FAQ
About Our Dives
At DivePoint, we are located in Playa del Carmen, in the heart of the Riviera Maya. From here we have easy access to diving in Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and the incredible Cenotes of the region.
Our ocean dives have a variety of deep and shallow locations, along with shipwrecks too!
The dives in Playa del Carmen are all done from boats, simply because this is the easiest way to get to the dive sites. Most of the sites are a short 5-10 minute ride away.
We head to Cozumel on a direct boat too. That takes around 40 minutes to cross to the Cozumel reefs.
If you aren’t a fan of boats, we also offer cenote dives, where we go by truck to glorious freshwater caverns.
We are a small shop and we like to keep things personal. We only like to take small groups of divers together, and depending on experience we often bring a divemaster along on a guided dive if the group is a little larger so we can ensure that every diver is safe and watched over.
In cenotes, they are restricted to a maximum of 4 divers per guide or less, depending on the cenote and experience of the divers.
If it has been over 6 months since you last got your feet wet, it is recommended that you take a refresher course to help you get back into the swing of things.
This will reintroduce you to the equipment you use, along with the hand signals, safety considerations, and some skill practice before your dive day.
The refresh course is done at a special ‘divers pool’ so there’s no current or salt while you get re-acclimatized to your scuba skills!
Absolutely! Check out our packages here for information on combining multiple days of diving.
A great recommendation for those who want to try a little bit of everything is the ‘Best of the Riviera Maya’ package, which offers you opportunity to dive in Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and Cenotes over 3 days.
No! If you’ve never seen a shark when diving then when you do the awe will outweigh the fear.
Nurse sharks can be found on occasion in the oceans in this part of the world, and during the winter months bull sharks congregate in a deep divespot in Playa del Carmen. Even then, it’s unlikely to see the sharks in other dive sites.
They are uninterested in divers and will usually just swim by. If you have any worries on the day, please share with your guide who will look after you.
About Our Equipment
Of course, you can! As newer divers you might not yet have your own equipment, and renting is your best option to be able to dive (plus, you get to try different brands and styles at different dive shops to help you work out what is best for you!)
Even if you do own your own equipment, it can often be too cumbersome to bring a whole set of diving gear on vacation if you are only planning on a couple of dives.
Some divers bring only a computer and a mask, and rent the rest. If you need a full set, or just some individual parts, we can rent it to you.
We can also provide full Sidemount Equipment too, upon request.
All rental equipment is serviced on a regular basis and additionally whenever necessary. Regulators and BCD’s are serviced every 6 months to assure their functionality and your safety.
We do not act as Dealers for Scuba Equipment, but can take you to the right place to obtain the piece you’re looking for. There is several dealers and brands in the area that we can visit to get your best deal!
In this part of the world, both types of regulators are common. If you bring your own regulator, let us know which type you own and we can provide the correct tanks to suit your gear.
Yes! If you are Enriched Air Nitrox Certified we are able to get Nitrox tanks for you to dive with free of charge. If you’re not certified to dive with Enriched Air Nitrox, you can complete the course with us!
No, we provide minor parts like o-rings and hoses in case of emergency or failures, but we do not provide a complete service for all scuba-equipment. Service can be organized by a trusted provider in less than 2 working-days for any type of regulator or BCD.
This depends on your preference and how cold you get! The water in the ocean reaches around 29-30°C (84-86°F) in the summer months but drops as low as 26°C (79°F) during winter.
The cenotes are a cool 25-26°C (77-79°F), year-round.
Most people are fine with a long 3-5mm in the winter times and a 3mm in the summer. Some even use just a rash guard for summer dives.
You can always double up with a hooded vest if you get cold!
About Our Courses
If you are not certified and want to dive, you can participate in a Discover Scuba Diving Course (DSD). A DSD gives you a pool training session under the supervision of an instructor, before taking you to the ocean to complete two dives along the shallow reefs.
If you are here with certified divers, they can join you for the ocean dives too.
Once you have completed your DSD course, and you decide you want to get your full Open Water certification, this will be available at a special discounted price as you already completed the DSD with DivePoint.
Absolutely! Becoming a diver is very exciting and we like nothing more than taking a non-diver and turning them into Open Water divers!
