shore diving in cozumel without being a resort guest

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bassplayer

Contributor
Messages
103
Reaction score
144
Location
currently in sharm el sheikh
# of dives
200 - 499
I visited Cozumel for the first time a few weeks ago, and had a wonderful trip. I dove every day with Aldora, and just loved it.
My job is 100% remote right now, so I decided to come back right away, and just booked a place from Oct 24 - Nov 24. I heard from others that the fiber internet is fairly reliable so will try covering my meetings while getting in a fair bit of diving as time permits.

I have morning meetings every weekday, on pacific time. so, I can't plan to just go on the morning dive boats for the most part. will try to fill in around that with afternoon boats when available, weekends, etc. And a few vacation days here and there.

I was wondering though, what are the options to sneak in a morning shore dive before my meetings?

From reading this forum, I found some recommendations, but it wasn't clear to me whether you have to be a guest at some of these places to dive there.

I wasn't planning to rent a car, just get around by taxi. so, was hoping to find some places where tanks can be rented and shore dives done on site.

- Tikila beach bar looks to be open to the public.
- Villablanca not sure
- Blue Angel not sure
- Scuba Club Cozumel looks like you have to be a guest?

I apologize for not just getting on the phone and calling these places, but am hoping for some guidance on the whole idea. Thanks so much
 
Tikila is definitely open to the public and tanks can be rented there. If you want to go out with someone experienced for your first dive there, Jungle Divers is located across the street and has very reasonable rates for leading shore dives there (both day and night). Super nice people -- we had a great 98 minute night dive with them at Tikila. More info here about 2/3 down the page: Cozumel Diving with Jungle Divers - Best Diving in the Caribbean !
 
Tikila is definitely open to the public and tanks can be rented there. If you want to go out with someone experienced for your first dive there, Jungle Divers is located across the street and has very reasonable rates for leading shore dives there (both day and night). Super nice people -- we had a great 98 minute night dive with them at Tikila. More info here about 2/3 down the page: Cozumel Diving with Jungle Divers - Best Diving in the Caribbean !
Thanks so much, this is perfect - looks like they also do guided shore dives at villablanca. appreciate the info
 
We spent almost 5 weeks there in April/May working remote and boat diving on weekends. Occasionally we would sneak in an early shore dive or shore night dive. Tikila is open. Not sure if Del Mar next door is still open but we've rented tanks from them before and jumped from Casa del Nar pier.

Roberta's will rent you shore tanks but not sure if they would welcome you trudging through their facility with your own tanks. Same for Blue Angel. We have shore dived there many times while being guests elsewhere but have always rented tanks/wts at their shop. We've rented tanks at Scuba Mau and dived from VB pier. You can also rent tanks at Dive Paradise kiosk at Hotel Barracuda and shore dive there. Ditto for Hotel Cozumel.

If the port is closed and the boats aren't going out, you can't rent tanks and shore dive anywhere, either.

Where you can't go as a non-guest - Aldora or Scuba Club.
 
You have to find your own tanks and weights, but we enjoy diving Playa Corona. Meridiano on 30th I believe used to rent us tanks but now we get them from Stathis across from the Casa Mission entrance. Weights are harder to come by than tanks but we have slowly hauled down our own.
 
I was wondering though, what are the options to sneak in a morning shore dive before my meetings?

From reading this forum, I found some recommendations, but it wasn't clear to me whether you have to be a guest at some of these places to dive there.

I wasn't planning to rent a car, just get around by taxi. so, was hoping to find some places where tanks can be rented and shore dives done on site.

- Blue Angel not sure
No problem at Blue Angel. You'll have to fill out their paperwork and pay for whatever you need to use of theirs, but I have seen non guests shore diving when I was staying there.
 
@bassplayer I'd be interested to know how your shore diving is going? I'm interested in doing more of that when I can get some extended stays in Cozumel.
Hi Rob,

I had a good time diving at Tikila today - lots of life and things to see. I didn't have a buddy on hand so I hired a guide from Jungle Divers.
Some of the sights:
- a group of 4-5 squid
- a variety of eels including a couple of snake eels
- a few assorted rays
- lots of baby and medium size reef fish
- it was interesting to see the coral restoration project artifacts and all the different types of coral starting to blossom

it was very lively and active, lots of animals on the move, feeding, etc.

average depth for the dive was only 24 feet, max depth in the 30s. so an AL80 goes a long way.
Starting the dive at 1pm, the surf and current were mild, didn't have any trouble with either.

Not the most cost effective plan to hire a guide, but I had work meetings in the morning so was happy to be able to get out.
There were quite a few other divers there, i might try to just show up and pick up a buddy next time :)
 
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