Bull Sharks Diving Center
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Bull Sharks Diving Center
Bull Sharks Diving Center
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About
Bull Sharks diving center, is located in Playa Del Carmen, one of the most prestigious places in the Riviera Maya, since is in the middle of everything. We are a CERTIFIED PADI DIVING CENTER S-24747, that loves to share our passion, always based on the highest safety standards, but never forgetting that diving is a lot of fun!! We are an ecological diving center that emphasis in the preservation of marine wild life, specially we are continuously doing campaigns to preserve sharks. We assure you that you will love diving with us, you will have a lot of fun and most important you will be well taken care of!!! We dive in Cozumel, Puerto Morelos, CENOTES, Playa del Carmen and mainly in all Riviera Maya and Cancun. Our dive shop is also know as Mayan Dive Center, since we merge with Andrea Cugildi, an excellent dive instructor and professional, you will never regret diving with him.
Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico
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Bull Sharks Diving Center
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
5.0
147 reviews
Excellent
132
Very good
7
Average
1
Poor
1
Terrible
6
Carly W
6 contributions
Apr 2015 • Solo
Words can't express how thankful I am that Karla waved me into her shop when she noticed my interest when I walked one afternoon. I had always wanted to learn how to dive but without her encouragement I don't know if I would have done it. I spent the next four days completing my Open Water Diver and Advanced Open Water Diver PADI certifications thanks to Bull Sharks, especially the owner, Karla and my dive instructor, Jack. I couldn't have asked for a better instructor! By the end of the course I truly felt like I was a part of the Bull Sharks family. Thank you so much for such an unforgettable experience and for the beginning of a lifelong passion for diving. I can't wait to return and visit.
Written April 28, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jukkap2066
Helsinki, Finland1 contribution
Feb 2015 • Friends
Thank You for Karla, Ana, and others for unforgettable diving experiences ! Karla, Your prebriefing beginning already half Year before Our travel to Mexico was something special!
Your Diving Centers friendly and hearful service continued immediately when we arrived. Thank You so much for not only personal, safe and fun diving experiences but for consulting our team in everything else as well. I as meantioner already: I'll be back. No wonder, so many will
Take care
Your Amigos from Finland
Jukka, Olli, Marjo and Tumppi
Your Diving Centers friendly and hearful service continued immediately when we arrived. Thank You so much for not only personal, safe and fun diving experiences but for consulting our team in everything else as well. I as meantioner already: I'll be back. No wonder, so many will
Take care
Your Amigos from Finland
Jukka, Olli, Marjo and Tumppi
Written February 19, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
dom e
Bromley, UK30 contributions
Feb 2015
Three of the fattest Bull sharks circling us for two dives. One of the most awesome shark dives ever. Instructor Sasha was very knowledgeable, helpful and very friendly. Highly recommend this school.
Written February 17, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Peter T
Nijmegen, The Netherlands314 contributions
Dec 2012 • Family
We hesitated enormously about writing a negative evaluation. Especially when others have written so positively about Bull Sharks Diving. But when it comes to safety, we feel that our experience is relevant for others. We are rescue divers, with experience all over the world. We dove with Karla, the owner of Bull Shark Diving Centre. Karla showed to be unable to be a save dive guide. She took us, against all our pleas, to a strong drift location. She didn't pay any attention to us, as a group. She didn't recognize any of the bad experience we felt, and just looked after herself. She fully ignored our request to end the dive, which is unforgivable. The dive was save because of our own capability. As we didn't want to do a second dive, she left us unattended in the small boat, with a storm hitting us, with no consideration at all.
We are sure that the very 'happy' extrovert personality of Karla atracts and suites unexperienced divers. But for all reasons of professional diving, we cannot recommend her for any diver.
We are sure that the very 'happy' extrovert personality of Karla atracts and suites unexperienced divers. But for all reasons of professional diving, we cannot recommend her for any diver.
Written February 13, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bianca L
7 contributions
Jan 2016 • Solo
First of all, I must say that I have decided to dive with them because Karla is very friendly and has a convincing personality. She also tries to make you feel as comfortable as possible. On my first day I did two dives in a cenote and the dives were fun but the DM was terrible. He was a typical "Chicano" (if I remember well, his name is Antonio) and for sure someone I would avoid otherwise. He lost one of his divers at the end of the first dive and was in general very bossy and unfriendly and I was completely overweighted on my first dive (usually I dive with a rashguard and 2 kilos, he gave me a wetsuit and at least 5-6 kilos, I felt like a sinking rock). The second day I was diving with the Bull Sharks and had a nice day - even though I got sick and had a terrible second dive but Karla tried to help me as much as possible. The third day we went to Cozumel and it was absolutely okay, even though my Alternative Air Source was leaking and I lost quite a lot of air during the dive. Talking about equipment, in almost every Dive I did, I had problems with the O-ring and leaks (specially in Cozumel). They also charge you a lot of money if you compare it to other Dive sites around the world (and you pay for the cenotes entrance, Ferry,...extra - even though they sell it to you as a Dive package with 2 cenotes, 2 Cozumel and 2 local dives).
