Akumal & Cozumel Diving, April 19-24th, 2016

9 dives with Dive with Natalie and Ivan, including Night and Cenote diving. 2 dives in Cozumel.

Dive 1 - Motorcycle Reef
Dive 2 - Las Redes (The Nets)
Dive 3 - Tzimin-Ha (Seahorse) Reef
Dive 4 - Lobster Reef
Dive 5 - Palancar Brick, Cozumel
Dive 6 - Head of Delilah Reef (or Punta Dalila), Cozumel (Drift Dive)
Dive 7 - Half Moon Bay
Dive 8 - Las Redes (The Nets) / Morgan's Reef
Dive 9 - Motorcycle Reef/Las Redes (The Nets)  (Night Dive)
Dive 10 - Tajma Ha Cenote - south line (Cenote Dive)
Dive 11 - Tajma Ha Cenote - north line (Cenote Dive)

We holidayed back in the Akumal area, staying again at the Grand Palladium with friends. We really enjoyed diving with Natalie and Ivan last time we were here, so we arranged all our Akumal diving with them, including the Tajma Ha cenote, as Ivan has since gotten his full cave certification.

We enjoyed revisiting some familiar sites as well as a couple of new ones. Our night dive had a wicked current, but it was still fun after we figured out how to stay behind Ivan when he stopped to take photographs.

On our 3rd day, we took the ferry from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel and did a 2-tank dive with Blue XT Sea Diving. Our divemaster was Pedro. The first dive, Palancar Bricks, was full of swim-throughs, and the second dive at the head of Delilah was a full-on, amazing drift dive, where we saw 5 nurse sharks, including 3 swimming in a beautiful winding formation.

The final highlight of the week was diving the Tajma Ha Cenote. The halocline is strong here and fun to get under. We surfaced in the sugar bowl for a good look at the stalagtites and bats. There were many fossilized shells that Ivan pointed out, but the best part for me was the light piercing through the roof into the water, including one spot where it looked like the transporter beams from Star Trek.

Akumal Diving. Dec. 4 - 8, 2012

6 dives with Dive with Natalie and Ivan. 2 referred out to Sebastian for Cenote Diving.

Dive 1 - Tzimin-Ha (Seahorse) Reef
Dive 2 - Las Redes (The Nets) & Motorcycle Reef
Dive 3 - Dos Ojos Cenote, Barbie Line
Dive 4 - Dos Ojos Cenote, Bat Cave Line
Dive 5 - Morgan's Reef
Dive 6 - South Point Reef


First: 1st cenote dive!

This is the TripAdvisor review I wrote up on the Dive Operation

OW Certification. Tropical Referral (Cozumel). Dec. 4 - 7, 2011

Went the tropical referral route. Chose a small dive operation, Buena Ventura Diving, in Cozumel for the open water part of our OW  certification.

Mario spent the 4th and 5th with us covering all the skills at Palancar Gardens (twice), Delilah Reef and Paso Del Cedral.

We followed up with a 2 tank dive on the 7th with Jorge, their Divemaster. This was at Palancar Horseshoe and Delilah.

Firsts: 1st Certification! 1st shark! 1st drift dive!

Discover SCUBA again. February 20, 2011

Steve and I didn't have time to get our Open Water Certification before going to our friends' wedding in Ixtapa, so we signed up for another Discover SCUBA when we were there. We weren't going to miss out on diving! We were staying at the Barcelo in Ixtapa and used the resort dive shop again, Ixtapa Aqua Paradise.

We did the video and pool lesson at 5pm on Saturday, Feb. 19th. Then did the two tank dive on Sunday, Feb. 20th from 9am to 1pm. They drove us to Zihuatenejo bay and we dove two sites:
Dive 1 was Manzanillo, average depth 38', bottom 45'. 10 lbs, 3mm long suit.
Dive 2 was Caleta del Chon, 40' average, bottom 45'.
About 35 min each. Saw seahorses and a cool pufferfish the guide held gently so we could stroke his back. Don't know if this is a good idea, but we were surprised that it felt rubbery instead of spiky.

The water was very murky at the top with viz of about 3'. We followed a rope down to where the viz cleared to about 5m. We purchased the photos taken during the dive. There was another couple with us, including the wife who was finishing her OW certification, so we watched as she did a few navigation exercises.

Firsts: 1st seahorse! 1st 2 tank dive.

Discover SCUBA. December 2, 2010

We were staying at the Grand Palladium in the Mayan Riviera when we decided to find out what SCUBA diving was all about. This was our 3rd Caribbean trip. We'd fallen in love with snorkeling on our previous trips, particularly at nearby beaches, lagoons and cenotes.

Herve with Scuba Caribe on the resort got us started with the 1 hour video and the pool training. Then we went out in their boat to the dive site (Aquario?) with Herve, Frederick the Argentinian camera guy, 2 boat crew, and another divemaster Pedro who lead 2 couples.

I bumped my head flipping backwards out of boat, and doing a full backwards 360. It was about a 45 minute dive at 40' (12-15m). Steve was emptying his tank pretty fast so Herve gave him air for the last part of the dive.

Herve found a little crab like cleaner thing to show us. We came up slowly with a couple of pauses.

Back in boat, I felt a little woozy and light-headed, then fine. Then while we were waiting for the others to come up I felt a little seasick. After we returned our equipment, we saw a rough video which we bought for $60 and tipped Herve.

First dive down and we loved it.

Firsts: 1st dive!