Stay in Playa del Carmen or Cozumel?

[ReefHound]

I'll echo the reply above. I do have a few friends who live in Playa and work in cozumel traveling daily back and forth... The commute is easy, but probably more transit time than I would want on vacation.

Cameron

and they are probably carrying nothing more than a backpack.

 

[ReefHound]

Thanks Cameron, yes we are now looking into AIs on Coz. We are very familiar with the mainland options and like them. We are snobby about food and service so we like Karisma resorts, which do pretty well in that regard. If there is something comparable we'll consider it. We like the idea of being in one place all week and not moving.

I'm starting to think maybe either we find an awesome Cozumel AI or stay in PDC area, do one morning dive in Coz, get back at 3 PM. Do one afternoon dive in Coz and bring my wife. She can hang out, do SI with me. Other days dive in cenote or local reef near PDC.

There are some potential flaws in this plan. For one, there are few if any ops that do 1 tank in the morning. All the ones I've been on are 2-tank trips. Maybe Blue Angel. Afternoon dives are dependent on enough divers. Scheduling that is more difficult.

as for the ferry, they won't want you lugging your dive bag into the ferry cabin. They will take it at back of the boat and stow it somewhere, and for some reason don't want to give you a claim tag for dive gear though I've never had any go missing. But that's one more delay when you arrive as you wait in a crowd to get your dive bag.

Snobby and Mexico aren't very compatible. That's setting yourself up for disappointment. This isn't Wakatobi. In general, I prefer the local flavor a la carte over AI. I've enjoyed staying at Iberostar but it's probably below your expectations. Cozumel Palace is probably the highest end AI but no real beach. Btw, most of the AI resorts in PDC are actually a bit outside the town. The best one I've stayed in was in Puerto Aventura. Allegro just south of town was ok. Which ones are you considering? Sounds like money is not an important factor.

 

[horn34]

I used to stay in Playa and dive Cozumel, but I got tired of the daily commute. You have to be up and out the door of your hotel/airbnb by 6:30-6:45 to make the 7am Cozumel ferry (the earliest one). That means you have to skip breakfast or eat something in your hotel room, because there is no way you're finding a breakfast place in Playa that opens early enough for you to eat and make the 7am ferry.

And since the ferry really doesn't leave until 7:08am, you'll be stepping off the ferry in Cozumel at 7:45 (or later) and you have to find a dive shop that is willing to pick you up at 8am or wait for you at the marina until 8am. Then after diving, you have to take a ferry back and you will most likely be waiting 45 minutes at the ferry dock, since you'll get back from morning diving right around 1 or 2pm, just in time to miss the hourly ferry.

That's 3-4 hours of your vacation wasted every day screwing around with the ferry and it's $20/person. Stay in Cozumel. It has lots of cool stuff to offer.

 

[freedc]

OP here. Scubaboard people really came through with helpful observations! Thanks so much. I love this community.

 

[DiverN2H2O]

I will give you another option that worked for us years ago.
Stay at Scuba Club!
They don’t include alcohol but RMD ( room, meals & diving)but have a great bar.
This is a dedicated divers resort.
My wife doesn’t dive and loved this place. Small pool,great views easy ladder access to water and the hammocks !
The boats are a little slow but that makes for great time to get to know other divers.
Meals are on divers time breakfast buffet, lunch when boats return.
We stopped by while walking last week and visited Sophia & Thomas while divers were out. We couldn’t believe how the place remains, never changes and is beautiful,
It was 25 years ago we stayed there the first time. We now spend the winter here but have an apartment.

 

[WetInPortland]

Sorry if this has been asked before many times. How burdensome would it be to stay in or near Playa for a week if I want to do 3 or 4 dive days in Coz this summer (early July)? Or should we just book a place in Cozumel? My non-diving wife really likes the all-inclusive options on the mainland.

Ferry website says it's 45 mins each way. Can you catch it right before it leaves? Is it usually on time? Any issues for the seasick-prone? What time could I realistically be back in Playa with my non-diving wife each dive day? (I'm willing to wake up as early as needed).

