Shore dives in Cozumel

[Doc Harry]

We did a shore dive several years ago. Jumped in at the lighthouse south of Scuba Club, swam out to the wall, drifted along the wall for a while, and popped up just south of the tourist piers. It was a really tough dive, fighting the current to get back ashore before we ended up downtown.

 

[ggunn]

We did a shore dive several years ago. Jumped in at the lighthouse south of Scuba Club, swam out to the wall, drifted along the wall for a while, and popped up just south of the tourist piers. It was a really tough dive, fighting the current to get back ashore before we ended up downtown.

I have done similar dives from Blue Angel (before the new pier by the lighthouse was there) and from La Ceiba. The swim to and from the wall adds a significant degree of difficulty to the dive and greatly reduces the time on the wall. It's not for the novice.

 

[Christi]

We did a shore dive several years ago. Jumped in at the lighthouse south of Scuba Club, swam out to the wall, drifted along the wall for a while, and popped up just south of the tourist piers. It was a really tough dive, fighting the current to get back ashore before we ended up downtown.

If you are referring to the lighthouse just south of ScubaClub, that would be right near the car ferry dock. And if by "tourist piers" you mean the ferry pier downtown, you're lucky to have come out of that dive unscathed. This is precisely why a local DM should at the very least be consulted about local dive protocols, dive locations, etc. regardless of whether it's within marine park boundaries. No responsible DM would have suggested or provided tanks for this dive plan.

Aside from the tough currents, this a heavy boat traffic area including navigation of the car ferry, passenger ferries and there's a cruise ship dock (Punta Langosta) on that "route". Even if there was no cruise ship docked at the time, the car ferries and passenger ferries use that dock and navigate between the main dock and the cruise ship dock with no regular or predictable schedule to plan around. And even with a dive flag, the likelihood of you being seen would be slim, because this is a "no fly zone" and no boat captain would be watching for divers. This is a heavy navigation channel with boats traveling up to 20/25 knots on average.

Your profile says that you are a solo diver and have 500 - 999 dives. I have no idea what your actual level of training or experience is. Perhaps you have technical training and actual solo diving training which would better equip you to navigate out to the wall, manage the challenging currents and to create your exit plan and location. Again, I have no idea what your actual training has been and regardless, this is a dangerous dive plan. Please also keep in mind, that your audience here is the garden variety, recreational diver. And the original poster of this thread is a brand new diver with his newly certified son. Surely you aren't suggesting this as a shore diving option? If you are, that would be irresponsible showboating in my opinion. If not, I would encourage you to please add some clarity to your post other than it was "a really tough dive".

So to anyone contemplating this "shore dive" plan. As a dive professional and dive shop owner for 17 years on this island, I would strongly advise against the dive plan described in this post. Aside from the danger, diving within 50 yards of the ferry or cruise ship piers is a federal violation. There were divers arrested 2-3 years back for diving too close to the cruise ship piers to the south.

 

[Yellowdog]

Try ScubaLuis. He is a second generation dive master born on Cozumel, knows the reef like his backyard and now has his own boat. He dives with you and will cater the dive to your experience level. There is a world of healthy reef and marine life to see above 60'. I was just there with my son who is a relatively new diver and he dropped 4 lbs of lead and learned a great deal from diving with Luis. He can provide with all your equipment and probably could you pick up at the dock. If I were an inexperienced diver myself, diving with my newly certified son, shore diving in a new place unsupervised would not be my first chioce. Diving with an experienced dive master to keep an eye on eveything would make me infinitely more comfortable. There are lots of good small outfits on the island. Luis on the Ranger is the one that I am familiar with and would recommend. ScubaTony is professional and does a great job but a bit less accomodating. Cozumel Scuba Diving - Small Groups. Fast Dive Boat. Max Bottom Time.

 

[Christi]

Here is the most recent list of authorized boats in the Marine Park. If a boat is not on this list, it does not have all of the legal requirements to be offering services in the marine park. We all just renewed permits in November.



