handben
Contributor
Having a timeshare week exchange about to expire and knowing that my wife wouldnt be making the trip with me and the kids made Cenote diving the obvious choice for our spring break. I wont bother reviewing the mega-resort (Mayan Palace) as most divers would be unlikely to choose this as their base for diving.
I honed in on Beyond Diving about 4 months before our trip based on a few good reviews here on Scubaboard. I was pleasantly surprised by the prompt and thorough replies to emails about itinerary, prices, etc. prior to our arrival. Erik, the proprietor, was very good with all of our questions and arranged for a new member of our group (daughters boyfriend) to do e-learning before the trip and the pool and open water dives in Playa.
About the shop, it is a good bit north of the center of town and about a block in from the beach (Calle 46) which if you have a car is a good thing. Finding parking in the touristy parts of downtown is even worse than Baltimore! That is not the case with this shop which has ample, safe parking (just across the road from the police palapa). The shop itself is pretty small and is mostly filled with rental gear. There were a few things there that we did need (mouth pieces) but other things like a battery for the dive computer necessitated a trip to Radio Shack.
For the diving, we set up 1 day of local dives off of playa, 2 days in the Cenotes and 2 days in Cozumel. I think Erik likes to take you out in open water and assess your skills before taking you into the cavern environment. This seems like a very sensible approach to me as the Cenotes are not appropriate for everyone. On our first dive we planned to go after lion fish and pretty soon after descending we found our first small one which proved too elusive for our novice spearing skills. The next lion fish was not to be so lucky. He was a very big fellow and actually charged me with his spines extended and went right between my legs - somehow he missed me but we got him. Shortly thereafter, we were visited by a fairly hefty bull shark who actually was not interested in our dying lion fish. We also saw a couple of large turtles and a large southern stingray. This was a nice dive. The second dive was shallower and with poorer vis. The highlight was spotting a large green moray and feeding him our fish from the previous dive. We did not spot any more lion fish which was comforting.
The Cenote dives truly were amazing (Garden of Eden, Tajma Ha and Dos Ojos x 2). Id recommend trying this to folks whove had enough open water experience to really perfect their buoyancy and are ok with the cavern environment. The interplay of light and dark as well as the decorations (stalagtites, stalagmites and columns) are unlike anything Ive seen before. For those whove cavern dove in Florida - these dives are so much more interesting in my opinion. Our newly certified diver did not go on these dives but did dive 2 days more off of Playa del Carmen.
For the Cozumel dives, you catch the boat at the beach that is about a block from the dives shop and it goes direct to the sites on Cozumel. This is much easier and time efficient than taking the ferry across and then arranging logistics on the island. I suspect that most of the shops can arrange to get you on the boat and I would definitely do it this was if I were staying on the mainland but wanting to get in some dives in Cozumel. The 2 days that we dove Cozumel, we had relatively inexperienced divers on board (including one newly minted diver in our group) so we dove relatively shallow dives there but this was fine as it allowed longer bottom time for us all.
In all, I was very happy with the high level of service with Beyond Diving including fast and thorough communication, friendly staff (including Sandra who manages the business side of the shop as best I can tell and Steve who did the instruction and guided us in Cozumel). Id definitely dive with these guys again if I were diving out of Playa. Ben H.
I honed in on Beyond Diving about 4 months before our trip based on a few good reviews here on Scubaboard. I was pleasantly surprised by the prompt and thorough replies to emails about itinerary, prices, etc. prior to our arrival. Erik, the proprietor, was very good with all of our questions and arranged for a new member of our group (daughters boyfriend) to do e-learning before the trip and the pool and open water dives in Playa.
About the shop, it is a good bit north of the center of town and about a block in from the beach (Calle 46) which if you have a car is a good thing. Finding parking in the touristy parts of downtown is even worse than Baltimore! That is not the case with this shop which has ample, safe parking (just across the road from the police palapa). The shop itself is pretty small and is mostly filled with rental gear. There were a few things there that we did need (mouth pieces) but other things like a battery for the dive computer necessitated a trip to Radio Shack.
For the diving, we set up 1 day of local dives off of playa, 2 days in the Cenotes and 2 days in Cozumel. I think Erik likes to take you out in open water and assess your skills before taking you into the cavern environment. This seems like a very sensible approach to me as the Cenotes are not appropriate for everyone. On our first dive we planned to go after lion fish and pretty soon after descending we found our first small one which proved too elusive for our novice spearing skills. The next lion fish was not to be so lucky. He was a very big fellow and actually charged me with his spines extended and went right between my legs - somehow he missed me but we got him. Shortly thereafter, we were visited by a fairly hefty bull shark who actually was not interested in our dying lion fish. We also saw a couple of large turtles and a large southern stingray. This was a nice dive. The second dive was shallower and with poorer vis. The highlight was spotting a large green moray and feeding him our fish from the previous dive. We did not spot any more lion fish which was comforting.
The Cenote dives truly were amazing (Garden of Eden, Tajma Ha and Dos Ojos x 2). Id recommend trying this to folks whove had enough open water experience to really perfect their buoyancy and are ok with the cavern environment. The interplay of light and dark as well as the decorations (stalagtites, stalagmites and columns) are unlike anything Ive seen before. For those whove cavern dove in Florida - these dives are so much more interesting in my opinion. Our newly certified diver did not go on these dives but did dive 2 days more off of Playa del Carmen.
For the Cozumel dives, you catch the boat at the beach that is about a block from the dives shop and it goes direct to the sites on Cozumel. This is much easier and time efficient than taking the ferry across and then arranging logistics on the island. I suspect that most of the shops can arrange to get you on the boat and I would definitely do it this was if I were staying on the mainland but wanting to get in some dives in Cozumel. The 2 days that we dove Cozumel, we had relatively inexperienced divers on board (including one newly minted diver in our group) so we dove relatively shallow dives there but this was fine as it allowed longer bottom time for us all.
In all, I was very happy with the high level of service with Beyond Diving including fast and thorough communication, friendly staff (including Sandra who manages the business side of the shop as best I can tell and Steve who did the instruction and guided us in Cozumel). Id definitely dive with these guys again if I were diving out of Playa. Ben H.
