Dive with Hotel or Not?

[ChuckP]

I think we are going to Cozumel 6/1 thru 6/10, I haven't been there in over 15 years.

My wife is a newly certified diver and maybe needs a touch of confidence, I'm fine.

I took my wife to Curacao a few months ago, we stayed at the Kura Holanda and ohh it was bad - everything, food, beds, staff you name it - the only great thing was Go West Diving. I was there to dive, she wasn't.

Now, going to Cozumel, I see Hotel Cozumel but hear the beds are boards, I see Scuba Club but I also see El Presidente and have stayed at their properties more than a few times. Secrets looks a touch too far south.

If you stay at the El Presidente, do you just dive with Scubadu at the resort or do you dive with a shop like Blue XT Sea or Blue Project?

The other thing, two dives a day? What am I going to do the rest of the day? My phone doesn't ring underwater and I tend to not think about business down there, I'd really like to dive more than a few times a day - is there a better place for shore diving maybe? I see the twilight/night dives....

I guess other key things for me are needing to complete my stress and rescue diving portion (SSI) as I'm not really thrilled about the concept of cold water diving here in the Great Lakes quite yet.... and diving advanced sites like Devils Throat, that 7 minute video on Youtube is about as peaceful as I've ever seen.

 

[ggunn]

I think we are going to Cozumel 6/1 thru 6/10, I haven't been there in over 15 years.

My wife is a newly certified diver and maybe needs a touch of confidence, I'm fine.

I took my wife to Curacao a few months ago, we stayed at the Kura Holanda and ohh it was bad - everything, food, beds, staff you name it - the only great thing was Go West Diving. I was there to dive, she wasn't.

Now, going to Cozumel, I see Hotel Cozumel but hear the beds are boards, I see Scuba Club but I also see El Presidente and have stayed at their properties more than a few times. Secrets looks a touch too far south.

If you stay at the El Presidente, do you just dive with Scubadu at the resort or do you dive with a shop like Blue XT Sea or Blue Project?

The other thing, two dives a day? What am I going to do the rest of the day? My phone doesn't ring underwater and I tend to not think about business down there, I'd really like to dive more than a few times a day - is there a better place for shore diving maybe? I see the twilight/night dives....

I guess other key things for me are needing to complete my stress and rescue diving portion (SSI) as I'm not really thrilled about the concept of cold water diving here in the Great Lakes quite yet.... and diving advanced sites like Devils Throat, that 7 minute video on Youtube is about as peaceful as I've ever seen.

I stay at and dive with Blue Angel. They frequently have afternoon boat dives and the shore dive there is pretty good, especially at night.

 

[DjDiverDan]

It really all depends on what you want - or, in your case, what your wife wants. As a newly certified diver in need of a bit of confidence, she might be fine with just two dives a day, AND she might want to start off a bit slowly, meaning not looking for the long, long bottom times provided by the valet operators with steel 120 tanks (i.e., Aldora and Liquid Blue). As for you doing 4 dives a day, how is that going to play with your wife? Is she OK with you leaving her on her own in the afternoons if all she wants is 2 dives a day? If I were in your position, I’d try to find a dive op that would make your wife extremely comfortable - getting her passionate about diving will pay long term dividends to you. Maybe that means doing just two dives for at least a few days until she feels very confident, and maybe that means shorter, easier dives than you personally prefer (although on Cozumel, there are some shallow easy dives that are frankly great dives, like Columbia Shallows and Palancar Gardens). So, ask your wife what SHE wants, and go from there. If SHE’S happy, you’ll be happy.

Just my own opinion. As to hotels, I like Hotel Coz, even the hard beds, but DON’T do the AI option. I go to Cozumel almost as much for the great dining experiences as for the diving, and I like being close enough to the downtown restaurants to walk there. Hotel Coz offers a nice “resort” experience, big pool, small beach area, ocean access, while still being close enough to walk downtown for lunches and dinners. El Presidente, besides being beyond my price range, is too far to walk to downtown, so I’ve never stayed there. As to Dive Ops, my personal preference is Aldora, but, as noted above, that might not be the best choice for a newly certified diver. The Hotel Coz dive op is Dive Paradise, which is a decent dive op, but not my cup of tea. Personally, I’d use another dive op when staying there, but again, it depends entirely on what you - or your wife - are looking for.

BTW, I think Devil’s Throat is way over-rated. And going that deep means a shorter dive. I personally would much rather do Palancar Bricks or Palancar Caves than Devil’s Throat.

 

[Ron Lee]

At most hotels you can dive with whomever you wish. Scuba Club Cozumel is one exception and Iberostar has issues.

Have the wife go with a private divemaster at least the first day. Aldora will be fine. Just make sure that she has adequate thermal protection so she does not get cold. Surface interval on a beach is awesome.

 

[ChuckP]

I wouldn't trade my wife for anything - she's about the most easy going girl there is. If I want to dive in the afternoon and she doesn't, she doesn't mind as long as there is a beach near by. The beds are sort of a big deal, both of us have tender backs.

There's just so many places to stay and dive with, a bit overwhelming.

 

[cicopo]

Tres Pelicanos runs both AM & PM dives. The boat returns to the marina between the AM & PM dives but it's one of the few offering 4 per day. They transport to / from points north of the marina by road & pick up / drop off at the piers to the south of the marina. Many of the hotels have hard beds though. One exception I've stayed at was Blue Angel which has conventional beds vs the mattress on top of a concrete pad.

 

[divingjd]

If you stay at the Presidente, any dive operator can pick you up at their dock. I stayed there once years ago and dove primarily with another operator. My wife was not certified yet and she decided to do the resort course with Scubadu, so I dove with them a couple of dives to go with her. Scubadu was a pretty good dive operator, but I never used them again. They have a strict schedule - on a certain day they dive a certain reef. I suppose they might change it if the conditions aren’t right, but don’t know for sure. I would recommend another op. I like Aldora and think it would be good for a new diver. They have several boats and group divers of similar experience and interests as much as possible, so your wife won’t be the only newbie on a boat full of hard-core veterans. The dive guides, who are all instructors, are very good and good with newbies. The downside to Aldora is that I have found it hard to get in afternoon dives. They don’t always have a boat going out. The upside is that the dives are so long, you may get the equivalent of three dives with somebody else in two dives with Aldora.

Presidente is far enough south that there aren’t really any restaurants nearby, other then the Money Bar. That leaves you with the Presidente’s restaurants, which are expensive and mediocre, a cab ride into town, or renting a car and driving into town. I don’t mind renting a car myself, but the insurance is expensive and many people don’t like to do it.

We like Villa Aldora, which is available for those diving with Aldora. It’s a little north of town, a short cab ride or manageable walk. Small place on the water. No bar or restaurant on-site, but all rooms have at least a mini-fridge, microwave and coffee maker. The suites have full kitchens. The management will get you to the grocery store to stock up. There’s a good shallow shore dive in front of the Villa, which is a good option for afternoons and night dives. We’ve seen a lot of cool stuff there. On a night dive in March, we saw a bunch of morays, an octopus, a decorator crab, and a sponge crab, along with lots of fish and yellow stingrays. It’s ironshore there, but they have a man-made beach. It’s not raucous but a nice place to hang out when you are not diving. The other guests are usually pretty sociable. Oh, and the beds are good. It’s a regular bed with a frame, not a mattress on a cement slab.

 

[deepsea21]

The in-town Casa Mexicana's beds are fantastic and the convenience, quality and level of service diving a Tres Pelicanos (3P's) / Casa Mexicana package topside and underneath is one many here (including myself) greatly enjoy. Years ago the Casa Mexicana had the standard hard Mexican mattresses but those were a couple years ago with new mattresses of a quality I wish I slept on at home the rest of the year. The Casa, while waterfront, is in-town so no sandy beach close by for your wife to lay on if you are diving the afternoons as well. However, it does have a nice wading/dipping pool on the pool deck for cooling off that overlooks the water, sidewalk and street down below that is nice to relax on. There are rest-rooms and a small bar on the pool deck right by the pool and if for some reason she needs to visit the room it is only an elevator ride away.

Staying in-town has its benefits as all the great bars and restaurants are at your feet (or a dirt cheap taxi fare away)... No being stuck at a distant, overpriced AI eating lousy food and having to pay costly taxi fares to town and back to enjoy the really great food Coz has to offer. There are several top-quality dive ops in town that offer in-town dock pick-up and drop-off or courtesy transportation to the southern marina where the boats are and back. Most ops offer 2-tank AM dives and 2-tank afternoon dives depending on demand for those who want maximum bottom time per day.

On another note, June is the off-season so it may be possible that your wife could dive the AM dives with you and then tag along on the boat for free the afternoons you're diving as very seldom (if ever) will afternoon boats be at full capacity in June. 3P's will drop AM & PM divers at the waterfront Money Bar where they can eat lunch (there's a beach there) and then pick them up there again for their afternoon dives so no wasted few hours between AM and PM dives wondering what to do. You'd get to spend the time between AM & PM dives together at Money Bar on the beach and then she could relax floating on the afternoon dive boat catching some rays and reading a book while you're getting your next 120+ minutes of diving in. You'd both get to enjoy another hour SI at a beach somewhere that afternoon to boot. Just some thoughts on what my be possible thinking outside the box.

Consider hiring a private DM for the fist day. You may be totally comfortable but a private DM would give her a huge level of reassurance.

 

[JG109]

Reference the beds, Secrets Aura has, by far, the most comfortable beds I have found in Cozumel.
I have stayed at Hotel Coz (many times), Allegro, Iberostar(3 times) and Secrets.
Of those four, only Hotel Coz is close to town. Hotel Coz is AI optional, the other three are AI.
I wrote a review on Secrets Aura a few weeks ago in the Cozumel forum.

Dive House may not be the right choice for individualized attention.

 

[nwflyboy]

I have stayed at Hotel Coz many times over 20 years, as recently as last year. Yes, their beds are hard, but not like concrete. For its modest price, I think it's hard to beat the Hotel Coz. Nice big pool, walking distance to the big stores and town. As suggested above, fer cryin' out loud, do NOT buy the full meal package if you stay there - breakfast is fine, but do your dinners in town.

I have also stayed at the El Presidente for the past 2 years and highly recommend it. I love this place. Nearly everything about it is just perfect. The beds are heavenly - my wife calls the beds there "magnetic" because they really feel good and you do not want to get out of them. The newly renovated rooms there are spec-tac-ular, with really lovely outdoor rain showers (two showers actually, both huge - one fully indoor, marble, etc, the other even bigger, outdoors but shaded and private, lots of dark wood...man, I can sit in that shower for hours...). Really beautiful "infinity pool" fronting their beach. They do everything right - I even found their food to be pretty good (but I'd still rather go eat in town). Your wife will looooove this place, it feels very luxurious. There are only two downsides to this hotel: price and location. Any way you slice it, it's expensive (you can use points though, if you have 'em, that's what we do). And it's too far to walk into town - but the taxi is easy, quick and not terribly expensive. My wife wants to go back and will probably insist on staying there until we're bankrupt...she still gushes about the beds. If having a reeeeeeally comfy bed is a high priority, and you can stomach the cost, this is the place for you. Pro tip: you definitely want one of the newly renovated, ocean-front rooms (these have the lovely outdoor shower suites). They will usually upgrade you if you are a member of the IHG loyalty program. If you plan to go there, if you don't already have it, get their IHG credit card - you get a big slug of points (which you can use for 1-2 nights free), and having the card gives you a very good chance of getting upgraded upon arrival to the nicer ocean-front rooms.

No matter where you stay, you should be able to use any dive operation you want. We dive with Living Underwater. No problem getting picked up/dropped off at the dock.

Finally, about all that free time...

Our routine in Cozumel, like that of most other smart guys I know, is like this:
1. Get up early. Maybe have a light breakfast, maybe not.
2. Suit up and be at the dock around 8 am (check time with your op)
3. The boat pulls up, you get on, say hello all around. Off you zoom to the dive site. Your stuff is already on the boat, set up and ready. Gear up as you approach the dive site.
4. First dive of the day.
5. Surface interval at some beach, shade, hydrate, maybe snack, hit the bathroom.
6. Back on the boat, off to the second site.
7. Second dive of the day.
8. Short boat ride back. Tip your DM and boat crew, hop off at the hotel dock.
9. Back to your room, shower, change into comfy clothes.
10. Optional afternoon activities: Have a cold beer. Lay in the shade, or very briefly in the sun. Take a dip in the pool or ocean. Decide where to go to dinner. Maybe review/upload some photos from the day's dive.
11. Taxi into town (or if staying at Hotel Coz, walk to town), head for dinner.
12. Eat, drink, be merry. Go for a walk around town after dinner. Get a paleta or liquado at La Michoacán (a personal favorite, Mexican ice cream/frozen things place).
13. Taxi back to the hotel. Fall into the Magnetic Bed.

Repeat this for 7 days. You should be quite relaxed and happy. This routine works wonderfully for me, and I bet it's close to what most people here do. Can't get more blissful than that. Have fun!