How is diving in this place of Maya Riviera?

[kixy1]

Just got back from a week at the Barcelo. There's an on-site dive op there, Dressel I believe. I went with Dive Adventuras, and they offered a free shuttle service. About a 5 minute ride to their shop, if that.

As for the diving. It's pretty good, but I'm a sucker for warm, clear water, and really, no dive is a bad dive! It ain't Coz or Roatan, but it provided a much needed fix. I only got in 5 ocean dives, as this was a family vaca, not a dive trip. Very easy, fairly shallow reefs, and coral heads. Finally got to dive some cenotes. All I can say is AWESOME

We actually saw quite a bit of life. Large schools of fish, turtles, a ray, 2 absolutely spectacular file fish, pipe, trumpet, puffers.... the usual, but never boring Caribbean crew.

Feel free to pm me with any questions.

 

[s.s.seafan]

are there any sharks in this area? I read that people could often see sharks in the PDC area.

 

[ibj40]

are there any sharks in this area? I read that people could often see sharks in the PDC area.

Don't confuse the Puerto Aventuras area with the Playa del Carmen area. There are (were?) Bull Sharks that congregate up near PDC, and dive shops take divers out to a sand flat just to experience them. We've seen nurse sharks, occassionally, when we dive around PA, but they are pretty rare.

 

[johnsona1503]

When my wife and I had 10 dives we went to Catalonia Royal Tulum at Xphu Ha just down the road from Barcelo. We dove with Bahia Divers, we knew very little to expect. Had no computers no gear and no real experience and needed the extra attention they paid to us. We dove with a couple staying at Barcelo. Bahia picked them up and dropped them off, its very close. We could just walk over to their dive shop from Catalonia.

The diving was perfect for newbies almost no current, slightly less visibility than Coz but still 60 to 80 feet viz. Mostly 50 to 35 ft dives. One dive site is right in front of the Barcelo. We always saw turtles, medium size groupers, eels, barracuda and schooling smaller fish. Occasionaly nurse sharks, octopus and rays. This fish life is larger at Coz. but the beach is awesome and we could do a lot of snorkeling when not diving that really helped me to get comfortable with the ocean. Really good shallow reefs to snorkel.

Glad we did the easy diving before going to Coz. It gave us experience that we needed before we started on drift dives at deeper depths and using a computer. The currents and outflows over walls looking at the abyss below can be a bit overwhelming the first time with just a few dives under your belt.

After over 40 dives on Coz I would go back to that area, especially now that we are nitrox cert. and enjoy some long 65 fsw dives.

 

[ibj40]

Don't confuse the Puerto Aventuras area with the Playa del Carmen area. There are (were?) Bull Sharks that congregate up near PDC, and dive shops take divers out to a sand flat just to experience them. We've seen nurse sharks, occassionally, when we dive around PA, but they are pretty rare.

Quick note to self, and anyone else interested. We just got back from a week in Puerto Aventuras, two days in the ocean and one in the cenotes with Dive Avenuturas. As always, diving with a shop with this level of professionalism makes this hobby/sport fun.

I would like to correct my statement regarding the presence of sharks. On our second day, we did see a nice, mature Bull Shark on our deep dive. Sighting confirmed by both dive guides and several divers. Highly unusual, but true.

Maybe the Bulls are running from PDC and heading South?