Contemplating First Trip

[Lopez116]

I've dived here in California, in the keys, the USVI, Bahamas, and a ton in Grand Cayman. Cayman is my favorite by far, but after 10 trips in a row, I think I'm in need of a change and am contemplating Coz.

Are there sheer walls as there are in Cayman? (I know it's predominantly drift diving, which I'm fine with.)

How long are boat rides typically?

Where do I want to stay to minimize the length of the boat rides?

Which ops tend to run smaller groups?

Which ops let you dive your comp?

Thanks!

 

[MMM]

I'll try and answer your questions - GENERALLY - as some of this varies from op to op. Do a search of the forum and you'll see some of that detail.

Yes, there are sheer walls. All the way to depths you probably don't want to go to.
Boat rides depend on the op and the boat you are on. I can generally get from downtown to the south in about a half an hour with the guy I dive with, depending on how many pick ups he has along the way. But there are many other slower boats.

I wouldn't make minimizing my boat rides a criteria for where I stay. If you stay far south (where a lot of the more popular dive sites are), you will almost certainly miss out on the sites up north (outside the Marine Park). These can be really thrilling dives and especially during Eagle Ray season. Again, if I can get from downtown to the south in a half an hour, location isn't really an issue.

Many ops run 6-8 divers per boat...most of them are commonly recommended on this forum.

Again, most of the above let you dive your computer. The bigger question - for me, anyways - is which ones will let you dive your air if you are good on air.

 

[Lopez116]

1/2 hour boat ride is fine with me.

That's what I meant - NDL and/or air.

So, who would you recommend to dive with?

Stay with?

I'll try and answer your questions - GENERALLY - as some of this varies from op to op. Do a search of the forum and you'll see some of that detail.

Yes, there are sheer walls. All the way to depths you probably don't want to go to.
Boat rides depend on the op and the boat you are on. I can generally get from downtown to the south in about a half an hour with the guy I dive with, depending on how many pick ups he has along the way. But there are many other slower boats.

I wouldn't make minimizing my boat rides a criteria for where I stay. If you stay far south (where a lot of the more popular dive sites are), you will almost certainly miss out on the sites up north (outside the Marine Park). These can be really thrilling dives and especially during Eagle Ray season. Again, if I can get from downtown to the south in a half an hour, location isn't really an issue.

Many ops run 6-8 divers per boat...most of them are commonly recommended on this forum.

Again, most of the above let you dive your computer. The bigger question - for me, anyways - is which ones will let you dive your air if you are good on air.

 

[mediumone]

1/2 hour boat ride is fine with me.

That's what I meant - NDL and/or air.

So, who would you recommend to dive with?

Stay with?

There are what? 80, 100 dive ops on the island? Something like that. Do your due diligence and make a list of those that fit your style and personality. Choose one.

About 3 months ago, a top 10 list was compiled, and it was agreed that it was a positively silly list as 1) there were many outstanding ops not on the list, and 2) the perfect op for me might be an exceedingly poor choice for you.

Here's a start:

The list in alphabetical order was:

Aldora
Blue Angel
Blue Magic
Blue XT Sea
Bottom Time Divers
Dive with Allison
Dive with Martin
Liquid Blue
Living Underwater
Tres Pelicanos

 

[ColoDale]

Walls are not generally steep/vertical but sloped walls can go deep. Pinnacles on the south end like punta sur (sur and not the Devils's throat area) and colombia deep are big and vertical but still pinnacles. Parts of Cedral wall are somewhat vertical. Some of the Palancars have high vertical parts. Maracaibo starts deep, goes deep and is not quite vertical. Santa Rosa is not tha vertical so I spend my time near the top but plenty can be seen on the sloped part.

Boat rides depend on where you stay. If you are on the South end then boat rides to Palancars are about 10 minutes or less to most. There are sites closer to town but Santa Rosa, Palancars, Colombia amongh others are south. Longer rides are 20 min (?) if you stay in town (which I haven't done). Those members that stay in town can tell you. Some boats leave from town piers or marina south of there.

There are alot of dive ops running small boats - panga type or a bit bigger with 6 - 10 pax. The most used are mentioned in this Cozumel forum. I think there is a recent thread but there always is. I use Bottom Time Divers. There are alot of dive ops on the island. Bigger ones (running bigger boats) are Dive Paradise, Dive house among others.

Many of the dive ops considered boutique like the one I use let you dive your tank and computer. Check with whichever one you choose to be sure. I will generally get 60-70 minutes per dive unless we go deep but YMMV. Some ops offer steel 120cuft tanks, some can get AL100's and many use AL80's. (here we go).

 

[MMM]

1/2 hour boat ride is fine with me.

That's what I meant - NDL and/or air.

So, who would you recommend to dive with?

Stay with?

If you like eating out at interesting local restaurants, then I would recommend that you stay in town. Loads of local places to stay ranging from cheap to expensive, depending on what you want. But be aware that only a handful of dive ops pick up in town. So if you don't dive with one of them, then you need to figure out how to get to where they depart (the caleta almost exclusively). I don't make recommendations because everyone has things they need/want in a dive op and I'm a bit of a princess so I like the valet service from Living Underwater and their really, really nice, safe boat. Plus I like to go really slowly as I am a photographer. Again that isn't everyone's cup of tea. So if you indicated things that are really important to you, including budget, that might help whittle down your options.

 

[mediumone]

PS Here's the link to the thread that I referenced. I would recommend reading it from beginning to end.

Current Recommendations/Pricing

 

[MMM]

That's what I meant - NDL and/or air.

They are different and handled differently among ops. Because you can get pretty deep in Cozumel, your NDL time limit can be hit long before your air is low. I prefer to dive with a dive op that looks at how they can maximize your bottom time by managing the NDLs. This usually means a shorter time at greater depths, more time at mid-levels and finally a long time at about 30 feet. (Although this isn't always possible at certain sites like Devil's Throat where there aren't shallow reefs to cruise along.) These are ops that aren't concerned with schedules and getting back to collect the group scheduled for the next departure. Especially if you have divers on nitrox.

 

[gkrane]

I stayed at Blue Angel so I can only provide information about them. Boat rides we at the most 25-30 mins to the sites furthest south. Our boat had 5 of us in it on 6 out of 8 diving days there. On the other 2 days the were 2 other people with us for a total of 7. We were able to dive our comp on every dive, and we would surface as teams when gas limits were reached rather than the entire group having to go up. We passed a lot of slower boats on the way to the sites but a couple that I saw regularly keeping up with us were Aldora and Tres Pelicanos. Cozumel has so many dive ops and places to stay you just need to pick an op that suits you. If you do not stay in town, cabs rides are very cheap around 70 pesos for us. Did you plan to shore dive while you were there as well? Do you have a strict budget you are looking to stay within as this may narrow down your options. When we go on a trip I really don't spend much time in the room and prefer to stay wet as much as possible. I do love my after morning boat dive nap though.

 

[ggunn]

Santa Rosa is not tha vertical .

I don't know what parts of Santa Rosa you are familiar with but plenty of it is vertical, and some of it is even overhanging.