Cancun September 2017

[johnelrick0897]

Hi Everyone,

My girlfriend and I will be staying at the Moon Palace in Cancun for 2 weeks in September, we are looking to dive for probably 7 of the 14 days that we are there.

We are both very new to diving and do not know anything about Cancun and the surrounding area other than what we have read on the internet.

I have only started looking for prices etc. and have a quote from Dressel Divers of:

Cozumel Excursion
Cenotes Excursion
16 Local Dives
Free Nitrox (We will be certified by the time we go)
Pickup from hotel

This is priced at $770.40 per person.

I am looking for opinions on this price and also Dressel Divers as a company as well as other dive shops and prices please.

Also looking for recommendations as to where the best diving is.

Thanks in advance

 

[Danielle Scuba]

Hi!

I lived in Cancun area for almost 2 years, best diving is in Cozumel, the cenotes are very special but you need to feel comfortable with your diving before diving there, I would wait with it until the end of the week.
If you are going in the beginning of September and the Whale Sharks are still there you have to snorkel with them! But I would check before since it is the end of the season.

I never dived with Dressel, but in diving it all comes down to the insructor, you need to make sure you feel safe with him/her, especially if you are new to diving. I always like to dive with the smaller companies.
The price they gave you is great!

Try to travel our side of Cancun, there are so many things to see there!
Feel free to ask me any questions.
Hope I helped

 

[Chavodel8en]

I love the Yucatan and just went in Dec. I only did 2 dives from Cancun. I cant comment on pricing. The C-55 wreck was great, tons of eagle rays (the C-58 is supposedly better, as its more intact), but the wrecks are advanced dives (80 ft depth, possibly ripping current). Maybe if you really feel comfortable diving in current & with depth at the end of your trip, but probably it would be pushing it. The nearby No Name Reef was the most life Ive ever seen on a dive (eagle rays, eels, a turtle, a baby bull shark, tons of fish). Its much easier - 55 ft deep, a drift dive. I can see beginners diving it once they've gotten the hang of drift diving.

My small sample size impression of Cancun is that its very underrated as a diving destination. If there is as much life as I saw on 2 sites at other dive sites, you will be very pleased.


Copying and pasting the below from another post, mainly about non scuba activities:

From Cancun you could take tours to pyramids & ruins (Chichen Itza (huge impressive structures), Tulum (smaller site, but picturesque on the water, Coba (rustic, in the jungle), swimming (or diving) in cenotes, lots of different water activities, learning about Mayan communities, eco-tours to the jungle, etc

2 weeks is great - lots of time to dive and do other things. Have fun!

 

[johnelrick0897]

Thanks very much for the information, we are both very excited to be going that is for sure.

We will definitely look into everything that has been said and get a few dives done before thinking about the wrecks and also the cenotes. Our dive guide will be the best person to ask if he/she thinks we would be suitable for either of those dives sites

 

[Chavodel8en]

I just thought of another thing - you may want to post this in the Mexico forum as well, you'll probably get a better response:

Mexico

You can also do a search in the Mexico forum for Cancun diving.

One thing you'll see - a lot of folks recommending Cozumel for superior diving vs. Cancun. I haven't dove Cozumel, so I cant comment. I have snorkeled Chakanab and it was great

If that's a consideration, you can always try to do more than 1 excursion to Cozumel. 7 days of diving/16 local dives are ALOT of dives, so you could stand to lose some of those local dives and do 2 excursions to Cozumel (or maybe even split up your trip and stay in Cozumel a few days?)

Our dive guide will be the best person to ask if he/she thinks we would be suitable for either of those dives sites

I agree that the guide can help you. However, make sure to rely on your own judgment as well. If you don't feel comfortable with possibly strong currents or 80' depth, don't do the wreck dives no matter what the guide tells you.

Have a great time.

 

[johnelrick0897]

I just thought of another thing - you may want to post this in the Mexico forum as well, you'll probably get a better response:

Mexico

You can also do a search in the Mexico forum for Cancun diving.

One thing you'll see - a lot of folks recommending Cozumel for superior diving vs. Cancun. I haven't dove Cozumel, so I cant comment. I have snorkeled Chakanab and it was great

If that's a consideration, you can always try to do more than 1 excursion to Cozumel. 7 days of diving/16 local dives are ALOT of dives, so you could stand to lose some of those local dives and do 2 excursions to Cozumel (or maybe even split up your trip and stay in Cozumel a few days?)

I agree that the guide can help you. However, make sure to rely on your own judgment as well. If you don't feel comfortable with possibly strong currents or 80' depth, don't do the wreck dives no matter what the guide tells you.

Have a great time.

I will copy this to the mexico forum just now, thanks for the advice.

Yeah I have also read that Cozumel is meant to spectacular, however the travel for us will be an issue as we are quite a bit away from Cozumel and also going to stay there is not an option as we have spent quite a bit on our current hotel.

We booked the holiday before we started diving otherwise our hotel plans would be different.

Yeah we definitely will, during our deep dive speciality we went to 40m and had no issues it was an amazing feeling so depth is not a problem for us.

Thanks for all your advice

 

[Johanan]

Oops! Apologies, I did not reed your OP well enough!

 

[Chavodel8en]

One thing I wanted to note, in the interests of accuracy

Eagle rays are seasonal -- I think they are most abundant in winter.

The eagle rays were a great part of the wreck dive, but there was also abundant other life.