Open Water and Scuba Dive in Mexico

Deep reefs are the best reefs

The Cozumel Channel, in Yucatan Peninsula, is home to amazing deep reefs on the Cantile wall. Extending far beyond recreational limits, these dives present a unique perspective far beyond the standard “squeals and eels” dives.

The technical depths at El Cantile, with their attractive deep blue sea, provide encounters with giant sponges and deep life. You will also have the unique opportunity to perform technical drift diving in clear water along a canyon that drops from 130ft/40m to 1200ft/400m almost vertically.

We welcome and assist on our boats both backmount and sidemount tech divers, and we’re happy to help you plan any dives that you have in mind.

Pluto Dive Pluto Dive, with its experienced dive instructors Alberto, Barbara and Mauro are available for those who hold the right certifications, specifically “Advanced Nitrox Diver” and “Technical Diver”.

Contact us to request a quote and for other requests

Join Our Happy Customers For The Next Dive

Affan Zanila

16:06 26 Jan 23

I was there for almost 3 weeks and did my Cave Diver course and couple of fun cave dives with them. It was definitely a trip of a lifetime!.Everyone at Pluto is just so accommodating, Barbara answered all my questions and help me with all the details prior my arrival. Alberto is a very demanding instructor, he explains and explains until you really understand but I still messed up some parts while underwater but in the end I got it after all the hard work and his guidance!. He'll make sure your daily dive plan is well organised, I was totally in good hands.Even after the course, I learnt something new too, how to do cave diving photography safely. You'll always learn something with Alberto!It's a small shop with big heart and personality, they've been helping with the strays around Playa. In fact the owner of the shop is a cat named Jaguar!, He will make sure Barbara and Alberto get all the work done 🤣I'm going to miss everyone there, I will definitely come back one day for more diving with them. Please don't miss out on diving with them if you're in Playa del Carmen.Thank you guys

Lynn Chau

14:02 30 Dec 22

My dad, brother, and I were staying in the area and had the pleasure of diving with Pluto Dive over the holiday season. Pluto Dive took extraordinary care of us, 10/10 would dive with them again!Our family did two Cenote dives with Mauro, who has a great sense of humour and explains things very clearly - exactly what you’d want in a dive guide! I had some buoyancy and equalization issues and he was very patient to help me work through them. (For those of you who might get motion sickness in the car, he’s also a steady driver.)My brother and I also did four ocean dives with Barbara! Barbara is really professional and explains everything clearly - from the dive itself to the logistics, which is super appreciated!! When I go to dive, I like to not have to sweat the small details. Above all, her most shining trait is how passionate she is about creating an amazing experience for you. I mentioned that I didn’t have great buoyancy control and she made sure to talk to me about it and observe me while underwater, which made me feel cared for. There had been some torrential rain all week in Playa so the visibility wasn’t the best; I could tell that she cared deeply about it and kept offering to give us our money back if we didn’t want to do more dives because of it. (She also gave us our money back for our dad who fell ill last minute and couldn’t make his dives.) While underwater, she’s constantly looking for marine life to point out to us, too!Captain Felipe and his crew were incredibly helpful while we were onboard for our ocean dives as well, preparing all the tanks and our gear, and helping us put it all on. Additionally, Barbara and the crew took extra care to figure out where we should get into the water so that we’d have an easier time when we went down.Other small details are also worth a mention: calling our cab driver so that he showed up by the time we got back to the dive shop, hanging our suits between days so they’d be dry by the time we showed up the next day, making sure we had all our cameras, and shoutout to Alberto who looked after our personal belongings while we were out in the wild!If you’re in the Playa del Carmen area and are looking to dive, I’d recommend you check out Pluto Dive! You may also find two bonus furry surprises in the dive shop 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

Marco Chau

13:36 30 Dec 22

The team at Pluto Dive are beyond excellent. Barbara and Mauro were a fantastic help throughout the entire dive experience. Our equipment was hung to try for easy-wearing the next day, our scuba units were set up for us on the ship, and our cab was called for us and ready by the time we returned from our dives. Barbara even gave us a refund for our father who was too sick to dive. I can recommend Pluto dive to anyone looking for a great dive experience at the Cenotes or the Caribbean! The cats are also a great bonus!

