Question Cozumel Atmosphere

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Pacific Diver

Registered
Messages
19
Reaction score
24
Location
Washington, DC
# of dives
200 - 499
The wonderful thing about this forum is that there is so much information; the difficult thing is finding what you're looking for. I appreciate all the effort everyone puts into the forum and apologize if the information I'm looking for has already been posted somewhere.

My wife and I each have 200+ dives, mostly in the Red Sea and Caribbean, and some in the Pacific. Most of our dive destinations have been small and off the beaten path. Cozumel seems like an entirely different sort of place. We have found the diving better in the western Caribbean than, say, in the ABC islands, and the diving in Cozumel must be great or this forum wouldn't be so huge. So we are interested in trying Mexico, but Cozumel seems overwhelming. Of course, lots of divers look for other distractions after the diving is done - beaches, restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. - but that's not really our thing. Perhaps I just picked a couple of bad threads, but need I be worried about mobs of spring breakers and cruise passengers? Are there parts of town that are more low key? Is the island packed this time of year? Are the dive sites crowded? Should we just go back to Roatan or Turneffe? There are clearly lots of fans of Cozumel here and I'd appreciate your perspective.
 
If you stay off the main drag or anywhere near Hooters, you'll be fine. Typically, we rent an airbnb a little back from centro but within walking distance. We tend to cook at the house or eat within a few blocks of where we are staying.

Coz is WAY more chill than Cancun or even Isla Mujeres and is more families than partying douchebags. You can find a full casita for less than 50 per night. I just booked a place on 15th and Salas all to myself with a yard and all for 40 per night.

Neighbors have always been friendly and helpful, you can walk anywhere (except the marina) and local food places are freaking awesome. You have to try taqueria Nero.
You'll fall in love with Coz like most of us here.
 
On this forum we tend to stress over minor points and beat ‘Dead horses’ to an extreme. The reality is Cozumel is really a very laid back place. The cruisers whom the dive community likes to look down our snobbish noses on (which I am guilty of) are actually not bad. Primarily they keep pretty close to the pier areas or on organized tours. I have noticed that the post Covid lockdown cruisers are much more timid about venturing out into town, much to the local vendors detriment. Most cruises depart around 4pm so like any port there is some Bing drinking in the last couple hours but in reality, rarely do the folks get really out of hand.

As for spring break this is not the place for it. Across the channel on the mainland is the spring break area. Cozumel has little to offer the spring break crowd.

PS, I enjoy occasionally walking to the marina, it's a little over 3 miles, I also like walking out to el Morro. the reality is the town area of the island is actually a pretty small area.
 
Well, I live here part time and have done so for over a decade. Compared to years previous, it is quieter. Covid, no doubt.

Carnival has been "postponed" (I am guessing for a year...). So that super spreader event won't be happening and should deter some of the crowds. A few cruise lines are also cancelling due to covid, so that is also thinning the herd.

I don't think reefs are overly crowded. We are currently in orange level, so there are some capacity limits on boats and other things. How well these are observed is another matter. Cruisers tend to clog up the first few streets of the island during daytime hours.

So if you stay off Ave. 5-10 between the hours of 9-5, you probably won't run into cruise hordes. In fact, more of them are in the Puerto Maya area and they tend to stay there. It is about midway between Centro and the caleta (harbour). If you stay in town, and get an in town pick up by your dive shop, you will only see them for a couple of hours, at most...depending on where you stay.

I live on Ave 15 (3 blocks from waterfront) and traffic and noise is way, way down. I think night club/bar hours are restricted because we haven't had nearly so many drunks walking by at 3 a.m.
 
The wonderful thing about this forum is that there is so much information; the difficult thing is finding what you're looking for. I appreciate all the effort everyone puts into the forum and apologize if the information I'm looking for has already been posted somewhere.

My wife and I each have 200+ dives, mostly in the Red Sea and Caribbean, and some in the Pacific. Most of our dive destinations have been small and off the beaten path. Cozumel seems like an entirely different sort of place. We have found the diving better in the western Caribbean than, say, in the ABC islands, and the diving in Cozumel must be great or this forum wouldn't be so huge. So we are interested in trying Mexico, but Cozumel seems overwhelming. Of course, lots of divers look for other distractions after the diving is done - beaches, restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. - but that's not really our thing. Perhaps I just picked a couple of bad threads, but need I be worried about mobs of spring breakers and cruise passengers? Are there parts of town that are more low key? Is the island packed this time of year? Are the dive sites crowded? Should we just go back to Roatan or Turneffe? There are clearly lots of fans of Cozumel here and I'd appreciate your perspective.
I've never been to Cozumel during Spring Break, but I am told that it's a non event there. In any case it's easy to avoid; simply harness the power of the calendar. If you are into immersing yourselves in the culture of Cozumel, stay in town. If you are into holing up in a resort with no contact with the local vibe, stay in a south end resort. If you are into something in the middle, stay, well, somewhere in the middle.

Just go. All will be clear once you have been there.
 
Just got back from Cozumel on Monday. It, along with Cancun, Tulum, and Playa Del Carmen were all pretty slow. Tourists for sure but overall the vibe wasn't that of peak season at a tourist hot spot. Our hotel (a very charming one) in Cancun was empty except for us and maybe two other rooms. It was unexpected and nice.

There are cruise ships coming in and out of Cozumel but that didn't have major impact on us as we were there to dive almost exclusively. But when going around downtown to shops and restaurants it just wasn't very busy. There were more vendors standing around than customers during the day time. At night the area gets busier with the bars and whatnot but hardly crazy by my standards anyway.

