First trip to Coz

[Carl_F]

Our first trip to Coz is winding down. Came down with a cold/ fever the night before the last day so had to cancel the diving. :-(

Diving was good but all current, all the time, not my style. Current is not strong but doesn't help with finding the small stuff. Only been diving (not counting the lake) at Roatan and the differences are interesting ...

Coz - more current
Roatan - more grouper
Coz - more nurse sharks, queen triggers, and spotted trunk fish
Roatan - more macro stuff (only found two flamingo tongues at Coz)
Roatan - night dives reveal more sea cucumbers, basket stars, urchins
Turtles, barracuda and other fish seem to be statistically the same.
Coz - way more dive boats on an area (southwest / west side of island)

Not saying one is better than the other just different. Good diving either way!!

And my wife learned to dive just prior to the trip and got to see her first turtle in the wild!

 

[flots am]

The big draw is that for a lot of people is is (was?) cheap to get to from the southern US.

Not a big fan of drift diving, since I like to hang out in one spot and watch the local critters without constantly fighting current.

 

[mstevens]

Are flamingo tongues "macro" stuff? They're pretty small... In any event, I've seen a half-dozen on a single gorgonian.

 

[drrich2]

Glad you got to experience it. Even if it's not your favorite, it's one more sphere of diving you've gotten some experience at (drift diving).

I've not done Roatan, but have dove 'minimal current' locations including Bonaire. I had 2 dives at Cozumel; Palancar Gardens and Santa Rosa. I really enjoyed it, but my wife did not. Turns out she tended to fight the current; I rode it, though some resistance at times to keep with the guide showing us stuff was necessary (plus I knew to get close to the reef to cut current down; I don't think she did).

Which brings up a point. When a given dive destination offers a particularly type of diving, if you enjoy that, it can be great. But if you really want to do something else, and tend to 'buck the flow' a bit, that can get rough.

Sounds like you like to stop and smell the roses!

How many dives did you do, and what all sites did you hit? I'm told Cozumel has a wide variety of topography, so that might be important.

Richard.

 

[sddiver]

As you gain more experience you may enjoy drift diving more. It can be more challenging for newer divers. Come back after you get more dives under your belt. A tip - whatever that is dangling off the right side ring on your BC? Clip it up close to your body. You will damage the fragile reef creatures with that. Plus it looks like its ready to hit that turtle in the head.

Enjoy
Rich

 

[Sideways]

For me the biggest difference is...

Cozumel - The occasional bug bite
Roatan/Utila - Get eaten alive



Sorry you got a cold at the end... hate that!! Drift diving certainly has it's challenges. Like you mentioned, search times for critters are limited, and also for us photogs...it's a lot tougher. I was very disppointed by Roatan/Utila. The reefs were nice, but the lack of critters was a real bummer.

 

[cvchief]

A tip - whatever that is dangling off the right side ring on your BC? Clip it up close to your body. You will damage the fragile reef creatures with that. Plus it looks like its ready to hit that turtle in the head.

Clearly it is a camera and he is encouraging the turtle to take a selfie.

 

[robint]

I have been to both Roatan and Cozumel multiple times and they are just two very different places. I love them both.
Drift diving is a learned skill, it comes easily for some but harder for others. We did our first ocean dives in Cozumel so maybe that is why it never seemed difficult for us. In fact, we only did Cozumel as ocean diving for the first 4 years. Then we went other places and wow was that different and stressful for us. We had to learn to kick and navigate back to our boat! LOL

robin

 

[DjDiverDan]

Gotta say that I LOVE drift diving. But I don't let drift diving interfere with the occasional need to stop to watch something - you just need to learn the tricks and to develop the skills to deal with the current. If you get completely horizontal and minimize your cross section in the current, it takes very little effort to hover in place. Getting really close to the bottom, even sticking a couple of fingers down into the sandy bottom like a reef hook, or getting behind a coral head, will also help deal with the current. But whatever effort it may take to occasionally stay in one place is dwarfed by the effort saved in letting the current do most of the work in getting you from the start of the dive to the end. I would much rather do the drift dive thing than fixed mooring dives where you have to fight the current constantly in one direction, only to turn around when your tank gets to about 1200-1400 psi and retrace the same ground all over again, this time going with the current, to get back to the boat. And God help you if your navigation skills aren't up to par and you miss the mooring chain.

 

[ggunn]

One of my favorite Cozumel dives is Colombia Shallows, and usually the current there is light to nonexistent. There is lots of tiny life in/on the coral heads that come up to within 10-15 feet of the surface. Bring a magnifying glass.