For traveling divers, the Yucatan is the gateway to Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, the Riviera Maya, and little known Holbox island. Its easiest to fly to Cancun, pick up a rental car, and explore. Two of the best Mayan archeological sites in the world are located in this area: Chitzen Itza and Uxmal. These should be considered no-miss destinations when traveling here.

Merida, in the northwest part of the state, is the capital and the largest city on the Yucatan peninsula. It’s a beautiful colonial city with a rich history and culture. We enjoyed the central market while shopping for handicrafts and eating at the food stalls.

At the north end of the peninsula, is the city of Chiquila where you can take a ferry to Holbox island. The main reason to come here is to swim with whale sharks. It is in the migration path and your chances of seeing the world's largest fish are excellent. This is a natural paradise with giant flocks of flamingos, an island that serves as a bird sanctuary, and a small island with a natural freshwater spring in the middle, which forms a pool for swimming. We saw whale sharks, breaching mantas, and thousands of migrating golden rays. It’s a very small island with golf carts used as the primary form of transportation. We stayed in a beautiful small boutique hotel near town and walked everywhere. If you’re able to visit here, it should also be considered a no-miss. We have traveled here many times and never get tired of this wonderful destination.

I've visited the Riviera Maya many times. We've always based ourselves in Playa del Carmen and ventured out from there. Playa del Carmen is an easy drive from Cancun and a rental car is essential. Each time, we have rented a beachfront private villa within walking distance of town. Fifth Avenue is the main street in town and is pedestrian only. This is where you will find a great number of restaurants, bars, and shops. Many dive shops are scattered around town. This is the main embarkation point for the ferry to Cozumel.

The main reason divers come to this area is to dive in the cenotes. These are ancient limestone caves, now filled with water, and making up the largest underwater cave system in the world. You can dive the cenotes without special training because they are considered cavern dives where you never lose sight of the entrance. Any further exploration requires cave diving training. The dive shops in Playa del Carmen will all arrange guided cenote dives led by certified cave divers. Some will also arrange high-speed boats to Cozumel for a two tank dive on the world-famous walls.

As you continue south of Playa del Carmen, you'll come to the town of Puerto Aventuras, Tulum, and Akumal. Cenotes are scattered throughout this entire area. Akumal has a wonderful, calm bay perfect for snorkeling and is usually occupied by a large number of sea turtles, including green, hawksbill, and loggerheads. There is also a beautiful white sand beach. Tulum has an ancient Mayan archeological site that’s quite extensive and certainly worth a visit. Coba, another Mayan site, is only a short drive from Tulum and is also an excellent side trip. Some of my favorite cenotes are Dos Ojos, Angelita, Dream Gate, and Gran Cenote.

Bottom line: The Riviera Maya & Yucatan are an outstanding area to experience world-class diving, fantastic Mayan ruins and cultural sites, incredible nature sites, and large marine animals, cenote diving, authentic Mexican food, beautiful beaches and a welcoming and warm local population. It's family-friendly, with plenty of things to do for both adults and children.

I live in SoCal and could write a book about diving here. I'll try to just hit the high points.

The diversity includes shore diving, wreck diving, oil rig diving, offshore islands, kelp forests, and aquarium diving. Between San Diego and Santa Barbara there are at least 100 shore diving sites offering different topography, marine plants, and marine animals. Most are easily accessible and the local dive shops can give directions, conditions, and tips on diving individual sites. In the San Diego area, about 2 miles offshore from Mission Beach, is Wreck Alley. Several ships have been intentionally sunk in depths well within sport diving limits. The best of these is the Yukon, a 350+ foot Canadian naval destroyer.

Farther north, offshore from Long Beach, there are 3 oil rigs that allow diving with prior consent. It's easiest to dive these on an arranged trip aboard a charter boat. It's a live drop off and pick up, since boats are not allowed to tie up on the rigs. You can expect to see large schools of bait fish, invertebrates like sea stars and strawberry anemones, sea lions, and a lot of other marine life. Whales are sometimes seen in this area. At any given time there are around 20 charter boats operating in southern California. They mostly take divers to the offshore Channel Islands.

In the south these are comprised of Catalina, San Clemente, Santa Barbara, and San Nicolas. The northern islands are Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel. All of these usually offer great viability, and excellent opportunities for photographers and hunter/gatherers. One example of marine life found around the islands is the Giant Black Sea Bass which can weigh hundreds of pounds. They are making a wonderful comeback after having been hunted to near extinction. They have been protected for many years now and scuba divers are spotting them more frequently.

One of the highlights of diving SoCal is the kelp forests along the coast and around the islands. It's somewhat surreal diving amongst the fronds reaching from the bottom to the surface. Giant kelp is one of the fastest growing organisms on earth, up to 2 feet a day. The forests provide an excellent refuge for fish and invertebrates.

Another novel dive is at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. For a fee, you can scuba dive in their largest tank surrounded by a myriad of sea creatures. It's a fun and thrilling experience. I have been a hunter/gatherer for many years and opportunities for game are plentiful: lobsters, crabs, scallops, mussels, clams, urchins, and many different types of edible fish. Abalone in Southern California have been under a moratorium for many years to allow rejuvenation of the species following a number of factors which severely depleted the population. The marine animals run the gamut from Blue and Grey whales to macro subjects like nudibranchs and seahorses.

The topside attractions are nearly endless: gorgeous beaches, world-famous zoos, theme parks, concert venues, museums, movie studios, some of the country's best restaurants, over a dozen professional sports teams, theater, symphony, etc.

Bottom line: Southern California is a diving vacation destination that rivals all others. This should really be considered a bucket list place that everyone should visit more than once.

My buddy and I visited St. George's Caye Resort to try diving in this area of Belize. We were met at the airport in Belize City by resort staff and taken to the harbor to meet our transfer boat to the island. After a pleasant, short boat ride, we arrived at St. George's private dock. We were met by the island staff who took our bags and had a cold island cocktail ready for us. We were led to the main lodge for check-in and an extra rum floater in our drinks. We were then taken to our overwater bungalow set with two single beds, perfect for two guys. Meals are served in the great room of the main lodge. It is a fixed menu for all meals and served communally. The food was hearty local food packed with flavor and enjoyed by all. Kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding are available to all guests. All of the staff were very friendly and helpful and treated us like family.

While we were there, the dive boat broke down a couple of times, preventing us from diving. On another day, the one and only divemaster was injured and diving was canceled. We missed 1½ days of diving. We understand that sometimes unavoidable things happen and that they shouldn't spoil your vacation. We spent the downtime in their beautiful pool, sipping island cocktails. The resort refunded us for all the missed dives and was very apologetic. We still made some great dives, including two trips to Turneffe Atoll and local diving which included a lionfish hunt. Overall, a great place, but some improvements could be made to the dive operation.