Really confused about Kona, Hawaii vs Cozumel???

[shardison]

I've dived both places.... I liked diving Kona alot... I liked diving Cozumel more!!! In my opinion, Cozumel has the biggest bang for the buck. As others have said, there are many hotel options that fit every budget. If you check out some of the AI resorts, you may find a package deal that includes all of your dives in the price when you book with them. Scuba Club Cozumel (for example), is $899.00 per diver+ Tax (double occupancy). That includes room, 2 boat dives a day (5 days) and unlimited shore diving, & 3 meals a day. I saw the biggest turtle I've ever seen off Santa Rosa Wall (It looked like the Starship Enterprise metaphorically speaking). Huge groupers, And 6-7 foot Baracuda. The best part however.... It's all drift diving!! No surge to deal with at all really. You just have to be aware of down currents, and enjoy the feeling of "Flying" when the current is moving.

All I can tell you is... I try to go back to Cozumel every year... Even if I can't financially swing it that year, I still "plan" to go. If I'm going to dive the Pacific again. It will be Tahiti or Australia.

Kona had good viz in January when i was there, but Coz's viz blows it out of the water in comparison... I saw some larger critters in Kona (perhaps the biggest puffer fish I've ever seen) Manta Rays of course, and the possibility of humpbacks in January.

Good luck and great diving wishes to you.

 

[sharky60]

I LOVE Hawaii, plan on going back and visiting my heart in Haleiwa on the North Shore of Oahu again one of these days.

I learned to dive in Hawaiian waters, Midway Islands to be specific . and I'll tell you there is no comparison, although both have their charm.

I've dove mostly on Maui as far as the main islands go, and just love it, but it's apples to oranges when it comes to trying to compare the two places.

Hawaii diving is generally a fish hunt(which I love). 1/3 of all fish species in Hawaiian waters can only be found in Hawaii. And that is what you go there to see.

Most of the corals are hard corals, and not very colorful, there are very few soft corals and almost no colorful sponges, hydroids, and algae as compared to the Caribbean.

My experience in both places as far as seeing "lots of fish" is it all depends on the day & the dive. Paradise and Columbia Shallows are almost always an aquarium with lots of fish and lots of schools of grunts & snapper milling about.

You're not going to be pushing your way through schools of fish out on the walls however. BUT LOOK AT THE WALL!! Some of the most amazing reef formations & collections of corals, sponges and reef life in the world! It drives me crazy when people go on a dive in Coz and say they don't see anything just because a giant turtle or Eagle ray didn't come up and introduce themselves...you're overlooking the forest for the trees! ...but I digress, THAT's a whole different soap box.

You need to go much deeper into the Pacific rim before finding the really spectacular visual diving with all those fantastic orange and pink sponges and soft corals. Fiji or Indonesia for instance.

As far as pricing, yes, you may be able to get a better flight to Hawaii from San Fran then you can to Coz...logistics pretty much answers that. Just the opposite for us here in Texas, we can get to Coz cheaper than we can to California for that matter most of the time, let alone Hawaii.

We've found, doing research, that Big Island probably has the best hotel deals in the islands, not really sure why that is. Probably sheer mass of the island, more room for tourist beds.

Diving in Hawaii is generally twice what we pay on Coz...that is why we don't go to Hawaii too much. We will usually come up with twice the price overall for a trip to Hawaii than a comparable trip to Coz when we try to pricing it...which is every year.

Then, I guess if you want to compare the islands themselves...again, apples to oranges.

Hawaii is for sure much more visually spectacular topside...it's freakin' volcanic! High sloped mountains, covered by rainforests and waterfalls. With that altitude comes varying climates. It's always nice to go "up the hill" on a hot, humid day in Honolulu when on Oahu.


Cozumel is a limestone shelf with the highest elevation at, what 30'? ...Coconuts? The Cozumel jungle is cool, yes, that's what it is called, but it's no rainforest...and it has snakes! lots of snakes! ...no snakes on Hawaii.

But they are both beautiful tropical islands full of palm trees, colorful flowers growing wild and in landscapes year round with warm, friendly people to welcome you back and make you feel at home every time. That is where the 2 places come together, that is for sure.

Could be that the vids of Cozumel you saw were not shot with a red filter, so the color wasn't showing...because color is our thing.

Last time we were on Maui, ALL the "DM's" and staff on the boat and dive shop were freaking out that we dove Cozumel on a regular basis. All's we heard was "dude, that's the best!" and "man, I'd die to go there" over and over.

Hawaii is a State, so there is no money exchange, although you will spend more of it in Hawaii. Hawaii is the most isolated islands in the world, and EVEYTHING is expensive.

Things are more expensive in Cozumel as well because it's and island, & most things need to be imported, but it's only 9 miles from the mainland, not 3000.

 

[marcus8]

Others have covered the topics I wanted to mention very nicely, so let me just add a few nuggets.

If you do go to Kona, be sure to do the late night Black Water dive in addition to the Manta dive. I believe it's also called Pelagic Magic by some ops. We actually did a manta night dive, then straight out to the trench between Kona and Maui where they dangle you on a line late at night in very deep water. It sounds intimidating, but it's quite delightful. The critters that come up from the deep late at night to feed are astonishing and I doubt that a few of those critters we saw are even classified yet. Translucent crabs, bizarre critters pulsating by you as you just dangle and take in the show. We also were treated to an enormous freeway of big squid cruising by for a minute or so. None of the dives are nearly as cheap as Coz, but we found the night dives to be the best ones on that island in 3 trips.

