Contemplating First Trip

[cicopo]

There are many choices in hotels / resorts with the biggest differences being real beach vs a sandy area in an ironshore section of coastline, all inclusive vs breakfast only included vs no food included, and close to town vs need a cab or car to get to town. What are you looking for. I have photo tours of several of the popular properties. What time of year?

 

[Lopez116]

I'm looking at mid-April.

30 min boat rides are not a big deal. I was reading on TripAdvisor that some boats take 1 hr to get to sites and boat rides are long.

All-inclusive or not is not really a big deal. We can eat on or off-site. We aren't really drinkers, so alcohol isn't really a concern.

A pool is a must.

We don't need a "beach" per se, but something on the beach/water/ironshore is a must.

Cleanliness is a must.

A/C is a must.

I've heard shore diving is relatively bad in CZM, so I'm not really banking on it.

My other question is: if the diving is drift diving and you're allowed to dive your air/comp, if you still have air/NDL time, do you keep drifting and have the boat pick you up even if most of the group has surfaced or do you hang around the group and surface when they do???

 

[gkrane]

Blue Angel has a pool and all rooms are waterfront rooms. There is a nice little area out by the pool to sit and relax at night or during the day between dives. The hotel package includes breakfast which I found very useful when trying to get ready for 8:00 am boat dives. The rooms all have A/C but are not luxury by any means. They are clean and have maid service daily. The shore diving in Cozumel is in no way any comparison to Bonaire, but it is very enjoyable and there is plenty to be seen out front. The night dives are great and I have seen octopus, squid, rays, eels, and many other critters on every night dive. Blue Angel has one of the best shore dives in Cozumel. We were able to finish our tanks after others had surfaced. The DM stayed at a 20 ft safety stop with the SMB until everyone was done. He deployer the SMB when the first diver either ran out of air or NDL. Dives were usually 50 - 60 minutes.

 

[cicopo]

The southern hotel zone has the real beach but is isolated so the resorts are all inclusives. In town you get a mix of all inclusive to no meals included & lots of great restaurants but not always close by depending on location of resort / hotel. North of town has some beach but limits choices in dive ops who pick up at or near where you're staying so a car or taxi becomes needed. Many dive ops let you dive your air until it may become a deco stop problem because you use so little air. Very few of us can outlast the DM so if you're really good with your air you & the DM will surface after every one else had to. Rarely will you hear of a cleanliness problem in Coz so that one's likely a non issue.

If I'm doing this right (I'm relatively new to Flickr) this link will get you to my property tours & Coz related albums.

ci_copo’s albums | Flickr

If it doesn't work as is copy & paste should work.

 

[gopbroek]

My other question is: if the diving is drift diving and you're allowed to dive your air/comp, if you still have air/NDL time, do you keep drifting and have the boat pick you up even if most of the group has surfaced or do you hang around the group and surface when they do???

This is also commonly referred to as 'Diving your tank' and some operators allow it and others do not. Be explicit when talking to a prospective OP to find out their policy. I dive with Tres Pelicanos who will allow you dive your tank but they ask that you limit your dive to around 70 minutes as a courtesy to other divers (as an example if you are the only diver in the water for the last 25 minutes on a cool rainy day and come out at 85 minutes to find a boat load of shivering divers staring at you, it's kinda embarrassing, I know).
If you are going to dive your tank it is a very good idea to carry and be comfortable with deploying a bouy.

 

[Lopez116]

The southern hotel zone has the real beach but is isolated so the resorts are all inclusives. In town you get a mix of all inclusive to no meals included & lots of great restaurants but not always close by depending on location of resort / hotel. North of town has some beach but limits choices in dive ops who pick up at or near where you're staying so a car or taxi becomes needed. Many dive ops let you dive your air until it may become a deco stop problem because you use so little air. Very few of us can outlast the DM so if you're really good with your air you & the DM will surface after every one else had to. Rarely will you hear of a cleanliness problem in Coz so that one's likely a non issue.

If I'm doing this right (I'm relatively new to Flickr) this link will get you to my property tours & Coz related albums.

ci_copo’s albums | Flickr

If it doesn't work as is copy & paste should work.

