Diving Cozumel from Mainland: Advice?

[scubaag03]

I think I could pass for a local but my gringo friends will not help the cause! I might have to ditch them!

 

[ggunn]

How do I come off as a local to the cab drivers?

Dye your skin and hair, speak Spanish without a gringo accent, and lose the shorts and Cozumel Tshirt. ;^)

 

[halocline]

How do I come off as a local to the cab drivers?

Don't take a cab

 

[TheDavil]

The ferry runs at 6am from Pdc to Coz arriving Coz before 7, if I am correct. I took the 5am out of Coz the other day, slept all the way, didn't really notice what time I got off, but you can make a 8am boarding with almost anyone. Just set it up in advance.

IAWTP. One of the piers that some (most?) of the dive ops pick up at is only a block or two south of the ferry dock. An easy walk even schlepping your dive gear. We dove with Blue XT~Sea last month and I know that at least once we had someone diving with us that took the ferry over. Christi was (as usual) very accomodating of him and he had no issues whatsoever.

David

 

[Christi]

How do I come off as a local to the cab drivers?

Taxi fare is the same for locals or tourists despite what some may believe.

The only way to get the local discount on the ferry is to BE a local and have a "Plan Locale" card...which you can only get by proving that you live here.

 

[Christi]

A friend of mine is diving with Living Underwater in a couple weeks. He's staying in Playa and told me the Jeremy is coming to Playa to pick him up. Not sure how early that pick-up will be, or if there is an extra charge for the service.

There are also some shops based on Playa that run boats over to dive Cozumel.

I know Jeremy really tries hard to give top notch customer service, and he does an excellent job of it...but this just doesn't even make sense unless he's planning to do the dives over there too. He would be better off from a cost effective and time effective standpoint to just pay your friends ferry ticket.

Not only that, crossing the channel is very weather/sea condition dependent unless you're in a large boat, and even then is a problem if the weather is REALLY bad. So what is he goingto do if there is a really strong east or west wind that day?

 

[Jinjer]

Christi,

I thought it was kind of strange that any Cozumel operators would be crossing the channel to pick up customers. Having taken the ferry across 4 times last week, is very good sea conditions, I don't think I would want to cross it in a small boat.

 

[DandyDon]

I have crossed in a small, fast boat - and it didn't take long, but the channel was very smooth. The Coz Op won't do it unless you can see PDC buildings from the dock. Yeah, go get on the ferry, hail a cab, have a nice visit...

 

[paulw]

I just returned from Playa and dove with The Abyss Dive Shop on the mainland and they have a Cozumel dive on their menu requiring six to go but I don't know if they use their boat or the ferry to get there. I used a Cozumel dive shop (Aldora) and took the 6am ferry the two days I dove there.

 

[Christi]

I just returned from Playa and dove with The Abyss Dive Shop on the mainland and they have a Cozumel dive on their menu requiring six to go but I don't know if they use their boat or the ferry to get there. I used a Cozumel dive shop (Aldora) and took the 6am ferry the two days I dove there.

Taking the ferry across is the best way to do it. Sea conditions have to be really optimal to cross in a small boat without getting beat to death.

I don't think Abyss uses their own boats to cross. Any mainland operator crossing over here has to have a special permit to be in the park, just like the rest of us, so only a few mainland operators have that permit. Abyss does have arrangements with a couple of shops over here to accommodate their divers who want to dive Coz. They may require six to guarantee a boat catered to a convenient departure time.

Unfortunately, there is not a 7:00am ferry from PDC to CZM. So in order to cross on the ferry form the mainland, you've got to take the 6:00am or the 8:00am, but the 8:00am gets you here too late for most departures. The other option is to arrange an afternoon dive if you've got at least 4 divers, then just about any operator can guarantee you an afternoon boat.