Also, the Big Island has some decent shore diving which is nice on the pocket book. Shorediving.com is an excellent resource for this. We found Two Step shore dive to be better than any of the boat dives we did out of a few dozen dives total. Overall, I find the coral and life rather dull compared to Coz. But it really is an apples to oranges comparison since Kona offers so much beauty topside with a huge array of micro climates and astonishing vistas, waterfalls, volcano exploring, mountains, ocean views, botanical paradises, etc.... It's a different type of vacation for sure.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

One way to limit the pain of getting to Cozumel from the west coast is to Fly into Cancun, then bus/ferry over. No chance of a connection missed because of thunderstorms or ice, and your bags can be carried by others most steps of the way. Usually cheaper air as well. I have dove in Kauai and Maui and from what I saw there, Hawaii did not come close to the majesty, fish life and beauty of Cozumel, not to mention the much warmer water and 200 ft viz. Plus, the people in Cozumel have the true "Aloha" spirit like the Hawaiians pretend to.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

PS I used to live in California and always went to Hawaii. Once I found Cozumel I wondered why?

 

[Mossman]

The black water dive sounds amazing. I'd just be worried about a tiger shark coming up for a bite!

Thanks for mentioning the shore diving, I had forgotten about that. One way to mitigate the high cost of diving. Though I found having to tow a flag a real PITA.

And you narrowed in on a big issue: so much to do topside, it's hard to want to dive every day. In Cozumel, at least in my opinion, there's not much to do but dive, eat, and drink. That's fine with me since I like to do nothing but dive, eat, and drink on a vacation. But in Kona, there's so much topside distraction and it's hard to fit in with the dive days unless you're mighty full of energy. For a one-week dive trip to Kona with additional sight-seeing, I recommend two weeks!

 

[robint]

Cozumel washed out? Must be videos from around the time of the hurricane. It took about 5 years for the reefs to recover, but NOW they are head and shoulders above anything Hawaii can offer. Honestly, no comparison. Fishlife is waaaaaay better in Cozumel also. Sure, you might see some small sharks and more turtles in Hawaii, but other than that the fishlife in Cozumel is amazing!

check out my website photos of fishlife: http://www.rnrscuba.net/2012_Cozumel/2012_ScubaClubCozumel.html
and my videos
[vimeo]11934524[/vimeo]



Also, boat trips in Kona and Cozumel both can be 20-60 minutes out to the reefs. Cozumel boats leave earlier and so you are back to dock by lunchtime. Kona boats are out until mid-afternoon. When we go to Cozumel we are able to do another shore dive in afternoon or boat dive each day. Kona the day is spent. Just something to consider. And food in Hawaii is really expensive, so a trip ends up costing more there when you add it all up.

If you are looking for a nice, small all-inclusive dive resort with food and diving included, look at Scuba Club Cozumel. Cozumel Scuba Diving at Scuba Club Cozumel Dive Resort and Scuba Cozumel Dive Shop We are heading back there for our 4th time, our 8th trip to Cozumel.

 

[dcabbar]

Cozumel it is

Well, I don''t know how to thank you... These comments have been really useful.

Right now, condos look much better in terms of price/performance. Any particular condo recommendation?

Apart from that, can you guys please recommend some good dive operators? Me and my wife are 2* CMAS divers with 80+ dives, so we don't really need hand-holding and we have our own equipment too. So, all we need is a safe dive operator with a comfortable / clean boat that can take you to best diving spots (Columbia Shallows, eagle rays, etc.) instead of closest dive sites and that don't cut corners.

Once again, thanks a ton!

 

[robint]

Cozumel it is

Well, I don''t know how to thank you... These comments have been really useful.

Right now, condos look much better in terms of price/performance, but many people have recommended Scuba Club Cozumel, so we will check that out too. Any particular condo recommendation?

Apart from that, can you guys please recommend some good dive operators? Me and my wife are 2* CMAS divers with 80+ dives, so we don't really need hand-holding. But, all we need is a comfortable / clean and safe dive operator that can take you to best diving spots instead of closest dive sites

Thanks a ton!

If you book with ScubaClub then your diving and room and food are all included. It is walking distance to town also so you don't need a rental car.

All dive ops have to abide by the same rules.... no more than 8 divers per DM and you must have a DM for all boat diving due to the drift/current. All dive ops dive the same reefs.

you might want to look at buying the guide for the island: cancunmap.com-Maps and travel guides.Your information source to Cancun,Cozumel,Isla Mujeres & Riviera Maya
best $10 you will spend for your trip. Shows you location of everything including the reefs, hotels, restaurants, and recommendations on food, prices.

robin

 

[dcabbar]

If you book with ScubaClub then your diving and room and food are all included. It is walking distance to town also so you don't need a rental car.

Well, we were thinking about ScubaClub, but saw bunch of comments on this forum regarding their hesitation for taking you to longer distance dive sites. We are planning to visit Cozumel solely for diving, and would not want to dive with an OP that has proximity / convenience as its top priority...

 

[shardison]

Dcabbar,

That may be true for some of the way south dive sites.... I can tell you that SCC did run Down to the Columbia Dive sites during the week I was there. That really only leaves out:

Punta Sur
Chun Cha Cab
Maracaibo & Maracaibo Shallows

Those sites are for "More advanced" divers usually. If those are the only sites that you want to dive, then try a different OP, but if those are the only sites you miss during your whole week, I promise you that you won't feel cheated. You could dive some sites several times in the same week and it would be different each time.

Once you dive Coz... You'll just want to go back again... and again.... and again....