Written January 16, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Bianca
I must say I am quite disappointed my self by reading this. You are a spanish teacher, who worked in Mexico for many years, which it is why surprises me the most your review.
First of all, I don´t appreciate the fact that you are calling my guide Antonio, which happen to be an Instructor not a dive master by the way, why you use such a low class adjective to describe him. "Chicano" is a very despicable expression, who offends very much not only him, but my people, my race, my country. Then not only by your offensive expression you mention that its the kind of person that you will never even dare talking to. First of all, he doesnt have anything wrong in his personallity, the fact that the color of his skin is not white, doesnt make him a bad person. In the contrary, all of my costumers have always being very satisfied whith him. He is attentive and is passionate about his work and has work out very much in his life to reach the instructor level that he owns now.
In the other hand, he did not loose a diver, as you didnt see, the diver, went up he had a bouyancy problem and came down with him, he help him out and always had an eye to everyone. The other divers in this trip, where very thankful for his help. Regarding the equpiment leak, you should of tell me immediatly. some of the small leaks occour until people is under water and at certain depth, if it would of happen in the surface I am sure you would of notice it immediately as you did in cozumel. I am very surprised, because every dive you did and came back I always asked you how your dive was and if you had a good time, your response was always positive and very happy.
it is too sad for me, that I asked you always and you were never honest. The tone of your writing and the viciousness of its content, its very different of what you expressed here.
Karla Ysunza
Written January 21, 2016
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Shannon H
Winnipeg, Canada35 contributions
Feb 2014 • Couples
This post is to support my boyfriend's post/experience below as the owner's reply is complete BS and discredits him. With her lack of attention & messy desk during our visit it's no wonder she couldn't remember the arrangements and likely was just completely forgotten.
My boyfriend and I went to Mexico early Feb and he was on a mission to seek a place to arrange a couple dives. We found this place after wandering around for awhile.
Though the lady seemed very nice and was chatty and seemed to make a good offer.. she was completely disorganized and the brief chat went on forever. Her desk was a mess, granted she could be cleaning like she "claimed" but she kept losing track of his paper work and scuba ID card; I had to locate them FOR her amongst her messy desk. She kept rambling about stories and talking to the various people that came in to drop gear off - which is fine, but very easy for her to forget what she was telling us regarding his dives.
We repeated her instructions several times, and she had both of our complete attention (unlike she did) and she told him we could take the 10am ferry, someone would have his name over there on the dock and then he can pay with cash or credit card at THAT dive place in cozumel. She gave us the offer of coming to her shop first, but she said either was fine, and we made it 100% clear what he was going to do. Since he booked a second dive to the cenotes for the friday, I asked that they pick him up at our hotel as it was on the way rather than him going to Playa first to get equipment then back track past our hotel. She said that was fine and that they would know his equipment preferences from the Cozumel dive and just bring it to him when they picked him up.
Tom didn't trust leaving a deposit, which was a good thing in this case!! Again this lady was 100% fine with him making full payments on the DAY OF THE DIVES.. the first one being at the dive place in Cozumel NOT at her dive shop. When we were leaving we confirmed she would talk to the dive place in Cozumel (Blue Angel) to provide his reservation, and she said yes she would call them right away... which clearly she never did. If she had called them & then cancelled (as she claims) they would have at least some record of Tom's dives in their books...
I'm sure others have had good experiences, but this is OUR experience and OUR review.
If you try this place, do not make a deposit/payment ahead, get her word in writing, and have HER call you at your hotel prior to the dives to confirm. Or try somewhere else, I'm sure there are hundreds of options there....
My boyfriend and I went to Mexico early Feb and he was on a mission to seek a place to arrange a couple dives. We found this place after wandering around for awhile.
Though the lady seemed very nice and was chatty and seemed to make a good offer.. she was completely disorganized and the brief chat went on forever. Her desk was a mess, granted she could be cleaning like she "claimed" but she kept losing track of his paper work and scuba ID card; I had to locate them FOR her amongst her messy desk. She kept rambling about stories and talking to the various people that came in to drop gear off - which is fine, but very easy for her to forget what she was telling us regarding his dives.
