What happened to Cozumel?

[ChuckP]

We first dove Cozumel in 2008 and it was one of our first destination dive trips. I remember the reefs teeming with life. It was either that trip or a subsequent one that we found BlueXTsea and Pedro and looked forward to visiting them as frequently as we could. Fast forward to having kids and moving to a state that isn’t known for its diving and time got away from us. The majority of diving I’ve done in the last 10 years has been of the PSD variety with only two trips down here in the last 12 years with the next most recent being 5 years ago. We planned our current trip about 6 months ago with grandparents along for the ride as babysitters. hearing that Pedro retired we went looking for a new dive shop. I’m not here to badmouth them so they won’t be named but after reading great reviews both here and other places we went with someone that advertised small boats that had been in operation for a long time.

This was also our first time diving jacket BCD’s… in forever. We traded out the majority of our personal gear for a travel crib in order to keep the airlines happy with baggage weight. The first day of diving went fine enough- my BCD inflator was broken and the DM swapped me his setup. It was 2 sizes too big but not really a big deal. The bigger issue was the boat not having a gas analyzer. We were diving 32%. My wife’s computer failed on our second dive of the day and she requested a rental computer for the next day of diving. I might have higher standards than most but I don’t think it’s out of line. None of the other divers requested to check their tanks of course.

The boat was to pick us up at 7:40 and by 8am there was no boat and no text. I texted the dive shop and they said they would be there at 8:15. At 8:45 we left the pier and started to head back to our room to put our gear away. We were halfway across the beach when we saw our boat pulling up to the dock. We got on the boat in an attempt to salvage our morning. No analyzer, no dive computer. Thats a pretty big problem. Definitely not up to any GUE standards and the “expert halo” alarms were going off in my head.

The dive sites they chose were largely devoid of life other than seeing a dolphin (super cool!). We were on the boat with two other divers that turned out to be brand new. At one point I held a GUE tech 1 cert and have well over 500 dives. I try and maintain that same standard on all of my dives although diving with a long hose setup and a jacket BCD was pretty goofy.

We voiced our concern and cancelled the next day of diving. I was told they would not charge me for a late cancellation and then sent me 3 different invoices before seemingly getting it right.

Aside from the dive operation and dive sites being lackluster so was our resort. We stayed at Allegro- there were people having sex in the hot tub at 4pm and the food (other than the Asian) was terrible.

Someone please tell me Bonaire hasn’t suffered this same fate? That’s our plan next winter and it’ll have been 15 years since our last visit.

Also, I used to be a super active member here in the DIR forum but can’t remember my log-in. We’re hoping to get back into travel diving now that we no longer have the Great Lakes in our backyard so hopefully I will be sticking around and not just making this one post-and-ghost.

I can count on one hand the number of dive shops that leave before 8am and the three I'm thinking of, it sounds really strange but it happened.

Reaching out to the dive shop Pedro worked at, retired from, he might have dragged his butt to the marina a few days to dive with old friends but in reality, he'd be more excited about the big breakfast they all eat!!

Cozumel can be some of the greatest diving for many reasons, sad to hear that you had a bad experience.

This is the kind of stuff I find very useful.
Most of the time when I read about Cozumel it's some fanboi gushing about how great it is.
I really thought it should be a bucket list place to dive.
But I'm not going to take the time and pay the money to look at bare rock and coral ash.
Thank you for being honest.
When I get a chance to travel to dive someday I think based on what I'm reading, Cozumel is off the list.

This is not anywhere near typical....... Not even close.

 

[ChuckP]

$440 for the dives plus $88 total
For 4 tanks of nitrox, $100 for rental gear (I had my own computer/mask/regulator), $85 in tax and $48 to marine park fees. Does anyone know the actual marine park fee breakdown? $24 a person a day seems high?

I used to own a boat there..........

$110 per dive is not unreasonable, for a small 6pax boat, the price should be in the 120 range honestly.

$22 per tank for nitrox is stupid high - this is 3 year ago prices but I paid 45 pesos for air and 95 pesos for nitrox, 50 pesos more or about $2.50 per tank extra for nitrox - most charge $5-$10 per tank which is not unreasonable considering analyzer maintainence and covering the cost of the guides nitrox tanks. Charging 22 is someone trying to make up for the cheap dive prices.....

