Tulum / Akumal Dive Operators

[gtrbryan]

Hello. My wife and I are traveling to Tulum in November. We are recently certified and would like to log a few dives while down there. I would appreciate any suggestions anyone has about dive operators. We are staying at a private residence, so we don't have the benefit of a resort operator.

Also, we will primarily do reef dives, as wife gets a little clausterphobic and is gun shy of the cenetoe dives (although I might try it if I can find a good buddy). The rest of our group doesn't dive, so we will be on our own. We will rent a car, so traveling to Akumal or somewhere else within reason won't be a problem. Thanks for your suggestions.

Bryan (gtrbryan@yahoo.com)

 

[Diver Lori]

Hi Bryan!

Try taking a look at this website. They cater to cave divers...but they do the open water thing too. You'll also be able to get in a cenote dive with them while others are sightseeing?

www.cenotes.com

I've used them several times and just booked my flight for my next visit there just about 30 minutes ago!

 

[teamheatwave]

Tulum has nice beaches, you can also try Xel-Ha, Yal-Ku Lagoon, Akumal or even Paamul. An eco park Xcaret has a 40 minute reef dive and is sort of in your area only a few minutes away.

 

[yak]

Bryan,

I stayed at Barcelo Maya 2 years ago (a resort near Tulum), where Dressel Divers is the onsite operator. I was doing "resort intro dives" at the time, but since have dove that area as a certified diver (with ScubaCaribe, which operates out of the RIU resorts closer to PDC).

You should definitely check out the reef called "Tortugas" if you want to dive with turtles.

 

[scubawife]

Last Dec we stayed at Vista del Mar and dove with Akumal Dive Adventures, both on Half Moon Bay in Akumal. The shop was good. The diving in Akumal was nice, gentle drifts. Nothing spectacular but the reefs were pretty healthy and we did see turtles, rays and the biggest moray I've ever seen. They do 3 one tank dives/day. Boat ride is about 5-10 min and surface interval is back on the beach at the shop. I think the dive times were 9am, 11am and 2pm. (www.akumaldiveadventures.com).

If you want to try a cenote dive, check out Hidden Worlds. Great for a first experience. Their guides are cave instructors and very safety conscious and good with all experience levels. Groups are small (we had 2 on one dive and 4 on the second dive). www.hiddenworlds.com If you're wife isn't comfortable with diving in the cenote, she could do a snorkel tour.

We love the Akumal-Tulum area and are going back again in December. There is better diving in Cozumel, but, this area is so relaxing and uncrowded, and we want to try a couple more cenote dives too.

Have a great time!

 

[razor]

Just came back from Playa and we dove with Aquaworld. We did a cenote dive and it was great. We had a total of 6 divers.

They have many Cenotes in that area and the one that we dove was called Chock Maal which I highly recommend.

Have fun

Let me know how Akumal turns out. That is one of the places that my wife and I plan to hit next year!


Regards

BTW Xel-Ha is a great way to end the trip and if you cant dive the last day due to an early flight the next morning!

 

[jeffkruse2000]

Hello. My wife and I are traveling to Tulum in November. We are recently certified and would like to log a few dives while down there. I would appreciate any suggestions anyone has about dive operators. We are staying at a private residence, so we don't have the benefit of a resort operator.

Also, we will primarily do reef dives, as wife gets a little clausterphobic and is gun shy of the cenetoe dives (although I might try it if I can find a good buddy). The rest of our group doesn't dive, so we will be on our own. We will rent a car, so traveling to Akumal or somewhere else within reason won't be a problem. Thanks for your suggestions.

Bryan (gtrbryan@yahoo.com)

How was your trip? I plan on going this November for some cave diving but my wife does not want to do the cave diving thing. She dives and wants to do some shore diving preferably straight out of a hotel/resort. Any places like that? How is the weather in November?

Jeff

 

[d33ps1x]

Hi Bryan!

Try taking a look at this website. They cater to cave divers...but they do the open water thing too. You'll also be able to get in a cenote dive with them while others are sightseeing?

www.cenotes.com

I've used them several times and just booked my flight for my next visit there just about 30 minutes ago!

Good call Lori.

Aquatec are an excellent setup and even if diving isn't your game the Villa Derosa is a great place.

Rented our tanks for cenotes diving from those guys and spent a bit of time checking out the place, having some food, etc. Great but very quiet location. Awesome beach too.

 

[Karen Cleveland]

Hello. My wife and I are traveling to Tulum in November. We are recently certified and would like to log a few dives while down there. I would appreciate any suggestions anyone has about dive operators. We are staying at a private residence, so we don't have the benefit of a resort operator.

Also, we will primarily do reef dives, as wife gets a little clausterphobic and is gun shy of the cenetoe dives (although I might try it if I can find a good buddy). The rest of our group doesn't dive, so we will be on our own. We will rent a car, so traveling to Akumal or somewhere else within reason won't be a problem. Thanks for your suggestions.

Bryan (gtrbryan@yahoo.com)

You might want to check out http://www.divetulum.com
Fernando Davila Nelson is really a nice guy. Have only dove caves with him so I can't speak to the open water trips but you might shoot him an email. He lives in Tulum.

Karen

 

[SCUBAKristey]

I too dove with Akumal Dive Adventures while down there. If you check with them, ask for Marike. She's VERY well familiar with the area cenotes and can take you to some less dived areas there. She's a pretty good DM and instructor. (She certified my hubby while we were there in September.)
Every dive we went on we saw turtles, rays, eels...They're a fairly laid back dive op, which is what we all really enjoyed about them.