mayan riviera/cozumel trip - advice needed please

[margorah]

Hi,

My husband and I are thinking about Mexico as our next dive destination (for reference we have dived before in Dahab - Egypt, on a liveaboard in Thailand, and in Menorca Spain).
We are thinking about going in May and spending about a week on the mayan riviera and a week on Cozumel, and are looking for recommendations for locations to stay, dive centre's and accomodation. We DON'T want all inclusive (we're open to self catering but also not adverse to a bit of luxury ), and somewhere we can really soak up the local food, culture and vibe, along with excellent diving.

We both have about 70+ dives each and have dived before on walls, in strong currents and in low vis.

Ideally we don't want too touristy (we preferred Dahab to Sharm, and Koh Lanta to Phuket) but we are not such strong spanish speakers that we can go totally off the beaten track.

Any recommendations or advice gratefully received.

 

[Fyshebait]

Hi,

We DON'T want all inclusive (we're open to self catering but also not adverse to a bit of luxury ), and somewhere we can really soak up the local food, culture and vibe, along with excellent diving.

Ideally we don't want too touristy.

I can't speak about the Mayan Riviera, but you're going to have a hard time finding something "not too touristy" in Cozumel. Personally, I love the place, but there's simply no escaping the fact that there are pretty much ALWAYS tons of tourists, no matter where you go on the little island. Having said that, it's also easy to soak up the local food and culture, just don't expect to be the only one doing the soaking.

The diving is great, but again, plan for crowds...if not on your boat, then in the water. It's fairly common to be with a dive group, and encounter one or more other groups diving the same area. I don't mean that necessarily as a negative, but it is something to be aware of...there's a kind of double-edged sword here: the reason so many divers flock to the area is that the diving is spectacular; the unavoidable side effect, though, is that SO MANY divers flock to the area...and bring along their significant others, kids, etc. Add to that the fact that it's pretty much a guaranteed port of call for any cruise ship touring the Caribbean, and you get the idea.

If you can get past all that, though, there's no way to not enjoy the diving. I know there are plenty of great dive operators on the island, but the only ones I've ever used were Dive Paradise. I found them to be terriffic, from the people booking the trips to the boat crews to the divemasters...they were very professional, very careful, and couldn't do enough for you. I found them particularly attentive to the needs of new divers, and extremely conservative in their choices of dive sites until they got to know you. My advice would be, no matter what dive outfit you choose, try to arrange for the same divemaster for the whole week. Once they dive with you a few times, if they feel you're competent, they will be willing to take you to some of the more advanced locations. You'll also become more comfortable diving with someone you know and get to trust.

As for accommodations, we've always gone all-inclusive, but I know you can rent rooms, sort of like apartments, where you're completely independent; you can also have a housekeeper/cook who will clean up and prepare meals. I've never actually done this myself, so I can't really direct you further on that score...but hopefully someone else on the board can give you some contact info if that's what you'd prefer.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[TSandM]

I think you can have a good, minimal tourist exerience on Cozumel, if you don't stay at a big hotel. I know there are some small courtyard places in the city, but we stayed at Villa Aldora, which has about eight rooms or so. It's a five minute walk from the city, so it's relatively quiet. The fun thing is that the dive op can pick you up (weather conditions permitting) right at the dock there, so you don't have to schlep anything into town. We dove with Aldora Divers, an op which runs six pack boats, so we were never crowded on the boat at all, and although we did see other groups of divers from time to time, most of the time we had the sites we dove to ourselves.

For shore activities, I would recommend just getting off the waterfront. We wandered around the back streets of the city and found some lovely small (and relatively inexpensive) restaurants that had INCREDIBLE Mexican food and fresh seafood.

I can't recommend a place to stay on the Riviera Maya. We stayed at an all inclusive in Playa del Carmen, and I would not do it again. As far as dive ops go, Aquanauts and Dennis Weeks (Pez de Diablo on SB) get consistently high reviews, and they can not only take you reef diving, but cenote diving as well. And if you have strong buoyancy skills and reasonably good trim, the cenotes are really a must do -- unique and beautiful. I'll warn you that they're quite addictive, too. The last person who did a cenote dive on my recommendation had only one thing to say about it: "Blast you, TSandM!"

 

[yak]

I would recommend staying at a simple hotel on the beach in Playa del Carmen, which will offer you an unlimited amount of dining options on foot.

I like Playa Maya, but if you're looking for a big pool, that would not be the place to stay. We like it because we tend to hang out on the beach.

You can get a lot of information on the Mayan Riviera here.

 

[Oside Jimc]

I'll second the the suggestion for a hotel in Playa Del Carmen. Lots of reasonably priced options. I was there last month and did 3 days of diving with Jason (PlayaCountryBoy) and had a great time. The Cenotes are not to be missed!!

 

[driftwood]

Hi,

My husband and I are thinking about Mexico as our next dive destination (for reference we have dived before in Dahab - Egypt, on a liveaboard in Thailand, and in Menorca Spain).
We are thinking about going in May and spending about a week on the mayan riviera and a week on Cozumel, and are looking for recommendations for locations to stay, dive centre's and accomodation. We DON'T want all inclusive (we're open to self catering but also not adverse to a bit of luxury ), and somewhere we can really soak up the local food, culture and vibe, along with excellent diving.

We both have about 70+ dives each and have dived before on walls, in strong currents and in low vis.

Ideally we don't want too touristy (we preferred Dahab to Sharm, and Koh Lanta to Phuket) but we are not such strong spanish speakers that we can go totally off the beaten track.

Any recommendations or advice gratefully received.

If you want to get away from the crowds, try Akumal. Its about 20 miles south of Playa with much better beaches and very close to some of the best cenotes in the area. We generally get a condo on Half Moon Bay for around $120 a night. Rent a car and spend your evenings in Playa del Carmen. We like the Akumal Dive Center as our dive shop.

If you stay in Playa here are three hotels that we like, Hotel Lunata, Riviera Caribe Maya, and Aqualuna. Lunata has earned its star in Frommers and has a great location at 5th Ave and Calle 8. Riviera Caribe Maya is in a quieter part of town with very nice suites (the rooms are a bit plain). We will be trying the Aqualuna for the first time this May due to good reviews and a bargain price of $69 a night. For a taste of the local scene, try eating off 5th Ave at either El Fogon or HC Monterey.

Yak already gave you what I consider the best overall site for the coast and I would like to add, Riviera Maya Hotels, Resorts, Rentals: Mexican Caribbean Vacation and Can-Do Maps and travel guides. Locogringo has a very good rental section and the cancunmaps are must haves for any trip to the area.

 

[Travisc]

Over christmas I was in Playa- we met a few folks who would just take a bus from the airport and walk around to find a good deal on a hotel- They commonly ran from 50-75 depending on what you wanted. and often they had nice character and didn't have the big trendy resorty type of atmosphere.