25 per day equipment rental is normal

Marine park braclets used to be 2 bucks and everyone used them, they raised it to $6 or $7 and people started cheating. They would charge you for a braclet they never gave you, charge you for a bracelet everyday but only give you one or never give you a braclet and not charge you. The money doesn't stay in Cozumel - the marine park is so corrupt - many boats don't even have permits - they come harrass/inspect you the permit holding boat while 25 meters away a boat with no permits, they ignore.... The new fee is $12 per bracelet, curious if the shop even gave you them every day.

Taxes - there's an evil thing. I would guess that 90% of the dive shops when paid in cash do not even pay that 16% tax. If you pay by credit card, there's a better chance the tax is paid but even then, maybe 50/50.

 

[ChuckP]

Several members have stated that as per their own persona experience, the reefs in Cozumel are in poor condition, relatively devoid of marine life and healthy corals, and several have gone so far as have removed Cozumel from consideration for future diving.

Others say that Cozumel is great and worth diving over and over again. And the naysayers have got it all wrong.

I recall diving Bonaire 11 years ago. I was really looking forward to Alice in Wonderland Reef, which is considered one of the best. I was really looking forward to it. After surfacing and listening to others say how great it was, I said "I can't help but ask, didn't you see a whole bunch of dead coral and not much in the way of fish and marine life? The answer was "I just don't pay attention to any of that".

My logbook entry states "Unique double reef, 2nd reef devoid of living coral and marine life. Green Moray, 2 huge parrotfish"

I guess if you can narrow your focus and only look at the good stuff with that "glass half full" attitude then you can apply that to just about anything in the world. Such as in NYC which is getting overrun by homeless, and garbage piling up in the streets. Just don't look at it, focus on the parks or the eateries or the skyline and ignore the rest.

I can't do that and neither can "everyone else"

I give a lot of credit to the eternally optimistic ones. No different from those who it isn't over when you die. You can screw this one up because you're going to get another chance.

The marine life in Cozumel, like anywhere else has ups and downs. They've had a few years of high water temps, the stoney coral.....

Go dive the Palancar sites and see little life in the deep sections but come shallow and there it is....

Seahorses which were rare not that many years ago are back, Sharks - hammerheads are back in the shallow areas, reef sharks are back also - not many but they're around. The sleeping shark portion seems to have faded away though....

It's as good as most anywhere..

 

[ggunn]

Several members have stated that as per their own persona experience, the reefs in Cozumel are in poor condition, relatively devoid of marine life and healthy corals, and several have gone so far as have removed Cozumel from consideration for future diving.

Others say that Cozumel is great and worth diving over and over again. And the naysayers have got it all wrong.

It's subjective. In my 30 years of diving Cozumel I have seen things come and go; I still dive there and I enjoy it very much. For the record, I only said that anyone who says that there is nothing to see around Cozumel but "bare rock and coral ash" (glass empty) have got it all wrong. That is empirically not the case.

But as I said, "glass half full" and "glass half empty" are of course subjective opinions; if you are crossing Cozumel off your list of preferred dive destinations, that's your business and none of mine, but the only divers who are likely to be swayed by any of these arguments one way or the other are people who have never been there.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

It's subjective. In my 30 years of diving Cozumel I have seen things come and go; I still dive there and I enjoy it very much. For the record, I only said that anyone who says that there is nothing to see around Cozumel but "bare rock and coral ash" (glass empty) have got it all wrong. That is empirically not the case.

But as I said, "glass half full" and "glass half empty" are of course subjective opinions; if you are crossing Cozumel off your list of preferred dive destinations, that's your business and none of mine, but the only divers who are likely to be swayed by any of these arguments one way or the other are people who have never been there.

I've never been there.

 

[ggunn]

I've never been there.

So what do you think? Have you formed an opinion of the condition of Cozumel reefs based on what you have read on Scubaboard, or are you inclined toward going there to see for yourself?

 

[Soloist]

You mean to tell me that theses fuhkkers are killing all the coral?

Hey @Sure Squintsalot, I found a brilliant eye-chart that may be applicable in diagnosing your particular astigmatism/shortsightedness. Good luck with that.

 

[BRT]

I've never been there.

It is terrible. You should go somewhere else. Deader than a fritter.

 

[FishWatcher747]

Focus on the sites with good soft coral, they can be wonderful. The sites with lots of dead hard coral are hard on the eyes.

 

[Julerb1]

I just hope people quit going there so when I'm there there will be less people.