We repeated her instructions several times, and she had both of our complete attention (unlike she did) and she told him we could take the 10am ferry, someone would have his name over there on the dock and then he can pay with cash or credit card at THAT dive place in cozumel. She gave us the offer of coming to her shop first, but she said either was fine, and we made it 100% clear what he was going to do. Since he booked a second dive to the cenotes for the friday, I asked that they pick him up at our hotel as it was on the way rather than him going to Playa first to get equipment then back track past our hotel. She said that was fine and that they would know his equipment preferences from the Cozumel dive and just bring it to him when they picked him up.
Tom didn't trust leaving a deposit, which was a good thing in this case!! Again this lady was 100% fine with him making full payments on the DAY OF THE DIVES.. the first one being at the dive place in Cozumel NOT at her dive shop. When we were leaving we confirmed she would talk to the dive place in Cozumel (Blue Angel) to provide his reservation, and she said yes she would call them right away... which clearly she never did. If she had called them & then cancelled (as she claims) they would have at least some record of Tom's dives in their books...
I'm sure others have had good experiences, but this is OUR experience and OUR review.
If you try this place, do not make a deposit/payment ahead, get her word in writing, and have HER call you at your hotel prior to the dives to confirm. Or try somewhere else, I'm sure there are hundreds of options there....
Written March 4, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tom E
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada3 contributions
Feb 2014 • Solo
I scheduled 4 dives with the manager Karla Ysunza for February 6th in Cozumel (arranged with Blue angel) and Feb 7th to be picked up at my hotel (the occidental) to go to the Cenote's. She completely forgot about me, the people at blueanglel had no idea I was coming and it ended up costing me more then initially quoted, and I never got picked up on the 7th!! I waited around for an hour and no one showed. She was so disorganized when I arrived, with papers all over the place, I can't say I'm surprised. I should have done my research before hand, there are easily a hundred dive shops in playa, I wouldn't waste your time with these goofballs. Karla was very friendly, but her charm has no substance.
Just an fyi, if you do go with them, they don't have boot type fins available for rental.
Tom Epp
Just an fyi, if you do go with them, they don't have boot type fins available for rental.
Tom Epp
Written February 9, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Tom,
I am sad to read that you feel that you were totally forgotten, how ever I want to make it clear that, the day you made your reservation, I told you to stop by the shop before taking the ferry to make the payment, since you did not want to leave a deposit and you did not show up. The instructor that was going to go with you, waited here at the shop until the last minute. When you arrived to Cozumel, of course Blue Angel did not know that you were going, since we cancel your reservation. You were supposed to pay me here not there, when you came back from cozumel, you did not stop by the shop either, which it is only one block away from the ferry.
Obviously we assume that you were not diving with us, since we knew nothing from you at all. Nor the day previous to your dives, nor the day of Cozumel nor the following day. You wanted us to pick you up at the hotel, without showing up the previous day at all?? even without letting us know that something did not go well in cozumel?
If you got over charged in Cozumel, and was not what we agreed, you should of stop by the shop and tell me, how ever you did not do it on your way back. We always close the shop at 9 pm at night and as I said, we are only a couple of blocks away from the ferry, walking distance.
Sorry for your discomfort, but when somebody does not make a full compromise and does not make a payment and does not show up, we always take it as a "no show up diver".
Karla Ysunza, Owner.
PS By the way, the day you came into the shop, I told you that excuse us, since we were doing spring clean up, and we needed to revised all of all our PADI files, you mention that it was ok, that you understood. I guess it did matter at the end to you. Sorry sweetie.
Written February 11, 2014
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Martina L
Vienna, Austria1 contribution
Sep 2013 • Couples
Karla is great fun and if you go for a regular dive to Cozumel you will have a good time. Hoewever we made the mistake of booking Nitrox and thr VIP package. The Nitrox was very expensive (25 Dollars) but we still decided on it for extra safety. One of the main important things about Nitrox is that you alway need to chek the air yourself, however they were unable to provide an analyser for this procedure, which makes diving with Nitrox unsafe. We were sold a VIP package, so it would be just us and the guide and we wouldn't be mixed with beginners. In the end it was us two, the guide and absolute beginners, who run out of air within 35 minutes. So the VIP package just to charge us more but did not provide us any more service.
Written October 6, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Robert G
Los Angeles, CA4 contributions
Nov 2016 • Friends
Stay away from this shop. Karla lied about everything. The boat was late, the dive site was sparse and the captain of the boat was dangerous. The dive gear she supplied had no depth gauges and the BC's leaked. We complained and had to find our own way back to resort. Stay away from this one.
