skinfish
Registered
I just returned from Coz last night and wanted to share my experience.
We stayed at the Iberostar Cozumel on the southern end of the island. It was a great choice for a few reasons. The grounds are beautiful and very tropical. The buildings are thatched roof units and very nice. The beds are very firm, which I like, so I slept like a rock every night. The food was good and very good in some of the restaurants. It is not gourmet but I was able to have fish multiple times a day, which worked for me. The pool was excellent, as was the beach. You do need some sort of water shoes to walk into the water from the beach because of the rocky bottom. I snorkeled in front of the hotel and I have to say, it was much better than I thought. There were quite a few sting rays, large starfish, barracuda, Bermuda chubs, sergeant majors, flounder, bristle worms, snapper, Bluehead wrasse, bluestriped grunts, large black-striped white angel fish, and some other very large fish I could not identify. This was all under their pier so it was pretty cool as far a snorkeling goes. I would recommend the Iberostar for all of the reasons listed above and most importantly, it is right next to many of the great reefs on the southern end of the island, a five minute boat trip.
The weather was great. It was in the mid-eighties every day with some cloud cover. We did have some rain but it was light and short-lived. We are in the middle of a jungle so I guess you have to expect it. Visibility underwater could have been better but it wasnt too bad. It varied from 40 feet to over 80 feet, depending on the day and the dive site. Water temps seemed to remain consistent at 79 degrees, according to my computer.
I dove with Aldora Divers for the time I was there. Although I am not that experienced a diver, I would highly recommend Aldora. They were fantastic in every way, from getting the gear ready to diving the sites we asked to dive. They would take our gear after our daily dives and clean it, get it ready for the next day and it would be set up by the time they picked me up every morning at the Iberostar pier. The DMs, Gustavo and Mateo, we fantastic. They would brief us every day on the dives we were going to do so we knew what to expect and how deep we would be diving. The first day, there were only 2 divers per DM. On other days, there were never more than five divers per DM and no more than six divers, including the DM, per boat. They were very safety conscious w/o being baby-sitters. During the surface interval, they would get the gear ready for the second dive so us divers never had to do anything but get our wetsuits, fins and masks on. We dove with steel 120s and averaged 55-60 minutes per dive.
First dive on Friday we dove to 110 feet on Punta Sur Sur. Visibility was about 50 feet and saw a spotted eagle ray 5 minutes into the dive. He was about 9 foot across according to the Gustavo and just beautiful. We also saw many turtle, some barracuda and all the other beautiful fish you normally encounter in Coz. As we were driving to the first dive site, two bottlenose dolphins were jumping next to our boat for a few minutes. It was a very cool site!
Second dive was to 65 feet on Dalila. Visibility was about 60 feet. We saw the largest midnight parrotfish I had ever seen, along with a huge snapper that was silver and had large teeth (Gray Snapper?). We saw some honeycomb cowfish, scrawled filefish and a large grouper.
First Dive on Saturday we dove to 95 feet on Palancar Caves. Visibility was about 80 feet today. We saw another spotted eagle ray today but it was only about 4 feet across. He came right by me then turned and headed straight toward me until he was within 10 feet, then he turned and swam off. We saw many more turtles, shrimp and another large snapper like the one yesterday. This reef system was really cool with some great swim thrus.
Second dive was to Cedral Pass at 55 feet. Visibility was again around 80 feet. Gustavo called this the Aquarium and I can see why. The fish were in abundance, every different kind, it was amazing! Saw a very large puffer fish and the largest barracuda I have ever seen before, over 4 feet long. There were some very good swim thrus on this site as well.
Third dive this day was a night dive and the coolest dive for me yet. I saw everything I had not seen so far during the day. We dove to about 52 feet for over an hour with a good current taking us over Paradise reef. Saw about four octopus, many spotted morays, a large black sea cucumber, a slipper lobster, regular lobster, giant crabs, different varieties of shrimp, porcupinefish, a long light blue/white eel, and my first toadfish.
First dive Sunday we dove to 122 feet (record for me) on Columbia Pinnacles. Visibility was 50 feet. The reef landscape here was very cool and we saw some turtles, large grouper and snapper, lobster and stingray.
Second dive of the day was to the C-53 wreck. On the way, we had flying fish flying next to our boat which was a very cool site to see. We dove to 77 feet and visibility was the same at 50 feet. I had wanted to do this wreck because I have only done one wreck previous and loved it. This was a great dive and we went through the majority of this ship internally. There were small schools of glassy sweepers throughout the wreck. When we reached the top deck, there were some large grouper and snapper up there along with the largest rainbow parrotfish I have ever seen.
My last day I dove the cenotes. I dove Dos Ojos and Bat Cave. No critters to see but amazing sights and visibility of over 200 feet, where the cavern permits. Bat Cave was more beautiful with its formations but both were a great experience. This is something I am glad I did but dont know that I would be in a hurry to do it again. I would recommend anyone to see this because it is amazing but once is good enough for me. Anyone with any fear of small places would have a problem in these caverns because of some of the tight places you swim through.
