1 or 2 weeks in feb | Diving & Snorkelling - Lonely Planet Forum

ONLINE

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:05:22 +0000

hi everyone,

me and my girlfriend are looking to go away in february for a week or 2 from the UK. we're looking for somewhere with a beach, ideally snorkeling off the beach and good dives near by.

we've been to malaysia, thailand, philippines (apo island is my fav to date), oz, fiji, cook islands and my girlfriend has been to most of the central american countries.

we were looking at the carribean, south america, maldives, but nothing has grabbed us.

does anyone have any recommendations or suggest anything else?

many thanks

ONLINE

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:03:03 +0000

I see no one has answered so I'll put my 2 cents worth in. I haven't actually been diving outside the Caribbean but I know that Mexico is a great option now for Brits. Cheap flights, reliable weather, good food and high quality hotels abound. I spend a lot of time in the Yucatan and my favorite area all round is Tulum. Cozumel has great diving but not much else to be honest. It's nice to drive around, very pretty island but I find the restaurants, bars to be a bit.... old or jaded or something like that. It's hard to put a finger on. Tulum has one of the best beaches I've seen and there are a ton of boutique hotels to choose from if that's your preference. Check out Cabanas Copal or even cooler Suenos Tulum .
If you are looking for all inclusive then Dreams Tulum is awesome. There are a bunch of all inclusives and town hotels in Playa Del Carmen and I have stayed at many there and also some nice ones up at Puerto Morelos and Maroma beach where I have also stayed, but I didn't like the diving much up there.
The best thing for me in Tulum and very addictive too, is diving in the cenotes. Really awesome!!!
I usually dive with Maya Diving down in Tulum, based at Dreams but they pick up from the whole area so I can pick my own hotel. Check out villas in Tankah and Soliman Bay too, might be a good option.
More info on cenotes: Quintana Roo Speliological Society or Wikitravel more links there to follow too or just do a search for Tulum Diving or cenote diving in tulum or something like that and you can find plenty of info.
There are some really cool Mayan ruins in the area too, my favorite is Coba which is only about 30 minutes drive from Tulum. TheTUlum ruins themselves are worth a look but busy, I heard it was the most visited site in Mexico.
Of course Cayman, Bonaire (especially), Curacao are good and I did some awesome dives in Venezuela at Morocoy, that was cool there but again, in all those places there is less character and less to do than Mexico and don't believe all the hype about crime, drug gangs etc. I have never had a single problem with anything like that in 17 years of traveling to the area.
I know, long post... at least you don't have to actually listen to me:-)
Happy diving and good luck in your search
Hope this helps

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