What compares to Cozumel?

[KeithG]

There are some excellent restaurants in Bonaire as well.

Agreed! Not only is Bonaire is great place to dive, it also has some very good restaurants for apre-dive. But not cheap.

At Sea is world class with a very interesting tasting menu paired with wine choices. We now try to do it twice each trip.

An old staple is Capriccio with excellent italian faire and the best wine cellar in the (very small) country. This is also a twice a trip destination.

(28 days and counting...)

 

[diversteve]

Turks and Caicos gives Cozumel a run for it's money when it comes to pristine deep wall diving. And there's some drift diving there also. The best of the best is off West Caicos and tiny French Cay - uninhabited but they do it by day boat from Provo (Providenciales) Lots of sharks, turtles, grouper, dozens of rays, even dolphins occasionally. The wall there is 6000' deep in places. The upwelling promotes fantastic coral on coral growth. And brings big stuff up to feed.

Grand Turk is more laid back - the attraction there is the wall 10mins. off shore with about 40 named dive sites. Similar to Cozumel it's where the cruise port is also. Just a lot smaller/quieter. At the right time of year Humpback whales go thru there on their way to the Silver Banks off the Dominican Republic - Salt Cay is a good spot for that - snorkel only.

I could make a case for the North Wall off Grand Cayman also. Lots of deep wall diving means lots of interesting coral structures and all sorts of larger pelagics. Just the names of some of the sites - Hammerhead Hill, Eagle Ray Pass, Ghost Mountain, Babylon - should give you an idea. idivecayman.com has HD video of a lot of the sites.

Both are pricey compared to Cozumel also.

 

[Lorenzoid]

For me, Cozumel stays at or near the top of the list of Caribbean destinations because of a combination of these factors:

- easy flight compared with Caribbean destinations having similarly good diving, and many (even more reasonably priced) flights to choose from if flying via Cancun
- inexpensive lodging and food compared with Caribbean destinations having similarly good diving
- many non-resort lodging options to choose from (I dislike being kept in a resort unless we're talking 5-star luxury dive-only resort)
- I love Mexico, even if it's a touristy part of Mexico, and no other destination in Mexico has similarly good diving as far as I know

Mexico. The people. The food. The opportunity to practice speaking Spanish. Sure, other Caribbean dive destinations have reasonably good restaurants, but there's no restaurant on, say, Bonaire of a quality I can't find in any major US city (well, okay, the Bonaire snack shacks with the goat stew and pastechis are a draw). And if waterfront dining is the goal then I could find plenty of that in Florida or California--it's not a big deal to me. Cozumel has just what I want in terms of food options. Did I mention I like Mexico?

 

[robint]

For me.... Cozumel is the best of the Caribbean.
It has the fish life of Bonaire, only more big stuff like sharks and turtles, and the gorgeous reef structure with swimthroughs and walls of Roatan.
Price... Cozumel is cheaper than Bonaire and Roatan both..

In Pacific, yeah Palau.... no words to describe it. No words.

 

[ggunn]

All things considered, for me Cozumel is very hard to beat. From Austin it's a quick, easy, and relatively cheap flight. There are inexpensive and yet very good options there for diving, lodging, and meals. The diving is what it is; most of us in here don't need it described. I know where everything is and I have friends on the island who sometimes take me to the other side of the membrane that normally separates locals from tourists. I am in the midst of planning my next trip there.

 

[BDSC]

We went to Cozumel last year after several years away. I had forgotten just how good it can be. We stayed at Blue Angel and was even quite surprised at how good the shore dive was there. It really is hard to beat Cozumel when it comes to price and how easy it is to get there.

But my favorite place in the Caribbean is still Little Cayman and we have a group going back there this August. We stay at the Little Cayman Beach Resort and the rooms are very nice, the staff is great, the food is beyond great, and Reef Divers run a really top notch dive operation. While it is more expensive than going to Cozumel, we think it's worth it. A 17 dive package with all meals, room, transfers, taxes, service charges, etc. is $1425 per person. If you only want morning dives (12) it's $1250. Being that most Cozumel dive packages are 10 dives and you can do a 12 dive package at LCBR for $1250, I don't think the difference is that far off and I haven't stayed anywhere in Cozumel that was as nice as the LCBR.

 

[scoobajay]

Thanks y'all. I knew Coz would be hard to beat in terms of convenience, price, and amazing diving!

My problem is that I'd have to save up quite a bit more for a trip to Palau or even Little Cayman and I can't go more than 6 months without a dive trip
Cozumel it is then!

 

[tomhooper]

I've dove in a lot of places. Caribbean, Hawaii, South Pacific. I always come back to Cozumel. Still the best in my book.

 

[scrane]

Recently got back from Roatan. Great variety of diving close to home (West End in my case). No long boat rides necessary. Terrific live coral on shallow reefs. Lots of swim throughs. Walls. Most fun dives > one hour and up to 120'.
A little more complicated and expensiveto get to than Cozumel for me from Boise, ID. Private hotels in West End with local diveshops. Dives average $30. per and you don't have to dive Paradise every afternoon. Hotels in the $50. range pp and up. Good contact with local people.
Not much to do in West End except dive, eat, and drink. Very funky.

 

[drrich2]

Cozumel it is then!

Nothing wrong with that. In time, you may want to try something different, if only to diversify your range of experience. In 2014, I did 2 trips; a solo dive trip to Bonaire, with 28 dives (1 guided east coast by Bas Tol with BasDiving.com; 2 boat; 25 solo shore dives), 1 to Jupiter, Fl, with 10 dives. Having family along played a role in the 2nd trip, but it's a place I wanted to dive. That was my 8th trip to Bonaire. If I judged Jupiter by the standards of Bonaire, it's come up lacking - reefs not near as nice, viz. consistently worst, only did boat dives...

But my Jupiter experience with Jupiter Dive Center gave me something special. 1.) I've dove Jupiter, Fl, and have that experience and the memories. 2.) I got to see a bunch of goliath grouper! Some up close! 3.) Saw a few sharks! 8 trips, over 150 dives in Bonaire, haven't seen a single shark there. 4.) Deep drift dives with steel 120 tanks with EAN 36 aren't something readily available in Bonaire.

I loved my Key Largo trip, but for my 2nd Florida dive trip, I chose Jupiter. If I go back in the future, I'd at least consider West Palm Beach, Boynton, some place I haven't been.

My point is, sometimes it's not 'Who's Better?' but rather 'Which have I done, and which haven't I done?'

With 8 Bonaire trips, I'm not above milking a sure thing repeatedly. I don't crave a lot of novelty. But there are a lot of different flavors of scuba to try.

Richard.