What are the best dive shops in Playa Del Carmen?
The good news for divers is the fact that diving in Mexico is well regulated. Safety is important and in this part of Mexico you will find a much more organized and professional group of dive shops. In fact, there are no really bad dive shops in Playa Del Carmen. There are however many to choose from, so how do you know what is the best dive shops in Playa Del Carmen? We take a look at some things to look at and recommend dive shops we have been with and are very good.
What makes a dive shop good?
Here are some factors that come into play when trying to figure out what is the best dive shop in Playa Del Carmen to go with.
- What is the size of the dive shop? Most people will recommend smaller sized dive shops since they can give more personal service and you are note treated like a number.
- Does the dive shop have it’s own boat? Some prefer the option to leave directly from Playa Del Carmen to Cozumel to go diving. However, some people prefer the Cozumel Ferry because it can be a smoother ride.
- What equipment do they use? What is the quality of wetsuits, tanks and masks like?
- The reputation of the guides. In many parts of the world it is common for an instructor to pick up a job for a few months while visiting somewhere. Here in Playa Del Carmen, as we mentioned it is regulated and dive shops have to comply with immigration laws. However having guides that know the area well and have been with the company a while speaks well of how the dive shop is run.
- Don’t judge by price. The cost of a dive, equipment and payment to locations are basic fixed cost. If a dive shop is cheaper, it usually means they are scrimping on something.
Why diving in Playa Del Carmen is a good option
The Riviera Maya is known for excellent diving including the island of Cozumel. You have many locations you can base yourself in for the diver on vacation. Playa Del Carmen can be a good location for diving because you have several options all located nearby. You have ocean diving, going to Cozumel, or cenotes dives. If the weather is not the best, you have different options to go diving. This is what draws many divers to the use dive shops in Playa Del Carmen.
2 recommended dive shops in Playa Del Carmen
Here are two dive shops that we have gone with and recommend. We will add to this list when we come across other companies that provide good services.
Note: We recommend these dive shops because they are considered some of the best. We make nothing off commissions, that is why we have you book directly with them if you choose them. We like to individually choose good quality services in Playa Del Carmen for our readers so you can have a great time here!
Tank Ha Dive Shop
Tank Ha an ecological dive shop that believes in continual education so that divers never stop improving their skills which leads to an enhanced enjoyment of the sport here in the Riviera Maya. We feel that if you stop by their shop on 1st Avenue between 20th and 22 Streets and talk to them, you will feel very comfortable with and see for yourself that this is a good dive shop.
Here are a few good things to note about this dive shop:
- PADI 5-Star Dive Center, operating since 1990.
- They take you direct to Cozumel. No need to take the ferry.
- All guides are instructors.
- In house guides
- They own their own tanks.
- They are a Cressi partner shop.
- Use long wetsuits.
- The owners work in the shop.
- They prefer small groups and are happy to take just one person to dive in cenotes or Playa Del Carmen.
Our video about going diving with Tank Ha
Blue Life Dive Shop
Blue Life Dive Shop offers a lot of variety in locations you can go diving. This is a smaller dive shop that like to customize the experience for you and has good guides. Blue Life is located on Avenue Flamingo and the corner of 40th Street.
Do you have an experience with a good dive shop in Playa Del Carmen? Let us know in the comments below.
About The Author
Hello. I am coming to dive this July in Playa. I will check out these dive shops. I always like local recommendations. Love your site by the way.
Great article. I just got back from Playa and did extensive research on 19 different dive shops in both Playa and Tulum. I would suggest that you check out Scubamobile. They came out on top of our list. They are a relatively new shop, but are staffed with experienced divers that go well out of their way to accommodate any special needs. It would be very interesting to add their shop to your article.
While I would agree that Tank-Ha is a solid dive shop worth serious consideration (they came in #4 on our list), I would not recommend Blue Life based on our conversations with them. They were the most expensive shop in our list and we didn’t see the value to justify the high prices.
I have no connection with any dive shop in Playa except as a happy customer of Scubamobile.
Thank you Brad for your recommendations and feedback. We love to hear experiences of our readers. We will have to look into that dive shop.
hello brad so what ar your # 2 and 3 picks?
What a great job, Brad! Thank you for this
WE just got back from Playa and used Scubamobile. They were a fantastic shop to work with.
I just got back from Playa a few days ago and I went with Beyond Diving and took a full cave course with the owner Erik. Him and his wife run the shop (plus their dog Piggy is the coolest) and made my course and the rest of the cave dives I did with erik super fun. i highly recommend them.
Scubamobile has dropped off the face of the earth, along with many other small independent dive centers.
We used Scuba Playa for a short while but were disappointed at their service. We were let down by them three times in a row, the last time we waited 1.5 hours in our wetsuits, only to be told their boat was broken. As they did not even apologize, or get back to us regarding a refund or alternate dates. We felt it was time to move on. We also felt very uncomfortable on several occasions when they seemed to be squeezing my wife and me for dollar bills like a sponge. Adding on extras and attempting to sell us diving equipment they did not even have in the shop, I caught them looking on amazon and making up a dive mask my wife was interested in by 50 dollars. I am fine with a distributor > retailer model, but outside that, I would have expected them to tell us to get the mask ourselves (which we did) on amazon directly. But, I know they seemed to be going through a great deal of financial hardship, for the two weeks we used them we were the only divers on their boat + one other diver a week.
We are now using Tank Ha dive shop which seems to be one of the only dive shops that continue to fill their boat on a daily basis. They have over 30 years of experience in the area, which shows from the moment you speak with them. I asked them about the same mask my wife wanted and they spent several minutes trying to source it from local dive shops, then showed us on amazon where we could purchase it … So they past the sponge test.
Tank Ha dive shop combines three areas: Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, and the local Tulum Cenotes. So no matter the weather, they can provide and complete any PADI/SSI course no matter the weather.
Thank you for your comments. We are sure they will be helpful to other readers. We often don’t get to go back and check up on companies and it is good to hear feedback from readers.
Hi Mike,
I know this update is a little late in the game but I just wanted you and everyone to know that Scubamobile is alive, well and ready to take you diving anytime :-).
We were temporarily closed for 6 months during Covid but reopened in a new location on the 1st of December 2020 and have been going strong ever since.
Hopefully we will get the chance to take you on an underwater adventure in the future!
Happy Dive Adventures to you all!
Just saw this and reached out via your website.
Hi there, wondering if anyone has any updated recommendations? Just bought a condo in PDC, will be moving down in a couple of years, but will be visiting multiple times a year until then. Looking to get into scuba, but dont know which shop to start with.
thanks in advance everyone.
Hello
This article was from a little while back, but Tank Ha is still a really good option. We just saw the owner yesterday and they are doing well with the shop. They are very professional, and I would trust all their equipment.
I’ve been diving with Xtreme Dive Centers since I moved to Playa Del Carmen and they’re by far the best dive center I’ve experienced in my 15 years of diving. They’ve only been around for just over a year so they’re not as well known, but they’re the only dive center in Playa with 2 PADI course directors (one of them was one of the owners of Tank-Ha when this article was written), all their gear is new, and they’re really great people. Just wanted to share my experience as I am grateful I came across them and I know this article was written a while ago.
Thank you for this recommendation. This is a new place that we need to check out.