Cozumel vs. Bonaire & top Asian/Pacific dive spots??

[bradsab]

I disagree strongly with some of what you have written.

Bonaire reef "Much better shape than Coz. " This is the most arguable, but I'd say that it is not true. Or, at least, on most dive sites it is not true. Some sites on Bonaire are much worse than Coz average. Storm-damaged sites on Coz have rebounded a lot. Also, most sites on Coz are at least as good as Bonaire, if not better.

Cozumel "Better variety of fish." Bari reef on Bonaire has the largest number of documented fish species of any location in the Caribbean. But, you have know what you are looking at, when to look and where to look.

Cozumel "No realistic shore dive option." Several resorts have well established shore diving. Scuba Club Cozumel is one that offers 24/7 shore diving right out front.

Hmmmm… you may be right, but that was not my experience. We chose our dive sites at Bonnaire from recommendations found on SB, so likely everything we dove was some of the best Bonnaire has to offer. At each of those sites the reef was in excellent shape with more growth than anything I’ve seen at Cozumel. So much of the Coz reef has sand scattered over it from the storms, and I saw very little of that in Bonnaire.

I’ve read about Bari reef, and won’t dispute the claim. That comment should not have been included in my post. My apologies.

I would like to know more about shore diving in Cozumel. We’ll be staying at Villa Blanca this time, and I read somewhere that there’s shore diving at Villa. I’m just wondering how shore diving works with Coz’s currents. How far out is the reef? On Google Earth it looks far enough to be swept quite a distance by the current during a 45-60 minute dive. In Bonnaire’s absence of current, we would swim out to the drop-off on the surface, sometimes only 20 yards from shore. We’d decend to 60-80fsw and cruise along the reef in one direction until around 1500psi, then ascend to 30-40fsw and swim back the other direction until about 500psi. Then we’d poke around the shallow reef 12-15fsw until OOA. Sometime during those long safety stops we’d pop up to see where the truck was so we could end up close to our entry point. I’m thinking shore diving in Cozumel would be quite different. I’ve only snorkeled off the shore in Coz a couple of times, and the current was pretty stiff and the reef was way beyond reach. Are there places where the reef is accessible from shore, and protected from the current? I’d like to try it.

 

[DeltaWardog]

My wife and I did a shore dive at the marina next to Iberostar last time we were there. It was pretty cool, despite the boat traffic and the fact that I totally fubared shooting the buoy on the way out (it was my first time using a reel). It was a few minutes swim to the reef but the current wasn't bad at all. We poked around much like we'd done at Bonaire, and when it was time to come back we ended up right where we wanted to be. We got to see the longest sea cucumber we've ever come across, which was interesting and repulsive at the same time. Was pretty cool to watch it slithering along the sea bed though.

Very easy entry and exit, but be prepared to swim under boats and swarms of snorkelers. If you're not comfortable with that you should probably find another place like one of the scuba club house reefs. (Not sure if they allow people not staying there to dive off their shore, but it was always OK in Bonaire as long as we checked in with the dive shop first)

 

[lmorin]

I can only address the shore diving at Scuba Club. I have been there twice, the first shortly after Wilma. There was a lot of broadly distributed hurricane damage rubble in the water and not much to see. A few species of fish and little growth on the rubble. Night dives were more interesting. The second trip was last July and a lot has changed. The rubble is still there, but it has been arranged to form walls (almost like New England stone walls or discrete piles. Also, a number of other hollow monuments have been added. The dived area extends 50-60 yds from the shore and is marked by buoys on the surface. Boat traffic stays outside the buoys. Depth is 25-35 ft. Out at the edge of the area are some good sized concrete rubble slabs. All the rubble provide fantastic protection for many, many newly resident fish. I recorded the species we saw during about 5 shore dives. 76 species including 4 species of eel and I am sure someone more knowledgeable than I could add another 25 species with no problem. Since I didn't see the "rubble reef" area before Wilma, I have no idea whether this number of species is more or less. The point is that, while the site is not beautiful with lots of soft corals waving in the current, there really is a lot to see if you go poking around and take the time to look carefully, both in the rubble and on the sand/gravel areas.

 

[jasonreid50]

Hi jbtut & welcome to SB

This has been an interesting thread to follow as the three destinations seem so very different. Here on the Coz forum of course, you're going to get a lot of support for Coz - and I agree with all of that. I've never been to Bonaire because it takes so much longer and the crime on tourists, and I have certainly never done Asia. Just three different trip ideas, but the OP did get a lot of feedback.

I agree - this has been a very interesting thread and I have learned a lot....I had no idea that I'd get this fantastic response to my original post...really appreciate everyone's input.

 

[jbtut]

Hi jbtut & welcome to SB

This has been an interesting thread to follow as the three destinations seem so very different. Here on the Coz forum of course, you're going to get a lot of support for Coz - and I agree with all of that. I've never been to Bonaire because it takes so much longer and the crime on tourists, and I have certainly never done Asia. Just three different trip ideas, but the OP did get a lot of feedback.

Thanks, I've been a lurker for a while, and finally decided to sign up. I'm not really a "hard core" diver. I've only done about 40 dives. I live in Utah, so it's pretty limited as to what's available.

If you ever get the chance to go to Asia you should. It really is spectacular. But it's not something you can do in a week or two like a trip to the Caribbean. The plane tickets are just so expensive that you really have to go for about a month to make it worth it. That said, you'll feel like a month is too short. Once you get there most things are really cheap. An average meal at a middle of the road restaurant will cost you about $1 US. You can find decent motel rooms for around $20-30. And diving at an all inclusive resort with 4 daily boat dives was around $70 per person per day. If you have the time to stay for a while it really can be pretty competitive price wise. Places like Sipadan are quite a bit more $, but they are also completely pristine and protected by the military so there is no fishing of any type and they strictly limit it to 120 divers per day. So you don't get to dive every day on sipadan when you're there if it's high season you might only get 1 day a week. (Of course you go dive other places on those days, even the house reefs have everything from 50lb grouper to small sharks, we even saw a sea snake that hung out for a couple days under a pier) In low season you can go almost every day.
Anyway SE asia seemed way out of my comfort zone and we went with a friend who lived there for a two years. After visiting it's really no more daunting than a trip to Mexico. They have established tourism businesses, they just usually cater to europeans. But, the standard language for tourism is english and almost everyone in the tourism business speaks it. And the locals are very friendly, and they tips are not common, actually they may get offended by a tip in certain cases.

 

[bbarada]

Very interesting and informative discussion. I agree with many of the posters, particularly Deltawardog, parrotheaddiver and Diver kat.

I have been to many of the places you ask about as a diver for almost 50 years. Overall I give Hawaii a C, the Carribean a B, and Asia/South Pacific an A.

As to Cozumel versus Bonaire, I think Cozumel is better for the reef formations, sea life and clear water. I really love drift diving.

The true benefit of Bonaire is the flexibility surrounding the shore dives.

As to reef conditions, Cozumel has come back strongly since Wilma. I dove Bonaire in March, 2008, not too long after their low grade hurricane the previous November. There is a lot of reef damage in the shallower areas. I rate the reefs in Cozumel better than Bonaire at this time.

Cozumel is easy, inexpensive (relatively), and close. But to see the best diving you have to go to the South Pacific. We will go to Kauai this year and probably not dive. We will go to Cozumel in the Summer to get the two-for-one deals offered then. But our big trip will be to Wananavu on Fiji.