Recommendations for Tulum Mexico

[Clayton122]

I will be in Tulum shortly. and was wondering if anyone had some recommendations for a good dive company?

I did the Cenotes last time I was there, so I would like to instead get some warm open water dives in.

I am AOW certified myself, but I will be there with a friend who is not certified and would like to possibly take an adventure dive class while there to give it a try.

 

[ibj40]

Just up the road is Dive Aventuras, in the Puerto Aventuras resort. They have a very complete, professional operation, with a number of instructors on staff. We've been diving with them for over a dozen years. One advantage they have for mainland open water diving is that their boats depart from the PA marina, in lieu of having to wade out in the surf.

 

[hilljo88]

+1 on Dive Aventuras... they are in a small, gated community with restaurants, bodega. Their boats are short walk from the shop. Rinse tanks, etc. on site Nice guys.

 

[Max Normal]

Off topic, but have you done the ziplines at Xplor just up the road? If you have a break from diving it's a must.

I did my ocean dives at Cozumel, which is very expensive because of the cruise terminal but they were great drift dives. For cenotes at Tullum and ocean diving at Cozumel, I'd recommend checking out Ricado at Dive Choice Mexico. Great guy who will arrange exactly what you want.

 

[nwflyboy]

I did my ocean dives at Cozumel, which is very expensive because of the cruise terminal...

??? This makes no sense to me. Cozumel is THE Mecca for divers. With all the competition, you can find plenty of cheap diving (and great diving, and great dive ops) with almost no effort.

To the OP, if I was in Tulum and looking for diving, I'd find a way to get over to Cozumel for a few days if I could possibly swing it.

 

[Max Normal]

??? This makes no sense to me. Cozumel is THE Mecca for divers. With all the competition, you can find plenty of cheap diving (and great diving, and great dive ops) with almost no effort.

To the OP, if I was in Tulum and looking for diving, I'd find a way to get over to Cozumel for a few days if I could possibly swing it.

To be clear here, the diving was normal price, it was the food and drink which was massively over priced (I stayed in a dive hotel in Cozumel so most nights I had to pay Cozumel prices). It was at least 4x cheaper to eat and drink out in Tullum, which I reached by collectivo or Ricardo hired an SUV and took us there in the mornings.

So far as mecca is concerned maybe for US vacation divers, for us Europeans dive mecca is the Red Sea so Mexico was new to me.

 

[nwflyboy]

Endless, cheap, great food easily available in Cozumel, too. Be careful that you don't confuse "cruise ship prices" with "Cozumel prices" - very different things. Of course, you can find expensive things too (in Cozumel and even in Tulum).

 

[Ghosty]

For people who've dived both Cozumel and Tulum, what were your favorite sites off Tulum? Or do the operators just travel to the same sites on the south side of the Cozumel reefs?

 

[dougmatic]

In Tulum proper is Underworld. Just did the cenotes with them last week and they were great. Very professional and safety oriented. I didn't do any ocean diving with them though.

 

[ibj40]

For people who've dived both Cozumel and Tulum, what were your favorite sites off Tulum? Or do the operators just travel to the same sites on the south side of the Cozumel reefs?

In Tulum proper is Underworld. Just did the cenotes with them last week and they were great. Very professional and safety oriented. I didn't do any ocean diving with them though.

I recommended Dive Aventuras above, as they have taken us to a wide variety of ocean dives immediately offshore from their location in Puerto Aventuras (they also have certified cave instructors and guides on their staff, that that is not what the OP asked about, so I will avoid that). Admittedly, we have not dived offshore in the immediate vicinity of Tulum.

It is about 25 miles from Tulum to PA, accessible via taxi or private rental car.

Between Cozumel and the mainland Tulum area (approximately due West, and not South), there is an extraordinarily deep submarine canyon, so the reefs of Cozumel do not continue across to the mainland.

We have experienced diving on both Cozumel and the Yucatan mainland, and while you will not find the soaring pinnacles and similar structure of Cozumel on the mainland, you will still find excellent tongue and groove reefs, teeming with very healthy corals and schools of fish. You won't find the current-driven drift dives, either, but you will find very easy, comfortable, entertaining diving.