Caution about Cozumel

[Grajan]

This thread decayed into insult a little faster than most but I'm not going to bite - I'm out of here.

Yeh, it's irrelevant until you embellish it to an unrealistic point. The truth is that managing the current is all in how good of a diver you are, or think you are. Skilled divers have no problem stopping to look at something or hang out and take pictures in the currents in Cozumel as they really are very mild.

 

[caribdiver]

This thread decayed into insult a little faster than most but I'm not going to bite - I'm out of here.

No insults, just observation. You trashed Cozumel and made untruthful statements, I was just clearing them up so others wouldn't be turned off by your remarks.

 

[ggunn]

This thread decayed into insult a little faster than most but I'm not going to bite - I'm out of here.

What insult?

If you don't like Cozumel and won't go back, that's cool with me. It makes it just that little bit less crowded. ;^)

And BTW, I LOVE drift diving!

 

[pilot fish]

This thread decayed into insult a little faster than most but I'm not going to bite - I'm out of here.

Yeah, I thought so too. I had no problem with what you said, which I thought was accurate. It's good to get both sides of an argument so yours was just as valid. I like drift diving but see your point about not being able to hover over a site becuse of current. Both have merit, drift and non drift. Thanks for your input.

 

[pilot fish]

No insults, just observation. You trashed Cozumel and made untruthful statements, I was just clearing them up so others wouldn't be turned off by your remarks.

He said the cruise ships have changed the island for the worse, vis a vis diving, and you disagree?

 

[scubajim]

I agree with ggunn. Coz still is a great place to dive and you can't beat the prices anywhere else with an international location. I've dove both so called cattle boats and fast boats and don't mind the cattleboats at all. I've met some really great divers on those boats in the past and I still keep in touch by email. Sorry you had a bad experience with DP, but me and my dive buddies have used them for years with no problems. Apple, the owner has always bent over backwards to insure customer satisfaction, hence, her offer of a free week of diving. Let's face it, scuba diving is a great sport and more people are getting the hooked every year. You'll find that finding uncrowded diving locations will become more costly for the diving elite

 

[Dive-Ho]

What insult?

If you don't like Cozumel and won't go back, that's cool with me. It makes it just that little bit less crowded. ;^)

And BTW, I LOVE drift diving!

I agree, I love almost everything about Cozumel.......

If Heaven is a lot like Cozumel
Then I ain't afraid to die.

 

[RP Diver]

And I'm really glad you all love Coz, since that means the the places I love will stay uncrowded and unspoiled just that much longer too. They may be a bit harder to get to, but that, after all, is part of the fun...

I agree with ggunn that the east side is beautiful. On both of our trips, we made a point of renting transportation for a day (once scooters, once a VW) to do the drive over to the Bob Marley bar for a couple of beers, and then spend some time on the beaches over there. We also had some good meals at some very decent restaurants in town, too. There is nothing wrong with Cozumel if that's your sort of thing, and it is the most reasonably priced trip in the Caribbean, but my wife and I just look for a different sort of trip these days.

 

[ggunn]

And I'm really glad you all love Coz, since that means the the places I love will stay uncrowded and unspoiled just that much longer too.
[...]
There is nothing wrong with Cozumel if that's your sort of thing...

Now, that's an insult... ;^)

 

[Fin59]

This thread was inspired by comments in another unrelated thread about dissappointment with the slow boats at Cozumel.

My wife and I went to Cozumel for the first time a few years ago, after we were already very experienced divers (she's a PADI instructor and I'm a DM). When we got down there, we asked to dive on the fast boats and they said they were already booked for the week (we found out later that it wasn't quite true), so we got stuck on the sloooooow boats. We ended up diving the same sites 2 and 3 days in a row because they took a "vote" and my wife and I kept getting out voted. We also couldn't believe some of the jerks who were all over the reef, yanking critters out of holes and generally going through like a wrecking crew, with no interference from the the DM's :11: . When we left for home we were very disappointed, and felt like we had just wasted a week of vacation. We wrote a nasty letter to Dive Paradise, and sent a copy of it to our LDS (we both used to work there and the owners and staff are friends). Scott (one of the owners) then contacted DP, as he has sent a LOT of business to Dive Paradise over the years).

Anyway, Dive Paradise ended up sending us a certificate for a free week of diving in their EDP (Experienced Diver Program, 50 logged dives were required) on the six-pack fast boats. It's the only thing that could have gotten us back to Coz after the lousy experience. It was a lot better, and we dove well away from the masses for most of that week, dove the farther out reefs like Maracaibo and Palancar, and had a pretty decent, if not spectacular, week. I still doubt that we will go back, as there are too many better diving destinations and not enough time to see them all, but at least we learned something. Now we always ask for a small boat up front when booking. If the operator doesn't offer it, we look someplace else.

Cozumel is still a good, economical place to go, especially for the less experienced diver, but there are things to watch out for, and I recommend avoiding the cattle boats if at all possible.

What exactly did they do/not do that would cause you to write a nasty letter? I mean, you booked with Dive Paradise.....on the cattle boat, not their fast boats. Yes, when you do this you may end up on the same dive a couple times that week. When you dive on the cattle boats you go where they want to take you and they usually have a wide assortment of divers on the boat from newly certified to advanced. This is true anywhere, not just Cozumel. If you wanted to dive on Dive Paradise' fast boats, you really should have tried to make arrangements before you got there. They would most likely have had a couple other divers lined up who wanted to go, also, unless they were already full. Your letter must have been pretty bad if they gave you a full week free for the two of you. Was the water too wet or what? We have used Dive Paradise before on their cattle boats. Yes, we had the same situation as you.....new divers, dove some sites same as the day before, but that was our fault, not theirs, because we booked it that way. We now use another shop which has small fast boats, a small groups of divers and take us where we want because this is the type of diving we prefer. Sorry....I just can't see why you would give them a hard time about a choice you made.
You said " Cozumel is still a good, economical place to go, especially for the less experienced diver"
I have no idea what you mean by " especially for the less experienced diver" . Cozumel is a great place to go. If it wasn't economical I would still go there. The current you complain about is exactly what keeps the reefs so healthy. We have been diving many other places, but we happen to love the diving in Cozumel and also, the people are so friendly. Great place to dive and relax. You don't want to go? No problem. Hope you guys find that place that is perfect for you. I already have.