First you need to understand the layout of the island. Everything is aligned along the west coast looking across to the lights of Playa Del Carmen on the mainland. The town center is where the activity is. Most of the independent business including dive shops and restaurants, along with the main grocery stores are in town.
Just to the north of the town is the airport. North of that are condos and hotels. If you are up there everything is a 5 minute taxi ride or 20-60 minute walk to town along the coast road. There is a sidewalk and even a bike lane for most of this.
About 2 miles south of the town is a cruise port. This is a fake town designed to efficiently transfer money from cruise tourists. Note that there are also cruise ship piers in the main town, which means you have to put up with a few blocks of touts and souvenir stalls if you walk along the waterfront road.
South of the cruise piers is the port from which the dive boats leave. Even further south are the larger resorts which includes the only resorts with sandy beaches. These resorts are either AI or guests eat most meals at their restaurants since getting into town is not that convenient and requires a taxi fare that negates the savings on your food bill. One advantage of staying in the south is that the most commonly dived reefs are off this part of the island which makes for the shortest boat rides.
The next thing you need to know is the different types of dive ops on the island. Probably the largest in terms of revenue are those that primarily serve the cruise ships. You don't need to know anything about them except to avoid them. What's left are the house ops at the various resorts and the independents.
The house ops are convenient and may be the only way to consistently get more than the two dives per day that is typical of the independents. But the quality of the ops varies. Search through this forum or ask if you have a question about a specific house op.
The better independents take small numbers of divers, have excellent DMs and offer more flexibility in accommodating divers' specific desires. Names of these ops that pop up here a lot include Aldora, Tres Pelicanos, Blue XT Sea, and Salty Endeavors, but there are a bunch more. Just ask if you need more info on any of the ops. I will say that Aldora stands out a little because they have their own compressor that allows them to offer HP steel 100 and 120s. These, along with nitrox, allow for some very long dives.
The next question is where you meet your dive boat. Only a couple of ops based on the northern port will pick you up at the northern hotels unless you are chartering an entire boat and are willing to pay for that service. Aldora Divers, however, will pick up their divers staying at Villa Aldora and may pick up others in the North, but you would need to work it out in advance.
Some ops will pick you up in town, either at your waterfront hotel or condo or one of the small town piers. If you are staying in town and your op won't get you, then you'll need to taxi to the southern port. Again some ops will arrange the taxis, others leave it to you.
Almost all ops will pick you up at your hotel dock if you are staying south of the port since they are heading that way anyway. But, as always, get it confirmed in writing before you put the money down on a multi-day booking.
I've done three trips to Coz. The first time at a southern resort using the house op, the second at El Cantil, a condo with its own dock in town, where we were picked up by an independent op (Pelagic Adventures), and the third staying north of town and diving with Aldora. I wasn't at Villa Aldora, but was nearby and was able to be picked up there when they had diving guests.
The in-town option was my favorite when it was just my wife and I because we liked walking around in the evening and choosing a restaurant. But now that my son is JOW certified, I'd probably go for the simplicity of an AI and house op with the chance for extra easy dives each day.
Just to the north of the town is the airport. North of that are condos and hotels. If you are up there everything is a 5 minute taxi ride or 20-60 minute walk to town along the coast road. There is a sidewalk and even a bike lane for most of this.
About 2 miles south of the town is a cruise port. This is a fake town designed to efficiently transfer money from cruise tourists. Note that there are also cruise ship piers in the main town, which means you have to put up with a few blocks of touts and souvenir stalls if you walk along the waterfront road.
South of the cruise piers is the port from which the dive boats leave. Even further south are the larger resorts which includes the only resorts with sandy beaches. These resorts are either AI or guests eat most meals at their restaurants since getting into town is not that convenient and requires a taxi fare that negates the savings on your food bill. One advantage of staying in the south is that the most commonly dived reefs are off this part of the island which makes for the shortest boat rides.
The next thing you need to know is the different types of dive ops on the island. Probably the largest in terms of revenue are those that primarily serve the cruise ships. You don't need to know anything about them except to avoid them. What's left are the house ops at the various resorts and the independents.
The house ops are convenient and may be the only way to consistently get more than the two dives per day that is typical of the independents. But the quality of the ops varies. Search through this forum or ask if you have a question about a specific house op.
The better independents take small numbers of divers, have excellent DMs and offer more flexibility in accommodating divers' specific desires. Names of these ops that pop up here a lot include Aldora, Tres Pelicanos, Blue XT Sea, and Salty Endeavors, but there are a bunch more. Just ask if you need more info on any of the ops. I will say that Aldora stands out a little because they have their own compressor that allows them to offer HP steel 100 and 120s. These, along with nitrox, allow for some very long dives.
The next question is where you meet your dive boat. Only a couple of ops based on the northern port will pick you up at the northern hotels unless you are chartering an entire boat and are willing to pay for that service. Aldora Divers, however, will pick up their divers staying at Villa Aldora and may pick up others in the North, but you would need to work it out in advance.
Some ops will pick you up in town, either at your waterfront hotel or condo or one of the small town piers. If you are staying in town and your op won't get you, then you'll need to taxi to the southern port. Again some ops will arrange the taxis, others leave it to you.
Almost all ops will pick you up at your hotel dock if you are staying south of the port since they are heading that way anyway. But, as always, get it confirmed in writing before you put the money down on a multi-day booking.
I've done three trips to Coz. The first time at a southern resort using the house op, the second at El Cantil, a condo with its own dock in town, where we were picked up by an independent op (Pelagic Adventures), and the third staying north of town and diving with Aldora. I wasn't at Villa Aldora, but was nearby and was able to be picked up there when they had diving guests.
The in-town option was my favorite when it was just my wife and I because we liked walking around in the evening and choosing a restaurant. But now that my son is JOW certified, I'd probably go for the simplicity of an AI and house op with the chance for extra easy dives each day.
