"PdC is Hot, Hot, HOT!!!!" a Playa del Carmen Travel Page by diver-x

I'd been to both Cancun and Cozumel on 2 separate weekend trips in the Spring of 2005 and realized that there was way too much to do in the area for just a weekend. So when airfare/hotel packages for the Caribbean went on sale in time for our Fall vacation in 2006, Cancun/PdC came immediately to mind. Sure enough we found a deal we couldn't refuse for a place near Playa del Carmen and off we went for some fun in the hot, hot sun!

Yes we got some diving in, but it wasn't the entire focus of this trip. We wanted to see some Mayan ruins and our hotel offered a free day at Xcaret eco-park. So we decided ahead of time to spend no more than 3 days diving and do the other stuff the rest of the time. We arrived on Saturday late in the afternoon and decided to spend Sunday shopping around in Playa del Carmen for dive shops and other stuff. I'd found recommendations online for Dive Mike and Tank Ha, but in the end, we went with the guy who seemed the friendliest, and it also turned out was the cheapest: Studio Blue. We booked a package for one day of diving in Cozumel, one day of cenote diving and one day at the local reef around PdC (all 2-tank dives). The 2 ocean dives were $55 each pp and the cenote dive was $85 pp, for a total of $195 for each of us. A cenote is essentially a sink-hole filled with water. A system of underground rivers connects many of the cenotes together. Cenote diving is not cave diving since you are always in visual contact with sunlight and an exit is always a short distance away. It's definitely the most exciting diving in the Yucatan, in my opinion, and absolutely lovely! As it turned out, Studio Blue really only has boats in Cozumel. For the other dives, they booked us with other shops: Phantom Divers in PdC and Go Cenotes for the cenote diving. They didn't actually tell us this when we booked, which I thought was kind of crummy, but we were satisfied with the 2 other outfits they booked us with, so it turned out OK in the end.

When we weren't diving, we went to Chichen Itza, Tulum, shopped in Playa del Carmen, went to Xcaret Park and enjoyed our resort, Occidental Grand Flamenco Xcaret. This was only the 2nd all-inclusive resort I've ever stayed at and the first for my husband. We enjoyed it quite a bit, but are not we're completely sold on the all-inclusive experience. We like to get out and about quite a bit and I found myself thinking that we weren't really taking advantage of all of the amenities at the hotel, but I certainly didn't want to spend all of my time at the resort either so most all-inclusives really wouldn't be worth it for us. We did get a very good deal on this one, so it was worth it this time.

My husband was disappointed that you can't climb on any of the ruins at Chichen Itza or Tulum, but I wouldn't have done it even if you could because it was just too hot! Chichen Itza is an all-day trip from PdC and Tulum is a half day. I found both very interesting and impressive despite the no-climb rules.