Cozumel Shore Diving

[ReadyTo Dive]

Mateo at Blue Angel is def not tall or skinny. More like a fire hydrant.

Or a bear.

No worries, Mateo (definitely tall and skinny) from Aldora was by far one of the very best divers I’ve ever known/dove with and (I believe) he started freelancing in 2018/19 so I thought he might had ended up at BA.

 

[Tunaman68]

Or a bear.

YES! A pizza making doubles cave diving bear!

 

[ggunn]

YES! A pizza making doubles cave diving bear!

Mateo (aka Matt from Chicago) and I have been friends for many years. My wife and I went to his wedding. In the past few years he has been so busy with students and large groups that we don't get to dive with him much, but during our last trip we were lucky and got to go out with him 5 or 6 times. He's a great guy and an excellent DM. Ask him sometime about his travels following the Grateful Dead around.

I need a miracle every day!

 

[Tunaman68]

Mateo (aka Matt from Chicago) and I have been friends for many years. My wife and I went to his wedding. In the past few years he has been so busy with students and large groups that we don't get to dive with him much, but during our last trip we were lucky and got to go out with him 5 or 6 times. He's a great guy and an excellent DM. Ask him sometime about his travels following the Grateful Dead around.

I need a miracle every day!

It's always a fine start to the day when Mateo is your DM. Evenings on the street at Ohana are the cherry on top!

 

[L13]

I would recommend rent tanks from and enter at Roberta's Scuba Shack but there are other options.

I would second that recommendation! I just got back from a week of diving with Roberta's, Great people! They would be happy for you to dive from there if you rented your tanks there. 9$ a tank.

 

[Kimela]

Restarting this thread ...

When you dive Villablanca, where do you exit? We have gotten in at Tikila and then out at Villablanca (across the street from the hotel) and it is ROUGH. I’m 65 and have a camera so it’s difficult. There are the ‘steps’ that are very wide and not really optimal for trying to climb out. They are high and there’s no railing. We’ve done the beach, and that doesn’t work so well either. I’ve heard that exit at Sunset it also tough. Are we missing something? Should we just always plan on going back to Tikila to exit (sometimes that’s going against the current and it cuts into real ‘dive time’. What other exit points are there that I’m not thinking of?

Thoughts?

 

[ggunn]

Restarting this thread ...

When you dive Villablanca, where do you exit? We have gotten in at Tikila and then out at Villablanca (across the street from the hotel) and it is ROUGH. I’m 65 and have a camera so it’s difficult. There are the ‘steps’ that are very wide and not really optimal for trying to climb out. They are high and there’s no railing. We’ve done the beach, and that doesn’t work so well either. I’ve heard that exit at Sunset it also tough. Are we missing something? Should we just always plan on going back to Tikila to exit (sometimes that’s going against the current and it cuts into real ‘dive time’. What other exit points are there that I’m not thinking of?

Thoughts?

Is Sunset the same as the Caletita, which is just north of the commercial ferry pier? That would be the last chance to get out before drifting into the very hazardous area around that pier.

We have gotten in across Melgar from Villablanca and out at Blue Angel, but if you are far out it would be very easy to miss. If you stay on the wall until you see the buoy you might not be able to get in before drifting into the ferry area. If you stay close in, though, you will see the pens at the stingray experience right before Blue Angel, and there is a ladder on the BA dock where you can take out.

There is also a way ashore at the dive shop under the BA restaurant, but the surge there can make it difficult. The last time I came ashore that way the surge knocked me down and I had to get help getting out of it.

 

[BRT]

Restarting this thread ...

When you dive Villablanca, where do you exit? We have gotten in at Tikila and then out at Villablanca (across the street from the hotel) and it is ROUGH. I’m 65 and have a camera so it’s difficult. There are the ‘steps’ that are very wide and not really optimal for trying to climb out. They are high and there’s no railing. We’ve done the beach, and that doesn’t work so well either. I’ve heard that exit at Sunset it also tough. Are we missing something? Should we just always plan on going back to Tikila to exit (sometimes that’s going against the current and it cuts into real ‘dive time’. What other exit points are there that I’m not thinking of?

Thoughts?

Blue Angel. The stingray pen is about 20' deep so if you stay in that range you will see them just before BA. Lots of stuff around there to use your air on before getting out.

Should mention to watch for Stonefish and sea urchins if you get out by the dive shop at BA.

 

[ggunn]

Should mention to watch for Stonefish and sea urchins if you get out by the dive shop at BA.

My advice: use the ladder on the BA dock. There is a funneling effect between the concrete surrounding the BA pool and the property next door that often makes for a lot of surge between them even when things are quite calm, and a boat wake can cause breaking waves in there. Also, in addition to urchins, etc. the footing is precarious, especially when you are still geared up.

 

[ReefHound]

I think she wants to enter at Tikila and exit at VB. That might be the extent of their range. Extending exit to Blue Angel would be a much longer range and subject to pace and air consumption. If entering at VB then exit at BA is easy. As Gordon said, if diving along the shore there's little risk of going too wrong. If diving the wall you are aways out there and a long way from help if things go wrong. As for not going too far, it's hard to miss the big trans-channel power cable and you could follow it in.

It's been a long time since I dived and exited at VB. Used to be a ladder on the pier there.