Beach Diving Cozumel

[ggunn]

In addition to what has been mentioned about La Ciba and Villablanca try this if you are really good on air. We do this dive every time we go.

Be carefull this is for advanced divers only an apparently not recommended.

Here it goes....stop off at Papa Hogs or Dive Paradise (accross from the Villablanca)rent your tanks and weights.

Drive down the street to La Ciba.Set up your gear and walk thru the loby to the pier.Enter.Swim about 400 yards out.This will take maybe 20 minutes.You should be at the wall.Drift,drift , drift....listen for boat trafic. When you hear the trafic look up at where they are headed.Start heading back into shore.

You should run accross the swimming area at Papa Hogs.head to shore.You should wind up right in front of DP/PH's. Exit. Take your tanks to the rental area.Repeat if you had a good time.

This dive takes nearly an hour to do and your air consumption excellent to do this dive.

About Villa Blanca.. I did a night snorkel dive there at the Papa Hogs side.There is tons of life and I stayed in the water until I got REALLY cold.

Ron

I've done this dive quite a few times, too. One thing one can do to save air is to surface swim about halfway out to the wall through the sailboat mooring area. I don't think the wall is 400 yards out; I think it's more like 150 - 200.

Anyway, the top of the wall is not very well defined right there at the north end of the La Ceiba complex; it's an abrupt change from a nearly level bottom to only a 15 degree or so slope. Once, I missed it and swam out for quite a ways not checking my depth because I thought I was on a level bottom, and I got a bit deeper than I wanted to (lesson learned). As you drift northward, it looks more and more like a wall.

As to takeout, there's really no way to tell exactly how far you've drifted (unless you go as far as the buoy at the power cable), and the distance you go depends on the current, which varies a lot. When I get down to 1000 psi, I head east until I can see the shoreline, then I pop up (carefully, listening for boats even then) and see where I am. At that point, I have found myself as far north as 100 yards north of Villablanca and as far south as just south of Lorena.

 

[seaangel]

At the Chankaanab Park, I know there is a dive shop, do they have DM's that will make the dives with you? The reason I ask is that I will be there with family for the day on Feb. 20 and I would like to dive if possible. Family will be snorkeling, no divers. I will need a buddy, so a DM would be a necessity.

As you know, Coz is not a shore diving destination, but here's a few sites:

1. Nice reef & sunken barge in front of El Presidente . On site shop, Scuba-Du, will rent you stuff. You'll be stopped by a guard in the driveway (very chi-chi hotel)--make up a room number, like 78.

2. Broken up small airplane in front of El Cid/La Cieba. On site shop, Aqua Safari, will rent you stuff.

3. Some nice patch reef, e.g., Pico's Reef, off Villablanca Hotel. Near to Papa Hog's Scuba Emporium which will rent you stuff.

4. Trash dump off Barracuda Hotel is not scenic but loaded with marine life. Serviced by Dive Paradise, they will rent you stuff.

5. Chankanaab Marine Park has a modest entry fee & some nice patch reef. Rent or bring your own gear; must have a DM.

6. Paradise Reef across from Villa Dzul Ha (between Presidente & Chankanab). Hog's is about 1/2 mile north for rentals.

7. Nice reef off the northern hotels, e.g., El Cozumeleno. Pepe's & Scuba Du up that way will rent tanks.

Watch out for boat traffic.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[DocVikingo]

Yes, there are DMs for hire onsite.

Have fun.

DocVikingo

 

[ggunn]

At the Chankaanab Park, I know there is a dive shop, do they have DM's that will make the dives with you? The reason I ask is that I will be there with family for the day on Feb. 20 and I would like to dive if possible. Family will be snorkeling, no divers. I will need a buddy, so a DM would be a necessity.

AS DV said, there are DM's there for hire; in fact, they won't rent you tanks and weights there unless you hire a DM to escort you. Even if you find a buddy, you'll have to hire a DM.

 

[seaangel]

AS DV said, there are DM's there for hire; in fact, they won't rent you tanks and weights there unless you hire a DM to escort you. Even if you find a buddy, you'll have to hire a DM.

Thanks, I think I can handle that.

 

[azsilver]

What about shore diving from the public pier downtown cozumel, is that possible or not. I heard it is closed for maintenance. Does any one know about this pier?

 

[ggunn]

What about shore diving from the public pier downtown cozumel, is that possible or not. I heard it is closed for maintenance. Does any one know about this pier?

If you mean the main downtown pier where the ferries dock, there is no way you're gonna want to dive from that one. Big boats are coming and going all day, and it's a long way to the water with no way to get back up.

There's what some people call the "Pro Dive pier", which is nearby, and which is used by many dive companies for loading supplies and divers who are staying at hotels in town, but there's small boats coming and going all day, and there's not much of interest there underwater AFAIK. Plus, the usual direction of the current will drag you toward the ferry pier, and you don't want to go there. It may be that some folks shore dive there, but I don't know anybody that does.

You can do some fairly good shore diving from the Villablanca pier and from the La Ceiba (now El Cid?) complex. You won't see anything like what you'll encounter on boat dives to the southern reefs, but it's cheap. There's a pretty nice reef close in at Playa Corona, just south of Chankanaab where folks snorkel; I've never seen scuba divers there but it may be an option.