Scuba Diving in Cancun

[Akosarz]

Hello Everyone,

 

My girlfriend and I are going on our very FIRST cruise this July. It is a 5 night leaving from Mobile and making stops in Cancun and Playa Del Carmen. One of the things that I think we MUST do there is scuba dive. Neither one of us are certified divers and I have only dove once before in Aruba a few years back. What are our options in either Cancun or Playa Del Carmen? I have done a bit of research and found that we could do the Discover Scuba trip, which is cool, but I think it might not be what Im looking for since it is so short and all. Ive seen that it takes about 4 hours or so and basically trains you on the basic functions of the equipment, etc. (I know I will have to learn these things before I dive). In the Discover Scuba, you only get to dive to 25 feet on however much one tank of air lasts. Will this be good enough?? I was really looking for a beginning dive where we could learn the basics and then do a longer dive (2 tank) in deeper water (40 feet). Isnt 40 feet the maximum allowed for non-certified divers?

 

Basically, is there a place where I could dive deeper and longer with no certification?

 

Sorry for all of the questions, Im just new to this. Thank you in advance for your patience and answers!!:D

[diverearl]

Hello Everyone,

 

My girlfriend and I are going on our very FIRST cruise this July. It is a 5 night leaving from Mobile and making stops in Cancun and Playa Del Carmen. One of the things that I think we MUST do there is scuba dive. Neither one of us are certified divers and I have only dove once before in Aruba a few years back. What are our options in either Cancun or Playa Del Carmen? I have done a bit of research and found that we could do the Discover Scuba trip, which is cool, but I think it might not be what Im looking for since it is so short and all. Ive seen that it takes about 4 hours or so and basically trains you on the basic functions of the equipment, etc. (I know I will have to learn these things before I dive). In the Discover Scuba, you only get to dive to 25 feet on however much one tank of air lasts. Will this be good enough?? I was really looking for a beginning dive where we could learn the basics and then do a longer dive (2 tank) in deeper water (40 feet). Isnt 40 feet the maximum allowed for non-certified divers?

 

Basically, is there a place where I could dive deeper and longer with no certification?

 

Sorry for all of the questions, Im just new to this. Thank you in advance for your patience and answers!!:D

 

Both ports you will be stopping at have good diving but both also have a high chance of extremely strong current. Tortuga reef is a Playa del Carmen dive but the average depth is 80+ feet. Almost all diving in Playa is in deeper waters as the shore drops off fast in the channel between the main land and Cozumel.

 

There are shallow reefs just off the north shore of Cancun but current and wave action at shallow depths can be a real problem for new divers in this area.

[dirvin0500]

We did a discover Scuba in Cozumel a year ago and it got us hooked. After much research and many questions we settled on Eagle Ray Divers in Cozumel. They have a great business for those who aren't certified. There was the Dive Master (Luiz) and my wife and myself....that's all.

My wife was a little scared and Luiz held her hand as we decended to 40' and stayed there for about 35-40 minutes. The cost was $120 pp. We loved it so much we paid the $40 pp fee for a second dive. Yes, $320 was pretty costly for 4 hours or so but then it's cheaper than getting certified if we hadn't liked it.

I would highly recommend their operation.