Just Returned from Another Coz Trip, Looking for New Dive Destinations

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

We do. I keep telling her the dog and cat are barely aware we are gone, but she worries about leaving them for too long.

Doesn't she trust your sitter? Does your sitter actually stay with the pets or just come by?
 
Wow, thanks for the great writeups. I will likely contact you when we get to making firm plans if you don't mind. I would like to do two weeks and see the sights in Egypt, and then do the red sea. I will have to convince the wife she can be away from the animals for a little longer in order to make it happen. Sounds like an awesome trip in both cases.
Please feel free to contact me. The time I spent touring the sights in Eygpt will stay in my heart and mind long after I've forgotten about the diving! One note--the heat. I was there the last week in September--the temperature in Luxor was 104 degrees while touring--it did beat me down a little. Cairo was a little cooler at about 92 degrees and early morning at the Pyramids was quite pleasant--I think one month later would have been a bit cooler time to tour. Everyone said the best time to tour is the first two weeks in December but the Red Sea could be cooler then too. Water temp while I was there was a balmy 81 degrees everywhere we dived. Good diving!
 
@Trailboss123 ....looking at May 2021.....

I've been to LCI 4 times, love the island, the diving can be ok, but I had one trip where the wind kept us out of the windy side dive sites which sucked as I was there for a month. The island is really laid back (or was about 8 years ago) had lots of good food and a great vibe. It's probably not changed much except a few more restaurants to choose from. The panga ride from Big Corn to Little Corn can be anywhere from smooth to "I'm gonna die"
 
Interesting reading a thread that is mainly pre-Covid

Yeah, I spend so much time now planning "what if..." trips based on the latest guesses about the pandemic.

Still, it's an interesting thread. We have had some WONDERFUL liveaboard trips (Palau, Great Barrier Reef, Maldives - all expensive, but worth it and wonderful) but also one great liveaboard disappointment (Thailand). We will certainly do liveaboards again, but we enjoy shore-based places. Raja Ampat, yeah, can't beat that, and there's a lifetime of other options in Indonesia, too. We've definitely enjoyed Belize (Turneffe Island), Little Cayman, but...

For the money, time it takes to get there, and quality of the diving PLUS topside attractions, I don't think you can come close to Cozumel. It's all just soooo easy and checks all the boxes. Yes, there are other places that are at least as great. They all take a LOT longer to reach. That's become the primary criteria for us. Got limited time? Then it's impossible to beat Cozumel. Got plenty of time? The world is your oyster (or at least it was before Everything Changed). Just be prepared to spend a lot more time and money.

Stacia has been on my radar for a while. Little Corn (and a few other obscure little Caribbean islands) have been too.

The biggest thing we struggle with, though, is: for us, not all trips are dive trips.

We like to go to Europe, we love Japan, we like off-the-beaten-track places (my biggest delightful surprise in recent years? Latvia. Yes, Latvia...go figure). A lot of the world interests us. There are places we've been where diving is considered "good" and that people rave about (then again, we are very spoiled...once you've been to Raja Ampat, you have that problem...). Croatia, Sardinia, Orkney, the Faroes...but for us, we tend to skip diving in these places because we go there for other things, and lugging along our dive gear would make the rest of the trip complicated or impossible.

Right now I'm looking at a trip to the Azores in Fall 2021. I am sure that diving there is interesting and unique. But hauling our gear there and back would completely change the trip we want to do. So I think maybe we will just bring our (prescription) masks, and snorkel a couple of times.
 
Yeah, I spend so much time now planning "what if..." trips based on the latest guesses about the pandemic.

Still, it's an interesting thread. We have had some WONDERFUL liveaboard trips (Palau, Great Barrier Reef, Maldives - all expensive, but worth it and wonderful) but also one great liveaboard disappointment (Thailand). We will certainly do liveaboards again, but we enjoy shore-based places. Raja Ampat, yeah, can't beat that, and there's a lifetime of other options in Indonesia, too. We've definitely enjoyed Belize (Turneffe Island), Little Cayman, but...

For the money, time it takes to get there, and quality of the diving PLUS topside attractions, I don't think you can come close to Cozumel. It's all just soooo easy and checks all the boxes. Yes, there are other places that are at least as great. They all take a LOT longer to reach. That's become the primary criteria for us. Got limited time? Then it's impossible to beat Cozumel. Got plenty of time? The world is your oyster (or at least it was before Everything Changed). Just be prepared to spend a lot more time and money.

Stacia has been on my radar for a while. Little Corn (and a few other obscure little Caribbean islands) have been too.

The biggest thing we struggle with, though, is: for us, not all trips are dive trips.

We like to go to Europe, we love Japan, we like off-the-beaten-track places (my biggest delightful surprise in recent years? Latvia. Yes, Latvia...go figure). A lot of the world interests us. There are places we've been where diving is considered "good" and that people rave about (then again, we are very spoiled...once you've been to Raja Ampat, you have that problem...). Croatia, Sardinia, Orkney, the Faroes...but for us, we tend to skip diving in these places because we go there for other things, and lugging along our dive gear would make the rest of the trip complicated or impossible.

Right now I'm looking at a trip to the Azores in Fall 2021. I am sure that diving there is interesting and unique. But hauling our gear there and back would completely change the trip we want to do. So I think maybe we will just bring our (prescription) masks, and snorkel a couple of times.
I'm doing my diving in SE Florida
 
My wife and I just returned from another fun trip to Cozumel. We have been going 2 to 3 times a year for the past 3 years. We always love Cozumel, but are looking for other places that would give a similar level of dive quality and value. We have been diving in Puerto Vallarta in Roatan, which we liked, but are thinking of venturing somewhere new. We will probably only be able to do 8 to 9 days total as my wife doesn't like leaving the pets for too long. We looked at Egypt and other more exotic destinations but when you factor in 4 days to travel there and back at a minimum, it means we will spend almost as much time in transit as we spend diving. Is there another spot that will offer the same mix of great diving and reasonable cost that Mexico and Roatan offer? Thanks in advance.
Hit the Socorro islands. You will not regret it. Not the same as cozumel, in fact quite oposit. Liveabord 8-10 days.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom