When I travel to dive, I like to dive a lot. We made our second trip to Coz last April and once again came away with the feeling that the cost per dive was just too high. The diving is good and the resorts are nice, but two boat dives is just not enough. We did a night and wreck dive, but that was extra $$. We always dive Nitrox where appropriate, also extra $$.
It will probably be a long time before we return. Bonaire and Roatan give more dives for the money spent.
Sorry - have to respond to this. You are obviously entitled to your opinion and to spend your vacation diving dollars however you'd like, but your argument is weak and not thought out in my opinion.
Of course extra boat dives cost extra money. Do you think the crew works for free, or that the fuel to get you there is free, tanks, boat maintenance, insurance, etc. etc. etc. This is not a hobby for dive shops - it's a business just like you are in or employed by whatever business you do for a living. Do you work for free or for fun? Do your bills get paid by giving your products or services away?
Prices for a two-tank dive (and additional dives) are set based on expenses to operate with a very, very tiny profit built in for our work so that you can enjoy safe quality dives (even though some people seem to think we don't deserve to earn a modest living). A real business person/administrator knows exactly what it costs them to move the boat from the marina, before they even start adding divers - and then they know exactly what their cost per diver is for any given charter. Trust me, the margin is slim and keeps getting slimmer.
As far as the cost per dive, I don't know who you dove with - but if you dive with one of the ops that allows you to dive your tank and computer, it will cost you less than $2 a minute of bottom time - less if you are getting 60 - 70 or 80 minute dives like we (and others) very often get.
I'm guessing based on your statements that you haven't been to Belize, Cayman, Turks and Caicos, BVI, or anywhere else in the Caribbean - Cozumel is a bargain to all of these places where two-tank dives are $100 - $160 there
Comparing Bonaire shore diving to Cozumel boat diving isn't even logical. I haven't been to Roatan, so I can't really comment with authority - but from what I hear, the boats don't have to travel as far to the reefs so fuel costs are a fraction of what they are here - and getting dropped off on the same reef for the second dive everyday and diving back to shore doesn't sound the least bit appealing to me.
To each is own - and sorry you didn't feel that you had enough bang for your buck. I would encourage you to try some different operations to see if you can get more of what you are looking for - there are enough here that someone will meet your needs!
Happy diving!