LKSIM

00:51 25 Dec 22

We flew more than 30 hours to Mexico to dive in cenotes. It is our first time to dive in cenotes. Barbara explained us well in email before engaged to them.When we arrive here, we were welcome by Jaguar. Barbara and Alberto was so nice to welcome us and honestly. We feel so warm.Our guide is Momo for the entire trip of our cenote dives. Cenotes for me is his office. He know inside out of all the cenotes so well. He is well known/famous here. You can hear everybody calling "Momo" at cenotes, roadside, even in the middle of the road.This dive shop is highly recommended. Amazing and really professionalism is top of their priority.Buen trabajo Pluto Dive. We feel very safe and enjoy with you guys. Graciassssss!

Mckenna Ringwald

18:55 11 Dec 22

I did my dive training here and it was nothing but a great experience! All staff were friendly and nice. We had to reschedule and Barbara was understanding and let us do it another day. Highly recommend!

Jamalsky Saint-Fleur

16:23 08 Nov 22

My experience with Pluto Dive is a 5 start plus! I did my PADI open water with Barbara and I consider myself more than lucky to get that opportunity. I did my class one on one with her which was awesome. She takes her time to make sure that you understand the theory and everything. I feel like I've solid basics now and it's just the beginning of a new journey in the world of diving! A special thank to Jaguar who was there to support me and the crew! Protect our oceans!

Jason

13:45 23 Oct 22

I was in playa del carmen for two weeks. I wanted to improve my diving knowledge and pick up some advanced certifications. I did the research and picked Pluto because they were reasonably priced with good reviews. They exceeded My expectations on everything I did and were very patient with all I had to absorb during that time. I started with PADI Advanced Open Water,And did the work for Nitrox Certification. It was much to cover in a few days. They did a great job from start to finish and have increased my diving confidence significantly. Great dive shop if you are looking to up your diving skills. Thanks to Barabara, Alberto, MoMo and the boat crew for another great experience.

Kelly Hammons

15:24 23 Aug 22

We were in Playa for several weeks and had an awesome time diving. Barbara and her team took us to all of the best spots, including a Cenote dive! Pluto Dive is the best!

Jason R

17:29 19 Feb 22

I spent a week in Riviera Maya and had the pleasure of diving with Pluto Dive. My dive guide, Mauro, was top notch! He knew the cenotes in and out. The dives were never rushed and we had a great and relaxing time underwater. The owners, Barbara and Alberto run a great shop with many different choices of where to dive depending on weather conditions. I highly recommend them!

Oleg Igoshin

19:30 02 Dec 20

After over 7 years of getting our PADI here we are back to dive with them again. Had 2 ocean dives with Alberto and 4 cenote dives with Momo. Both experiences were top notch but cenote diving is not to be missed. I really hope we would be back soon to dive with Pluto.

Pluto Dive is a certified diving center.
We are located in Street 40, Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

#S-20653

Center #1324

#31497

Alberto

Born in Milan, Alberto discovered diving later in life but did so with a deep passion. While also a PADI instructor, Alberto’s focus quickly became technical instruction. He holds Technical Instructor (#7748) and Instructor Trainer (#804) Certifications with IANTD and is a member of IANTD’s Board of Directors for the Caribbean region. Alberto is also a certified Technical/Cave and Sidemount instructor under TDI.

With over 18 years of experience diving caves in the area, there are few with more knowledge of the caves in the region and their history. Alberto can definitely put a set of dives together that will easily make your Top 5 list of Lifetime Dives, and is always happy to answer any questions you have.

When he’s not diving or teaching other, you can find Alberto either mountain biking in the jungle or working with local organizations to rescue stray and homeless cats.

Barbara

Barbara developed her love of the sea as a child growing up in Italy. She pursued a career in diving working in destinations across the globe until settling in Playa del Carmen and establishing Pluto Dive in 2006.

A PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (#905285 ) with over 20000 dives, Barbara has a deep understanding of how best to teach divers of all levels, diving safety and the reefs and life in the area. No matter how many dives you may have under your belt, she will do her best to create an experience that you will cherish.

Tip: Ask her to show you her favorite creature — you may be surprised at what she shows you!

Mauro

Born in Italy in 1979, Mauro went on his first dive in 2011 — since then, he’s never stopped diving. Mauro, (or “Momo” as he is lovingly called by his friends) began accumulating certifications, becoming a PADI Divemaster in 2012, when he started working full time as a cenote and cave guide. Momo gained his IANTD instructor card (#10084) in 2022, teaching OW and Cavern diver courses, as well as becoming certified to teach Advanced Nitrox and Introductory Cave that same year.

Though most days you can find Momo in his “office” (aka deep in the Yucatan jungle), he is also a member of the loclal Mountain Bike Racing Team and a doting father who prioiritizes spending time with his daughter above all else.