Diving Cozumel For One Day From The Mainland.

[ggunn]

Blue Angel also has a late morning boat, but I'd consider taking your friends across the night before, checking into an inexpensive hotel, having dinner at a nice Cozumel restaurant, diving in the morning while your friends explore the island, and heading back to PdC on an afternoon ferry.

 

[cvchief]

Aldora uses steel 120 tanks for insane dive times. Our last dive was 90 minutes for a fast drift.

Gee I only get like 75-110 minutes on my 80s for second dives....

Too bad you can't dive your tank....

 

[deepsea21]

Another vote here for diving with 3P's based on your schedule. You could catch the early ferry that puts you in San Miguel at 7:30AM and you are a stone's throw from their shop. Well, not really a stone's throw but certainly no more than a 10 minute walk from the pier to their shop for their courtesy transport from town to the marina. Since you will be renting gear it will be an easy walk and you'll see Cozumel waking up.

If the early AM ferry is too early for the kids and others in your party 3P's has 2-tank early afternoon dives that may be more appropriate for all. The rest of your party and the kids can enjoy prime time San Miguel while you go diving and all can easily meet up in town again when they bring you both back. No one will get bored in San Miguel while you're diving!

 

[Sue Sue]

I Know you said that you did not want to be tortured with suggestions to stay in Cozumel, but ... perhaps a late overnight stay in COZ the night before may be something to check out. In doing so, you would have a very flexible option of choosing a Cozumel Dive Op as you would not be under any AM boat dive time constraints. Take a late ferry over to COZ from PDC..after all your group PDC activities are done for the day, and stay at budget and basic hotel...start out fresh and leisurely in the AM with an extra couple hours of sleep. Do your diving then head back to PDC upon finishing up with your dives. Your peeps on the mainland will hardly know you are missing ...Or, your group could come over on the ferry on your dive day then you all could meet up to enjoy the island after your dives. Once you have had enough then just head on back to PDC. TIP: Purchase one way ferry tickets for whichever ferry is making the next run. This way you are able to come and go as you please without having to wait for a ferry for which you have a scheduled return trip time. Overall, Best Wishes for a fantastic Dive trip to Cozumel. Double S

 

[illusionistDG]

illusionistDG, thanks for the tip. I'll look Mexico Blue Dream up in case our couple friends bail on Cozumel. How bumpy was the crossing? It does sound like it could save some time if all we want to do is dive this time. I know our friends want to see a bit of Cozumel - town and island

The crossing on the day we went was a little bumpy, but fun bumpy, not whoah bumpy!

 

[ggunn]

illusionistDG, thanks for the tip. I'll look Mexico Blue Dream up in case our couple friends bail on Cozumel. How bumpy was the crossing?

The crossing can vary from very smooth to rough as... well, rough enough to be impossible in a small boat, and the weather doesn't have to be particularly bad for it to be that way. I wouldn't base a plan on it.

 

[nodakdive]

You could take a ferry that leaves Playa at 7:15 or 7:30, arriving at 8:00 or 8:15am. Exit the ferry and take a right on Melgar, heading south with the ocean on your right, walk about 4 blocks, take a left on Aldolfo Rosado Salas to head east and walk 2 blocks, and you're at Deep Blue's shop to get your rental gear, put it in the pickup truck and pay for your dives. Walk 2 blocks west on Salas back toward the water, take a left on Melgar heading south, walk 1 and a half blocks, cross the street and you're on the pier where their boat will be, and where you're rental equipment will be delivered. At about 9am, you'll leave for 2 dives. In the meantime, your friends are exploring downtown and the shops there, etc. At about 12:30, your friends can catch a taxi to Playa Paradise, where at about 1pm the Deep Blue boat will drop you off. You can all have lunch together, the kids (and adults for that matter) can play on the water toys and in the beautiful pool, etc. If you want to see the east side together, take a taxi around the island, heading south from Playa Paradise, at about 3:00 or 3:30. Have a drink at Coconuts or wherever. Get dropped off back in town around 5:30 or 6:00pm. Have a nice supper at any of the great restaurants. Take the ferry back to Playa del Carmen after supper or whenever. Couldn't get any easier.

 

[LizSpinks]

Thank you all for replies which I saw before the planned Cozumel dives. I do apologize for not thanking you sooner, but the holiday was upon us before I knew it! We've now returned home and the jet lag is just about behind me.

After much indecisiveness (partly due to our non-diving friends), and much web research based on your suggestions, I contacted Christy at Blue XT Sea Diving, because so many online reviews said how great she was at quick responses and helpfulness in planning. With short notice, she was kindly able to slot us into a morning dive on our 3rd day, which she confirmed we'd be able to make as long as we caught the 7am ferry.

The Day Trip to Cozumel

We left our resort (Grand Palladium) @6:15am, after a 10 minute wait for the cab. We were dropped two blocks from the ferry terminal and managed to just make the 6:45am Barcos Caribe ferry. We arrived @ 7:30 and made the short walk to the Aldora pier. It is literally the first pier to your right after you get off the ferry. It couldn't get much easier than that.

The Bandida II dive boat was there being loaded up as we arrived. We introduced ourselves to Pedro, our divemaster, and Nivo, the captain. Unfortunately, my final email with all our equipment sizes may have arrived too late for the info. to get to Pedro, et al, but he quickly got us kitted up with what was on the boat, while one helper zipped off for some missing items. We filled out the necessary paperwork on the dock and Pedro checked our cert.cards. At @8am, we set off to pick up 2 other diving couples and then off to the first of our 2 dives.

Pedro asked what sites we previously dove in Cozumel, and it was decided we'd dive Palancar Bricks (with all the swim-throughs) and what he called the "Head" of Dalila (Delilah?). The latter was an awesome drift dive where we saw 5 nurse sharks, including 3 swimming in a beautiful winding formation accompanied by a grouper.

According to the other couples, we got lucky on our chosen day to come to Cozumel (Thursday, April 21), as the previous days had much stronger currents and subsequently lower viz.

We took the Ultramar ferry home after stopping for a drink and snack near the pier. It was less bouncy than the morning trip over with Barcos Caribe. But on both crossings, I'm glad our friends didn't join us in the end, as one is prone to seasickness. I was happy I'd taken a dramamine that I bought after our 1st Akumal dive day which had plenty of surge. After a couple of brief stops in Playa, our cab had us back to the resort by 1:30pm.​

Blue XT Sea were really excellent at working things out on the spot or with short notice, and helped us enjoy two excellent dives in Cozumel, just as we'd hoped. The crew were great. We loved being on a fast covered boat with just 6 divers and 1 DM. We also appreciated the water and fruit offered in the surface interval.

If we're staying on the Mainland again, we won't hesitate to zip over to Cozumel for some morning dives, it was really straightforward and easy. We'll just get them lined up sooner. But, to be honest, I think our next Mexico trip will be straight to Cozumel. We enjoyed our Akumal dives (including Tajma Ha cenote), but the diving really can't be beat in Cozumel. The viz, the large and abundant sealife, the formations, the drift dives! So much to love.

Thanks again to you all.