Question How to best spend a limited dive budget between Cancun/Cozumel/Belize/Bay Islands

[alwayssummer]

Hi fellow divers. I'm looking for some advice on how to best use my limited diving budget while I'm in the Mesoamerican reef region. I have lots of time, but not a lot of money. I don't mind traveling about for the best diving.

1. Experience level: I have about 150 dives under my belt, but only 2 in the past couple of years. Fine with drift diving.
2. Max certification level: DSAT Tec-Deep 40 meters of deco diving on air/nitrox.
3. Gear: Essentially none (to make it easy to travel on public transit and change locations). I'll plan to rent.
4. Interests and preferences: Just want to see whatever's great.
5. Travel dates and duration: I'm already in Cancun. I will be in the region until mid-June.
6. Budget: I'm trying to find the best way to spend about $500 on diving anywhere along the meso-American reef.
7. Group size and composition: solo.
8. Logistics and transportation: public transit (for budget reasons).
9. Previous diving experience in the area: 40+ dives on Utila.
10. Specific question: What's the best possible use of a $500 budget over the next 1.5 months, given that I can travel to wherever the diving is best? (By this I mean I can spend about $500 with my dive operators, don't worry about travel/accommodation, I think I can figure that on similar budgets, except maybe in Belize.)

Secondary questions:

• Should I consider liveaboards?
• Of course I'm also interested in operator recommendations, but that's next after I decide where to dive.
• What are my odds of being able to buy and sell some dive gear in Cancun in order to improve the experience. E.g. I'm not carrying fins or booties right now. I also might prefer a wetsuit, even in 80 degree water.
• Tips on saving money to stretch my limited budget.
• Tips on connecting with the local dive community. For example, my dives with locals in Perth were a positively amazing experience and way cooler than the traditional commercial transaction.

EDIT: Budget clarification

 

[halocline]

$500 is not much, I’m afraid. The Bay Islands are pretty inexpensive but I don’t know how you’d get there without spending most of your budget on a flight. Probably the best use of your limited budget is going to be day tripping to Cozumel. That way the only non-diving expenses you’ll have are the bus to playa and the ferry. And IMO Cozumel diving is much better than Roatan. It’s been several years since I’ve been to Coz but I’m guess around $75 for a two tank trip, maybe $50 for transportation from Cancun. If I’m way off on that, someone will chime in.

There are also cenote dives on the mainland but those tend to be a little more expensive because the groups are smaller and the guides are generally more highly trained.

Belize is expensive from what I remember from many years ago, but you could get there on a bus.

One last sort of nutty idea, you’re near some of the best cavern/cave diving in the world for two months, and you’re already somewhat technically trained. You’d need to scrape together more money, but if you could at least take a cavern cert course and scrounge up some used gear, maybe a backplate/doubles wing, you could spend your time diving in some amazing places without paying for a boat ride. But you’d probably need double what you have budgeted to pull it off, and that’s optimistic.

 

[alwayssummer]

$500 is not much, I’m afraid. The Bay Islands are pretty inexpensive but I don’t know how you’d get there without spending most of your budget on a flight. Probably the best use of your limited budget is going to be day tripping to Cozumel. That way the only non-diving expenses you’ll have are the bus to playa and the ferry. And IMO Cozumel diving is much better than Roatan. It’s been several years since I’ve been to Coz but I’m guess around $75 for a two tank trip, maybe $50 for transportation from Cancun. If I’m way off on that, someone will chime in.

There are also cenote dives on the mainland but those tend to be a little more expensive because the groups are smaller and the guides are generally more highly trained.

Belize is expensive from what I remember from many years ago, but you could get there on a bus.

One last sort of nutty idea, you’re near some of the best cavern/cave diving in the world for two months, and you’re already somewhat technically trained. You’d need to scrape together more money, but if you could at least take a cavern cert course and scrounge up some used gear, maybe a backplate/doubles wing, you could spend your time diving in some amazing places without paying for a boat ride. But you’d probably need double what you have budgeted to pull it off, and that’s optimistic.

