Costa Maya - Chinchorro Reef excursion?

[BaltoTraveler]

We're thinking of booking a Royal Caribbean cruise in December that stops at Costa Maya from 10 a.m to 7 p.m. Doing some research about the area, I found that it has one of the best diving/snorkeling sites in the Western Hemisphere - the Chinchorro Reef, a coral atoll similar what is found in the South Pacific. Only problem is that it's 20 miles off-shore.

 

Does anyone know of a snorkeling excursion out to the reef? We'd be willing to put up with the long haul out and back (90 minutes each way?) if this was as spectacular as it sounds.

[clackey]

Hola,

 

The only reference that I have found for the Chinchorro Banks is at www.mayanbeachgarden.com. They mentioned that some of the local dive shops will book trips to the banks. www.costamayacruiseexcursions.com has a reef snorkel trip that looks interesting, but the chinchorro trip may be hard to find. You might do a google and come up with more.

Good luck.

[Jerry_G]

I have several things to say. First, I'm interested in when you might be taking this cruise. My wife and I are on the Legend of the Seas , departing out of Tampa on 12/03/2005. She will be diving in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Belize. I will be adding mahahual(costa maya). If you go to the website that I've listed here then go to "diving prices" you will see at the bottom they have diving trips to chinchoro banks. The cost is $160 and requires a minimum number of divers. If you happen to be on the same trip then maybe we can hook up and get enough people. If you happen to be on the same boat and your just looking for a friendly face or two, my wife and I always enjoy meeting new friends. By the way if you wish to email me I can be reached at ggeeraerts@wowway.com

 

http://www.dreamtimediving.com/home/index.php

[Jerry_G]

I sent the following email to dreamtime diving in Costa Maya

"I will be arriving on the Legend of the Sea on December 5th. Can you tell

me if it is possible to dive chinchoro banks and what the minimum number is

that you require for this dive. The ship is scheduled to arrive at 10:00am

and depart at 6:00pm. Thank you "

I received the following response

"Our Chinchorro trips run very early in the morning and usually finish very

late in the afternoon. You would not be able to make a Chinchorro trip. If

you would like we would be more than happy to set up a couple dives on the

Meso American Reef. That would give you some great diving and time to

explore Mahahual.

Regards

Marco Martin

Dreamtime Dive Resort "

[BaltoTraveler]

I got a similar answer from DreamTime. They said that for snorkeling (as opposed to diving) Chinchooro wasn't worth the extra time and money. If I were a diver, I'd pursue it, though. Keep checking.

 

We'll be in Mahahual on Dec 21, and will either do a DreamTime snorkel trip to the nearby barrier reef or go with another vendor.

 

For beach time, the cruise dock place sounds horrible. Best beach hang-out in town seems to be Pez Quadro, on the south side of Mahahual... about 1 km from DreamTime, and connected with one of the best restaurants in town. A couple of the little resorts down the road (to the south) apparently welcome cruise passengers.