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-Round trip flights from Los Angeles to Cancun and |
Once a sleepy fishing village, Playa del Carmen has become a getaway to this Riviera Maya experience. Overlooking a beautiful white sand beach, this vibrant and rapidly growing town is a 45 minute car ride south of the Cancun Airport.
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AIR + LAND PACKAGE PRICES Flight Itinerary: |
Prices
Per person based on double occupancy $ 1519
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All boat dives in Cozumel are considered drift dives, allowing divers to exert little to no energy while drifting by stingrays, turtles, nurse sharks, and not to mention an expansive variety of colorful fish and coral. The crystal clear, azure blue waters of Cozumel presents a vast array of sea life for every experience level.
Being part of the second largest reef system in the world Cozumel offers three main categories of dives:
1- Shallow/ near shore coral gardens (like Paradise reef)
2- Vertical walls with dramatic drop-offs (like Santa Rosa wall)
3- Coral Pinnacles and Caves ( like Palancar)
Some key dive sites are:
Palancar Gardens - Beginner to Intermediate
Just inside the Palancar Wall, dominated by coral mountains plunging from 30 feet into the abyss, lie two broad reef beds. They gently slope north to 70 feet and are filled with cuts and valleys, finger canyons and tunnels. Novice divers can safely view the massive pinnacles at the drop-off's edge, swimming among whip and brain corals and cleaning stations every few kicks.
Palancar Horseshoe
This U- shaped crescent of towering coral pinnacles rises from a sand ledge at 100 feet and climbs almost to the surface, forming an amphitheater for troupes of grouper, Creole wrasse and Bermuda chub. Just north of the horseshoe there lays a labyrinth of caves and passageways that weave throughout these ancient towers teeming of life.
Colombia - Advanced to Intermediate
Although Palancar is better known, many Cozumel veterans place Colombia among the world's most majestic wall dives. The coral mountains rise from beyond the limits of visibility to within feet of the surface and support rich coral beds in the shallows. Over the wall's edge, you sail through steep valleys, drifting from mountain to mountain, as if on an aerial tour of the Grand Canyon. Light streams through the sea fans and black coral in silhouette patterns often broken by the outline of eagle rays and schools of black tip shark.
Santa Rosa Wall
Another reason so many divers repeatedly visit Cozumel is that reef systems are so large and they require multiple dives to see. Santa Rosa's southern end is a solid coral ridge rising to 45 feet before drastically giving way to buttresses reaching up from 130 feet. These mountains are riddled with tunnels and cuts covered in thickets of rope sponges, tube and barrel sponges. Be prepared for the black groupers who get in your pace and green morays eels angling for a handout.
San Francisco
Beginning on the South end of Old San Francisco beach, this half-mile reef is broken into three sections by approximately 60 yards of sand. This is one of the shallowest wall dives and is loaded with life. Playful green moray eels and large grouper skim along between 35 and 50 feet, posing for that perfect vacation snapshot.
Tormentos
Tormentos Reef is Cozumel drift diving at its swiftest. Cruise along a sandy bottom at 60 feet past coral spires in a line so long their called Upper, Middle, and Lower Tormentos. Drifting by all three is not difficult when the current is really flowing and it is here divers learn why school of margates, snapper and chub chill in the coral valleys.
Maracaibo
This is one of the southern most dive sites on the island and it is very exposed to currents and topside surf. This end of the island drops off gradually, making Maracaibo a wall dive, but a very deep one. Due to its more remote location, it is not uncommon to see schools of hammerheads or shoals of eagle rays as divers drift in the midwaters high above the ocean floor. This is not a dive for those who need to be "up close and personal" with the wall for the midwater drift is where the most of the action lies.
Barracuda
Located on the north end of the island, this area of the reef can be dangerous and is best for small groups of experienced, drift/current divers. Due to the severity of the conditions, the Port Captain heavily monitors and restricts most tourists diving in this area. Even in good weather, the current runs 2 to 3 knots and down-currents are not uncommon.
Diving in Riviera Maya The Riviera Maya's coastal waters offer a fascinating diversity of marine life, and unique diving ranging from freshwater Cenotes to endless offshore spur and groove reef formation.Playa del Carmen has many amazing spots for scuba diving and even cave diving. Along the Great Mayan Reef, the second largest coral reef system in the world, you can dive among hundreds of multicolored fish and discover coral formations that have been around for more than 500 years. At the sinkholes (ponds connected to underground river systems) you can explore various caves and caverns full of stalagmite formations, allowing you to take insights of rare beauty that few people will have the opportunity to see. In Playa del Carmen you will enjoy watching wrecks teeming with fish and you will dive the way you like it, without feeling crowded or hurried.
"Cenotes", the largest underground river system in the world, are the main attraction for scuba divers visiting the Yucatan Peninsula. Centuries ago, rain water on its way to the Caribbean Sea formed cavities in the limestone by hollowing out caves, creating fantastic formations. When parts of the caves grew too large, their ceiling collapsed and cenotes and sinkholes were formed. Cenotes provide the best cave and cavern diving imaginable. With water as clear as the air the visibility is unbelievable as the diver glides through a color-filled fantasy world. The gentle current and mild water temperature around 75 C create a perfect underwater enviroment for divers of all levels.
It is also a paradise for divers looking from freshwater Cenotes to endless offshore spur and and groove reef formation. The climate is subtropical with an annual average temperature of 90 F and sunny days throughout most of the year. Playa (as the locals call it) offers alluring white sand beaches, archeological zones and gorgeous ecological parks, such as Xcaret and Xe-la. After the sunset, in Quinta Avenida you'll thoroughly enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere in the discos, bars and lounges. Let Escape Barefoot Travel open the doors to a lively destination with an incredible underwater world!


















