Trip Report Cozumel Blue Angel - October 2024

[Cornbread O'Malley]

@ggunn Thanks for the informative write-up! I'm excited to try the shore diving at BA now! My group has a few divers who take advantage of every shore dive possible. I'll pass this info to them.

 

[Karloss]

@ggunn Thanks for the informative write-up! I'm excited to try the shore diving at BA now! My group has a few divers who take advantage of every shore dive possible. I'll pass this info to them.

FYI... if you are diving from the left hand side of the dock facing the stingray pen, do your giant stride out to sea and NOT towards the sting ray pen. IF you stride towards the pen you may hit the rocks.

 

[eelpout]

I used the shore diving are from training for 6 years. We usually went in after the dive boats left for the morning. I always got into the water with and snorkeled around to see how strong the current was. The current has a tendency to go north (facing the water from shore that would be left to right). We would start our dives by entering the small beach area by the dive shop. We would swim along the "Stingray pen" and then turn left (usually against the current) when we started the dive. You would have to swim about 25 yards from the pen to see a small reef that we would dive in. It is a good area to get a warm up dive , if you haven't been in the water for a while.

The present owners of BA don't do it anymore, but when Alex (Alejandra ) owned it the dive store would drop off our tanks (our gear already set up to go into the water with BC , regs weight pockets) in front of the Villablanca Hotel ( they have a beach you can get into the water) We would then drift along the shore
on the shallow reef (Very popular with the snorkeling boats with snorkelers from the cruise ships) and then get out of the water at the BA entry area. It was a nice mellow dive (max 30 ft.) and you get introduced to the current without having to fight it.

 

[ggunn]

FYI... if you are diving from the left hand side of the dock facing the stingray pen, do your giant stride out to sea and NOT towards the sting ray pen. IF you stride towards the pen you may hit the rocks.

Good point; do not stride parallel to shore in either direction from the dock. Straight out it's about 12 feet deep.

 

[ggunn]

I used the shore diving are from training for 6 years. We usually went in after the dive boats left for the morning. I always got into the water with and snorkeled around to see how strong the current was. The current has a tendency to go north (facing the water from shore that would be left to right). We would start our dives by entering the small beach area by the dive shop. We would swim along the "Stingray pen" and then turn left (usually against the current) when we started the dive. You would have to swim about 25 yards from the pen to see a small reef that we would dive in. It is a good area to get a warm up dive , if you haven't been in the water for a while.

The present owners of BA don't do it anymore, but when Alex (Alejandra ) owned it the dive store would drop off our tanks (our gear already set up to go into the water with BC , regs weight pockets) in front of the Villablanca Hotel ( they have a beach you can get into the water) We would then drift along the shore
on the shallow reef (Very popular with the snorkeling boats with snorkelers from the cruise ships) and then get out of the water at the BA entry area. It was a nice mellow dive (max 30 ft.) and you get introduced to the current without having to fight it.

When Eva had Turquoise and the Blue Angel North dive op next to it, a couple of times per trip we would get tanks and weights there for a leisurely drift dive back to the hotel. It was pretty cool, especially at night, except for the time we jumped in and found the current flowing the wrong way.

 

[Kimela]

If/when you return to Cozumel give the macro a try. I’ve found some pretty cool stuff.

 

[brsnow]

It seems if you know them you get a better set up diving. For someone who not the most experienced but north of 100 plus dives in Cozumel and expressed as much when booking should not be put on a boat of new divers with 60 foot max depth for all dives. Having used a few ops over the years, only time I felt awkward and they were quite arrogant. Had a great time with the music and staff. Great hospitality crew, just us a different dive op if you are experienced unless you know them it would seem.

 

[cozcharlie]

If/when you return to Cozumel give the macro a try. I’ve found some pretty cool stuff.

Ditto what @Kimela said. The shore dive at Tikila Beach can be pretty good for macro and super macro , but it might help to have a guide to help find stuff (blennies , painted elysia , eels , crabs. aglajas, sea hares and occasionally a frog fish to name a few possibilities )

 

[ggunn]

It seems if you know them you get a better set up diving. For someone who not the most experienced but north of 100 plus dives in Cozumel and expressed as much when booking should not be put on a boat of new divers with 60 foot max depth for all dives. Having used a few ops over the years, only time I felt awkward and they were quite arrogant. Had a great time with the music and staff. Great hospitality crew, just us a different dive op if you are experienced unless you know them it would seem.

There is a limited amount of placement together of similarly skilled divers that a small dive op who services mainly a small hotel can do; they are at the mercy of who has signed up for them to take out diving that day. I have found the staff at the BA dive op to be very responsive to requests but somewhat limited in what they can do because of that. I have many hundreds of dives, mostly around Cozumel, but I do not mind diving with newbies when I happen to get placed on a boat with them. We were all newbies at some point.

 

[brsnow]

There is a limited amount of placement together of similarly skilled divers that a small dive op who services mainly a small hotel can do; they are at the mercy of who has signed up for them to take out diving that day. I have found the staff at the BA dive op to be very responsive to requests but somewhat limited in what they can do because of that. I have many hundreds of dives, mostly around Cozumel, but I do not mind diving with newbies when I happen to get placed on a boat with them. We were all newbies at some point.

Then be upfront and transparent. No need to go through all the vetting if experience and preference doesn’t matter.