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

[jasonreid50]

Hi guys -

I am considering visiting Cozumel for the first time this July. Have historically shyed away from it because I have worried that its popularity could mean cattle-car dive boats, crowded dive sites and potentially diver-damaged reefs.

Can anyone compare the quality/experience of Cozumel diving to Bonaire or Dominica, or some of the better Pacific/Asian dive spots - Fiji, Thailand or the Red Sea?

Thanks!

 

[BrewingDiver]

I can't compare it to the other places but you can choose your dive op accordingly. There are plenty of 6 packs boats in Coz. I can't remember ever being crowded at a site except maybe on a night dive (since most do Paradise Reef), and the reefs are in fine shape, especially as you go deeper.

 

[BrewingDiver]

See this thread too:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/318211-very-basic-cozumel-questions.html

 

[SailNaked]

Bonair>BVI>Coz IMO

 

[Diver Kat]

Haven't done Asia, or any of those areas, but have done both Coz & Bonaire. Bonaire is shore diving heaven so you can dive your own comfort level, schedule and frequency. Most places offer a dive & drive package, and the place we've stayed a few trips - Deep Blue View (a B&B) offers combos with boat dives and other perks as well. You won't see the magnificent formations that Coz has, but the sea life is abundant and beautiful. You can spend an hour + doing a night dive under the town pier just going from one amazing thing to another. On the other hand, Cozumel is all about the drift diving, the towering coral formations, swim-thrus, killer visibility and amazing sea life. You can easily find a dive-op to suit your needs and budget with no worries about being stuck on a cattle boat.

Either island will give you great - but different - diving.

 

[HammerHead05]

I agree 100% with Diver Kat re Bonaire and Coz. I have dove Red Sea and prefer Red Sea over anywhere in the Carribean but to each his own.

 

[georoc01]

The plus of Cozumel for me is that its so much convenient to get to that the other places you mentioned. I can get on a plane in the am and be diving in the afternoon.

The other places you want to compare to are much more difficult for me to travel to and the cost of that travel is generally more than my entire trip to Cozy.

In general the more remote the dive sites, the better the diving.

But as far as value goes for the money, I don't think Cozumel can be beat.

 

[Where2Next]

Cozumel is a quick, cheap get-away with a bonus of decent diving. I thought the reefs were, in general, not in the best condition - lots of damage from weather and divers. With that said, if you are a beginner (or only ever dive Cozumel), you will love it and never know what you are missing. I surfaced from Palancar Gardens and was wondering which freaking boat was mine, as well as if the boat heading straight for me would notice, LOL!

I skipped several dives, frankly I think I have been spoiled by my Indonesian experiences. I would return to Cozumel for a getaway, but it would not be specifically for the diving, although I definitely would go diving.

So to rate the dives... IMO... Indonesia/South Pacific-Bonaire-Cozumel (based on your provided selections) Try looking into Fiji - the Fijian dollar is so low right now, there are lots of deals to be had.

 

[robint]

IMHO, Bonaire is much better than Cozumel as far as diving goes. I give Bonaire diving an A-, and Cozumel diving a C. The diving in Bonaire is easy whether by boat or shore and tons of fish. You can dive dive dive 24/7 there. Cozumel has some nice dive sites but they are still very damaged by the hurricane several years ago and not as many fish as before. Also, Cozumel is drift diving and some dive sites get very crowded with tons of boats and divers. We never once did a dive on Bonaire that had another boat on it when we did boat dives and when we did shore dives we rarely saw other divers at all.

Cozumel is cheaper and easier to get to than Bonaire. Food is cheaper in Cozumel also. Not much to do on Bonaire but snorkel or dive.

Pacific diving - we have been to Palau and it blows every destination in the Caribbean out of the water. It is definitely an A+ destination. But it is very expensive.....
We have also been to Kona, Hawaii and I would give it a C, decent dives and fishlife but all topography is pretty similar and not as colorful as Palau or the Caribbean. The topside stuff in Kona was awesome though which made up for it.

Haven't been to Fiji, Indonesia, or Philippines but our friends who have been there RAVE about them.

 

[Diver Kat]

I'd have to disagree a bit with RobinT .... yes, there is hurricane damage still visible on Coz, but over-all the reefs have improved tremendously. As for sea-life, I was diving Coz not to long after the hurricane an the sea life was back stronger than ever! Even our last trip this past November - we saw many, many large and small turtles, good fish population; one site with easily over 50 lobster clustered together under a number of coral heads, and even two octopi out roaming during the day. There was no lack of variety or number in the sea life population.

As for crowding - I guess it depends on who you dive with and their dive schedule. When I used to go with one of the larger ops, we would see more crowded situations. Since we've switched to a smaller independent (Scuba with Alison) it seems we rarely see any other divers around us. I think she varies her schedule to miss the peak times.

And as previously mentioned, Coz is an easy trip for most to get to. Diving, accommodations and food are some of the lowest prices around. It's one reason we do so many trips there - we can get more trips in - which means more diving - per dollar than we can going even to Florida, or places like Bonaire. Now if we could just mash the shore diving of Boanire with the boat diving of Cozumel, we'd have a perfect place to go!