Cozumel = "hell on earth?!"

[Hank49]

Well, I have the Humann series here for the Caribbean, and all three of them are more than 1/2 inch thick. I'm proud to say that the Reef Creature and Coral books are each 3/4" to 1" and Reef Fish is right at 2" thick

Yeah but he used thick paper and big font....

 

[caseybird]

As long as we're making silly comparisons, My copy of Humann's Caribbean guide is 481 pages, The Tropical Pacific book is 457. Comments? From New York, Coz is about a 8 hour flight there and 12 hours back, door to door. Figi was about 36 hours there and 3 days return. I could buy 3 trips to Coz for one trip to the Indo-Pacific. .
Coz has teriffic diving, is easy to get to, too many cruisers and is too close to Cancun. I still love the place. Fiji has fantastic diving and wonderful people. I'd go back there in a minute, but you know what? I'll go back to Coz just as quickly.
"Little blobs of coral" just destroys your credibility.

 

[grazie42]

Hell on earth?
I don´t think it had anything to do with lack of amenities...

I´ve only been once but...
It sort of felt like the "disney version" of Mexico...a very "american mexico"...it seemed like most of the people were either on AI´s or cruiseships (which is fine if that´s what you want) but there just didn´t seem to be many non-touristy places on the island (we rented a house from a local couple and they pretty much told us that you had to go to the mainland to find "genuine mexico")...

The reef-diving is ok and the cenotes were fun but other than that? Not so much...for someone travelling from europe, mexico is also a bit more expensive than the red sea and some of the other "great" destinations so it needs to be "better" than those to be worthwhile...

 

[Hank49]

As long as we're making silly comparisons, My copy of Humann's Caribbean guide is 481 pages, The Tropical Pacific book is 457. Comments? .

If you research this further....meaning more than counting pages in a couple of books.. you'll find that the Indo Pacific is more species rich.

 

[Damselfish]

Pacific ID books in general simply aren't nearly as complete as the Caribbean ones. See lots of stuff in the Pacific that isn't in the books. Hard to imagine how many pages if they could be "complete."

 

[ggunn]

Anyone else reminded of the infamous "Hiroshima of the Caribbean" thread by all this? ;^)

 

[diver 85]

It's not exactly the best place to go, but it does beat the mess out of diving Toledo Bend--quick & easy for us so I try to go once(or twice) a year---Everything's relative.....

 

[94GTStang]

Well Coz fish can beat up Red Sea fish

 

[ggunn]

I´ve only been once but...
It sort of felt like the "disney version" of Mexico...a very "american mexico"...it seemed like most of the people were either on AI´s or cruiseships (which is fine if that´s what you want) but there just didn´t seem to be many non-touristy places on the island (we rented a house from a local couple and they pretty much told us that you had to go to the mainland to find "genuine mexico")...

If you want to see the true "American/Disney Mexico", go to Cancun; it's where you go in Mexico if you don't really want to go to Mexico.

It kinda cracks me up when tourists go to a resort area and try to find "non-touristy places". Truly "non-touristy places" don't want you there. That said, however, there are plenty of places you can go on Cozumel where you won't see any "pod people" or folks that are on an AI plan. As a one-time visitor you may not have found them.

 

[Hank49]

Pacific ID books in general simply aren't nearly as complete as the Caribbean ones. See lots of stuff in the Pacific that isn't in the books. Hard to imagine how many pages if they could be "complete."

John E Randall's fish books are pretty complete. Some are older and getting harder to find. I think he's 84 now.