Playa del Carmen hotel and dive op

[bethbsting]

Please help us out.

We (a married couple) are looking for a nice 4 star hotel (nice bed linens a must) in the Playa del Carmen area (open to other areas near by, just not Cozumel) for a 7-day vacation.

We plan on diving both the cenotes and the ocean. Maybe we'll also take one day to go over to Cozumel. Any suggestions for AI's or just regular nice hotels where a dive op will pick us up or have a dive op on site? We have been to Cozumel and are looking to go to PDC and not go back to Cozumel. (We liked Cozumel, just looking for something different).

Also any suggestions for a good dive op that will take us to all three places or just centotes and PDC area? Any great dives?

Thanks!

 

[PaulVS]

We stayed at the Aventura Spa Palace which is one of the 'elite' A.I.'s in Playa. It is a beautiful resort, and the food & service is good... but it was dullsville for us.

Also there really isn't any diving I'm aware of in Playa... most of it is tours to the Ceynotes and Cozumel.

I personally won't go back to Playa. It's pretty damn boring, IMO.

If you want to dive... just go to Cozumel and be done with it. The A.I. resorts there are just as good, and the diving is a heartbeat (not bus trip + ferry) away.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

I like Protec diving. They also have a hotel next door which is very convenient.

protecdiving.com

Jeff

 

[mirekW]

From personal experience I can recommend Protec in Playa del Carmen,
It will be really difficult to find more experienced and friendly operator in this area.
Contact Matt or Scott for more info.

ProTec - Calle 4 between Ave. 30 and 25
Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Phone +52-984-803-1168
E-Mail info@protecplaya.com

 

[divingjd]

My wife and I spent a week in Playa in January. We stayed at Hotel la Tortuga in Playa. It's a great little hotel and very reasonable. It probably doesn't qualify as a 4 star, but I am never sure what that really means, anyway. I thought the bed linens were pretty nice, but they weren't all cotton and I don't know thread count anyway. There was another hotel nearby we were interested in and checked out one afternoon. It's Mosquito Blue. It's a design-oriented place, kind of hip, somewhat nicer and a little more expensive than Tortuga. It might qualify as a 4 star. It looked very nice and we expect to try it one of these days. Our LDS has a travel agency and sent someone there a few weeks later and they loved it. Neither of these hotels is on the beach, but both are close.

Dive ops in Playa generally don't pick you up at the hotel. There are no piers and they pick you up at the beach. You generally put your wetsuit on before you get on the boat and wade. Dive ops at the AIs are probably different. I used Abyss and Tank Ha for ocean dives and Yucatek for cenotes. Abyss and Tank Ha were both good, but Tank Ha had slightly bigger boats with the same number of divers, so you got some elbow room. I liked Tank Ha and would use them again. They are also the only dive shop in Playa that runs directly to Cozumel themselves. I have another dive shop in Coz I dive with, so I took the ferry over and met them. Yucatek was very good for cenotes and I would use them again. Just about all the shops in the area do both ocean and cenote dives and will arrange Coz dives.

We definitely were not bored in Playa, but we stayed in town. There are lots of good restaurants and other things to do: the beach, shopping, spas, tours of all kinds, etc. etc. We loved Playa and would go back in a heartbeat.

 

[k4man]

We spent a week just last month at an all inclusive in Playa del Carmen called Viva Maya--this is part of the Wyndham hotel/resort chains. NICE.

I'd be happy to get you more info if you're interested.

Kevin

 

[joeabroad]

You might take a look at the Royal Puerto Real, a very nice all-inclusive where we spent a great week in April. (www.realresorts.com.mx/Royal_Porto_Real) It's actually in Playa del Carmen itself (some others mentioned are further removed) and so right in the center of Playa's very active day- and nightlife. I dove several times with Abyss (www.abyssdiveshop.com), and recommend them highly--small and very professional. Also, they are only about a block from the RPR. Lots of good sites--surprisingly nice diving and great marine life--plus the cenotes. I didn't try them because I was enjoying the ocean, but they are very popular.

 

[Jay_SMART_Diver]

I'm going to Playa Del Carmen in November and doing some diving from there found a bunch of ops:

Dive Mike
Dive Mexico
Fantasea
Oceanquest
Phantom
Scubalibre
Sealife
Tank-Ha
Abyss