Trip to Mexico (1) - Snorkeling at Akumal and Cenote Dos Ojos

We were quite lazy in 2012. Besides going to Hawaii for our wedding and honeymoon back in March, we didn't go for any big trips till the end of the year. Part of the reason was because I changed a job and moved from Houston to Austin. You know what happens when you switch a job - you lose all your vacation time and have to accumulate from zero again. That's what happened to me.

Finally, at the end of 2012 we went for our trip to Mexico. A lot of fun! We really enjoyed the beaches in Cancun and Playa Del Carmen, did snorkeling at Akumal and Cenote Dos Ojos, did kayaking and sailing in a all-inclusive-resort in Cancun, and visited three different Mayan ruins: Chichen Itza, Coba, and Tulum.

Highlight One: Snorkeling at Akumal and Cenote Dos Ojos

I snorkeled several times before in Florida and Hawaii, but due to my poor swimming skills and the fear I had towards deep water I never really enjoyed those experiences. Surprisingly, in Mexico you can rent life jackets when snorkeling. That's exactly what I did. So I could actually snorkeling in deep water and thanks to Alex who stayed with me all the time. We saw several sea turtles and a sting ray while snorkeling. Too bad we didn't carry an underwater camera. There were three fish swimming above/below a huge sea turtle, which was a kinda unique scene.

Besides snorkeling at Akumal beach, we also tried cenote snorkeling which was a whole different experience. The cenotes are very common in Mexico. Water in cenotes are crystal clear and you can easily see the stalagmites and stalactities above or under water. If you know diving you will definitely see much more than us in the Cenote Dos Ojos, but we also really enjoyed our snorkeling experience there. Too bad that the guide we went with didn't provide prescription goggles so Alex had to keep his glasses on most of the time to see things clearly.

Tips: 

1. How to get to Akumal and Cenote Dos Ojos?

We stayed in Playa Del Carmen for 7 days. From there, you can take colectivo (small van) to go to both places. Colectivo is a local transportation between towns and cities. You can catch a colectivo every 10 to 15 minutes. Usually, when a colectivo is full of passengers it would leave for the destination. There are several colectivo stations along the roadside between Playa Del Carmen and Tultum. If you wait at roadside anywhere between the two towns and wave your hands when you see a colectivo passing by usually the driver will stop to pick you up if there are available seats.

From Playa Del Carmen to Akumal: 30 peso/person
From Playa Del Carmen to Cenote Dos Ojos: 30 peso/person
From Cenote Dos Ojos to Akumal: 30 peso/person

2. Where can I rent snorkeling equipments at Akumal beach?

There's a dive shop just beside the Akumal beach and you can rent everything from snorkeling goggle (they have two prescription goggles for renting), fins, life jackets, to lockers. No matter what you want to rent you will have to include the life jackets. You can also take a shower at their place after you finish snorkeling. So it's pretty neat.

Mask, fin, and life jacket is $6 each
Locker: 60 peso

3. Where can I book the Cenote Dos Ojos tour?

The Cenote Dos Ojos is not close to the highway, which means that after you get off the colectivo you will need to walk 2 miles to get there if you don't have a rental car. If you have your own snorkeling gears and don't mind the walking you can go snorkeling by yourself although you might not be able to go inside the bat cave, which is an area only allowed to be visited with guides. The entrance fee of the Cenote Dos Ojos is 100 peso.

There is a guided tour company at Tulum but we didn't choose it since we stayed in Playa Del Carmen. We just went with the guided tour company at Cenote Dos Ojos. After you get off the colectivo, you will see the company right beside the highway. The cost of the guided tour is 400 peso per person, with the entrance fee and equipment renting fee included. A tour guide will drive you to the Cenote Dos Ojos and will drive you out after you finish snorkeling. Each tour guide has a small cabin beside the cenote in which you can change clothes and try their goggles if you don't have your own. We brought our own goggles so we just used their diving suit, which kept us warm while swmming and snorkeling in the cenote.