It worked. And thank you.

 

[Lopez116]

This is also commonly referred to as 'Diving your tank' and some operators allow it and others do not. Be explicit when talking to a prospective OP to find out their policy. I dive with Tres Pelicanos who will allow you dive your tank but they ask that you limit your dive to around 70 minutes as a courtesy to other divers (as an example if you are the only diver in the water for the last 25 minutes on a cool rainy day and come out at 85 minutes to find a boat load of shivering divers staring at you, it's kinda embarrassing, I know).
If you are going to dive your tank it is a very good idea to carry and be comfortable with deploying a bouy.

Thanks. Seems reasonable to me. 60-65 min is really all I can ask from my dive op.

 

[cicopo]

Once you've gone through the property tours we can answer more specific questions.

 

[morecowbells]

I have stayed both north and south of town and enjoyed both areas. Abbreviated summary: North side, close to restaurants and shops but further from dive sites. South, close to most dive sites, but further from town. I personally like the benefits of staying south of town. While the disadvantage is being a good 20 minutes from town, the upsides check more of my boxes. The advantages are: short boat rides to reefs, sandy beaches, no dealing with cruise ship traffic getting to marina, sleeping 20-30 minutes longer, and pick up/drop off at pier. While I may sound like a diva, I vastly enjoy the benefit of walking from pier, to rinse tank and directly to room where I can take off my cold, wet swimsuit, eat, put on a dry swimsuit and head to pool. There is no drama of driving back to lodging in a wet swimsuit annoyed(actually seriously pissed) at husband for blasting on the a/c.

There are abundant options of southern non-inclusive lodging choices. To me, the 20 minute drive into town for groceries and diner is not a big deal. By evening, I am clean, dry and I don't look like a total sea hag! As for dive ops for an experienced diver, I strongly recommend Bottom Time Divers. The boats are small, fast, and Raul is wonderful at finding all kinds of critters.

View from pier

 

[deepsea21]

Lopez, if you've been diving GC for the past 10 years in a row, it is certainly time for a change. Then again, we've been diving Coz for the last 14 years in a row so perhaps I should shut up. The bottom line for us is there are no better dive experiences to be had in the carribean for the price than Cozumel. We are all about maximum bottom time for our dive dollar and nothing can compare to the quality diving Coz offers for the price. We can easily stay and dive for 2+ weeks in Coz for what one week on GC or LC would cost. Bloody Bay wall is well known off LC just as Santa Rosa Wall is known to Coz... Want to hang out over the black abyss? The wall is there, it is just in a different and far more economical destination. Quite frankly, I've grown bored of wall dives and much prefer the great, multi-level dives Coz offers... Depending on what site you dive you can start on a wall at 80-100+ ft and then work your way up through swim throughs between massive coral heads and finish at 35'. That is maximum exposure to everything that really lets you push your tank & DC to the max. I dive with an AL80 and on many dives my DC will signal I'm out of time before my tank hits 700 but I am all about "sipping" air and letting the gentle current take me for a free ride.

We have been staying at the Casa Mexicana in-town on the waterfront since it was built. The Casa offers the absolute best of the best for staying in-town in my opinion and it is immaculate with AC that will freeze you. The breakfast buffet that must span 40' in length and is included free with our stay is highly regarded.

As another mentioned, there was a "top 10 list" of dive ops posted on a thread that ran to over 100 posts. Any on that list and others will deliver great dive experiences. It just depends on the freedom you want, the price you want to pay, the tank size you need, where you are staying, and which dive op can best deliver the experience you are seeking. We personally found Tres Pelicanos 2 years ago when our prior dive op turned for the worse and we had to make a change. We are booked for our 3rd 2-week dive trip with 3P's and will be departing on December 10th for another great dive vaca with them.

No matter where you decide to stay or who you elect to dive with you are going to be blown away by Cozumel. There is a reason some on your dive boat may be from the far east or europe... it is because Cozumel is a "bucket list" dive destination and we are lucky enough to have it in very close proximity to the states where we can enjoy world class diving close by and at a price that can't be matched.