PLAYA DEL CARMEN
Boats fill and courses cap out, so the good padi courses in Playa del Carmen go weeks ahead. Below: the 4 to book early, what each includes, and how they differ.
Review of PADI Discover Scuba Diving in Riviera Maya, with pool training, reef boat trip, costs, pickup details, and practical tips.
“Great experience for the beginner. Our guide, Toby, was very knowledgeable, and patient. Great time.”
Review of Playa del Carmen’s PADI Discover Scuba experience, with pool training, reef time, price, safety notes, wildlife, and booking advice.
“Terrible experience. The training is for less than an hour and is very rushed. The practice "tank" is actually a 3ft resort pool in which we were taught to breathing and hand signs for about 20 minutes. There was no pool lesson on equalizing pressure etc. We spent more time waiting for the boat to arrive than on the lessons itself. I felt very uncomfortable after the lesson and chose not to go into the ocean. My husband went and within 10ft in the ocean felt ear pain and couldn't complete it. This would've been identified if the practice tank was deeper. We spent a lot of money for nothing...…”
Earn your PADI Open Water certification in three to four days with pool training, Cozumel reef boat trips, gear, and hotel pickup.
“I just complete my open water dive course with Esteban here in Cancun and what an experience!”
Try scuba in Playa del Carmen with pool training, expert instruction, and two 40-minute coral reef descents for $169.
“This was an amazing experience. We had Jack as main instructor who was excellent in his scuba instruction with great personality, which made it more memorable. He was assisted by Geovanni (Italian young lady) who consistently assisted in getting our buoyancy down pat. The day started with roughly 1.5 hours of pool instruction, a lunch break and then off to two (2) dives. The two dives were amazing, with aqua blue water and schools of fish, manta rays and reefs. Tough to go back to snorkeling once you've been scuba. Would definitely use them again.”
Pick a coast, a depth or a licence.
