noj3333
Contributor
RR is nice, being able to do 4-5 dives a day with them is good too!
New Diver! Recommendations Please!
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nippurmagnum
Contributor
My advice since you are on a budget is to find a buddy with whom to split costs.
Anthony’s key in Roatan has a 2 for 1 special, so if you can find a buddy to go with you, diving+lodging+food will cost you less than $1,000 for a whole week. And if you have frequent flyer miles, or know someone who does, Roatan is an excellent destination for that, you can get tickets for as little as 35,000 miles.
Bonaire is also dirt cheap if you go with a buddy and shore dive. Plenty of dive sites with no current. Do a few guided dives to a reef so that you get familiar with entry and exit and navigation, then go back on your own and explore slowly, and take your time at that site. It will make you a better diver. Bonaire is also a great place to use frequent flyer miles, we got tix for January for 30,000 miles. Airbnbs are plentiful and cheap, and if you cook you’ll save a pile of money. Truck rentals are very reasonable if you are splitting the cost.
I would not recommended Coz for a beginner diver simply because of the current. It’s a great place to go once you’ve got a couple of trips to Roatan and Bonaire under your belt.
Complete nonsense. The vast majority of the time, the current in Cozumel is very mild, which is why Cozumel has long been known for excellent "drift diving". And even on the occasional days where the current is brisk, even beginner divers learn quickly and easily to stay off the bottom, and to avoid running into coral heads. It ain't rocket surgery, by any stretch. No one needs to take trips to other locations to get prepped for Cozumel, LOL! ,Heck, I would rather see a new diver doing a few dives with a divemaster in Cozumel, versus them doing shore dives, anywhere.
And Roatan for the most part, has very cloudy water, dead, brown reefs, and isn't within a light-year of having the quality of diving that Cozumel has. Also, as much as I love Roatan, Cozumel is also a vastly better locale to hang out and walk around, when not in the water.(I was a PADI and IANTD instructor, and full cave diver, having worked in both places)
That being said, that 2-for-1 deal at Anthony's Key you posted sounds pretty good, assuming a decent deal on a flight.
caruso
Banned
I think your post is nonsense. The current is often brisk and things happen a LOT faster in brisk current. Divers should be in complete control of their buoyancy and trim before attempting drift dives and free descents and ascents in places like Cozumel or they risk injury and damage to corals. Even my girlfriend, with 100 dives and good trim and buoyancy was taken off guard during a ripping current that picked up mid dive on a shallow reef and took out a large sponge. Imagine what can happen with even less experienced divers.
I think @Mark IV's post is reckless and irresponsible by suggesting Cozumel drift diving is easy and beginners will quickly pick up the needed buoyancy and trim and don't need to prepare for it by diving other places with less strong currents beforehand.
You guys are clueless. I worked in the Yucatan for about 15 years, and I don't think a single instructor, divemaster, or shop owner I knew would ever claim that Cozumel was any sort of "advanced" or higher risk dive that required trips to other, easier locales before diving there. They would've completely laughed at this entire line of "reasoning".
Me, and more friends than I can recall, certified people on Cozumel virtually every day, and took them right out on boat dives, both day and night, and these new certs weren't any more likely to bull-doze the reef than any other certified diver, that had been certified for years.
Heck, it was (is?) common to do resort courses, then take those divers out on the boat ( but a bit shallower reef and with their own instructor-guide). Happened all the time.....no problem.
Sure, drift diving, especially in a stiffer current, requires more awareness than diving in still water, no argument, but to tell a diver he needs to go dive in other countries first, with bathtub-calm water, or else he's likely to go careening off all the coral heads, is just ridiculous. I WORKED on Cozumel for years, and that simply was NOT the reality there. You might as well go post ads in the scuba magazines warning people not to get certified on Cozumel, because they won't be qualified or prepared to do the boat dives involved.
That's basically what you're saying. So put your money where your mouth is, and start advocating that here on the forum, if you feel so strongly about it. (yeah, I didn't think so.)
Me, and more friends than I can recall, certified people on Cozumel virtually every day, and took them right out on boat dives, both day and night, and these new certs weren't any more likely to bull-doze the reef than any other certified diver, that had been certified for years.
Heck, it was (is?) common to do resort courses, then take those divers out on the boat ( but a bit shallower reef and with their own instructor-guide). Happened all the time.....no problem.
Sure, drift diving, especially in a stiffer current, requires more awareness than diving in still water, no argument, but to tell a diver he needs to go dive in other countries first, with bathtub-calm water, or else he's likely to go careening off all the coral heads, is just ridiculous. I WORKED on Cozumel for years, and that simply was NOT the reality there. You might as well go post ads in the scuba magazines warning people not to get certified on Cozumel, because they won't be qualified or prepared to do the boat dives involved.
That's basically what you're saying. So put your money where your mouth is, and start advocating that here on the forum, if you feel so strongly about it. (yeah, I didn't think so.)
Scubagolf
Contributor
+ Cozumel. Excellent diving. Inexpensive diving, accommodations and food. IMHO an excellent location to go as a newly certified diver.
caruso
Banned
Suggestion for @Mark IV
Let your side of the debate stand on it's own merits, without the name calling and relying on what you think other people who aren't even part of the discussion might say if they were participating.
Your credentials and where you worked and for how long is also irrelevant.
Incorrectly paraphrasing and exaggerating the posts of others ("careening off coral heads" or learning to dive in "bathtub calm waters") is more of the same.
When you go there @Mark IV, it becomes clear that you've got no valid argument and/or someone got under your skin by disagreeing with you, and your reaction is a kneejerk angry response that has no merit.
No merit ?? Your post was full of logical fallacies and inaccuracies. When I said, "careening off coral heads", i was merely paraphrasing comments from you and the other guy, like, "running into coral heads", "risk injury and damage to corals", "took out a large sponge",etc, (sounds a hella lot like "careening" to me), so my comment was clearly a very fair and accurate paraphrase of YOUR comments, and hardly reduces my comments to having "no merit". That's completely illogical on it's face.
And, me having been a full-time instructor there for many years, in point of fact, gives my perspective a very high degree of merit, whether you two realize it or not. Again, that's just simple logic. Whether or not I'm being a jerk in no way detracts from the validity of the main point (as you attempt to establish).
Next time you're down, ask 20 local working divers if they think new divers should dive in other locales before coming to Cozumel, and I can almost guarantee all 20 will tell you no (and that's not out of financial self interest, as they don't want to see divers "running into coral heads....taking out large sponges" either.)
And I'm still waiting to hear y'alls view on people getting certified in Cozumel, because they're obviously as new and inexperienced as they come. Well ?
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