Best Cozumel diving center for newbies

[ConfusedTrout]

Hi!

My husband and I are going to Cozumel in a couple of weeks. We have our open water certification, but we have not dived since... Our Open water certification . We would like to have a private class, maybe an hour or two to refresh the basics and practice our buoyancy (we live in Scandinavia, so our certification was done with dry suit), and then go for a few dives.

What center would you recommend for newbies like us? Any tips or advice?

 

[cicopo]

There are a lot of very good choices. Where will you be staying while on the island? Some will be more convenient than others so knowing your hotel etc will help.

 

[ggunn]

A lot of new divers go to Cozumel, so most ops are used to dealing with them. I would advise hiring a personal DM to accompany you on your first few dives; just about any op you use can set that up for you.

 

[ConfusedTrout]

There are a lot of very good choices. Where will you be staying while on the island? Some will be more convenient than others so knowing your hotel etc will help.

We will be staying in Playa del Carmen and going to Cozumel

 

[cicopo]

That can complicate things as many dive ops head out early every morning. A lot try to be on the water by 8:30 or earlier & if they can't pick you up at a hotel pier along the way to the reefs you'll likely need to get to the marina many of the boats spend the night at. You will need to be specific when emailing any we recommend about the fact you need to get to Cozumel from the mainland as well as go diving.

 

[DandyDon]

A lot of new divers go to Cozumel, so most ops are used to dealing with them. I would advise hiring a personal DM to accompany you on your first few dives; just about any op you use can set that up for you.

Yep.

We will be staying in Playa del Carmen and going to Cozumel

Is that flexible? You're from Scandinavia? I wish I was there. Would enjoy meeting you. How long are you in the country? You should try to be some time on the island.

 

[brsnow]

You will be fine taking the ferry. Many ops have later starts based on cruises. Some of the older family run also start later.

 

[ggunn]

You will be fine taking the ferry. Many ops have later starts based on cruises. Some of the older family run also start later.

Although it makes the logistics more complicated, especially for someone who hasn't been there before.

 

[cozcharlie]

While Cozumel definitely has better ocean diving, you might try to do a refresher in Playa del Carmen one or two days and then dive the next few days in Cozumel. If you are commuting daily by ferry doing a refresher and a two tank ocean dive in Cozumel on the same day would be a lot. As someone noted , hiring a private divemaster is a good idea in Cozumel if you haven’t really gotten in the groove in Playa first.

The dive operations doing ocean dives in Cozumel are generally better than the shops from Playa that run Cozumel day trips , but for your beginner purposes it might be best to dive shop in Playa that can do a refresher for you over there , followed by an ocean dive or two in Playa del carmen then a day or two coming to Cozumel. I know Playa shops do Cozumel dives , just not certain if they do them every day.

The reason I have noted “ocean” dives is that Playa del Carmen and much of the Yucatán Peninsula is home to what is probably the largest diveable cave/cavern system in the world. It isn’t really meant for newbies like yourself (though they have some experiences that can be fun for people with 20-30 dives),. However I didn’t want to say mainland shops are bad and Cozumel are good when many of the mainland shops are doing expert level diving in the caverns/caves. Cozumel shops tend do our reefs all the time so they are more familiar with the reefs and our issues , Playa tends to be either beginner vacationers doing basic ocean dives or experts doing cavern/cave dives in the cenotes over there.

 

[Damselfish]

We will be staying in Playa del Carmen and going to Cozumel

Why not just dive from Playa del Carmen?