Dive Review of Aqua Excursions/Viva Maya in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

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Aqua Excursions/Viva Maya: "Outstanding diving after shut down", Jul, 2021, by John kirkenir, NJ, US ( Contributor 17 reports with 11 Helpful votes). Report 11641.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	My wife and I have dove with Aqua Excursions many times at the Viva Maya resort and always had a good experience. This time we returned with our 13 year old grandson. He is a new junior diver so we needed to dive shallower sites. Aqua Excursions staff (Daniel). We dove two days with Divemaster Rudy who was very good and took his time. We dove the last day with Mira who was excellent with our grandson making sure to teach him and kept a real close eye on him. She is top notch like her husband divemaster Chris. We dove Barracuda reef which is loaded with fish, Tortuga (which had a pretty good current so a drift dive and Moche Shallow that had good coral and little critters to check out. The diving was really good. Water was clear and the fish live was vibrant and abundant. Didn't see big stuff but all kinds of carribbean reef life. For my grandson it was magical. One day we took the day off from diving and booked the whale shark snorkel trip. This is a really long day but an absolutely incredible experience. They picked us up from the hotel at 5:30 am. If I ever do this trip again I will hire a driver to take me to Cancun. Would save an hour and a half each way. There were 5 stops on the way some pretty far out of the way. The boat ride to the whale sharks is about an hour or so and the boats are fast but narrow hulled so when we got to the drop in area people started to get seasick. Dramamine was handed out when we arrived at the marina but that was too little too late for about half the customers on the boat. There are 10 customers on each boat and are split into snorkeling pairs. One pair at a time drops in with the whale shark along with a guide. Life jackets are worn and there is no touching the sharks at all. No sunscreen either (of any kind) so wear long sleeve, long pants and a hat. Swimming with the giant sharks is fantastic. They are totally oblivious to your presence but they are amazing to watch and try to swim alongside. They move much faster than you can swim so time alongside them is brief. After the whale sharks we drove an hour back to Isla Mujeres and snorkeled there for a bit. Had some fresh cevice and went back to the marina at Cancun. Van ride back took forever and we got back to hotel around 4:30 pm. The dive boat was able to pick us up on the beach by our resort. Last time we were there we had to take Hobie Cat sailboats out to the boat. As always we tip the staff really well. If they have to put up with us Americans at least they should get paid well to do it. They have all had a really tough time during Covid and business is still really slow. tips were gratefully received. Nice safe operation. Good boat to dive from. Because business was slow we did have to make several stops at other resorts to pick up divers but I love a nice boat ride. Diving with my grandson was wonderful too. Seeing the reef anew through his eyes is a great thing.
Websites	Aqua Excursions Viva Maya
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Cozumel, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Florida, curaçao, Bermuda, North Carolina, Aruba, Curacao, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Hawaii
Closest Airport	Cancun	Getting There	Flight from Newark NJ direct. Driver to Viva resort about an hour from airport
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	84-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	500 psi on return to boat.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Aqua Excursions/Viva Maya in Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

Aqua Excursions/Viva Maya: "Outstanding diving after shut down", Jul, 2021,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Aqua Excursions/Viva Maya in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan