Cozumel’s diving is so “rushed”

[IncreaseMyT]

I personally did not find this to be the case. I dived with Dive House and stayed at Sunscapes, we didn't have to be at the end of the dock until 930 am. They kept all our gear and even set up it for us.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Hi, @Dogbowl.

I suggest staying at a resort where the op of your choice runs out of. It is a very different experience - having breakfast, sauntering out to the pier where our gear is already on the boat and our names are on the board for the day with the boat name and dive guide along with the names of our other fellow boatmates. After 2 tanks, we come back and they take care of our gear while we have lunch and nap or lounge, then we meet back at the pier for the afternoon dives at a specified time. At the end of the day, they store all our gear for us or if we done diving, they just leave it out and have the rinse tanks ready for us to use.

I, too, hate being rushed. It's a vacation, after all! Hence, why I love liveaboards or places like El Galleon/Asia Divers in Puerto Galera because it feels like a liveaboard and it is never rushed.

 

[Dogbowl]

Hi, @Dogbowl.

I suggest staying at a resort where the op of your choice runs out of. It is a very different experience - having breakfast, sauntering out to the pier where our gear is already on the boat and our names are on the board for the day with the boat name and dive guide along with the names of our other fellow boatmates. After 2 tanks, we come back and they take care of our gear while we have lunch and nap or lounge, then we meet back at the pier for the afternoon dives at a specified time. At the end of the day, they store all our gear for us or if we done diving, they just leave it out and have the rinse tanks ready for us to use.

I, too, hate being rushed. It's a vacation, after all! Hence, why I love liveaboards or places like El Galleon/Asia Divers in Puerto Galera because it feels like a liveaboard and it is never rushed.

Where might that be in Coz, other than something like Scuba Club Cozumel? The reason why we stay downtown is for easy access to restaurants. Maybe we’ll just have to cab to restaurants from down south.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Where might that be in Coz, other than something like Scuba Club Cozumel? The reason why we stay downtown is for easy access to restaurants. Maybe we’ll just have to cab to restaurants from down south.

Usually, most large resorts have a dive shop affiliated with them. For example, we knew we wanted to dive with Pro Dive and they had a location at Occidental in Cozumel, a resort. We did all inclusive so it was easy. You could still cab downtown and do some local restaurants if you want but we were heavy on the diving for many days in a row and couldn't be bothered. Our main thing was diving. I hope this helps!

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

I’ve been to Coz several times now, and I’ve been elsewhere as well. I’m starting to tire of the “rush rush rush” of the Cozumel diving experience.

I don’t mean the actual diving is rushed, although sometimes the currents are too fast for my liking and I can’t stop in one place and admire fish or creature behaviour.

What I mean is the rush from breakfast to the shop, rush to the marina, the captain’s rush to get to a reef down south, the rush of all divers trying to put on gear on a speeding bouncing boat, then the rush of divers back rolling off the boat, and descending like everyone’s overweighted. After the dive, and after you’re back on the boat, the captain’s rush to get your gear off so he can switch out your tank. Then the rush back to the marina after the 2 tank dive and everyone trying to remove and pack all their gear before the boat arrives back at the marina and dive bags are quickly unloaded and everyone’s driven back into town.

Why the rush? I guess I do get the reason why but it may not be for me anymore.

I dive to relax, to find my happy place, to feel zen under water. Rushing gets my stress levels up and it’s no fun. Now that I’ve experienced the easy unrushed feeling of diving off liveaboards and shore diving, I’m not sure I enjoy the rush rush rush of Cozumel anymore. I suppose it’s a symptom of most boat diving though, not just Cozumel.

3 letter solution: LOB.

More diving than most of us need. Never a rush since the dive deck is only 20 feet away.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I stay at the Casa Mexicana and they provide a buffet breakfast, so breakfast isn't the issue, but it's a rush to get through breakfast and to the shop on time for the morning trip.

We did that on our first trip, and I hated it. I need time to return to my room and, you know, take care of business, before heading out to the dock. After that, we only stayed at places with kitchenettes.

 

[Dogbowl]

We did that on our first trip, and I hated it. I need time to return to my room and, you know, take care of business, before heading out to the dock. After that, we only stayed at places with kitchenettes.

Yup, I totally get it. Obviously, when I do Coz again, I’ve gotta totally rethink what changes I’d like to make.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I stay at the Casa Mexicana and they provide a buffet breakfast, so breakfast isn't the issue, but it's a rush to get through breakfast and to the shop on time for the morning trip.

And that was my point. I'm talking about rolling out of bed, getting ready and at the same time that I'm able to get some decent sustenance and coffee/juice into me, without having to *go* to breakfast. I've found it a more leisurely experience for me any number of places. Then, I just walk out the door and head for the boat.

 

[MMM]

I'm late to the party, and while I can understand that might be something you could experience, it has not been my experience. My op picks up gear before diving begins so I arrive for my 8 a.m. pick up in town with nothing but my dry bag. Everything is already set up. After the first dive, we do an hour long surface interval at a beach club where I usually have a sandwich. (There's also food on the boat - fruit and cake usually, water, soda etc. - so if you skip breakfast, you have the option of a continental breakfast on the boat!). Tanks are changed while we are on shore, so no rushing. After the dive, the crew rinses and breaks down all the gear on the trip back into town. Wetsuits go into a bag to go back to the shop to be washed separately and I get off the boat 2 pm-ish, with my dry bag, feeling relaxed and mellow. I don't lift a finger if I don't want to. No rushing ever. My biggest challenge for the day is getting my 7 mm wetsuit and hooded vest on and off; I am a lazy, lazy diver. Everything is waiting for me under my seat on the following dive. Only once or twice, max, has my hooded vest not made it onto the boat after its separate shampoo.

I think it makes a difference if the op does afternoon dives as they have to fit into a schedule that sees getting that second group out and back on time. Mine does not, as a rule, do afternoon dives. That might be a question you wish to explore in future.

Maybe we’ll just have to cab to restaurants from down south.

If you stay down south, you will never be offered the opportunity to dive sites in the north, not to mention you'll spend a fortune in cab fees.

Blue Angel might work for you. Not too far out of town, good restaurant on site, dive op on site. Ditto Villa Blanca (although I think the hotel isn't the best). Couple of dive ops right in front of it you could dive with (Scuba Mau, Papa Hogs and, I think maybe Dive Paradise).

 

[Trailboss123]

The more "steps" you add into getting to the boat, the more "rushed" it may feel. One of the common compliments I receive from our divers is that they never feel rushed.

We do have a standard 8am departure time from the downtown pier, but based on divers we have each week and what kind of experience they are wanting, we sometimes push departure back to 8:30 or 9:00 - we are always as flexible as possible in that regard.

We also don't schedule afternoon boats until 2:00pm specifically so that we are not rushing to get back early for a rushed or unrealistic 1:00 departure. I don't believe in rushing or cutting the morning divers experience short so that we can rush back for an afternoon dive. I also have more than one boat, so I can stagger the departures that way as will giving a lot more flexibility to our scheduling when necessary.

Departing from the pier at 8ish buys our guests at least 30 minutes of extra time in the morning from having to taxi to the marina. On the rare occasions when we do have to taxi to the marina because of wind or surgy conditions at the piers, we adjust the departure time. In the afternoon, it's also as simple as getting off the boat and going back to your room or to lunch.

As mentioned, we typically depart from downtown between 8:00 and 8:30 and return to the downtown pier between 1:00 and 1:30 Dives average 60 - 70 minutes with a relaxing (not rushed) surface interval of 75 to 90 minutes - this also allows us more off gassing time so we don't have as many limits on what we can do for the second dive.

Feel free to email me at info@bluextseadiving.com if you'd like more information or have specific questions about how we do things

All the best,
Christi
Blue XT~Sea Diving

I will never stop diving annually or more in Cozumel. Between the diving, people, culture, proximity, value proposition and food, it is the best dive vacation in the Caribbean, (for me).

All of the reasons stated above and a few others are why I transitioned to diving with @Christi a few years ago after various other experiences in prior years. Took me a while to find a dive op that suited me and my desired expectations best, but glad I have.

We all have our priorities, values, desires, expectations and what we want to get out of our vacations and diving experiences. Most of us have limited financial resources and vacation time and want to maximize them both.

I value great culture, great diving, great food/drink, great customer service, great financial value, ease of diving, efficiency, no drama or time poorly spent and recharging my batteries. Cozumel ticks all of those boxes for me. That being said, it sometimes takes a while and some research to find all of the right combinations of flights, airlines, accommodations, locations, dive operators, etc. to find our individual sweet spot.

Bonaire holds a similar allure for me and why I return there annually and after much trial and error, research and the help of all of you on Scubaboard, I have found my sweet spots for dive ops, accommodations and food spots in Bonaire.

Similarly, a live aboard really ticks off all of my boxes, assuming it is the right one and in the right location.

Sorry for the long winded response @Dogbowl - all of my ranting is maybe nothing more than what others have said, but I am thinking that you have been to Cozumel so many times because there is something special that calls you there and .. just maybe it is a matter of finding the right combination of elements that will make it work even better for you. Or not... I have friends that only do liveaboards or only shore dive or whatever. We all find our sweet spots. As @The Chairman says, DIVE AND LET DIVE - that applies to where, how and with whom, as much as to how!