SandyRobinson
Contributor
Have you considered a day trip to Tulum for a cenote experience?
Staying in Cozumel longer term -- any recommendations for "off the beaten path" diving?
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cozcharlie
Contributor
Thoughts:
1). For the most part, Forget the list. What wildlife you see on a dive is more a function of luck than location. What you see is more a function of time in the water than where you dive. If you want coral formations go to Palancar. If you want walls go to Santa Rosa Wall or one of the numerous other sites that have “Wall” in the name. I have done the same site 60 minutes apart and had incredible first dive and a lousy second dive. If your divemaster says they have recently been seeing black tips at Palancar Horseshoe or eagle rays at Cantarel then maybe go where they suggest but don’t go by some check list.
2) Cenotes on mainland are a nice day excursion as someone mentioned. Nice to experience for a day almost regardless of long-term preference. Some people are one and done, others fall in love with them and want to do them over and over but few regret having gone for the experience
3. Paradise is a beginner day dive but you can see plenty there , especially if go off peak when there aren’t many other divers there. Obviously good as a night dive. Someone seemed to suggest Tunich and other southern sites as night dives. I wouldn’t want to be on a wall or high current dive at night (even with experienced divers ) . I am perfectly capable of riding a downcurrent down to 150-200 feet, but why would I want to ?
4. Just to be clear I have probably dove every site on the west side from a range of well beyond 200 ft up to surface. These days I prefer dives that are shallow and easy because that is where I see the most life (and I also don’t have to worry about someone I just met over breathing and running out of air at 130 feet, which has happened to me ).
5). Bottom line : just dive a lot and see what you see—don’t sweat where you go
1). For the most part, Forget the list. What wildlife you see on a dive is more a function of luck than location. What you see is more a function of time in the water than where you dive. If you want coral formations go to Palancar. If you want walls go to Santa Rosa Wall or one of the numerous other sites that have “Wall” in the name. I have done the same site 60 minutes apart and had incredible first dive and a lousy second dive. If your divemaster says they have recently been seeing black tips at Palancar Horseshoe or eagle rays at Cantarel then maybe go where they suggest but don’t go by some check list.
2) Cenotes on mainland are a nice day excursion as someone mentioned. Nice to experience for a day almost regardless of long-term preference. Some people are one and done, others fall in love with them and want to do them over and over but few regret having gone for the experience
3. Paradise is a beginner day dive but you can see plenty there , especially if go off peak when there aren’t many other divers there. Obviously good as a night dive. Someone seemed to suggest Tunich and other southern sites as night dives. I wouldn’t want to be on a wall or high current dive at night (even with experienced divers ) . I am perfectly capable of riding a downcurrent down to 150-200 feet, but why would I want to ?
4. Just to be clear I have probably dove every site on the west side from a range of well beyond 200 ft up to surface. These days I prefer dives that are shallow and easy because that is where I see the most life (and I also don’t have to worry about someone I just met over breathing and running out of air at 130 feet, which has happened to me ).
5). Bottom line : just dive a lot and see what you see—don’t sweat where you go
In 27 years of diving Cozumel I can count the number of "lousy" dives on the fingers of one hand, and I label them thus only in comparison to the other dives I have done there. A couple were due to visibility issues (20' - 30', which shows how spoiled we are) and a couple were because of DM/boat captain missing a dropoff point (again, we are spoiled).
cozcharlie
Contributor
Think this was this past December
1st Dive at Cantarel: More than a dozen Eagle Rays plus some assorted other stuff. Medium viz. Relatively short dive due to depth of eagle rays
2nd Dive at Cantarel 60 minutes later: 0 Eagle rays and not much of anything else either. Medium viz. Relatively short dive due to depth of where eagle rays might have been (if we had seen any
)Maybe second dive wasn't truly lousy, but not something I would want to do 10 times in a row. Some things are just hit and miss (especially the places where you have a chance of seeing something interesting).
Can't remember timeframe of OP but not certain if someone mentioned going to Isla Mujeres to snorkel with whale sharks when they are there over the summer. That would almost certainly be a worthwhile trip if you are here at right time (you can't dive with them, only snorkel). Interactions are pretty heavily managed in terms of time in water so there are some cons to it, but still nice to swim with whale sharks.
nodakdive
Contributor
Sharkygill
Contributor
I don't see Maracaibo Shallows (aka Chunchakaab) on your list. It really isn't shallow...you want to dive it on nitrox. Weather conditions have to be just so, to get there comfortably. If you can get there, it's one of my favourites.
Also Cantarell if you are there Jan-Feb-March when Eagle Rays are running in big squadrons. As someone else pointed out, you lumped all the Palancars together and each is slightly different. Also, Cedar Pass and Cedar Wall are completely different. And I find San Francisco deep quite different from a more shallow dive on that wall. You didn't list Villa Blanca, but I wouldn't go out of my way to dive there. Those are all boat dives.
Talk to some people about shore dives. @RayfromTX can fill your ears if you can connect with him. He does really long shore dives with two sidemount tanks and a scooter.
Also Cantarell if you are there Jan-Feb-March when Eagle Rays are running in big squadrons. As someone else pointed out, you lumped all the Palancars together and each is slightly different. Also, Cedar Pass and Cedar Wall are completely different. And I find San Francisco deep quite different from a more shallow dive on that wall. You didn't list Villa Blanca, but I wouldn't go out of my way to dive there. Those are all boat dives.
Talk to some people about shore dives. @RayfromTX can fill your ears if you can connect with him. He does really long shore dives with two sidemount tanks and a scooter.
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