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PLAYA DEL CARMEN |
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| PLAYA DEL CARMEN (known simply as Playa) once a soporific, very
Mexican fishing village, has mushroomed in recent years and now has the
dubious distinction of being the world's fastest growing town (by a rate
of 26 percent per annum), according to the Guinness Book of Records .
The beach is one of the prettiest on the coast with unfeasibly white
sand and gloriously clear sea and the entire town is, for the moment,
still compact and easily covered on foot - as well as playing host to
the best nightlife on the Riviera Maya. The reef offshore is almost as
spectacular here as in Cozumel and there are scores of professional
scuba-diving operations in Playa - recommended is Tank-Ha, Av 5 between
C 8 and 10 (tel 9/873-0302, www.tankha.com ) which offers PADI
certification courses (US$350), one- and two-tank dives (US$45-65) and
whole dive packages (from US$175) as well as twice-daily snorkeling
tours (9.30am & 1.30pm; US$25; 3hr). If you're a real thrill-seeker, you
can sky-dive from Playa with Sky-Dive Playa del Carmen, Plaza Marina (tel
9/873-0192, www.skydive.com.mx ), which comes in at US$200 for a tandem
dive with a certified instructor. |
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