What's the diving like at Tulum, Mexico?

[Neil T]

Apologies if this is my second post, but I think the first version disappeared.

I'm planning a trip to the Yucatan next May, and want to include a few days diving. I was there about ten years ago (as a non-diver), so I know I want to avoid Cancun http://www.yorkshire-divers.co.uk/fo...=0&forumid=16#
Wink. I'm thinking of Tulum as a base (or possibly Playa del Carmen) and wonder what the divings like around there. I've had a look around, and it seems to get a big thumbs up for the Cenote diving, which I'll definately have a go at, but my wife is a very Un-Advanced Open Water diver and won't go in unless it's a) warm, b)calm, c)full of colorful marine life.

No-one seems to mention the sea dives here, and on the two dive shops I've found (Aktun and Acuatic Tulum) the reef diving seems a bit of an afterthought to the cenote diving. So is this because its not-good, or just because the cenote diving is more popular? Or would we be better staying in Playa?

I'm not expecting it to be as good as Cozumel, but we want to stay somewhere a bit less hectic.

Thanks,
Neil

[liisa]

This site gives information on diving in Tulum dive mexico

[Damo]

I've been on holiday to Playa Del Carmen for the last two years and can definitely recommend the area for diving.

Although Tulum is a lovely area, I think you have more options available to you by staying in Playa eg Transport,ferry,amenites.

There are plenty of reef dives around the Tulum area, although I haven't dived any of them myself. I know of one dive shop who operate out of Tulum who also have a shop in Playa, they're called Abyss, I would definitely recommend using them, they are Canadian owned.

If you choose Playa then I would recommend using Tank Ha, they're located on 5th Avenue (Main Street in Playa). I did a 10 tank package with them this year, the highlight being the Cenotes, They use European guides in the main who tend to be a little more safety conscious. I've dived with local Mexican guides, and some of them don't even bother dividing the group up into buddy pairs.

My favourite dive site in Playa is 'Tortugas' which if you don't know translates to turtles. You are guaranteed to see them, I saw eight this year, swimming, eating the lot, got some cool pics. Depending on what time of year you go, you will also see shoals of Tarpon on the same site, which if you're lucky you can get inside the shoal and be surrounded by about two hundred giant fish!!!

[NotDeadYet]

The cenote are beautiful but if you aren't cave trained then I'd imagine getting shown round a cave entrance would get a bit dull. It's also expensive. It is probably better to do a cavern or intro to cave course with one of the centres there, you'll get the same amount of diving plus see a bit more and learn a lot. And not to mention you'll be diving with a cave instructor, some of the guides I saw when I was there were, er, liberal to say the least in safety terms.

Can't say what the sea diving is like (salt, yeugh) but it looked very milky where I was staying (Akumal).

[Neil T]

Well I used to do bit of caving (not cave-diving), but I'm not really ready to spend my holiday doing a cave diving course. I was thinking of the Cenotes as an added attraction rather than the main event.

I'm pretty sure we'll stay in Tulum, we're only planning on diving and relaxing for a week, then going to see some sights.

It took a trip to Thailand to get my wife diving again after a disasterous trip to Gozo, so I'm just looking for easy, warm, enjoyable dives. We were a bit spoilt on our certification dives (Saba, Netherlands Antilles), we saw two turtles, an octopus, a nurse shark, flying grunard and barracuda on our first OW dive - it's been downhill ever since.

Thanks for all the recommendations.

[JohnK]

You got to do the Cenotes and Cozumel (ferry from PDC)

You will love it !!

[Neil T]

Just got back today from Tulum. All the time I was there the dock was closed because it was too windy, so I could only dive in the Cenotes

Dived with Cenote Dive Centre, just doing cavern dives - it was similar to here - none of that annoying colourfull fish and coral that can distract you - but with visibility better than my local swimming pool.

I used to do a bit of dry caving so it was a nice change to see stalags and curtains that were relatively intact.