Instant Reader Report
on Akumal Dive Center / Oasis Akumal in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan / Akumal on
2003/04
by
Richard Powers , MI, USA
Report Number 030901211536520

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 Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Turk 

Dive Conditions

Time, depth,follow the dive master  

Small boats with plenty of room but no specific facilities for cameras.  

Overall Rating

Oasis Akumal is a nice, quiet, small property with a nice beach and decent
snorkling.  The food is good and the staff is friendly and helpful.  The
rooms are relatively large with a unique shower/tub area with portholes. 
We had a second floor room right on the beach.  About half of the hotel is
an Italian travel club, but they have separate facilities for the most part
and never caused any problems.  Akumal is close to Tulum, the only major
Mayan ruins on the Caribbean.  The collective vans on the highway only
cost about a dollar from Akumal to Tulum.  The on-site dive shop was not
very helpful.  They only sell dives on-site.  Their boats left from
elsewhere.  They pushed dive trips to Cozumel.  If I had wanted to dive in
Cozumel, I would have gone there.

We dove with the Akumal Dive Center, who we also dove with in 1997.  The
service and prices were still good ($25 per dive, tax included).  They
take credit cards but you get a better deal if you pay cash.    They
picked us up at the resort and had lockers for equipment storage.  Chepo,
who was also there in 1997, is a very good dive master and points out a
lot of stuff.  The diving is all on spur and groove reefs.  The boats are
small and fast.  Entry is by backroll and exits are by handing all
equipement up and then climbing a ladder on the side of the boat.  Exits
can be difficult when it is rough.  The boat follows the divers and picks
them up at the end of the dive.  We saw a lot of turtles, including two
huge loggerheads.  We also saw a school of six large barracuda chasing
each other.  It is amazing how fast they can move.  We also saw a large
school of Southern Sonnet.  There were a few small grouper and medium
numbers of the usual tropicals.  The number and size of the fish is well
below Cozumel but it is a nice area for a change of pace.

It was very rough the first few days because of a storm and there was no
diving one day.  It is usually fairly rough, especially in the afternoons
as the easterly trade winds pick up.  The dives are generally 5-15 minutes
from the shop.   

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