Shore Diving Advice - Cozumel (Barracuda Hotel Area)

[danelen]

Hello all. Well I have a trip all set for mid March to Cozumel. I will be staying at the Barracuda Hotel and generally diving with Dive Paradise which I read is directly across the street. I also notice they seem to have a small cordoned-off area for doing a check-out dive but I was wondering about more general shore diving options in this area of the island. Is there any decent shore diving close by (say within walking distance carrying gear and then renting a tank at the entry point?). I am particularly interested in doing some shore diving at night as well.

Anyone have any tips/suggestions from prior experiences?

 

[Pez de Diablo]

I don't know of any good shore dives or more important, someone that would rent you a tank. Not to say there isn't but I just don't think your chances are good.

If you were on the across the water in Playa del Carmen, I could set you up with tanks and shore dives.

 

[DennisS]

There is the little cove they use for basic instruction and outside of there is a rubble pile--Pico's artificial reef. It has fish and a few lobsters, nothing exciting but a good place to get wet and check your bouyancy and camera. A little further out are hoops and fixed lines for practicing navigation and bouyancy. Dive Paradise will rent you a tank for around 5 bucks. If you are diving with them, they usually will give you a free tank before your first boat dive just to get squared away. I stayed there for a while and lots of people did night dives heading to the left. I'd do two boat dives in the morning and would just rent a tank in the afternoon to cool off and watch some fish.

 

[DocVikingo]

As the Scuba Diving Destination forum actually has a section dedicated to Mexico, I've taken the liberty of moving your inquiry here.

Concerning your question, a simple search of this forum turns up a recent thread that may prove informative (click here)---->

http://www.scubaboard.com/t45076.html

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[ggunn]

I don't know of any good shore dives or more important, someone that would rent you a tank. Not to say there isn't but I just don't think your chances are good.

If you were on the across the water in Playa del Carmen, I could set you up with tanks and shore dives.

Au contraire; there are plenty of waterfront dive shops on Cozumel that will rent you a tank and weights for about 6 bucks. The shore diving is nowhere near as good as what you will see on boat dives, but there are a few pretty good sites. The area between Villablanca and Caribe Blu, for example, is a nice little shore dive. The calm water in front of what used to be La Ceiba (El Cid?) where there is what's left of the sunken plane is OK, and the more adventurous can swim out to the wall from there and drift down to Villblanca.