Thanks for the detailed advice. This is roughly in line with what I was expecting to hear, except I was kind of thinking of cave diving as a quick diversion from Cozumel rather than something I should consider focusing on. I'm gonna investigate that more for sure!

Maybe a dumb question, but what's the difference between cenote diving and cave/cavern in this context? I do nerd out quite a bit on tech stuff and this idea totally sounds worth investigating.

 

[halocline]

Thanks for the detailed advice. This is roughly in line with what I was expecting to hear, except I was kind of thinking of cave diving as a quick diversion from Cozumel rather than something I should consider focusing on. I'm gonna investigate that more for sure!

Maybe a dumb question, but what's the difference between cenote diving and cave/cavern in this context? I do nerd out quite a bit on tech stuff and this idea totally sounds worth investigating.

Cenote diving is cavern diving. The thing is you need a guide to dive in them unless you take a cavern course (and pass it) at which point you can dive without a guide, which obviously is much less expensive. It just costs the entrance fee to the cenotes, usually around $300 pesos, and renting a couple of tanks, maybe $10-15 each. A guided cenote tour is at least $100 USD I think.

The difference between cavern and cave is the cavern zone has some natural light and is not more than 130 ft from an exit. It’s still technically recreational diving. Cave zones have no light and go back many kilometers. Getting certified to dive in a cave is a much bigger process and you’d need quite a bit more money just for the courses, let alone the gear. If you’re just going for cavern, you can technically do that class in a single tank and you’d need a good light. Thinking about it, though, your $500 would be gone (and then some) just for the class. I brought it up because you’re right there, it’s basically paradise for cavern and cave diving, and once you’re certified and have the necessary gear the cost is low. There are a gazillion cave divers from Playa down to Tulum, so used gear is a real possibility.

Cozumel reef diving is terrific and you’re also very close to that, it’s just that there’s no way around paying for boat trips; there’s essentially no shore diving (at least none worth traveling there for) and that’s going to eat up your money too. Maybe you squeeze five days of diving in for that $500, but I haven’t been in a while so things are probably more expensive.

 

[alwayssummer]

Cenote diving is cavern diving. The thing is you need a guide to dive in them unless you take a cavern course (and pass it) at which point you can dive without a guide, which obviously is much less expensive. It just costs the entrance fee to the cenotes, usually around $300 pesos, and renting a couple of tanks, maybe $10-15 each. A guided cenote tour is at least $100 USD I think.

The difference between cavern and cave is the cavern zone has some natural light and is not more than 130 ft from an exit. It’s still technically recreational diving. Cave zones have no light and go back many kilometers. Getting certified to dive in a cave is a much bigger process and you’d need quite a bit more money just for the courses, let alone the gear. If you’re just going for cavern, you can technically do that class in a single tank and you’d need a good light. Thinking about it, though, your $500 would be gone (and then some) just for the class. I brought it up because you’re right there, it’s basically paradise for cavern and cave diving, and once you’re certified and have the necessary gear the cost is low. There are a gazillion cave divers from Playa down to Tulum, so used gear is a real possibility.

Cozumel reef diving is terrific and you’re also very close to that, it’s just that there’s no way around paying for boat trips; there’s essentially no shore diving (at least none worth traveling there for) and that’s going to eat up your money too. Maybe you squeeze five days of diving in for that $500, but I haven’t been in a while so things are probably more expensive.

That sounds like great fun. It should probably wait for another trip where I can drag gear along with me. I've been looking around for used gear in Cancun and haven't found any leads yet. I wonder how I would find some of these divers down the coast to see about picking up a few select pieces of gear. Side note: I also need a new battery for my Suunto Vyper (which is a CR2450 disc battery) and have had not luck finding any kind of small batteries at retail stores around here. I wonder if I'm looking in the wrong stores. I'm tempted to start a new thread about this.