This was my first time in Cozumel and a fantastic trip. I know this report will probably not be too exciting to the vets on this board but to any newbies looking to go to Coz, this may help. I cannot wait to go back and now know why everyone seems to be so addicted to diving here. It was hard leaving yesterday
We stayed at the Iberostar Cozumel on the southern end of the island. It was a great choice for a few reasons. The grounds are beautiful and very tropical. The buildings are thatched roof units and very nice. The beds are very firm, which I like, so I slept like a rock every night. The food was good and very good in some of the restaurants. It is not gourmet but I was able to have fish multiple times a day, which worked for me. The pool was excellent, as was the beach. You do need some sort of water shoes to walk into the water from the beach because of the rocky bottom. I snorkeled in front of the hotel and I have to say, it was much better than I thought. There were quite a few sting rays, large starfish, barracuda, Bermuda chubs, sergeant majors, flounder, bristle worms, snapper, Bluehead wrasse, bluestriped grunts, large black-striped white angel fish, and some other very large fish I could not identify. This was all under their pier so it was pretty cool as far a snorkeling goes. I would recommend the Iberostar for all of the reasons listed above and most importantly, it is right next to many of the great reefs on the southern end of the island, a five minute boat trip.
The weather was great. It was in the mid-eighties every day with some cloud cover. We did have some rain but it was light and short-lived. We are in the middle of a jungle so I guess you have to expect it. Visibility underwater could have been better but it wasnt too bad. It varied from 40 feet to over 80 feet, depending on the day and the dive site. Water temps seemed to remain consistent at 79 degrees, according to my computer.
I dove with Aldora Divers for the time I was there. Although I am not that experienced a diver, I would highly recommend Aldora. They were fantastic in every way, from getting the gear ready to diving the sites we asked to dive. They would take our gear after our daily dives and clean it, get it ready for the next day and it would be set up by the time they picked me up every morning at the Iberostar pier. The DMs, Gustavo and Mateo, we fantastic. They would brief us every day on the dives we were going to do so we knew what to expect and how deep we would be diving. The first day, there were only 2 divers per DM. On other days, there were never more than five divers per DM and no more than six divers, including the DM, per boat. They were very safety conscious w/o being baby-sitters. During the surface interval, they would get the gear ready for the second dive so us divers never had to do anything but get our wetsuits, fins and masks on. We dove with steel 120s and averaged 55-60 minutes per dive.
First dive on Friday we dove to 110 feet on Punta Sur Sur. Visibility was about 50 feet and saw a spotted eagle ray 5 minutes into the dive. He was about 9 foot across according to the Gustavo and just beautiful. We also saw many turtle, some barracuda and all the other beautiful fish you normally encounter in Coz. As we were driving to the first dive site, two bottlenose dolphins were jumping next to our boat for a few minutes. It was a very cool site!
Second dive was to 65 feet on Dalila. Visibility was about 60 feet. We saw the largest midnight parrotfish I had ever seen, along with a huge snapper that was silver and had large teeth (Gray Snapper?). We saw some honeycomb cowfish, scrawled filefish and a large grouper.
First Dive on Saturday we dove to 95 feet on Palancar Caves. Visibility was about 80 feet today. We saw another spotted eagle ray today but it was only about 4 feet across. He came right by me then turned and headed straight toward me until he was within 10 feet, then he turned and swam off. We saw many more turtles, shrimp and another large snapper like the one yesterday. This reef system was really cool with some great swim thrus.
Second dive was to Cedral Pass at 55 feet. Visibility was again around 80 feet. Gustavo called this the Aquarium and I can see why. The fish were in abundance, every different kind, it was amazing! Saw a very large puffer fish and the largest barracuda I have ever seen before, over 4 feet long. There were some very good swim thrus on this site as well.
Third dive this day was a night dive and the coolest dive for me yet. I saw everything I had not seen so far during the day. We dove to about 52 feet for over an hour with a good current taking us over Paradise reef. Saw about four octopus, many spotted morays, a large black sea cucumber, a slipper lobster, regular lobster, giant crabs, different varieties of shrimp, porcupinefish, a long light blue/white eel, and my first toadfish.
First dive Sunday we dove to 122 feet (record for me) on Columbia Pinnacles. Visibility was 50 feet. The reef landscape here was very cool and we saw some turtles, large grouper and snapper, lobster and stingray.
Second dive of the day was to the C-53 wreck. On the way, we had flying fish flying next to our boat which was a very cool site to see. We dove to 77 feet and visibility was the same at 50 feet. I had wanted to do this wreck because I have only done one wreck previous and loved it. This was a great dive and we went through the majority of this ship internally. There were small schools of glassy sweepers throughout the wreck. When we reached the top deck, there were some large grouper and snapper up there along with the largest rainbow parrotfish I have ever seen.
My last day I dove the cenotes. I dove Dos Ojos and Bat Cave. No critters to see but amazing sights and visibility of over 200 feet, where the cavern permits. Bat Cave was more beautiful with its formations but both were a great experience. This is something I am glad I did but dont know that I would be in a hurry to do it again. I would recommend anyone to see this because it is amazing but once is good enough for me. Anyone with any fear of small places would have a problem in these caverns because of some of the tight places you swim through.
This was my first time in Cozumel and a fantastic trip. I know this report will probably not be too exciting to the vets on this board but to any newbies looking to go to Coz, this may help. I cannot wait to go back and now know why everyone seems to be so addicted to diving here. It was hard leaving yesterday
