Cozumel Trip Report, Late May – Early June 2017

[Ironborn]

For me it is the air travel time. Strangely, the costs of the diving is often cheaper even though the quality of the diving is higher. For example check compare liveaboard costs in Maldives or Red Sea vs. Caribbean.

How does the air travel time from New York to Cozumel encourage you to return there? The convenience of the direct flights from Texas and Charlotte probably encourages many divers in and around those places to return to Cozumel, but I am curious as to how it encourages a fellow New Yorker to return there.

I looked into flights to Cozumel from New York with connections in those cities, but the layovers would have been so short that I would have risked missing the connecting flights to Cozumel, or they would have required me to wake up and leave for the airport at such an early hour that I might as well not sleep at all that night.

I did the Cancun "bag drag" via a direct flight from JFK, and it took longer than I had anticipated, based on what I read about it on this sub-forum. The bus from the airport took a longer time to leave than others suggested because it went to two other terminals to pick up more passengers. The length of time that it took the bus to pick up those extra passengers caused me to miss the ferry from Playa Del Carmen by less than five minutes, so I had to wait for more than an hour for the next one. Of course, the one that I missed had left right on time, but the next one that I did manage to take left on "island time" and thus took longer to arrive than it should have.

I would think that the most convenient destinations for a New Yorker would be Curacao (with JetBlue's direct flights from JFK), Bonaire (with United's direct flights from Newark), and Sint Maarten (with many direct flights). I would think that even Saba would be easier, with a direct flight to Sint Maarten and then a ride on the ferry or a puddle jumper over to Saba.

 

[ronscuba]

How does the air travel time from New York to Cozumel encourage you to return there? The convenience of the direct flights from Texas and Charlotte probably encourages many divers in and around those places to return to Cozumel, but I am curious as to how it encourages a fellow New Yorker to return there.
..

I've dove a lot of places in the Caribbean.

Turks & Caicos
Little Cayman
Grand Cayman
St. Martin
St. Vincent
Roatan
San Andres
Dominican Republic
Florida Keys
Aruba
Bonaire
Curacao
Belize
Cozumel
Playa Del Carmen
Costa Rica

Having dove Galapagos, Maldives, Indonesia, I don't feel any strong urge to try a new Caribbean destination. In my opinion, Caribbean diving is several notches down.

When limited to a 1 week dive vacation, I usually chose Cozumel, Belize liveaboard or Turks and Caicos liveaboard. They are my favorite dive destinations in the Caribbean and I can travel there relatively quickly.

After you gain experience diving different locations, you will form your own favorites. Might be Bonaire, Cozumel, Caymans, or someplace else.

I will probably eventually go someplace new in the Caribbean, but it is not a priority. New upcoming destinations for me are Okinawa Japan September 2017 and Red Sea in September 2018.

 

[BDSC]

I'm kinda like you Ron. Pretty much been all through the Caribbean and some spots numerous times. I'll always continue to go now and then but in the past few years we have been going to some far away places like Fiji, the Philippines, Cocos, Palau, and the Socorro Islands.

In the next few years I'll be adding Indonesia on two different trips, the Solomon Islands, and back to Socorro but will still get in Belize and Grand Cayman next year. There are just so many incredible places to see. Some take a lot of travel time but they have all been well worth it.

 

[Diver Scallop]

Glad to hear you had good experiences with Scuba Tony. I've been hitting a few threads singing their praises because I hadn't heard any mention of them among the dive operators people recommend. My wife and I dove with them three days this trip and they were great each time.

 

[deepsea21]

I have been taking the opposite approach, and not just to diving trips, but to other trips and to life in general. I figure that I should spend my relative youth (I am 36) exploring the world, shopping around, and trying new and different things while I still can. I am working on my bucket list now because, for all I know, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. I figure that, by the time I retire, I will have seen enough of the world to "settle down" with a few regular destinations that I like the best and yield the best value for the money (for me).

We all have to make our own decisions and live with them. $ went through my hands like water when I was younger and, like you, I had an absolute blast. Then my 30's came and my party continued into my mid 30's but along the way I realized I had to make some changes and decide between great adventures today or living the lifestyle I want in my retirement. As such, I chose to pull back the throttle and start loading the tank for retirement. At 36, you'll be shocked at how quickly the next 10 years are going to pass and those who don't have trust funds yet continue the 'live for now' mindset into their late 30's and past 40 pay for it greatly later on. If only we all knew how long we were going to live (or at best be healthy) the calculation would be so easy but it doesn't work that way. I say pull back the throttle sooner than later but I'm a finance guy and, as I mentioned, if I die in a car crash tomorrow or get sick in the next 10 years I made the wrong bet for me but at least I made the right one for my wife.

Anyway, this is a SCUBA board not a Personal Finance board so enough about that.

Cheers!

 

[Ironborn]

Glad to hear you had good experiences with Scuba Tony. I've been hitting a few threads singing their praises because I hadn't heard any mention of them among the dive operators people recommend. My wife and I dove with them three days this trip and they were great each time.

Yes, Trip Adivsor lists them as the top dive operator on the island, and I can see why.
ScubaTony and ScubaLuis (a former ScubaTony DM) would be my first choices if I were to return to Cozumel.

I am also curious as to why ScubaTony does not seem to have a significant following on this sub-forum. I would note that, in the other destinations that I have researched, there was not as much of a discrepancy between the Trip Advisor rankings and the recommendations of scubaboard users as there was for Cozumel. For example, when researching Curacao, Bonaire, and Sint Maarten, I came up with some of the same candidates for a dive operation from both sources, albeit with a few differences, whereas the results for Cozumel are quite different.

 

[drrich2]

Pretty much been all through the Caribbean and some spots numerous times. I'll always continue to go now and then but in the past few years we have been going to some far away places like Fiji, the Philippines, Cocos, Palau, and the Socorro Islands.

I wonder if that's why we don't see more dive travel trip reports from Grand Turk, St. Eustatius, St. Vincent, Tobago and some other places. Perhaps by the time U.S. & Canadian-based rec. dive tourists get through some of the 1st & 2nd tier (by popularity) regional destinations (e.g.: Cozumel, Bonaire, Roatan, Belize, the Caymans, Bahamas), they start looking farther afield for something different (e.g.: California, Galapagos, Indonesia) for their exploration diving, and fall back on a favorite repeat local destination for reliable, budget single week trips?

Richard.

 

[ggunn]

I would love to have the time and the wherewithal to go diving all over the world, but reality bites. Luckily, I can afford to go to Cozumel once or twice a year, so it's not too bad.

 

[MAGELLAN]

Nice trip report! I've never seen blacktips in Cozumel before, might have to check that out tomorrow. We did Palancar caves a few days ago and the current was nutty - left, right, up, down. Saw myself coming up on a pretty good downcurrent, but decided to ride it out (seeing how the currents kept shifting every 20' didn't think it would last). Anyway, that pushed me down from 75' to 105' - and just as I was about to get concerned it ended. Pretty unusual for caves, I've always found Palancar pretty tame for currents.

If your ever looking for new dive operator, give Eagle Ray Divers a try. We have been diving with them for over 15 years. It's kind of a loosely run operation, but so laid back, and accommodating, I love it! If you want strict times, and such they won't be your cup of tea, but we wouldn't use anybody else.

 

[Ironborn]

Nice trip report! I've never seen blacktips in Cozumel before, might have to check that out tomorrow. We did Palancar caves a few days ago and the current was nutty - left, right, up, down. Saw myself coming up on a pretty good downcurrent, but decided to ride it out (seeing how the currents kept shifting every 20' didn't think it would last). Anyway, that pushed me down from 75' to 105' - and just as I was about to get concerned it ended. Pretty unusual for caves, I've always found Palancar pretty tame for currents.

Yeah, I wonder if they were residents there at Palancar Horseshoe, as I think that blacktips tend to live and stay in relatively small areas. The 3P DM told us in the briefing to expect them there, and lo and behold, they showed up. Those blacktips and two nurse sharks at Paso del Cedral were the only sharks that I saw in 20+ dives that week.

As for the current at Palancar - yeah, that sounds odd, the current seemed quite consistently calm at every Palancar and Colombia site that we visited.