Scuba Diving in Akumal Mexico
March 11, 2009 by cattleto
Filed under Activities, Diving
Whether you’re an expert diver or wanting to acquire the art, Akumal provides the perfect ecological setting to view many specimens of great beauty underwater. Akumal is a tourist town located 62 miles south of Cancun, between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, with a small local population of 1,198.
The name “Akumal” means “place of the turtles” in Mayan language. Turquoise bodies of water and fine, white sandy beaches provide the perfect setting for many sea turtles’ laying area.
Akumal was founded in 1958 mainly as a community for scuba divers to experience the many species and types of turtles which call the area “home”. Akumal Bay and Half Moon Bay provide optimal opportunities to survey the land and underwater life on diving trips and expeditions.
For certified divers, area dive shops offer a variety of exciting diving trips to the 30 reef sites which include shipwrecks, cenotes and caverns and a breathtaking amount of marine life that you can see. The dive shop makes all the arrangements and you can rent a scuba tank and regulator, mask, flippers and anything else you need. You can reserve an all day diving excursion or if you are more experienced, you can dive the caves, caverns and cenotes that make Akumal unique. Travelers from all over the globe come to dive the cenotes and caves of Akumal and this special village is truly a diver’s dream.
Dive shops also have courses so you can get certified to dive in open water. They instruct all levels from resort course to advanced cave diving. And what better place to learn to dive than Akumal, one of the best locations in the world to go diving? These PADI Certified Instructors will guide you through the process of certification so you can enjoy exploring the wonders of the reef that awaits you in Akumal.
Cavern and cave diving is a popular activity for visitors. These caves are called “cenote”, which means “sacred well” in Mayan. Dive packages offer several locations and various depths of diving, group packages, equipment rental and instruction to satisfy varying diver needs.
One of the shallow dive sites which is very popular is Cuevas de Tiburones. This site features reef overhangs which provide an optimum sleeping spot for nurse sharks. Las Redes offers an abundance of marine life, schools of fish, barracudas, stingrays, lobsters and sea turtles. Yal-ku is a unique feeding site chock full of Elkhorn coral structures, tunnels and lobster.
Other popular shallow dives are found at Dick’s Reef and Motorcycle Reef. Motorcycle Reef is named so for the 15-year-old motorcycle which is now covered with living coral and plankton that protects area sea life.
Experienced divers will enjoy an afternoon at Tzimin-Ha, which features parts from a 20-foot fishing boat wreck. Dives up to 100’ deep are located at Trigger Fish, which is a favorite deep dive spot for locals. Here, widespread patches of coral contrast with the sandy white floor with various forms of tropical fish providing a colorful array of rare beauty.
Xaar Beach and Gonzalo’s Reef offer different kinds of feeding areas for several different species of sea turtles for a once-in-a-lifetime diving experience. Xaar features reef fingers reaching 30’ up from the ocean floor, as well as turtles, nurse sharks and stingrays. Gonzalo’s Reef is famous for its large and vivid reef fingers; visitors are usually guaranteed a view of Hawksbill, Green, or Loggerhead turtles which use the area for feeding and playtime.