Dive Worldwise Mexico

[Paula Trounce]

Hi.
I've been tempted by this itinerary in Mexico:

Cenotes & Reefs Mexico Diving Holiday | Americas Trip Idea | Dive Worldwide

Diving Yucatan’s Cenotes is a beautiful and unique experience as the light breaks through the crystal clear waters. In contrast the Mesoamerican…

www.diveworldwide.com

I like the price and the mixture of Cenote and Sea diving along with a bit of tourism, although i imagine i'd like to add more dives in.
I'll be traveling alone. I'm a single female traveller with about 150 dives and PADI Rescue.
I've no cave diving experience. Dive mainly in the UK, Egypt.
Has anyone any experience with the operator Dive Worldwise?
Reviews are quite mixed so i thought i'd ask here as you've been so helpful in the past!
Thank you.
Paula.

 

[Rob9876]

I don't have any experience with Dive Worldwide. I will say that unless cenotes and mainland tourism are your main focus, it may be better and easier (and perhaps cheaper) to go to Cozumel.

Generally Cozumel has better reef diving, transportation is easy, prices are cheaper, generally safer, and you still have the possibility for day trips to the mainland for cenote diving (here's one great Cozumel dive op who will ride the ferry over with you and guide you in cenotes).

For reef dives and hotel, many of the highly recommended dive ops have good hotel+dive packages -- for example see Jungle Divers link above, and Tres Pelicanos, Salty Endeavors, Aldora, Blue Angel, Scuba Club Cozumel, and others. Those combo packages make it pretty easy -- many of them pick you up right from your hotel, and many hotels are within safe walking distance (or cheap taxi ride) to as many restaurants, bars, etc. as you would want.

You can also book other tours on the mainland for day trips -- we've used this web site several times for tours.

 

[Paula Trounce]

I don't have any experience with Dive Worldwide. I will say that unless cenotes and mainland tourism are your main focus, it may be better and easier (and perhaps cheaper) to go to Cozumel.

Generally Cozumel has better reef diving, transportation is easy, prices are cheaper, generally safer, and you still have the possibility for day trips to the mainland for cenote diving (here's one great Cozumel dive op who will ride the ferry over with you and guide you in cenotes).

For reef dives and hotel, many of the highly recommended dive ops have good hotel+dive packages -- for example see Jungle Divers link above, and Tres Pelicanos, Salty Endeavors, Aldora, Blue Angel, Scuba Club Cozumel, and others. Those combo packages make it pretty easy -- many of them pick you up right from your hotel, and many hotels are within safe walking distance (or cheap taxi ride) to as many restaurants, bars, etc. as you would want.

You can also book other tours on the mainland for day trips -- we've used this web site several times for tours.

Thanks.
That's fantastic info.
I feel if i wanted more of a Reef diving holiday i'd go to Egypt. But those Jungle Divers prices are good as they include transport.
I think i'd at least want 3 days Cenote diving and maybe 2 days reef and 2 days land tourism.
Is it possible book a hotel with say Jungle Divers and them work an itinerary out when i get there?
Thanks!

 

[Rob9876]

Thanks.
That's fantastic info.
I feel if i wanted more of a Reef diving holiday i'd go to Egypt. But those Jungle Divers prices are good as they include transport.
I think i'd at least want 3 days Cenote diving and maybe 2 days reef and 2 days land tourism.
Is it possible book a hotel with say Jungle Divers and them work an itinerary out when i get there?
Thanks!

Jungle Divers is very accommodating, but they are a small shop, so you may want to confirm scheduling in advance.

That said if you are thinking 3 days of cenotes and 2 days of land tourism, it may indeed make more sense to stay on the mainland. I did not realize you were thinking of that many days of cenotes, since that other itinerary only had 1 day.

 

[Paula Trounce]

Jungle Divers is very accommodating, but they are a small shop, so you may want to confirm scheduling in advance.

That said if you are thinking 3 days of cenotes and 2 days of land tourism, it may indeed make more sense to stay on the mainland. I did not realize you were thinking of that many days of cenotes, since that other itinerary only had 1 day.

Yeah i noticed that after i posted. I think a day is not enough. Thde Jungle Divers do a 3 day Cenotes.
Thanks a lot.
I'll drop them a line.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It's very common to combine a few days on the mainland diving cenotes with a few days on Cozumel. I suspect there are a number of dive shops that could arrange it. I'm not familiar with Jungle Divers, but if @Rob9876 recommends them, that's great. When I have done this, I simply booked separately with a dive shop in, say, Playa del Carmen and another on Cozumel. Land transportation is easily worked out. From Playa, there are a million tour operators who offer day trips to see the ruins at Tulum.

 

[Paula Trounce]

It's very common to combine a few days on the mainland diving cenotes with a few days on Cozumel. I suspect there are a number of dive shops that could arrange it. I'm not familiar with Jungle Divers, but if @Rob9876 recommends them, that's great. When I have done this, I simply booked separately with a dive shop in, say, Playa del Carmen and another on Cozumel. Land transportation is easily worked out. From Playa, there are a million tour operators who offer day trips to see the ruins at Tulum.

Excellent.
Thank you!

 

[Paula Trounce]

Thanks for all your help. I'm formulating a plan.
Can i ask about Cozumel diving?
Is it the similar to the Reefs of the Red Sea? Just to get an idea how long to spend on there.
Thank you.

 

[Rob9876]

Can i ask about Cozumel diving?
Is it the similar to the Reefs of the Red Sea? Just to get an idea how long to spend on there.

I've never been to the Red Sea, so I can't really compare the two. Cozumel is mostly drift diving, with coral reefs, walls and pinnacles (coral mounds, many of which have swim-throughs). Visibility is usually 100+ feet.

The best diving is by boat, but there are fun shore dives to be had (unlike Bonaire and perhaps Curacao, shore dives in Cozumel are not the main attraction). A normal schedule for a morning 2-tank boat dive on smaller, fast boats is approximately 4.5 hours total. Shore dives are not tide-dependent.

Wide variety of creatures, but not super-sharky (nurse sharks are common, reef sharks not that common, hammerheads rarely), turtles, eels, lobsters, crabs, a few different rays (sometimes many eagle rays), and lots of interesting macro creatures (seahorses seem to be increasing). Splendid toadfish are often found in Cozumel and Isla Mujeres, but not many other places. Can see several octopuses on night dives.

This video provides a nice overview. Also, a lot of my son's pictures (see links in my signature below) are from Cozumel.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Is it the similar to the Reefs of the Red Sea? Just to get an idea how long to spend on there.

Oh, I see no one has answered that directly. I have only done one Red Sea trip: the classic BDE itinerary. I was impressed with the Red Sea compared with Cozumel. More reef fish, more lively coral. That said, Cozumel keeps North American divers coming back year after year. I would have no problem spending a week there every year if I could. Rob's post above describes the sea life well. The other attraction is the underwater topography, with some good walls and many coral swim-throughs.