First time diving in Caribbean

[Quero]

I'm scheduled to visit Mexico for work and am up for a diving adventure in a new part of the world for a few days (having done most of my diving in the warm waters of the Indo-Pacific region).

Is Cozumel where I ought to start exploring the underwater marvels of Central America?

Is diving around there land-based mainly, or is a liveaboard a better option?

I'd value some guidance in chooisng a comfortable hotel/boat and a reputable operator. I'm planning to go in March, probably the second week, and for about four days (three days diving).

Thanks :sun_smile

 

[scubajim]

I don't believe there's any liveaboards in Coz. I've been there twice since June 2003 and am going back Mar 2-7 and staying at Hacienda San Miquel. We stayed at the Plaza Las Glorias twice any I thought it had a great location, ie Ocen front, close to town. Across from the supermarket/ dept store. My buddies and I have been diving with Dive Paradise. No complaints, probably the largest dive operator in Coz.

have a great time

 

[Quero]

Thanks, Scubajim. Have you dived at neighboring countries like Belize, Honduras? How do they compare to Coz? There are liveaboards in Belize, aren't there?

Q.

 

[scubajim]

I believe there are livaboards in Belize. You can do a search on this board or go to Rodales Scuba Diving web site for trip reports, very informative. I got back into diving last year after being away from diving for 29 years. Coz is the only place in the Caribbean that I've been to because my dive buddies like it the best. I'm hoping to get to more diving destinations in the future.

 

[ggunn]

I'm scheduled to visit Mexico for work and am up for a diving adventure in a new part of the world for a few days (having done most of my diving in the warm waters of the Indo-Pacific region).

Is Cozumel where I ought to start exploring the underwater marvels of Central America?

Is diving around there land-based mainly, or is a liveaboard a better option?

I'd value some guidance in chooisng a comfortable hotel/boat and a reputable operator. I'm planning to go in March, probably the second week, and for about four days (three days diving).

Thanks :sun_smile

The diving at Cozumel is all land based because the dive sites are all very close to shore, and Coz is a small island, so all the boat rides are fairly short. There are lots of alternatives as far as accomodations and dive operations and most of both are good; it really depends on what you are looking for.

 

[Craigus]

We just returned from our first visit to COZ, and it's on our list as a place we'd definitely go back to again. If there's a liveaboard there, I'm not aware of it. We liked COZ because of the quality of the overall experience: diving, dive operators, all-inclusive at Scuba Club and the fun times in San Miguel.

Early last year, we spent a week with our dive club on Peter Hughes' Sun Dancer II in Belize. Totally difference experience. The diving was definitely better than COZ, and, quite frankly, we do like liveaboards a lot - no crowds at the dive sites, open deck diving, flexibility of dive site selection, lots of dives, etc. So, if you like liveaboards, I think you may want to check out Belize. If you're looking for a fun overall experience land-based, definitely consider COZ.

Check out our online dive log. There are pages on both Belize and COZ: www.survivalcreek.com/scuba.

Let's get wet! almtree:
Eric

 

[catbrown]

If you want to see a little Mexico while you are here not just tourist resorts shops and bars, have a look at the info on our town of Puerto Morelos, we can arrange beachfront here for divers at very reasonable prices , and one block back for cheap!, the reef is only 300m offshore and most dive sites within 20 mins from shore, we visit two wrecks and various reef sites, deep, drift and night diving- we also have local cenotes - a truly magical Yucatan experience you will not get elsewhere. Cool freshwater dives with 120 ft vis and we are only 15 mins form Cancun's intnl airport but thankfully we are nothing like Cancun. Quiet town friendly people. You can also arrange a day trip to Coz to see the sites there as well, good sites are 30-40mins by boat from island, no liveaboards there. Belize liveaboard is apparently great, hard to get to good sites down there otherwise is the word around here.