What can I say about scuba diving in Cancun, Mexico? Well for starters, it was far better than I expected it to be. Everyone painted a pretty bleak picture. We decided ahead of time that we wouldn’t scuba dive MUSA, we would do a snorkel tour instead. Matt and I went for 2 days of diving, and were pleasantly surprised by the condition and diversity of the area!

Matt and I chose Always Diving, based on some recommendations I found on the Girls that Scuba Facebook page. After an easy bus ride to the shop, it took forever to actually find the damn thing. It was just a shop front, not an actual dive center. A confusing but friendly conversation with the owner sealed the deal – we would go scuba diving the very next day. I was a little worried about the professionalism of the dive shop, but we didn’t really have the time to find an alternative.

Day 1 – Get Wrecked!

We rocked up the next day, only to be driven to another dive company within a resort. We would be piggy-backing off their dive boat. Unusual, but acceptable. A short boat ride and a backwards roll later, we were in the water!

The first dive was a flat reef drift dive. There was nothing really special, just an abundance of schooling fish. I really enjoy drift diving, so I still had alot of fun.

Upon surfacing both Matt and I had a headache. A cracking headache. Not only that, but we both felt sea sick, which never happens. Matt was reasonably certain it was the air in the cylinder. I honestly wasn’t sure I was going to make the second dive. Being the typical Aussie he is, Matt said “she’ll be right”, and in we jumped again.

The second dive was a shipwreck which had split into two. The first (back) half could be penetrated, whilst the second (front) half was a short drift away, and a favourite hangout for eagle rays. Matt and I really enjoyed this dive – it was the first time saying eagle rays up close and hiding in the shelter of the boat made it possible to observe them without much effort. We didn’t come up with a headache the second dive, so not really sure what the issue was there.

Day 2 – Drift it!

The second day of diving was another day of flat reef drift dives. This time there seemed to be a larger variety of marine life to observe. There were no headaches from the air this time, so that was a plus. I was blown away by the amount of schooling fish again! I absolutely love to watch them swim in unison.

Final Thoughts…

All in all, whilst I would recommend diving in Cancun, I probably wouldn’t recommend Always Diving. Call me spoilt, but it was annoying not having all the cylinders and weights ready to go, having to do a decent trek to get to the other dive center and then not having anywhere to was our gear at the end of the day. Perhaps if you were using shop gear, it wouldn’t have been as difficult.

Where have you gone which has exceeded expectations?