Pitaya beach club, massage and snorkeling..great day!!

[jean87510]

I had researched this area for quite some time. It seemed at least to me that you either go to the ruins or sit at a beach club. No one really posts about snorkeling. So here's what my husband and I did today and I hope it helps.

We were in port from vision of the seas from 7a to 4p. I had reserved 2 day beds plus umbrella as well as lunch and unlimited drinks from pitaya beach club prior to today using PayPal. I also found a dive unit called pepe dive in mahahual to take my husband and I out to snorkel for 1 1/2 hours. 

We took a taxi outside of port for $8 for the 2 of us. We arrived and were instantly set up with our chairs and a drink. We walked down to pepe dive which was 0.3 miles away. There we were fitted with wet suits (Mexico now requires life jackets but you can use a wet suit), and we were on our way with our guide Jorge in our boat going to the reef.

Jorge knew all the places to go. We saw octopuses, Rays, turtles, moray eel... it was amazing. I would never guess this beautiful area existed.  The dive shop told me that the snorkeling is not good from the beach.

We then came back to pitaya to a delicious lunch and I had a wonderful massage. We relaxed and drank some pretty good pina coladas, margaritas, and beers. Taxis were right across the street.

I hope this helps fellow snorkelers. I wasnt expecting much from Costa Maya and I ended up being really impressed with this port. The only negative is the hawkers but after a few drinks we started laughing at what they were selling. My favorite was pasta and a secret box.

Edited January 22, 2019 by jean87510

[jean87510]

Sorry I got our guides name wrong. It is Julio and he is known as the tortugas man aka turtle man. 

[JohninDC]

Thanks!  Hope the rest of your cruise was just as enjoyable. 😎

[bsfstire1]

Thank you for this, we (wife two girls) are trying pepe dive(per your recommendation) in March, hopefully it's good, you may have found a hidden gem!  

[jean87510]

4 hours ago, bsfstire1 said:

Thank you for this, we (wife two girls) are trying pepe dive(per your recommendation) in March, hopefully it's good, you may have found a hidden gem!  

I cant recommend them high enough. They were really nice. I will say that in Mexico now it appears they are making people wear life jackets but pepe dive offers wet suits as an alternative. If you are like us and hate life jackets, it was a good alternative. Ask for Julio to take you out. He speaks very little English but is amazing for what he finds for you. Here's one of the turtles we saw

[iluvtocruise70]

On 1/31/2019 at 9:47 AM, bsfstire1 said:

Thank you for this, we (wife two girls) are trying pepe dive(per your recommendation) in March, hopefully it's good, you may have found a hidden gem!  

Please be sure to come back to the board and let me know how it was. Looking for something to do in January 2020. Enjoy your trip!

[CozGurl]

Thank you for this! I didn't think we'd find any snorkeling here. Then again we snorkel 3 days in a row before this so we might be ready to just relax. 

[Oneluckywoman]

How much did all of this cost?

[jean87510]

On 2/21/2019 at 7:12 AM, Oneluckywoman said:

How much did all of this cost?

I paid $114.97 for Pitaya for 2 people which included the lunch, beach beds, unlimited drinks and a massage for me. I paid in full beforehand via paypal.  I paid $70 for the snorkeling trip.  I gave a 20% deposit before hand of $14 then gave the $56 for the remainder.  Pitaya offers a few packages.  So about $185 for the day.  I researched this port for about a year off and on and decided to do what best fit what I wanted. I will say the massage was phenomenal.  And both staff at Pitaya and pepe dive were really nice and gave us a great day.

[Stmar]

$185 for two people AI plus private guided snorkeling? That sounds like a decent deal, may check that out in the off chance we get to Costa Maya again. For us it would be minus the massage so how much was it and did you tip Julio?

[jean87510]

I think the massage was $25 or 30? So it would have been about $150 not including tips and cab fare.  We tipped Julio $20. They have different packages at pitaya. I just found the easiest was to get the one with everything. Go to pitayabeachclub.com. I think they may raised their prices though. Theres ones with alcohol and food and ones without alcohol and without food and alcohol. They give you pretty good portions and strong but good drinks.

Edited February 22, 2019 by jean87510

[HOSKI]

Thank you we are looking into this at your suggestion.

[bsfstire1]

We had the reservation, they were 100% spot on in their communications with emails, we were all set.......and than I got the flu, on the boat.  I was so bummed to miss this!  My wife didn't feel comfortable going with the kids.....so bummed.......yep, that was me and my bucket of beer (the smartest $29.00 I ever spent) sitting on the can, having it come out both ends at once!  I do have one tip though...if your having it come out both ends and you have a bucket of beer catching one end, it's best to lower the bucket after you're done, you throw up less that way!  darnit, so so bummed.

[jean87510]

8 hours ago, bsfstire1 said:

We had the reservation, they were 100% spot on in their communications with emails, we were all set.......and than I got the flu, on the boat.  I was so bummed to miss this!  My wife didn't feel comfortable going with the kids.....so bummed.......yep, that was me and my bucket of beer (the smartest $29.00 I ever spent) sitting on the can, having it come out both ends at once!  I do have one tip though...if your having it come out both ends and you have a bucket of beer catching one end, it's best to lower the bucket after you're done, you throw up less that way!  darnit, so so bummed.

That's awful! I had the flu on my transatlantic on the jewel last fall and it was not fun. Good thing about it was it occurred during the 4-5 sea days so I didn't miss any islands. Theres always a next time...