat at the bottom and they came around to check us out. It's an awesome dive. They are beautiful animals.
 
I always dive and stay at Cozumel, but I have gone across and dived the PdC side a couple of times. If you can find the big schools of tarpon, they are worth seeing. Other than that the diving was not that great. IMO, of course.
 
My family of 5 vacations in PDC. I'm the only daily diver, and 2 of my kids will dive with me one of the days we are there. Wife and oldest don't dive, so it's nice having other things for everyone to do while I'm under water.
 
Thanks Captain state the obvious! Make sure to go around and post that in every single forum even though most people are looking for information based on personal experiences :rolleyes:
Well you did ask where you could find more details. Details about bull shark diving and a ton of reviews are on tripadvisor.
I'm doing the bull shark dive in 9 days.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom