What happened to Cozumel?

[ChuckP]

$440 for the dives plus $88 total
For 4 tanks of nitrox, $100 for rental gear (I had my own computer/mask/regulator), $85 in tax and $48 to marine park fees. Does anyone know the actual marine park fee breakdown? $24 a person a day seems high?

I used to own a boat there..........

$110 per dive is not unreasonable, for a small 6pax boat, the price should be in the 120 range honestly.

$22 per tank for nitrox is stupid high - this is 3 year ago prices but I paid 45 pesos for air and 95 pesos for nitrox, 50 pesos more or about $2.50 per tank extra for nitrox - most charge $5-$10 per tank which is not unreasonable considering analyzer maintainence and covering the cost of the guides nitrox tanks. Charging 22 is someone trying to make up for the cheap dive prices.....

25 per day equipment rental is normal

Marine park braclets used to be 2 bucks and everyone used them, they raised it to $6 or $7 and people started cheating. They would charge you for a braclet they never gave you, charge you for a bracelet everyday but only give you one or never give you a braclet and not charge you. The money doesn't stay in Cozumel - the marine park is so corrupt - many boats don't even have permits - they come harrass/inspect you the permit holding boat while 25 meters away a boat with no permits, they ignore.... The new fee is $12 per bracelet, curious if the shop even gave you them every day.

Taxes - there's an evil thing. I would guess that 90% of the dive shops when paid in cash do not even pay that 16% tax. If you pay by credit card, there's a better chance the tax is paid but even then, maybe 50/50.

 

[ChuckP]

Several members have stated that as per their own persona experience, the reefs in Cozumel are in poor condition, relatively devoid of marine life and healthy corals, and several have gone so far as have removed Cozumel from consideration for future diving.

Others say that Cozumel is great and worth diving over and over again. And the naysayers have got it all wrong.

I recall diving Bonaire 11 years ago. I was really looking forward to Alice in Wonderland Reef, which is considered one of the best. I was really looking forward to it. After surfacing and listening to others say how great it was, I said "I can't help but ask, didn't you see a whole bunch of dead coral and not much in the way of fish and marine life? The answer was "I just don't pay attention to any of that".

My logbook entry states "Unique double reef, 2nd reef devoid of living coral and marine life. Green Moray, 2 huge parrotfish"

I guess if you can narrow your focus and only look at the good stuff with that "glass half full" attitude then you can apply that to just about anything in the world. Such as in NYC which is getting overrun by homeless, and garbage piling up in the streets. Just don't look at it, focus on the parks or the eateries or the skyline and ignore the rest.

I can't do that and neither can "everyone else"

I give a lot of credit to the eternally optimistic ones. No different from those who it isn't over when you die. You can screw this one up because you're going to get another chance.

The marine life in Cozumel, like anywhere else has ups and downs. They've had a few years of high water temps, the stoney coral.....

Go dive the Palancar sites and see little life in the deep sections but come shallow and there it is....

Seahorses which were rare not that many years ago are back, Sharks - hammerheads are back in the shallow areas, reef sharks are back also - not many but they're around. The sleeping shark portion seems to have faded away though....

It's as good as most anywhere..

 

[LI-er]

Go dive the Palancar sites and see little life in the deep sections but come shallow and there it is....

The Palancar dive sites are precisely the ones which I revisited after 2 decades and I was shocked at the conditions and lack of marine life, it was previously listed in my logbook as one of the best dives I ever did.

Log entry 2005: Palancar Garden: Beautiful drift dive. Steep walls and swim-throughs. Colorful and abundant marine life including a lobster. Strong Current. A subsequent visit to this site in 2017 found it to be devoid of marine life except for a turtle.

Note: Not sure why I referred to it as a "drift dive" and 20 years later there's no way I can remember what I was thinking when I made that notation. I may have confused it with another site.

Edited to add. As I'm reading those old logs I recall a very funny incident that happened on the Palancar Caves dive site back in 2005.

Rated best dive of the Cozumel Trip. Wall dive, with many swim throughs. A diver lost a weight pouch, I went to assist the diver who found it, thought it was hers...tried to help her attach it to her gear until she wrote on her slate that it wasn't hers. On the way to this site we were called to the site of a dive boat which sank.

Lol me and my buddy were struggling to put her weight pouch back in, she wasn't making it easy, moving around and gesturing.. fmy buddy is holding her steady, I'm trying to find where to stick the pouch, finally she writes on her slate "NOT MINE!"