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[Tricia Frandsen]

Try ScubaLuis. He is a second generation dive master born on Cozumel, knows the reef like his backyard and now has his own boat. He dives with you and will cater the dive to your experience level. There is a world of healthy reef and marine life to see above 60'. I was just there with my son who is a relatively new diver and he dropped 4 lbs of lead and learned a great deal from diving with Luis. He can provide with all your equipment and probably could you pick up at the dock. If I were an inexperienced diver myself, diving with my newly certified son, shore diving in a new place unsupervised would not be my first chioce. Diving with an experienced dive master to keep an eye on eveything would make me infinitely more comfortable. There are lots of good small outfits on the island. This is the one of them I would recommend. Cozumel Scuba Diving - Small Groups. Fast Dive Boat. Max Bottom Time.

I am diving with ScubaLuis in early February - have heard great things about him.

 

[Hatul]

Hey all. We are headed back to Cozumel in a couple of weeks on yet another cruise. LOL We are fairly new divers, I only have 2 open water dives myself, 1 in Cozumel a year ago and 1 in Grand Cayman 6 months ago. On this trip, my son will be making his first open water dive with me. So, I am looking for a great location. We obviously arent staying at any resort but we need to rent all the equipment except mask. The dive I did there ast year was pretty plain. I know they had some hurricanes wipe a bunch of their reefs out. So I would like to find a spot with nice underwater scenery. Im trying to find something to reserve a couple spots if needed pretty quick to be safe. Thanks for the info and advise.

Blue Angel has a nice easy shallow shore dive with plenty to see. And their scuba operator is first class.

 

[hakuna]

I've done a lot of shore dives at Blue Angel over the past two summers. One thing that you should know is that you can gear up and enter either at Blue Angel north (the main Blue Angel with the hotel) or you can do it at the south location which is only a short 5 min walk south. Choose which way depending on the current (usually south to north) and you can leave your gear at the other location. I do this one regularly just drifting to the other location. Easy to do an hour and a half or more on an 80 and dirt cheap. (I think I pay $7 to rent a tank).

 

[Themerrydiver]

Hey all. We are headed back to Cozumel in a couple of weeks on yet another cruise. LOL We are fairly new divers, I only have 2 open water dives myself, 1 in Cozumel a year ago and 1 in Grand Cayman 6 months ago. On this trip, my son will be making his first open water dive with me. So, I am looking for a great location. We obviously aren't staying at any resort but we need to rent all the equipment except mask. The dive I did there ast year was pretty plain. I know they had some hurricanes wipe a bunch of their reefs out. So I would like to find a spot with nice underwater scenery. Im trying to find something to reserve a couple spots if needed pretty quick to be safe. Thanks for the info and advise.

The best place we did shore diving was at the Coral Princess Dive Resort. I don't know if you have to be staying there in order to shore dive. We saw fish, eels, stingrays etc. The dive op there is very good too. I'm a newer diver- about 40 dives- and the first time I went below 60 ft I was nervous, but actually it was great and no fears at all. The dive masters in MX are super and watch out for newer divers. ( I actually went deeper on my second Discover Scuba - saw the Santa Rosa Wall. ) Marine World rents tanks and equipment for a reasonable price and you can shore dive there. We've done that three times since we arrived. Yesterday we saw rays, trigger fish, eel, porcupine fish, etc. We do coral restoration there so you can also observe the work on either side of their pier. Visibility is good and the current so far has been manageable.

Hey all. We are headed back to Cozumel in a couple of weeks on yet another cruise. LOL We are fairly new divers, I only have 2 open water dives myself, 1 in Cozumel a year ago and 1 in Grand Cayman 6 months ago. On this trip, my son will be making his first open water dive with me. So, I am looking for a great location. We obviously arent staying at any resort but we need to rent all the equipment except mask. The dive I did there ast year was pretty plain. I know they had some hurricanes wipe a bunch of their reefs out. So I would like to find a spot with nice underwater scenery. Im trying to find something to reserve a couple spots if needed pretty quick to be safe. Thanks for the info and advise.

I've done shore diving at the Coral Princess Dive Resort and it was quite good-plenty to see and the current was manageable. We were staying there at the time so I don't know if you can go shore diving there if you aren't , but there is a dive shop onsite I figure it's possible.

 

[ReefHound]

The best place we did shore diving was at the Coral Princess Dive Resort.

What other Coz sites did you try shore diving?