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#93
My recent trip to Playa del Carmen - Viva Maya
krimney - 2/09/2013 7:36 PM
Category: Travel
Replies: 4

Recently spent 10 days at Wyndham Viva Maya and managed to get in 8 ocean dives and 2 cenote dives. I used the DO at the resort which is Underwater Technical World, which I guess is a spin of from Scuba Caribe. The boat picked us up right from the beach at the resort and the dive sites were not far. Sites were Moc-che (deep and shallow), Jardines, Barracuda, and Mama Vina. Did a day trip to cozumel and dove Paradise Reef and Punta Tunich. Cenotes dive was at Tajma-ha.

DO seemed well organized, easy to deal with, friendly and accomodating. Dives were cancelled one day due to weather closing the harbour and there was no issue re-scheduling/refunding. I had my own gear, but my brother used the rental gear and apart from a few minor issues that were dealt with pre-dive, there were no major issues.

Vis was not quite as good as I have seen in Bahamas and Cayamans but it was still good. Managed to see numerous rays, big and small, bull shark on several occasions, a few barracuda, some HUGE crab, lots of lobster and many smaller fish Snorkelling at Akumal offered a few turtle, and schools of fish like I have never seen before. Air and water temp was in the high 70s and I used a full 3mm and was fine for all dives.

Viva Maya is an all inclusive. We found it to be a great place to stay. Food was good, staff were polite, rooms were fine. 5 star it is not, but for us it was near perfect and we’ll likley stay there again.
#8067
Rich-D-Fish - 2/10/2013 9:49 AM
I love diving that area. I’m curious, did you find much of a difference between diving Cancun and Playa? Or about the same?
#3720
tstormdiver - 2/10/2013 2:08 PM
I was in Playa Del Carmen last year for a week of cave diving. Those caves are magical places & the haloclines are really a sight to see.
#93
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krimney - 2/10/2013 3:47 PM
Probably not much difference between cancun and playa, about 30 miles separate the two. If you mean cozumel and playa, I didn’t find much difference. both had about the same current.

the haloclines were new to me, I thought my mask had suddenly fogged as everything went fuzzy. I’d certainly do more cenote diving if I am in the area.
#8067
Rich-D-Fish - 2/12/2013 8:37 AM
That’s what I thought. Thanks. Everyone always tells me "You HAVE to do Cozumel, nothing compares." But I’ve watched so many Cozumel videos that seem to compare perfectly with Cancun, I feel it wouldn’t be too much difference. And I go to Cancun all the time, so now I won’t feel like I’m missing out. But I have yet to dive the cenotes, and it is on my bucket list :-)