Written November 14, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Doug241
Pitt Meadows, Canada262 contributions
Dec 2013 • Couples
My wife and I dove with Karla in Early Dec of 2013. We had a great dive with the Bull Sharks with Marc. Karla and all the staff were very friendly and outgoing and made you feel right at home. The dive was proffesional and our dive master Marc was amazing. A well educated dive instructor and a great guy as well. We really enjoyed our time with him.
We will be back in Playa in July and are looking forward to snorkelling with the whale sharks and manta rays. We will definitly be using Karla's shop again.
I would recommend this dive shop for anyone from beginners to experienced divers.
Great Dive and look forward to seeing you all again in July!
We will be back in Playa in July and are looking forward to snorkelling with the whale sharks and manta rays. We will definitly be using Karla's shop again.
I would recommend this dive shop for anyone from beginners to experienced divers.
Great Dive and look forward to seeing you all again in July!
Written January 18, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hola, tengo entendido que la temporada es de noviembre a marzo. Los primeros días de noviembre es posible poder bucear con ellos? Soy certificada avanzada, requiero de cuantas inmersiones? Gracias
Written April 12, 2019
Hola Camila,
Gracias por contactarnos, me encantaría poder asegurarte que a principios de noviembre estarán los tiburones, sin embargo año con año el tiempo de su llegada, como el tiempo de partida es incierto. Lo que si es un hecho, es que cada invierno regresan a tener a sus crías.
Con ser avanzada y un mínimo de 30 inmersiones es más que suficiente.
Si podemos ayudarte en algo más, por favor no dudes en preguntar.
Saludos
Written April 15, 2019
Mi potreste dare l’email per contattarvi ? Volevo due info, se a settembre è possibile vedere gli squali, e il prezzo di un’uscita... avendo già il brevetto PADI
Written April 4, 2019
Salve, grazie per conttatarci, il mail di Andrea capo del centro anche lui italiano e andrea.cugildi at libero punto it
Si voi lui potra scribirti meglio da me haha securamente il suo italiano e molto meglio.
Saluti e buona pascua!
Karla
Written April 7, 2019
Do you have to be a certified diver? Options for beginners or snorkel?
Written March 16, 2019
Hello, if you had never dive, we can always offer you, a program that is for non certified divers, called Discovery Scuba Diving, better known as dsd, this program will allow you to dive up to 10 mts and get to know the marvelous underwater world. If you would like to book, please feel free to contact us, at k ysunza google mail
thank you
Written April 7, 2019
bonjour, j'aimerais savoir comment réserver ... le site est .. à vendre !! merci
Written December 18, 2018
Hi, I will be in Playa in October, is it possible to dive with Bull Sharks then? Many thanks
Written August 24, 2018
We are going to be in Playa del Carmen in October. Is this available to do during that time?
Also do you need to be certified in scuba diving?
Written May 7, 2018
Hello Ryan, thanks for contacting us, it will be our pleasure to take you diving. How ever in order to dive with bull sharks, you must be an advanced diver with at least a minimum of 70 logged dives. How ever if hoy do not have any certification, we can always invite you to get certified with us or spare all the study and just try out with PADI discovery scuba diving program which it’s not a certification but you can dive after performing basic skills under water, understanding the most fundamental diving rules and no deeper than 30 ft or 10 mts. Always with an instructor.
Written August 6, 2018
Hi we’re coming in October and I would love to dive with sharks? Do you have to be certified? If so how much are the lessons and how quickly can we be able to swim with them?
Written January 7, 2018
Hi we’re coming in October and I would love to dive with sharks? Do you have to be certified? If so how much are the lessons and how quickly can we be able to swim with them?
Written January 7, 2018
Hello, thank you very much for your interest in diving with us. You DO need to be certified in order to dive with bullsharks, we offer all the PADI dive courses, how ever in order to dive with bull sharks you need to have at least a minimum of 8 logged dives after your certification, what we can do, is we can start your online certification and once you finish your theory, when you arrive this october to Playa, we can finish all the practical part of the open water course, then we need to take you out diving at least two or three times more, and see how good you are. From there we will make a decision together and see if you can dive or not with bullsharks. Let us know, it would be our pleasure to help you out.
Written January 8, 2018
Hiya we are coming to Mexico in a week time. Is there any chance to dive with sharks at this time in a year? See you soon
Written April 8, 2016
Hi
We go to Playa del Carmen in July.
I have been diving with sharks many places in the World and would love to Swim with the Bull sharks.
Is it correct, though that this is only possible in the winter time?
BR Mikkel (Denmark)
Written February 12, 2016
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