Best easy, shallow diving Riviera Maya? Infrequent divers.

[jennfl]

Trying to decide between Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos, Puerto Aventuras or Akumal. Or a combination of a couple of them. Going next May.

We dove in Cozumel a few years ago for our first ocean dives. It was beautiful. We want to dive there again at some point but prefer shallower sites for now with less current. We also like to snorkel, so being able to do that in between dives is great especially since we will have our 4 year old with us. My parents will come too. My mom dives and likes easy dives as well.

We're not hard to please. Still new to the sport so not bored of anything yet. Would like healthy reefs, easily accessible, small personable dive shops, small groups. Of course we like great visibility.

Any info or opinions would be great!

 

[Russoft]

Easiest dive I've been on there was Casa Cenote (also called Manatee Lagoon). Very clear waters with minimal current. No reefs, but plenty of fish and a unique ecosystem. It's brackish water so not what you'd see in the ocean, but still a fascinating dive. We saw an eel which I usually associate with the ocean. It's a very different dive from anything else I've done, and it was an easy, shallow dive. Despite the name (cenote) it has NO overhead environment. It's colder than the ocean though, so wear a wetsuit. My wife unwisely chose to not wear a wetsuit and as such was cold the whole dive.

 

[mmmbelows]

Isla mujeres - snorkeling is not easy, they typically snorkel by boat tour out to the rocks you see coming in on the ferry, nowhere really easily accessible from the beach, diving is okay, lot of overlap with Cancun dive sites, but nothing like what you experienced in cozumel

Akumel has good snorkeling in the bay with lots of turtles to see, diving isn't great

 

[FT]

Akumal was easier diving than Puerto Morelos (but then, I am also comparing December to March, possibly not fair). Not fabulous, but comfortable and well-guided by Blue Experience who are all about the small groups and gentle coaching (in fairness, so are Dive with Natalie and Ivan). Snorkelling in PM slightly better than Akumal's, but further out if I recall correctly. Dining - PM definitely had the edge. Have not tried Puerto Aventuras or Isla Mujeres.

 

[Blue Life]

We will be more than glad to help you plan for your diving trip. Check us out at Diving Mexico - Cenotes, Caves, Caverns, Reefs Playa del Carmen Tulum - Blue Life. We can help tailor-make a package to suit your needs. We offer ocean diving from Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Akumal and more! For more information email us at info@bluelife.com and we will make sure to get you all set up with a really cool diving package.


Hope to dive with you soon!

 

[Seymour Fisch]

I just got back from a quickie trip to Cancun, and was pleasantly surprised by the diving. I was there for the whale shark snorkel, and also did my first cenote dives, but I booked a trip to the underwater art museum (Museo Subacuatico de Arte), and had two fantastic, super easy dives: I think 27 and 29 feet, minimal current, good viz. The museum was very cool (I love art, though), with plenty of the usual, pretty reef fish, and the subsequent reef dive had abundant life, too: turtles, lobsters, big schools of fish, etc.

I'm aiming to write up a proper trip report with photos, etc. eventually, but I booked with Scorpio Divers in Cancun and was overall pretty happy. If the underwater art museum sounds good to you, it's actually closer (well, the scuba-friendly Salon Manchones is) to Isla Mujeres, so would be easy from either there or Cancun.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I would stay in Puerto Adventuras or Akumal. You can dive in the ocean or cenotes from there. I highly recommend Nicolas from CenoteXperience Great guys

 

[Peter Guy]

I've been going to Puerto Aventuras for a number of years and have been leading groups to there for the past three years. Here's my take:

a. All inclusives are easy and provide amenities for everyone to make the vacation easy -- I use the Catalonia in Puerto and have had very pleasant times;

b. Condos can be more efficient but with more work (cooking!) but with a supermarket just across the main road from the entrance, shopping is easy;

c. Several good dive ops in P.A. all of which will provide the type of easy and enjoyable diving you seek both on the reefs and in the cenotes.

 

[victorzamora]

Trying to decide between Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos, Puerto Aventuras or Akumal. Or a combination of a couple of them. Going next May.

We dove in Cozumel a few years ago for our first ocean dives. It was beautiful. We want to dive there again at some point but prefer shallower sites for now with less current. We also like to snorkel, so being able to do that in between dives is great especially since we will have our 4 year old with us. My parents will come too. My mom dives and likes easy dives as well.

We're not hard to please. Still new to the sport so not bored of anything yet. Would like healthy reefs, easily accessible, small personable dive shops, small groups. Of course we like great visibility.

Any info or opinions would be great!

This is probably a little outside of your question, but I'll post it anyway:

For easy diving with less current, Roatan might be a great solution. The south side of the island (Cocoview side) has shallower diving than the north side and tends to have more consistent weather. My favorite place to be is West End, but Cocoview (or similar) might be a great solution. They have a "house reef" you can shore dive, and I'm sure you can snorkel it. On the north side, the reef is no more than a couple hundred feet from the shore, and very snorkel-friendly. Diving all over the island can be done in the 40-60ft range, but much deeper sites can be found as well. There are drift sites, but most sites have little current as you're kind of diving between the reef.

The other thing I'll mention is Blue Heron Bridge. I don't know where in FL you're located, but it probably wouldn't hurt to do some diving/snorkelling there....very cheap if you're close enough.

 

[Dhboner]

Contact Erik at Beyond Diving and he will take you to Moche Shallow...a great, easy dive with lots of life...turtles, morays etc.
Erik will treat you like family too.