Staying in Cozumel longer term -- any recommendations for "off the beaten path" diving?

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Have you considered a day trip to Tulum for a cenote experience?

I spent the first few months in Mexico based out of PDC, and was able to do many cenotes during that time. I really enjoyed them, but I wouldn't do them more than once or twice in such a short period of time.
 
Thoughts:

1). For the most part, Forget the list. What wildlife you see on a dive is more a function of luck than location. What you see is more a function of time in the water than where you dive. If you want coral formations go to Palancar. If you want walls go to Santa Rosa Wall or one of the numerous other sites that have “Wall” in the name. I have done the same site 60 minutes apart and had incredible first dive and a lousy second dive. If your divemaster says they have recently been seeing black tips at Palancar Horseshoe or eagle rays at Cantarel then maybe go where they suggest but don’t go by some check list.

2) Cenotes on mainland are a nice day excursion as someone mentioned. Nice to experience for a day almost regardless of long-term preference. Some people are one and done, others fall in love with them and want to do them over and over but few regret having gone for the experience

3. Paradise is a beginner day dive but you can see plenty there , especially if go off peak when there aren’t many other divers there. Obviously good as a night dive. Someone seemed to suggest Tunich and other southern sites as night dives. I wouldn’t want to be on a wall or high current dive at night (even with experienced divers ) . I am perfectly capable of riding a downcurrent down to 150-200 feet, but why would I want to ?

4. Just to be clear I have probably dove every site on the west side from a range of well beyond 200 ft up to surface. These days I prefer dives that are shallow and easy because that is where I see the most life (and I also don’t have to worry about someone I just met over breathing and running out of air at 130 feet, which has happened to me ).

5). Bottom line : just dive a lot and see what you see—don’t sweat where you go
 
I have done the same site 60 minutes apart and had incredible first dive and a lousy second dive.
In 27 years of diving Cozumel I can count the number of "lousy" dives on the fingers of one hand, and I label them thus only in comparison to the other dives I have done there. A couple were due to visibility issues (20' - 30', which shows how spoiled we are) and a couple were because of DM/boat captain missing a dropoff point (again, we are spoiled).
 
In 27 years of diving Cozumel I can count the number of "lousy" dives on the fingers of one hand, and I label them thus only in comparison to the other dives I have done there. A couple were due to visibility issues (20' - 30', which shows how spoiled we are) and a couple were because of DM/boat captain missing a dropoff point (again, we are spoiled).

Think this was this past December
1st Dive at Cantarel: More than a dozen Eagle Rays plus some assorted other stuff. Medium viz. Relatively short dive due to depth of eagle rays
2nd Dive at Cantarel 60 minutes later: 0 Eagle rays and not much of anything else either. Medium viz. Relatively short dive due to depth of where eagle rays might have been (if we had seen any :) )

Maybe second dive wasn't truly lousy, but not something I would want to do 10 times in a row. Some things are just hit and miss (especially the places where you have a chance of seeing something interesting).

Can't remember timeframe of OP but not certain if someone mentioned going to Isla Mujeres to snorkel with whale sharks when they are there over the summer. That would almost certainly be a worthwhile trip if you are here at right time (you can't dive with them, only snorkel). Interactions are pretty heavily managed in terms of time in water so there are some cons to it, but still nice to swim with whale sharks.
 
I've dived San Clemente - it can be good but a bit sparse.

Huh. It's my second-favorite site after Maracaibo. Nice 1:40 dive with good light and teeming with creatures. Great for macro photography.

This is probably an example of why asking other people to name good dive sites isn't really helpful.
 
Huh. It's my second-favorite site after Maracaibo. Nice 1:40 dive with good light and teeming with creatures. Great for macro photography.

This is probably an example of why asking other people to name good dive sites isn't really helpful.

I'm a San Clemente fan too. I've seen green morays out and about every time I've been there. Also saw the largest school of fish I've ever seen there.
 
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Since the conversation mentioned snorklers visiting divers, I took this shot last week at Columbia Shallows. I found them to be quite entertaining and even watched one of the guides rescue a panicked snorkler who fought him as he towed her all the way back to their catamaran.
 
There is some nice cave diving on Cozumel, if you're certified
 
I don't see Maracaibo Shallows (aka Chunchakaab) on your list. It really isn't shallow...you want to dive it on nitrox. Weather conditions have to be just so, to get there comfortably. If you can get there, it's one of my favourites.

Also Cantarell if you are there Jan-Feb-March when Eagle Rays are running in big squadrons. As someone else pointed out, you lumped all the Palancars together and each is slightly different. Also, Cedar Pass and Cedar Wall are completely different. And I find San Francisco deep quite different from a more shallow dive on that wall. You didn't list Villa Blanca, but I wouldn't go out of my way to dive there. Those are all boat dives.

Talk to some people about shore dives. @RayfromTX can fill your ears if you can connect with him. He does really long shore dives with two sidemount tanks and a scooter.
Hey all, I've been living in Mexico (with a few trips to Cozumel specifically) for the last few months and will be basing myself out of Cozumel full time for the next few months. I've done around 30 dives here, visiting the following sites:
  • Barracuda
  • San Juan
  • C-53
  • Yucab
  • Tunich
  • San Francisco
  • Santa Rosa
  • Cedral
  • La Francesca
  • Dalila
  • Palancar
  • Colombia
  • Punta Sur
  • Maracaibo
Are there any dive sites you recommend that I haven't done yet? I'm especially interested in knowing more about lesser known dives, since I'll be here longer.

I've been extremely happy with the shop I've been diving with, but I'm still a relatively new diver here so I haven't really explored other options around the island. The only (small) slight I have is that the DMs like to favor a smallish pool of the same sites like Colombia, San Francisco, Tunich, etc. so I end up repeating those more often. Is this something that other shops do as well? Is there any reason why I should explore other shops, or should I just stick with my current one?

Thanks in advance all!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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