Posted by tleemay on March 12, 2001 at 22:58:24:
In Reply to: Cancun questions posted by CalDiver on March 12, 2001 at 12:12:40:
Up until this past fall, I dove the Yucatan
penninsula every year since 1995. My take
on diving the area for the typical sport diver
is to drive (or take a US$40 cab ride) south of
Cancun to Playa Del Carmen, ay another US$10
for a round trip ferry ticket to Cozumel and
spend the day diving there either off one of
the local panga ops, or renting tanks and diving
the Chankanaab UW park about 4 clicks S of Coz's
only sizable community, San Miguel. Cost for boat
dives ranged from US$25 to US$30 per tank, usually
always 2 tank trips, one morning and one afternoon.
The night dives at Coz are among one of the most
beautiful you will ever do. So if you are on the Isle
at night, forget the Carlos & Charlies'/Hard Rock/
Planet Hollywood scenes and do the dives.
Funny you say that Aquaworld is reputable as a Cancun
dive op. My experience with then (last in 1998)
and the experience with others I know have dove with
them does speak to their reputation, but it not that
good. They hold the hotel dive contracts and are
pretty indifferent about the people who do business with.
If you want to dive Cancun, seek out a smaller
operator. They tend to be more personable and
hok divers up with their experience to the more
agressive and less frequented sites. Aquaworld,
as I rememberd them, were the most costly of the ops.
Exposure requirements? I dive there four dives a day
for upwards of 16 days at a time in a 2mm shorty.
If you get cold easily, take a 2mm full one piece.
Some of the more beautiful and exciting sites,
especially on Coz, are at the more deep sites, like
Punta Sur, Santa Rosa Wall, and the spectacular
Maricaibo Deep. There are a lot of shallower sites
to hit too that are world class like Tormentos,
Palancar, and El Cedral.
For Cancun, I prefer the outside northern reefs
of the Isla De La Muirijas - that's the name I
have written down in my log book, but I could
be incorrect about the Muirijas part. The other
type of diving I would suggest would be the cenote
diving S of Cancun. There is a cenote dive at Coz
that dumps at the S end of Chanakaab, but I strongly
suggest you be cave certified to do that one - but
for those qualified it's only about a 900 ft run from
the mangrove to the ocean... too cool.