Cozumel Dive sites
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RonFrank
Contributor
kash:
What you need to determine is what time the cruise ship is planning on arriving, leaving, and where they will dock. There are basically two places they dock, one in town, and one south of town near Paradise reef. The boat ops generally run morning and afternoon dives, but some don't run afternoon.
If you can work out the cruise ship schedule, then you can work with some Dive Ops to determine if you can get them to pick you up at location X, at time Y, and get you back by time Z so you don't miss your departure.
The hassle of time planning, and potentially missing a departure is one reason to dive with the cruise arrangements (likely the ONLY reason!). Another option would be to find out what OP the cruise ship is using, and book with them on the side. I'm not sure that is possible, or even a good suggestion as they are likely more of the Cattle Boat variety full of newbie or once a year divers, but it's definitely one way to make sure you don't miss your departure time!
kash
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yeah, we get there at 9:00 PM and leave at 6:00 PM thats proly central time
is there a directory of dive sites that maybe i could take a look at ?
i wouldnt mind going out with the one they use and just book on the side but they wont tell me which company they use
its probally a big one thats how it usually is.
is there a directory of dive sites that maybe i could take a look at ?
i wouldnt mind going out with the one they use and just book on the side but they wont tell me which company they use
its probally a big one thats how it usually is.
sharky60
Contributor
Your arrival times are a little problematic as all teh morning dive boats other than the one's chartered by the cruise ships will have already been long gone by 9:00a when your boat arrives, which means it will be close to 10 by the time you are let off the thing. So you're probably looking at an afternoon dive.
If your boat docks at the international pier, Dive with Martin's shop is just at the mouth of the pier, and would be very easy to hook up with them for an afternoon dive, although most dive ops will make arrangements to pick you up somewhere over there. trying to schedule ahead is always a good policy as folks get booked up and you have a VERY short time on the island anyway, wasting it trying to find someone to take you out will make it less enjoyable.
Short list of fav. sites: (deep) Santa Rosa wall & Columbia Bricks, (second dive) Columbia Shallows (could do it every day!!!!).
I've dove the Filepe once, a few years ago, only a couple years after they sank her. the reef wasn't developed much and sea life was just moving in. I've heard there is much more sealife to be seen on the dive now.
If your boat docks at the international pier, Dive with Martin's shop is just at the mouth of the pier, and would be very easy to hook up with them for an afternoon dive, although most dive ops will make arrangements to pick you up somewhere over there. trying to schedule ahead is always a good policy as folks get booked up and you have a VERY short time on the island anyway, wasting it trying to find someone to take you out will make it less enjoyable.
Short list of fav. sites: (deep) Santa Rosa wall & Columbia Bricks, (second dive) Columbia Shallows (could do it every day!!!!).
I've dove the Filepe once, a few years ago, only a couple years after they sank her. the reef wasn't developed much and sea life was just moving in. I've heard there is much more sealife to be seen on the dive now.
RonFrank
Contributor
kash:yeah, we get there at 9:00 PM and leave at 6:00 PM thats proly central time
is there a directory of dive sites that maybe i could take a look at ?
i wouldnt mind going out with the one they use and just book on the side but they wont tell me which company they use
You should be able to do an afternoon dive.
THIS is a very good list
This site is not all of the dive operators available, but many if not most.
Some popular dive ops from the board can be found by doing a search on SB, but a few that come to mind are
BlueXTSeaDiving
DiveWithMartin
Dive Paradise
DeepBlue
Blue Angle
Aquasafari
Definitely book in advance. If you need rental gear, they need to size you, you need to fill out forms, and releases, and don't forget your C-Card. Your very short time in Coz will likely be filled by registering with a dive OP, and then diving. Nothing wrong with that, but it's one reason I'm not fond of cruises. Unless they spend more than a day at a place (most don't) it just a whirlwind to really see much or do anything.
RonFrank:
Not to be the sour grapes here...but even an afternoon dive will be a challenge with a 6:00pm departure time.
Afternoon dives go out between 1:30 and 2:00
The trip will last AT LEAST 4 hours, more if the op provides adequate surface intervals and provides extended bottom times.
If the ship leaves at 6:00, that means you have to be back to the ship by 5:30 at the latest, it may be even more like 5:15. if your ship is tendering, you have to allow time to catch the last tender back to the ship, which is 45 minutes before the ship leaves. That means you need to be back by 5:00 or 5:15 at the latest...and that's going to be REALLY pushing it...if not impossible...not to mention that you'd be rushing the other divers on the boat with this schedule.
The ship has done you no favors with that schedule. You may be best served with the ships operator in this case, which will be either Sand Dollar Sports or AquaWorld. They are contracted by the ships and have a dedicated boat(s) to accommodate the cruise ship divers.
RonFrank
Contributor
Christi:
It would be interesting to know of the Cruise ships makeup schedules like this to discourage people from using Non-Cruise planned vendors. Sure seems interesting that they get in JUST too late to make an AM dive, and then are leaving just at the time when a PM dive would put them off as well....
RonFrank:
My guess is that they are oblivious to it. I doubt that the schedule of dive ops is anywhere near big enough a consideration for the cruise ships to alter their schedule either to accomodate or discourage booking with an outside dive op. What percent of the passengers on a cruise ship go diving? A pretty small one, I'd wager.
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