Cozumel for Beginners?

[mediakzar]

Louise-
As noted by another poster, just make sure the dive master and dive shop know your experience level and you should be fine. There are lots of really good dives for newly certified divers.

Some you might ask your dive master about are: Columbia Shallows, Palancar Gardens, Paradise Reef and Paso de Cedral. Also, San Francisco Wall is an excellent introduction to wall diving for beginners. The wall tops out at about 50 feet and the best coral is at 65 feet and above. There is good and varied fish life available and while there is a current, it is usually gentle.

Joel
http://www.mxtravel.com/cozumel/cozumel_diving.html

Greetings from Colorado:

My husband and I are newly certified and are thinking of going to Cozumel in either October or December.

My husband has heard that the currents are too strong for inexperienced divers but he doesn't remember where he heard that from... I'm guessing his father who has a new "Dead Diver" story to tell us every time we talk to him (eyes-a-rolling)

Can anyone comment on this for me? I found a decent deal at the Allegro... can anyone tell me yay or nay for that hotel?

Thanks Bunches!
Louise

 

[NDH]

Last year my wife and I did a resort dive in Cozumel for our first time. Since then we have OW,AOW,Rescue Diver. It is fantastic. We returned last April to Scuba Club and had a great time along with learning from more experiance divers.

 

[luvspoodles]

I loved diving in Cozumel as a new diver. There is one thing that was hard for me. I am going over Thanksgiving so I have been thinking about this. It was the ascent. They do free ascents-no line. This was difficult for me as a new diver and I blew a safety stop once because I was so nervous I forgot to let the air out of my bc and up I went! It freaked me out! However, I've gotten a lot more practice in different places including California cold water diving, and I've worked on my buoyancy, so I should be better. So, make sure you are weighted properly and maybe someone will chime in and give us both pointers for open water ascents!

 

[ggunn]

...make sure you are weighted properly and maybe someone will chime in and give us both pointers for open water ascents!

You already said it; vent your BC completely before you start up. If you have to kick to keep from sinking at the safety stop, you're overweighted.

 

[freefall2]

We lived in Cozumel for 5 years. I don't think the currents in the park are too technical for beginners. We got in the habit of always taking a big red lift bag with about 40' of line and a lead weight on the end. When we were ready to do our safety stop, we'd inflate the bag and stop 10-15' under it.

 

[Sirto]

Greetings from Colorado:

My husband and I are newly certified and are thinking of going to Cozumel in either October or December.

My husband has heard that the currents are too strong for inexperienced divers but he doesn't remember where he heard that from... I'm guessing his father who has a new "Dead Diver" story to tell us every time we talk to him (eyes-a-rolling)

Can anyone comment on this for me? I found a decent deal at the Allegro... can anyone tell me yay or nay for that hotel?

Thanks Bunches!
Louise

I went to Cozumel last year which was the first trip after we were certified. I thought that the drift diving was fairly easy. You need to watch your boyancy if you get into a particularly fast current as you are then "flying" over the reef and don't want to crash into it. Many of the dives had fairly slow currents. The diving was great, don't pass it up.

We also stayed at the Allegro and felt that the food was very good for an AI, the grounds were attractive but the rooms were not very nicely appointed and there was occasionally a bad smell from the sewer plant. The pool was in need of painting. I won't return there. I suggest the Occidental Grand just a little further south and which is the high end of the Allegro chain.

We used Dive with Martin who would stop at the Allegro pier to pick us up. I thought they were very attentive and a good operation. They used a small boat and we never had more than 6 divers per DM. An advantage using DWM is that they include all equipment in the dive package which can save you a good deal of money. They even include a dive computer. The two tank dives were $50 each if you bought at least 3 (ie 6 dives). For every package of 6 dives you also got a free boat night dive. They also videoed one dive and gave you a VHS tape for free (really nice souvenier). If you are going to buy 12 or mor dives then get them in groups of 6 so you get extra night dives! DWM also gives you unlimited shore dives at their shop which is located next to the beach at LaCeiba hotel.

 

[sharky60]

I'll have to agree that Cozumel is great for new divers, there are A LOT of people who go there for there certificaiton check out dives, and most dive ops will try and group novice divers all together on boats so everyone can do dive sites that are compatable with their skills. 2 good dive ops are Dive with Martin who we went with on this trip and Blue XT Sea, Christi is on this board quite often and her op is highly recommended by other divers and a good friend of mine who lives down there recommends both ops to her clients.
A friend of mine who was with us in Cozumel last week has stayed at the Allegro, he said it's nice, but if your going to stay that far south you might want to consider the Occidental Grand just next door, we stayed there with them part of the week and it was really nice!! see my trip review... "trip report, woo hoo"... for more info.
just remember the cab ride to town from either is close to $20 one way if your planning on spending any time in town, which by the way i would highly recommend because you really won't get a feel for what Cozumel is really all about without going down there and spending time with the people.
have a great trip and let us know what you think when you get back

Greetings from Colorado:

My husband and I are newly certified and are thinking of going to Cozumel in either October or December.

My husband has heard that the currents are too strong for inexperienced divers but he doesn't remember where he heard that from... I'm guessing his father who has a new "Dead Diver" story to tell us every time we talk to him (eyes-a-rolling)

Can anyone comment on this for me? I found a decent deal at the Allegro... can anyone tell me yay or nay for that hotel?

Thanks Bunches!
Louise

 

[shouldabenafish]

I went to Cozumel this past May after diving only 7 or so shallow shore dives. My first dive in Cozumel was Palancar Horseshoe - 85-90 ft wall. I was a little nervous beforehand because I had been warned about the current, but as long as you pay attention to your dive guide, you shouldn't have any problems and you shouldn't have any reason to swim against it. Just float lazily along and enjoy the scenery

Palancar Horseshoe was probablly a little more advanced then I would have picked for my first real dive because your weaving in and out of caverns throughout the entire dive, but I'm so glad I did it- an incredible dive and by far, my favorite of the 10 dives we did in cozumel. The coral formations are unreal!

Have an awesome trip!

 

[Danny-Louise]

Thanks All!! I'm really excited to try Cozumel... the good thing about Cozumel is that I can get a charter flight there so it isn't going to cost me an arm and a leg. I'll keep you all posted! Louise

 

[rockydiver]

My Wife and I (from Colorado too!) stayed at the Allegro with our kids in June and loved it. There is always something going on there for adults and kids. Two pools and on the beach for relaxing too. A very wonderful staff and family atmosphere. We are going back in one week and will be staying there again.
As for Barracuda, it is a small beach Dive Shop. I did a Cenotes trip through them and had a great time. The DM Tour guide was friendly and very knowledgable about the Cenotes. The only draw-back was (I discovered later) they are quite pricey. I will be checking out other Ops. when we go back.