Beaches at Playa
 

My husband and I are considering a trip to Playa de Carmen in December. We are beach lovers who spend a lot of time playing in the ocean and love enough waves to body surf etc. We know we can get this at the resorts on the southern end of Cancun but were wanting to try something different - Is the surf, water and beaches similar at Playa? Which AI resorts in Playa have the best beaches for this type of fun?

Maybe someone else will tell you something different, but when I was at Playa del Carmen, the waters were very still.

I've been to Playa at least 3 times and the water has never been still. The waves have always been big - my complaint has been that I can't really swim in the water, just play in it. That's fun too. We've usually been there in February or March. Don't know about AI resorts, we never stay in AI.

Been to PdC 3 times, at different times of the year. In the spring the water is pretty calm (6"-1' waves), in the winter the wind was slightly stronger and the seas a bit stormier (1'-2 1/2'), but still not body surfable waves, they had no power, just very choppy. I assume because Cozumel protects the coast of PdC, so even if there are slight waves they just dont have the strength to carry a person. But while swimming off the coast at Tulum, there the waves were definately very rideable, but shore breakers, so get out of the waves before you get too close to the shore (Ouch!).

Since others have given contradictory reports, which I suspected might be the case, I will tell you when I was in Playa. I was there in early June of 1998, on two different days. Maybe it varies by time of year, or maybe I saw the effects of El Nino.

Surf is flat in pdc because of the giant breakwater in front of it, Cozumel.