House reef at Brisas??

[trt]

We're staying at the Brisas Hotel in Cozumel in November and would like to know if there is a house reef here and what its like? Is it also possible to go to all the other hotels house reefs and which ones are the nicest? We're diving off a boat in the morning but would like to do some diving ourselves, in the afternoon.

 

[squarepants]

What the heck is a house reef?

 

[trt]

Sorry, maybe you call it a shore dive. Thats probably why I couldn't find anything on this site when I did a search;-0
Maybe its just a european thing calling it a house reef. Anyway, I just mean diving from the shore.

 

[Kaos]

Back when the Brisas was called the Costa Club, my buddy and I did two 90 minute night dives (max depth 19 feet) in front of the resort. Good marine life if you stay still for 5-7 mins and wait for the sealife to come to you.

I understand they did some renovations to the beach area, like adding a new pavillion, since they changed their name, so I have no idea what you can expect under the water today.

 

[redacted]

While the inshore dive is interesting because of man-made structure, you will start to run into reef (small coral heads & sponges) a couple hundred meters off shore in a depth of 35 to 45 feet. The bottom will continue to slope off more quickly from there. Make sure the currents (usually headed north) are not too strong & that you account for the current in your navigation. Also, it puts you right below lots of boat traffic. You can also grab your gear & a cab to put in at the lighthouse about 500 meters south & drift the shore wall and grass flats back to Brisas. I'm not sure what Dive Paradise would think of those plans but Scuba Club next door didn't object much.

 

[cxg31s]

Hi! I just stayed at the Brisas last week and we did the shore diving, as well as snorkeled several times. I actually found the shore dive at Brisas to be one of the better dives I did--I saw more stuff on that dive than I did on some of the boat dives! To quote from my dive log:

Max depth 15 feet
Time 57 min
We finned along the wall almost down to the lighthouse then drifted back--the current was flowing south to north. We went off the wall a few times to explore the man-made structures and various coral heads. I found TONS of christmas tree worms, sea urchins galore, sea anemones, 2 puffers--one was a little baby, 2 stingrays--one was a baby, several brittle stars in every coral tube, 2 sea cucumbers--one was 16" long!, feather worms, 2 trumpetfish--one was a baby only about 6" long, LOTS of hatchlings, egg casings and egg strands (I guess Aug is mating season)...in short there was plenty to keep me busy and I could have dove it several more times and seen even more things!

So in short, yes the shore diving at Brisas is great. Other good "house reefs" are Pico's reef in front of the Barracuda hotel and Villablanca in front of Papa Hogs dive shop. I'll be there Thanksgiving week--maybe I'll see you in the deep blue!

 

[The Professor]

Sorry but there is no "house Reef" at Brisas. The sea front of the property is basically a sand flat with a few small ,tired coral heads and some attempts at artifical reefs consisting of chunks of scrap iron etc. The only diving there is with your free "welcome" tank to check out your gear. There are a few fish and small eels in the junk but that is about it. You would be wise to get some type of dive package which would carry you to the dive sites. The Professor

 

[scubajen]

We did our check out dive there. Didn't find it too interesting, but it was fun to do for our check out dive. We did talk to a couple who did some night diving there and they saw some octopus.

 

[cxg31s]

there is no actual "reef" at Brisas so if you just swim out over the sand to the various piles, then yes it could be an un-interesting shore dive. However, swimming along the "wall" lining the shore is VERY interesting if you know what to look for. You just have to go slow and look for the small stuff and you will see more critters than you can remember! Keep in mind that all the hatchlings and slightly older babies congregate in shallower waters until they get bigger so shore diving is about the only way to see them. I think the baby puffer and baby trumpetfish we saw were 2 of the neatest things I've ever seen! We also did explore the various junk piles and each had its own residents. Diving is what you make of it--buy a fish ID and a creature ID book and you'll get much more out of each diving experience. Not a slam on anyone by any means, but I wanted the other side to be heard. DSAO!

 

[MJillKDives]

Earlier this month I did five afternoon and dusk shore dives in front of the Villablanca Hotel. The dives were pretty good, especially the dusk dive, during which I spotted a large eagle ray. You can rent tanks, etc, on site from Papa Hogs.

ps: Look for a discarded truck tire about 60 feet west of the buoy on the right side. It is home to 36 small lobsters.