Playa del Carmen Dive Report

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

January 16, 2009: Moche Shallow

Today was a promising day. We go to the shop there were small swells and the sun was threatening to come out. As the hours went by and 8:30 rolled around the weather just got worse. The winds were blowing at 17knots/20MPH and the waves were at 9ft/2.7met. The temp was still warm at 77F/23C, but man was the water rough.

Moche Shallow: We got down to 40ft/12met and the visibility was no more than 10ft/3met. The current was strong blowing us back and forth. Moche is always a great dive regardless of the conditions due to the great coral formations, over hangs, and the amount of sealife. Nothing too special about today, saw the typical Snapper, Grunts, and one Turtle.

That was our only dive today, the conditions were just to poor and a second dive wouldn't have been enjoyable for our customers. Weather looks the like it will be the same for tomorrow and Tortugas reef is in the books, so hopefully the Port is open. Cross your fingers for us!!!!

Also if you have time check out mine and John's (scubajcf's) article on Playa del Carmen:http://www.academyofscuba.com/articl...ng_playa1.html

 

[scubajcf]

Hi Max,

Clean up that weather before I get there next month

For some reason your link isn't working .... so, Diving Playa del Carmen 1 - Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

I know it man! It should be gone by Sunday so no worries........March is always beautiful. Hmm ok I will change it to a different link. See you soon!

 

[divebrasil]

Going to the airport now. Please stop this wind!
Thanks

 

[Tom and Cheryl]

Well shoot us an email and we can give you some info on diving. If you are still looking for a dive op we would love to show you guys a great time. Thanks for the post and take care.

We have our diving scheduled for this trip but we will be back in April and I will contact you before coming down. We appreicate you taking the time to do these dive reports and that means a lot to some of the people here on SB.

Thanks again.

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

Sorry No reports for yesterday. The Port was closed.......again. We don't go out on Sundays, but the weather is absolutely gorgeous today. So since there aren't any dive reports for yesterday and today I though I should at least give a little weather report for those of you that are heading down here in soon. Right now at 9:30 the temperature is 77F/23C. The wind is blowing from the North at 6knots/7MPH......a lot calmer than the recent 16 and 17 knot winds that we have been experiencing. The wave height is at 6.27ft/1.9met. So tomorrow we are expecting a high of 85F/27C and almost no wind, sounds like conditions for a great day of diving.

Happy Diving everyone!!

Diving Playa del Carmen 1 - Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

Hello everyone, sorry I lagged on this report.

January 19, 2009: Mama Vina and Barracuda

The weather yesterday was beautiful. It was about 75F/22C at the time of our dive. Not a cloud in the sky and the see was like glass. The wind was blowing at 1.3knots/1.6MPH from the WNW.

Mama Vina: On our descent I was very surprised at the visibility. After all the wind and waves I was thinking that the visibility would have been poor. With the visibility at about 110ft/33.3met we could see the silhouette of the Mama Vina so clearly. The current on the other hand was very strong. The cleaning station was doing it's job as always. The schools of about 30 Barracuda and around 50 Permits made this one of the most amazing Mama Vina dives I have ever been on. Just the amount of large predator fish was incredible. No turtles, no Lobsters, no Eels, just big big fish........everywhere! The water temp was pretty chilly; 75F/22C at our max depth which was 92ft/27.8met.

Barracuda: The visibility at Barracuda was not as good as at Mama Vina, bit was still nice at about 60ft/18met. Our max depth was 42ft/12.7met. Barracuda has been very very nice lately as far as amount of sea life. You can always count on seeing at least one turtle and a number of different eels. The Chanel Clinging Crabs were hanging out in their sponges and there was a large amount of Rays out. We saw 4 Southern Stingrays, one Yellow Stingray and a Lesser Electric Ray. Great dive and it is truly a pleasure to dive Barracuda every time I get a chance to.

I will have a Cenote report around 3:30pm for Chiken-Ha.....gotta run, or dive rather.

Diving Playa del Carmen 1 - Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

January 20, 2009: Chiken-Ha Cenote

The temperature today was 74F/21C at 8:00am, the time we left for the cenotes. Beautiful day and no more clouds or rain.

Great day for the Cenotes. Sun was shining and the water was as clear as the eye could see. Chiken-Ha is a Cenote that is about 20 minutes south of Playa del Carmen near Xpu-Ha. It has great stalactite and stalagmite formations. The halocline cloud is always another experience. The sun was shining into the cenote a way that I have never seen it before. It wasn't just illuminating the limestone formations the way it usually does. It was shining so brightly and making the water look so clear that you actually felt a sort of vertigo when you looked down to the bottom of the Cenote. It was the first day in a long time that the sun was shining all day and it was very refreshing.

Diving Playa del Carmen 1 - Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

January 21, 2009: Moche Shallow and Jardines

Today was another great clear day. The temperature was 77F/23C at the time of our 1:30 dive. The wind was blowing 1.9knots/2.2MPH NNW.

Moche Shallow: I have been waiting for this day to come and it came today. The bait ball was at Moche and it was as always, an amazing sight. Thousands and thousands of small bait fish in a huge ball just hovering in one spot. There were also huge schools of fish and a surprising amount of Barracuda today. Visibility was good at around 70ft/21met. Great dive and I am so glad the bait ball is back!

Jardines: Visibility was poor at around 30ft/9met, but as usual tons and tons of life to see. There has been word that people have been spotting Bull Sharks just past the reef in about 55-60ft/16-18met in the sand, but no luck. We did see a very nice Southern Stingray with a few Jack around it, but other than that the typical Moray eels and large schools of grunts and snapper.

On deck for Jan 22, 2009: Mama Vina and Sabalos or BULL SHARKS!


Diving Playa del Carmen 1 - Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

January 22, 2009: Shark Gardens

Today was another great morning. At 8:30 the sun was shining, temperature was 73F/21C and the wind was blowing from the North at 9knots/10.3MPH.

Shark Gardens: We haven't done a shark dive for awhile and we were craving one. Luckily we booked several clients that were very interested in seeing some Bull Sharks........well they got what they wished for. We descended to 87ft/26met and the visibility was average at around 50-60ft/15-18met. Right when we hit the ground two sharks arrived, one smaller one (most likely a male) and a very very fat 10 foot female. They were accompanied by 5 remora's or sucker fish that just wouldn't leave us alone. They were so curious and playful. While still kneeling on the sand 4 more very fat and LARGE females showed up, all ranging in size of about 8-11ft/2.4-3.3met. While swimming to about 60 ft for ascent we spotted 3 Southern Stingrays all laying on top of one another. I have never seen this before in all my years of diving. Spectacular dive and I now curse myself for taking such a long period without diving with these amazing animals.

Hurry up and get down to Playa divers, the sharks are here, but they won't be for long. They leave around the middle to end of February. Happy diving everyone from the Geofish Staff.

Diving Playa del Carmen 1 - Academy of Scuba: Phoenix AZ