Are shore dives legal on Cozumel?

[Hawkwood]

I am curious if the hotel's that offer "shore diving" inform the diver about the rules or if the hotel (and several offer it) is far enough outside the protected park it doesn't matter. In other words how would a guest know if they were doing wrong?
Christi, do you know?

I can't vouch for all, but at the Grand (inside the park area), there is an area that is set up with bouys - you can swim etc. within that area. Once outside that area, you are required to purchase the park day pass - that includes using the watercraft such as sailboats.

As an aside:

Last November my wife was learning how to sail a Hobi-Cat off of the hotel. They came upon a fellow attempting to snorkel out to the reef offshore. He was prime to get whacked by any one of the many dive boats moving up and down that area. No reasonable person would be on the lookout for a snorkeler in the water in that area! He was quite pissed off when it was "suggested" that he either turn back or get on the Hobi-Cat for a lift back.

 

[bvmjethead]

it's easy to read attitude in someone's post if you are looking for it; the printed word is woefully inadequate at conveying emotional content.

This needs to be a sticky at the top of every single thread on every single forum.

 

[ReefHound]

I posted this in the other thread as well:

I found this in reference to the National Marine Parks in Mexico. (From a 2001 article on Cancun) wasn't trying to dispute the accuracy of the statement.

" In addition, the park management
requires a minimum of one guide per ten people in the water and requires that each guide take a
one to two day course in reef ecology and care."

That's good enough for me. Actually you might want to read the whole article as it is rather interesting.

Actually if you read the whole article the sentence directly following the one you quote says visitors must wear life jackets so they cannot dive below the surface. The article you cited is talking about snorkeling as part of a guided tour in a preserve off Cancun. Also note Christi's site says the ratio is 8:1.

 

[ReefHound]

Then go find it yourself or remain unconvinced. If you can show any evidence that that marine park rule does not exist, I'm sure we'd all like to see it.

I assume you consider yourself to be a reasonable person, if so you must surely concede that trying to prove that something doesn't exist is virtually impossible. All I'm saying is that every source of the rule so far comes from a commercial business engaged in diving. I've seen no evidence that the park authorities have tried to make this rule known to the general public.

Play along for a moment. If authorities passed out literature to all taxis that said "all passengers must <whatever>" and also put that in their taxi permits, but passed out this literature to no one else, would it be unreasonable to think that maybe this rule applies just to passengers in taxis and not to passengers in private vehicles?

 

[ReefHound]

Does anyone have a map showing the boundaries of the Marine Park?

 

[cruiser]

They came upon a fellow attempting to snorkel out to the reef offshore. He was prime to get whacked by any one of the many dive boats moving up and down that area. No reasonable person would be on the lookout for a snorkeler in the water in that area! He was quite pissed off when it was "suggested" that he either turn back or get on the Hobi-Cat for a lift back.

Hawkwood--Was this guy towing a dive flag? Just curious.

 

[Hawkwood]

Hawkwood--Was this guy towing a dive flag? Just curious.

NOPE! He was out to snorkel and was completely oblivious to the danger

 

[diveborg]

So, is shore diving legal or not?

I seem to have missed it.

Shore diving is legal.

Outside the marine park boundary you do not need a guide.
Inside the park you need a guide and the $2 daily tag.

 

[PaulSmithTek]

Man I feel like I am back in High School again. This is great!

 

[ggunn]

I assume you consider yourself to be a reasonable person, if so you must surely concede that trying to prove that something doesn't exist is virtually impossible. All I'm saying is that every source of the rule so far comes from a commercial business engaged in diving. I've seen no evidence that the park authorities have tried to make this rule known to the general public.

Play along for a moment. If authorities passed out literature to all taxis that said "all passengers must <whatever>" and also put that in their taxi permits, but passed out this literature to no one else, would it be unreasonable to think that maybe this rule applies just to passengers in taxis and not to passengers in private vehicles?

Whatever; it's not a rule that I will likely ever run into outside of an occasional dive at Chankanaab, and you have to use a guide there or you don't get tanks. I understand your suspicion though I do not share it. I think it's unlikely that the dive ops would fabricate and propagate a lie about it because it doesn't affect enough divers to have any appreciable impact on their business. Also, the officials of the Marine Park and the dive ops are very much in bed with one another; it seems to me a very reasonable assumption to make that if the dive ops say that there is such a rule, then there is one.

But IIRC, Christi provided contact information to the Marine Park Authority (or whatever it is called) and said that the administrator speaks perfect English. Why not call him up and ask him? In this case it would be very easy to prove that something does not exist, if indeed that is the case.