You can do your course entirely with us in the Riviera Maya, or as a referral, which entails completing your pool course and e-learning online before your vacation.
The minimum age is 10 years old. Student divers who are younger than 15 earn the PADI Junior Open Water Diver certification, which they may upgrade to PADI Open Water Diver certification upon reaching 15.
To ensure that young divers don’t exceed their limits, the Junior Open Water certification comes with restrictions. Divers aged 10-11 years old must dive with a PADI Professional or a certified parent or guardian, and dives cannot exceed 12 meters (40 feet). Divers aged 12-14 years old must dive with a certified adult and dives cannot exceed 18 meters (60 feet).
Generally, the Open Water Course takes 3 days to complete.
This includes confined water training, and 2 days of ocean dives. You must also plan time to complete the theory side of the qualification too. There is a textbook to read with knowledge reviews to complete, before an exam.
Often it is better to read through this before the three physical diving days so you are prepared, and so that you aren’t too tired after the dive days!
Day one of your Open Water Certification is confined water, which is completed in a pool. There is a special divers pool in Playa del Carmen that we use, which has a deeper area for divers to practice skills.
Day 2 and 3 of the certifications are open water dives, which are completed in the ocean. We will take the boat from the beach in Playa del Carmen to the dive sites for 2 dives per day to practice and revisit the skills learnt in the pool session.
Your Open Water Certification allows you to dive worldwide. With this accreditation you are certified for diving up to 18m or 60ft accompanied by a certified dive buddy or dive professional.
At DivePoint we conduct PADI certifications. As a recreational diver, the differences between agencies are so small you probably won’t notice.
The order of the skills varies slightly with the courses, and they have different titles for the course levels, but both give the same outcome.
All international certification agencies maintain high standards of training around the world. Most are globally acknowledged as diving qualifications.
Chat with us and we can discuss further details.
As well as the Open Water, we can also offer many other courses including:
- Advanced Open Water
- Rescue Diver
- Sidemount Diver
- Cavern Diver
- Divemaster
- Plus a range of PADI Specialty Courses!
We do indeed! As a diver looking to continue their learning and development, the PADI specialty courses are a great way to improve skills and become a better diver. At DivePoint we offer:
- Enriched Air Nitrox
- Deep Diver
- Wreck Diver
- Digital Underwater Photography Diver
- Peak Performance Buoyancy Diver
- Project Aware Diver
- Night Diver
- Master Scuba Diver
- Coral Reef Conservation Diver
- Sidemount Diver
- Cavern Diver
- Emergency First Response
- Emergency Oxygen Provider
PADI / SSI / SDI / (plus the other certification agencies) have similar standards which can be interchanged. Just because you hold an accreditation from one company, you can do your next with any you choose.
Chat with us for more information and clarification regarding your specific needs if this applies to you!
About Our Cancellation Policy
To cancel or change your experiences date, please give us notice up to 24 hours prior to start of the experience to do so free of charge. All cancellations after that time will be subject to a cancellation fee, which depends on the experience booked.
If you can provide a medical waiver stating that your conditions do not permit you to dive on the booked date, your cancellation is free of cost and a refund for your previous made deposit will be given.
Rain doesn’t usually stop a dive day. It is wind that is usually more of an issue. If the harbourmaster says that the boats can go out to dive, then the weather will not cancel any arranged dives.
You can make any changes in your itinerary and diving days up to 24 hours before the day you’d like to change.
About DivePoint
Christine has obtained her first diving certification at the age of 10 years in 2002.
We are PADI and SDI/TDI instructors.
Christine is a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer allowed to teach several Specialties and a TDI Full Cave Diver, on the way to becoming a TDI Technical Diving Instructor.
We are able to teach in English, Spanish and German, but can accommodate other languages upon request.
We can provide Instructors with experience in teaching disabled divers, please send us a message for further information.
We have a Facebook group for friends of DivePoint where we share the pictures, dive talk, and events. It’s a lovely community of divers who all have one thing in common – diving with DivePoint! We encourage you to talk all things scuba in there. But as we are more of a vacation divers shop, we don’t have an in-person ‘club’.
You can also keep up to date with all things DivePoint on our Instagram page too!