Aruba vs Cozumel for 10 days in Dec, or other suggestions?

[Flutter]

In April, my husband & I visited Cozumel for the first time (for 10 days) and loved it. Before that, we shore dived 2 wks each in both Curacao & Bonaire - it was great! Other than that, we have dived the FL Keys.

Now, we are looking at air fares for December, and considering flight lengths for the 10 dys we have available in December. (As much as I would love to return to either Bonaire or Curacao I prefer to hold out until we can take 2 wks, again, as both have 18 hrs flight times each, coming & going). So, we are trying to decide where, in the Caribbean, we might go that won't take too long, or be excessively costly overall, where more experienced & travelled divers (than us) believe is worthy to visit.

Apparently, Aruba & Cozumel have similar flight times from our mid-west US location, and tickets to Cozumel cost twice as much that time of the year.

Has anyone been to Aruba for diving? What could we expect? I am wondering if we will be disappointed since we have been to the other 2 A,B, C islands (& plan to return). Is Cozumel better diving than Aruba, or just different? (If we go to Coz, I suspect we may not be able to get in at Blue Angels. I loved their oceanview location, dive shop, cafe & simplicity. Are there other lodgings in Coz that are Not AI, and similar in style to BA (& on the water)?

Other suggestions? Thanks!

Flutter

 

[Insta-Gator]

We usually go to Grand Cayman once a year. Shorter flight than Bonaire, but it's still expensive. We went to Aruba about six years ago as did not like it. The diving wasn't very good. The viz was probably only 30' to 40' feet at best, often worse.

Have you considered the Florida Keys?

 

[uncfnp]

I love Aruba. I have been there 3 times and dove there my last trip. I have not been to Cozumel but I have been to Bonaire (and the Keys). For diving, Aruba doesn't begin to compare to Bonaire (or the Key's).

If you want to go somewhere for a great vacation that includes some diving. Do Aruba. But if you want a dive vacation...it would not be my choice.

Lisa

 

[jimw]

We keep going back to Bonaire because the resorts are relatively inexpensive. About 20 times now. We may go back to Grand Cayman soonish and do mostly shore diving and stay in a condo to help hold the cost down. Grand Turk is good wall diving but kinda pricey as is Little Cayman, both are among the best in the Caribbean.......We too, once looked at Blue Angel, but haven't been on a trip to Coz since, except for cruises, which; btw, can be very low cost diving. We do 1 or 2 a year. It IS a hassel lugging gear, and it's only a very few dives per cruise--but we like it despite that. On Coz, we sometimes do a shore dive at Scuba Club, also did BA--Grand Cayman, shore at various sites including Sunset House, turtle farm, and in December, probably Dive Tech at Lighthouse Point.

 

[diver 85]

Only due to weather, I'd pick Aruba---US cold fronts can get to Coz & shut things down pretty quickly.....lol, unless you're diving with Aldora....

 

[DeputyDan]

For pricing you might look at flying into Cancun and taking the ferry to Cozumel.
Cancun is generally much less expensive to fly to. YMMV

I would not consider Aruba to be a dive vacation destination.
Same with Belize. My kids love Belize but I consider a place like Ambergris Caye a vacation destination that has diving.
A liveaboard or outer island destination is a different story.

 

[Flutter]

Thank you for your suggestions. I guess I didn't indicate that a dive vacation rather than a vacation that we might dive, is more what we want (yet not a liveaboard).

I forgot that we dived in the Bahamas, once as well, because we literally only dived one day. The wind was up our entire trip and after a shortened dive the 1st day, we never got in the water again (but the diving was fine). That was at Abacao Island. We chose it because we don't enjoy real crowded conditions (lodgings or diving) . But we have since wondered if we had gone to Nassau, do the dive boats go around the island when the winds are up? Or, are chances good that we wouldn't have been able to dive there, either. (I guess I am willing to sacrifice some serenity, for more diving). Maybe we could get a VRBO near Stuart's Cove? We don't yearn to dive with the sharks, but I understand there is a nice wall there. Would Stuart's be the company to dive with there, and how does Nassau compare with Coz?

Also, what makes Turks (& Caicos?) expensive? The diving, lodgings, air fare or all 3?

If we decide to go to Coz, is anyone similar in style to BA?

Thanks, again. We are truly brain-storming at this point.

Flutter

 

[Mike]

If you've dived Cozumel and Bonaire it's time to try -

Roatan
Belize
T & C
One of the Caymans
The Bahamas
Dominican Republic