If you DO go to Cozumel and want a fantastic restaurant that's a welcome change from the tacky vibe of many of the beach joints, check out Sereno. You have to enter via the hotel on the ground level .Get the 24 hour chicken. Seriously. If you don't you're messing up. Best meal I had in Mexico probably. Great sunset views also.
 
The wonderful thing about this forum is that there is so much information; the difficult thing is finding what you're looking for. I appreciate all the effort everyone puts into the forum and apologize if the information I'm looking for has already been posted somewhere.

My wife and I each have 200+ dives, mostly in the Red Sea and Caribbean, and some in the Pacific. Most of our dive destinations have been small and off the beaten path. Cozumel seems like an entirely different sort of place. We have found the diving better in the western Caribbean than, say, in the ABC islands, and the diving in Cozumel must be great or this forum wouldn't be so huge. So we are interested in trying Mexico, but Cozumel seems overwhelming. Of course, lots of divers look for other distractions after the diving is done - beaches, restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. - but that's not really our thing. Perhaps I just picked a couple of bad threads, but need I be worried about mobs of spring breakers and cruise passengers? Are there parts of town that are more low key? Is the island packed this time of year? Are the dive sites crowded? Should we just go back to Roatan or Turneffe? There are clearly lots of fans of Cozumel here and I'd appreciate your perspective.

Christmas 2020-Just after NYE in Cozumel was at a wonderful condo about 500 yards south of the “Money Bar” (look it up to get an idea of location). Dive House has a beach side shop right there, about a 5 minute walk from the condo. It was a great location, very out of the way, but you could eat at Money Bar if you didn’t want to cook your own meals. Memo’s Village was the complex. Very well maintained, inexpensive. We wished we’d been a bit closer to town as it was a bit pricey to take the cab both ways as often as we did. Dive House was very fund to dive with for my older son and I.

Here’s a link to Memo’s place on Air BNB. Easy to work with and a great on site caretaker. Airbnb: Vacation Rentals, Cabins, Beach Houses, Unique Homes & Experiences
 
All the earlier comments are pretty much the way I feel about Coz as well. The nice thing about Coz is there are lots of options. Many like to stay in town and walk to the (fantastic) restaurants and Dive Ops which operate in town so no need for car, taxi, etc. . We prefer to stay just outside of town, generally south of town closer to the marina. North is very nice and quiet but a long way from the marine park. We like to have a car to run around in and occasionally live dangerously on mopeds but really taxis are fairly cheap and recommended (especially for your 1st trip). If hotel cost is a big deal there are nice places in the $50-$75 per night range but we like a little more comfort and want to be next to the ocean so that costs us $100-150 per night. There are high-end places as well. If you go way south (10-20 miles) you will find most of the AI resorts. They are not my thing but have had nice stays there with larger family groups. They have the big pools, nice beaches, All-Inclusive food/drinks. The food is edible but nothing like the local restaurants which we like to hit up every night. The town & people of Coz are fantastic, ya during the day the vendors will bug to to buy something but just joke with them and move on. I don't think they pressure 'divers' nearly like they do 'cruisers'. Don't worry about 'spring breakers' - it is not a party town, although you will find fantastic, potent cocktails around. We introduced several dozen friends & family to Coz and every single one of them loved the island.
 
Not sure how to say this, but everything you are thinking is true and everything you are thinking is false, think about that for a minute. Sounds like you have not done Mexico, the land of mañana, most people think that it mean tomorrow but in Mexico it means not now. Cozumel is going to be what you make of it. We did Blue Angel hotel and did most diners there. I think we did down town 2 times. We are laid back. did a taxi to see the inland. We were not in town during the day so can not say about cruise ships ( they did not blow out the dive sites.). If you are on one of the 6 pack boat they are fast and not many people on the site, it is follow the leader but with current you would be going that way anyway. we have done a lot of the Caribbean, I would rate Cozumel about number 3 on our list
I would say that you need to do Cozumel at least once. I would say the diving is fair to good. I did see thing in the water that I had not seen before or not very often.
If I had to decide between, Roatan or Cozumel, I would do Cozumel but there are still places I have not been to yet.
 
The wonderful thing about this forum is that there is so much information; the difficult thing is finding what you're looking for. I appreciate all the effort everyone puts into the forum and apologize if the information I'm looking for has already been posted somewhere.

My wife and I each have 200+ dives, mostly in the Red Sea and Caribbean, and some in the Pacific. Most of our dive destinations have been small and off the beaten path. Cozumel seems like an entirely different sort of place. We have found the diving better in the western Caribbean than, say, in the ABC islands, and the diving in Cozumel must be great or this forum wouldn't be so huge. So we are interested in trying Mexico, but Cozumel seems overwhelming. Of course, lots of divers look for other distractions after the diving is done - beaches, restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. - but that's not really our thing. Perhaps I just picked a couple of bad threads, but need I be worried about mobs of spring breakers and cruise passengers? Are there parts of town that are more low key? Is the island packed this time of year? Are the dive sites crowded? Should we just go back to Roatan or Turneffe? There are clearly lots of fans of Cozumel here and I'd appreciate your perspective.
To answer you in regards to dive site crowds, yes there are a lot of divers every single day but the sites do not feel crowded. Stick with the smaller '6-pack' boats and you'll have plenty of underwater social distancing. You will see other divers in the distance and occasionally mingle into another group but generally you are with your group only. The drift diving nature of Cozumel helps keep groups spread apart. Turneffe is probably the only Caribbean dive location I (might?) prefer over Coz but it is way more expensive to dive at Turnaffe.
 
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