Going to Akumal

[ORDiver]

Hey folks. I'm spending next week in Akumal Mexico and was wondering if anyone had any feedback as far as diving is concerned. Looking for info on great dive sites, who to dive the cenotes with, do I need a car etc. I can hardly wait for warm weather and beers with limes in em.

[Dmitchell]

There are plenty of folks here who know more about the caves and cenote's than I do so I'll leave that to them. If you want some basic openwater dives go with Akumal Dive Adventures on Half Moon Bay, It's right next to La Buena Vida (a restaurant). We had a real good time with those guys and they usually only had 3-4 people in the boat.

Dave

[Ken G]

Make sure to give us a trip report when you get back. I am trying to get down there someday and would like to know how your trip goes.

[LCF]

I would highly recommend Dennis Weeks at Aquanauts in Puerto Aventuras for cenote tours. He is a cave instructor, very conscientious and safety-minded, and a very nice man to boot. My husband has done guided cave dives with him, and liked him a lot.

You want to be careful about cenote tour guides -- they are supposed to follow a set of safety rules, but our last trip down there, I saw a number of guides who were egregiously in violation of them (not in cave gear, leading more than 4 divers, etc.)

Schedule your cenote tours early in your trip, because you may not want to do any open water diving afterwards

[CaptnJack]

You need a car and you'll need their liability insurance (but not necessarily their collision). MX uses "Romanic law" which as Amanda Knox is discovering, is based on "guilty until proven innocent". So if you hit injure someone or damage anything you will go to jail absent liability insurance. You credit card "insurance" and your auto insurance here will not count.

Beware of being scammed at gas stations. They love to try and take cash from you, swap a bill with something smaller, and claim you didn't pay them enough. Or to not zero the meter. They will acquiesce if you tell them you're onto their scam.

I would skip actually diving in the ocean, play in the cenotes and just snorkel in the bay if you need a critter fix.

[Romer Treece]

I would highly recommend Dennis Weeks at Aquanauts in Puerto Aventuras for cenote tours. He is a cave instructor, very conscientious and safety-minded, and a very nice man to boot. My husband has done guided cave dives with him, and liked him a lot.

You want to be careful about cenote tour guides -- they are supposed to follow a set of safety rules, but our last trip down there, I saw a number of guides who were egregiously in violation of them (not in cave gear, leading more than 4 divers, etc.)

Schedule your cenote tours early in your trip, because you may not want to do any open water diving afterwards

I second Dennis Weeks! He is a VERY helpful guy (guide if you wish) great diver, and when we went down, he took care of EVERYTHING!! He got our gas fills (even Trimix for the deep ones) Sofnolime, etc., and delivered everything to our house. He is top notch!!
He will even give you GREAT advice about driving-and getting out of the scam tickets that you sometimes can get.

Dan