Has anyone scuba dived during their TTR trip? Was it through TTR's onsite dive company or through another company? Any diving advice, tips, costs, transport, etc.. for diving while at TTR would be greatly appreciated. Also, PADI vs. SSI, any opinions or thoughts about certification through either of these 2 organizations would be appreciated as well.
We were certified through PADI. Don't know anything about SSI, but we were very happy with PADI, and we get email updates and information from them quite often still years later. Now as far as diving, we've never done any around Cancun. We just made a decision that we would always go down to Playa/Cozumel for our dive trips, and Cancun mostly for our party trips. Has worked well. Wish I could tell you more about diving in Cancun.
Cancun Diving is ok. There is a few reefs and there is a sunken ship just off shore in around 90ft of water. The current is very strong (2-4 knots). Diving in Playa is better - more reefs less current. If you really want to dive, take the ferry out of playa to Cozumel for a day and dive the palacar reef. You can also do a resort course. You take a half day lesson in pool and then do a 30-40 ft dive. We're PADI certified. I don't know anything about SSI. Good luck and have fun
The diving in Cancun is OK. Cozumel is suppose to be amazing. I did a couple of drift dives with Boris? (instructor at TTR) in 2009. We left from the dock at the resort. We saw sea turtles and many interesting species of fish. The ocean swell was quite rough. It made for an uncomfortable boat ride. Last year we just didn't find the time to do any dives. We are certified with PADI. They seem to be recognized everywhere. The best bet is to take your course work at home and then do your open water dives in the Caribbean that way you don't spend your vacation studying the books. You can arrange this with the PADI course. We will probably take our gear again this February and hope to get a least a couple of dives in. Problem is... it requires a quiet evening... as diving and heavy partying don't mix very well.... I have also heard that the underwater museum on Isla Mujeres was completed this year, I haven't fully researched the details yet, but it might be an interesting afternoon dive over on the island.
Thats it! As someone else said, we like to stay in Playa (playacar) and just ferry over to Coz for a couple dive days, and then maybe go dive a cenote or around Playa as well. Playa has a Coco Bongo's now, so the nights are fun!