Background on where I want to dive: I have been diving several times in the Riviera Maya, dove reefs and cenotes, and really want to get some Cozumel dives in. I dove Coz once on a cruise ship stop and loved it.

This depends a lot on which DiveOp you're using on Cozumel. Scuba Tony leaves the marina at 7:30 - you'll never make it. Eco Divers leaves around 8:45 - 9:00 from their shop that's three blocks from the ferry pier, which should be doable, with a little time to grab a bite of breakfast in Coz (and Eco has been known to stop at the empanada stand on 11th (Calle QRoo) on the way to the marina, upon request.)

You can show up for the ferry five minutes before they are scheduled to leave (I've NEVER seen them leave early).

Seasickness - no restrictions on puking that I'm aware of (sorry - too good to let that one pass). Something that doesn't get mentioned much is the car ferry. There are only five or six departures per day, and the crossing takes a couple of hours, but it's a *MUCH* larger ship that doesn't transmit movement to the cabin like the passenger ferries do. It might not be practical for a dive day trip, but something to keep in mind for anyone prone to motion sickness.

By the time you figure in hotel to ferry, and ferry to dive op, you'll be wasting 90 minutes and $20usd each way

Last time I paid rack rate, it was $398 pesos, or about $20 USD *round trip*, not each way. Unless you are going to be extraordinarily tight on your return (why would anyone do that?), just buy one-way tickets. That way if one ferry or the other has a mechanical issue and is out of service for a particular departure, you just use the other one.

 

[ReefHound]

Last time I paid rack rate, it was $398 pesos, or about $20 USD *round trip*, not each way. Unless you are going to be extraordinarily tight on your return (why would anyone do that?), just buy one-way tickets. That way if one ferry or the other has a mechanical issue and is out of service for a particular departure, you just use the other one.

I said "By the time you figure in hotel to ferry, and ferry to dive op". Taxi could easily be $5 on each side. There might be an AI or two in PDC but most are outside of town. You might be able to walk to a downtown dive op from the ferry or might need to taxi to the caleta.

 

[nodakdive]

Deep Blue leaves from a dock downtown at 9am, but I agree with others that have suggested staying on Cozumel.

 

[ggunn]

Yo tambien. If you add a daily commute between Playa and Cozumel to your vacation plans you would be adding a lot of time-consuming and potentially frustrating complications to what should be a relaxing time for you and your wife. Don't do it.

 

[glimmerel]

If you like the service aspect of AIs and a nice resort/spa, try El Presidente on Cozumel where I have stayed the last four times for our bi-annual Cozumel trip. It is not AI but I find that the room plus food bill works out to be comparable to the rates of higher end AIs. While my husband and I love to dive, I also like a good pool, nice soft sand beach and great food when we are done with our diving for the day, all of which this hotel provides. In addition to the main pool by the beach there is an adult pool too. The staff there has been great. The food at the open air main restaurant is very good, the breakfast buffet is awesome and the fine dining restaurant has very decent wine. There is a dive operator on site, Scuba Du (I think we did a night dive with them and they were good) but we prefer to dive with the smaller operations like Blue XTSea and Scuba Tony. It’s been several years since I’ve had a chance to dive with Christi but the ST guys were great every time we dove with them. They picked us up at the hotel (not the onsite operator’s pier but right next to it). You will need to verify with the local operators whether there is an added fee for this or if they are even willing. Or take the easy route and dive with Scuba Du. As for the food comments above, I agree that going downtown at least a few nights is super worth it. El Pique remains one of my favorites as well as La Lobsteria. Las Otates was fun, too. My brother goes to Scuba Club Cozumel once or twice a year and it is fine if diving is the prime purpose but no beach and good, but basic, food. Iberostar had super small rooms and lackluster food. As for Cozumel’s AIs on the north side, I have heard they are nice, but are not convenient for the diving that we like to do which all seem to be right by Presidente or the southside, especially if you want a chance to get to Devils throat or Maracaibo. Presidente is not a party hotel so you may want to go elsewhere if that is your scene. It is pretty quiet and laid back but just beautiful and renovated since I was there. Good luck!