Cozumel Dive Sites

[ggunn]

I am traveling to Cozumel for a week of diving with 3P with my girlfriend in late May. She is ow cert with about 15 dives and I am aow with about 30 dives so we are fairly new divers. I know a lot of the dive sites are new-Diver friendly but I am curious if there are any must see sites that may be beyond the limits of an ow cert?

Most if not all Cozumel dive ops are not concerned about whether you are OW or AOW certed. Most will want to dive with you for a bit to see how you are in the water and talk with you about your diving experience before taking you to the more challenging sites. I am only OW certed, but I have been to just about every site at least once. I have been diving Cozumel for more than 25 years, though, and for the last 15 or so with the same op.

 

[scubadada]

Devil's Throat is a mundane swim through to a gorgeous deep exit on the wall. Barracuda is a dazzling swift drift on a beautiful wall. Neither are appropriate dives for an inexperienced diver.

 

[AdivingBel]

3Ps does a good job of grouping divers on their boats. Pay attention to the DMs (they are very good) and have fun. You'll be part of the Pelican family before you know it. Keep an ear out for groups catching lunch & dinner. An evening out with some of the "regulars" can be fun.

 

[sam.gillin]

Really appreciate all the feedback guys. I’ll pick up a SMB and get used to deploying it at depth this weekend here in the chilly PNW. We’re both looking forward to some warmer water after diving 45-50 degree water for the past six months. Any additional advice, tips, coz related info is appreciated as well!

 

[Rob9876]

Re-reading the original post, there are some very nice swim-throughs between 80 and 100-ish feet deep in Palancar Gardens and Columbia Deep that we went through with 3P. Not sure if OP's girlfriend having 15 dives and OW would be an issue or not for 3P -- might not be a bad idea for her to get AOW if possible. Also, we did both of those dives with 3P on the same day, and if we had not been diving Nitrox our 2nd dive would have been a bit shorter (you can get PADI Nitrox certified with just a few hours of classroom time).

 

[IncreaseMyT]

Columbia was my favorite in Palancar. The diving was super easy there and the dive guides have like 7,000 dives. They take care of everything, you just stay with the group.

 

[Rob9876]

Columbia was my favorite in Palancar.

The swim-throughs that twist through the coral mountains where you come out with a great view of other coral mountains are really spectacular. Even though I'm mostly interested in the creatures, those views really give you a wonderland-type experience.

 

[GameChanger]

My teenage son was my dive buddy for our Coz trip this month. He had only 6 OW dives, with the last dive 1.5 yrs ago. I disclosed this to our DM and a private DM was strongly encouraged. I took the advice and 3P's arranged for Oswaldo to do a Refresher with my son on day 1 of our trip. Oswaldo is awesome! Very thorough and he made my son feel very confident and relaxed as evidenced by his very conservative gas consumption. I stayed with them during day 1 of 2-tank dives and I re-learned a few things LOL!

If you are interested in EAN, 3P's will train & certify you right on the boat. On our trip we had a young couple who wanted EAN cert's & after they completed the quick & easy book-work, 3P's did the practical course on the boat. I thought it was great because the students measured both my tanks in my presence as part of their course work.

 

[sam.gillin]

My teenage son was my dive buddy for our Coz trip this month. He had only 6 OW dives, with the last dive 1.5 yrs ago. I disclosed this to our DM and a private DM was strongly encouraged. I took the advice and 3P's arranged for Oswaldo to do a Refresher with my son on day 1 of our trip. Oswaldo is awesome! Very thorough and he made my son feel very confident and relaxed as evidenced by his very conservative gas consumption. I stayed with them during day 1 of 2-tank dives and I re-learned a few things LOL!

If you are interested in EAN, 3P's will train & certify you right on the boat. On our trip we had a young couple who wanted EAN cert's & after they completed the quick & easy book-work, 3P's did the practical course on the boat. I thought it was great because the students measured both my tanks in my presence as part of their course work.

That’s awesome! Sounds like we made a good choice with 3P. I will probably get my EAN cert while I’m there because why not. Any must sees or must dos outside of diving while on coz? I’m curious to hear your guys’ experiences rather than just reading travel articles.

 

[Rob9876]

The San Gervasio ruins are a nice town of Mayan ruins on the island, and worth checking out. Not as large as Coba or Chichen Itza on the mainland, but some decent sized structures and still neat to see the town layout. You can cover it in a couple of hours, and either do a self-guided tour or hire a tour guide on-site. I would skip the tiny El Cedral ruin (about the size of a 2-car garage, surrounded by tourist trap gift shops at high prices) down south.

We like snorkeling around Buccanos and Money Bar, among other places. We tend to visit Chankanaab park one day per visit for activities and snorkeling there also. It's also nice to rent a car and ride around the island, and stop for a drink or meal on the east (wild) side.

A must do for us is eating lion fish (pez leon) at La Perlita -- it is a very mild fish, and they cook it several ways (I like coconut batter breaded and fried with a mango dipping sauce). Everything else we've tried at La Perlita has been good also.