After reading this entire thread, that is exactly what I was thinking as well! It seems there are two types of people in the Cozumel forum: those who are madly in love with Cozumel and would never want to dive anywhere else, and those who come here to tell the Cozumel lovers that it really isn't that great, and that they only think it's great because they haven't been diving in exotic locales around the world (Chickdiver comes to mind).
Um...then you obviously didn't read it very carefully. Even I agreed that there's better diving in the world, but I have yet to find the overall variety and value that Cozumel diving offers.
Many of us have extensive dive resumes including exotic locales. The
point is that you can't compare Caribbean diving to places like Fiji, Palau, Indonesia, etc. It's apples to oranges, but it's also a more practical "regular" dive destination for people who live in North America because it's so accessible and really affordable when you compare it to places like Cayman, BVI, T & C, etc.
But when you compare Cozumel to other Caribbean locales, it's right up there in the top two in my opinion...that's why I ended up here and not somewhere else in the Caribbean or Hawaii (I did live there for 6 months though, back in the late 90's). And making statements like Chickdiver did, that Cozumel diving is just "little blobs of coral" is just a false statement...period. And that makes her lose credibility with me.
Alot of the people you see on this forum are Coz fanatics, yes...but this is just their regular diving in between bigger, more exotic trips...they can afford to go on multiple trips a year, here and elsewhere. I have ALOT of divers that dive with us several times a year AND go on liveaboards, and other exotic locations....so before you say the people on this forum haven't been anywhere else, think twice. They most likely have a more impressive dive resume than you do.
tzeilstra:
When I was in Cancun last November, the dive op I went with recommended that I not bother with Cozumel, as it isn't nearly what it was before Wilma.
That's just comical to me and quite a self defeating statement from your Cancun dive op. If Cozumel isn't what it was before Wilma, then Cancun definitely isn't either...they got hit just as hard as we did. Add to that, Cancun was never even comparable to Cozumel before. AS for 25 divers on the boats here...yeh, you can find that. Here comes that VARIETY word again...the great thing about Cozumel is that you can also find small boats with a maximum of 6 divers and DM's that will take you off the beaten path and who are skilled at avoiding other dive groups.
Cancun has never been thought of as a true dive destination and never will be. Diving in Cancun is an afterthought which is why you see very, very few dive ops over there...and the ones you do find, are large resort style operations catering mostly to divers that just don't know any better.
I don't care if Cozumel isn't everyone's favorite place. I love it (otherwise I wouldn't be here) but it's also not my very favorite place in the world. But again, for the overall variety, proximity and easy access to the US, value and quality of life, I'll take it
With that said, I also don't think it's becoming to anyone to come on here and get up on their high presumptuous horse and bash people or snub their nose up at people who love it here (or to bash people that aren't in love with the place - it goes both ways), whether or not they've been diving elsewhere in the world or not.
Carry-on
