Mini Trip Report - Week in Cozumel @ Iberostar - November 2024

[BrettSeattle]

Spent a week diving Cozumel (all the great spots) w/ Sound Dive Center, out of Bremerton WA

Really enjoyed Iberostar; was an ideal resort for dive groups (our first time there). Some highlights about Iberostar:
- Quality food across 3 different restaurants
- Alcohol was included in our package and cocktails were excellent
- Enjoyable entertainment nightly, great options for getting together after last dive before dinner
- Comfortable room - we upgraded and were in a unit right beside dive shack; appreciate the filtered water available onsite
- Great beach and pool (though pool could get crowded)
- Night time fire dancing entertainment on the weekend was top notch; some other entertainment not as good ("resort-y")
- Attentive, friendly staff

Dressel Divers:
- Great dive outfit; every efficient operations (once we got all paperwork done); we were a big enough group that we had dedicated boat and DMs all week
- The tank filling crews were beasts; lots of groups picking up/dropping off all day long from the on-site pier

Dive highlights:
- This year night dives were excellent along with C53 Wreck Dive
- Palancar always a delight
- Lots of splendid toadfish, spotted eagle rays, nurse sharks, morays
- Overall, reef appeared healthy

Video:
Cozumel 2024 Dive Trip - Iberostar Resort w/ Sound Dive Center

 

[ggunn]

You found the Odd Couple! I have seen pix of the shark and moray pair for years but I have never seen them in person.

 

[BrettSeattle]

You found the Odd Couple! I have seen pix of the shark and moray pair for years but I have never seen them in person.

Gordon that's awesome! I never knew they were a duo ("The Odd Couple") that is known down in Coz. There were 2 sharks under the overhang, and the moray came out to shoo me away (you can see that on the video clip).

 

[jonhall]

Nice video. Thanks for sharing.

 

[FLturtle]

Gordon that's awesome! I never knew they were a duo ("The Odd Couple") that is known down in Coz. There were 2 sharks under the overhang, and the moray came out to shoo me away (you can see that on the video clip).

Not a great photo but I saw the 3 of them together there last week - grabbed a still shot from my video.

 

[FishWatcher747]

What dive site was the odd couple at? My guess Cedral. What was the water temp?

 

[Shawn C]

Gordon that's awesome! I never knew they were a duo ("The Odd Couple") that is known down in Coz. There were 2 sharks under the overhang, and the moray came out to shoo me away (you can see that on the video clip).

My guess is that it didn't come out to shoo you away but, rather, to see if you had any lionfish on you for its dinner.

 

[FLturtle]

What dive site was the odd couple at? My guess Cedral. What was the water temp?

My dive master calls the site Casa Blanca (it’s in front of a white house). I believe it is just North of Cedral Pass. That overhang is commonly home to a green moray. Current is usually pretty fast there so difficult to look for very long. Haha. My computer has been reading 81-82 the last few days.

 

[BrettSeattle]

My guess is that it didn't come out to shoo you away but, rather, to see if you had any lionfish on you for its dinner.

That makes more sense Shawn, he was more curious than anything; we experienced a Green Moray in Curacao thar swam with us for 30 min, we suspect just waiting for some Lionfish snacks.

Heres a video clip of him - we nicknamed him “Marty”:

 

[BrettSeattle]

View attachment 875171
Not a great photo but I saw the 3 of them together there last week - grabbed a still shot from my video.

Love this