Which resort in Cozumel has good shore diving?

[lespaulsf]

Hi

As you can see from the title my wife and I are looking for a good resort that good shore diving. We are planning on going in May 2010 with are then 5 month old baby and most likely mother in law that is also a diver. We figure that shore diving might be a good option since we will not be able to do boat diving nearly as much. Although between the three of us we should be able to trade off and on.

Do you all have any good experiences with shore diving in Cozumel?

 

[Papa_Bear]

None really! The only shore diving is at Chaankanab Federal park! A lot of dive operations will include free shore diving at the park! It is pretty good!

 

[Becca_007]

We stayed at Hotel Cozumel and they had shore diving right there. I can't attest to the variety as we went on the boat most days but the significant other went off the shore one afternoon when my ears didn't allow me to dive. If you do want to add in some boat dives, they pick you right up from the hotel dock which can be viewed from the lunch dining area. This is the one and only place we've been so far so I'm not sure how others compare.

 

[Chocoholic]

I did about 10 shore dives from the Coral Princess, I would go way north one time and then way south the next. I loved it. Saw lots of stuff in just 20 feet of water. It is just diving along the shoreline and looking at all the nooks and crannies and finding all sorts of fish, rays and eels. We went straight out about 100? yards from the dock and found a nice little area of reef in about 45 foot of water and saw a seahorse and a bunch more fish. The people I was diving with dove several times everyday and they only went boat diving once. They were in Coz for two weeks, one week shore diving the Coral Princess and the other week shore diving the Melia. I loved the boat dives and would never miss those but I really liked going shorediving on my own schedule and just diving whenever. You just walk to the little cement steps and hop in and dive. Have fun.

 

[Chocoholic]

I can't figure out how to get my photos to show up, again... BUt I did put several photos of shore diving from the Coral Princess and photos of the exit/entry for shore diving in myphotos.

 

[PARADISE HUNTER]

I don't want to be a buzz kill, but for the most part Cozumel is not a shore diving destination. The main reef formations are a ways from shore and any shore line within the park can't be dove without a guide. Most of the good shore diving was destroyed with hurricane Wilma.

That said, with tempered expectations, it can be a fun experience. Much of the diving is over smaller coral formations and rubble that can hold a surprising variety of life. A bit north and outside of the park you can put in and drift the shore line by yourself, but be careful of the current.

Scuba Club, Blue Angel and Hotel Barracuda have decent shore dives. But I would suggest making as many boat/reef dives as possible. That truely is the gem of Cozumel and not to be missed. While the shore diving is fine to fill an afternoon or get your gear worked out, it by no means can be compared to the outer reef.

Best of luck.

PH

 

[lespaulsf]

I did about 10 shore dives from the Coral Princess, I would go way north one time and then way south the next. I loved it. Saw lots of stuff in just 20 feet of water. It is just diving along the shoreline and looking at all the nooks and crannies and finding all sorts of fish, rays and eels. We went straight out about 100? yards from the dock and found a nice little area of reef in about 45 foot of water and saw a seahorse and a bunch more fish. The people I was diving with dove several times everyday and they only went boat diving once. They were in Coz for two weeks, one week shore diving the Coral Princess and the other week shore diving the Melia. I loved the boat dives and would never miss those but I really liked going shorediving on my own schedule and just diving whenever. You just walk to the little cement steps and hop in and dive. Have fun.

Thanks I will have to check it out. I did find the photos thanks.

 

[lespaulsf]

I don't want to be a buzz kill, but for the most part Cozumel is not a shore diving destination. The main reef formations are a ways from shore and any shore line within the park can't be dove without a guide. Most of the good shore diving was destroyed with hurricane Wilma.

That said, with tempered expectations, it can be a fun experience. Much of the diving is over smaller coral formations and rubble that can hold a surprising variety of life. A bit north and outside of the park you can put in and drift the shore line by yourself, but be careful of the current.

Scuba Club, Blue Angel and Hotel Barracuda have decent shore dives. But I would suggest making as many boat/reef dives as possible. That truely is the gem of Cozumel and not to be missed. While the shore diving is fine to fill an afternoon or get your gear worked out, it by no means can be compared to the outer reef.

Best of luck.

PH

Yep I just wanted to know if there was decent shore diving on a time when the boats were not going out.

I have to say anything is better than the lake diving we have been doing.

 

[Willar]

To clarify, the shore dives discussed above, and most any shore dive along hotel row on the west side of Cozumel, will be mostly rubble and ironshore, not reefs. That doesn't mean shore dives here are not fun. We did shore dives daily and nightly out of Scuba Club and had a great time with it. There are plenty of interesting fish, crabs, starfish, octopus and other organisms living in/on/around the rubble.

A fun thing was to suit up, catch a cab, and go a little south of Scuba Club near the little lighthouse, enter here and navigate back to Scuba Club. Plenty to look at and plenty of air time at 20-25fsw to get back safely. A fun exercise to do daytime then again at night. It's an amazing change.

If you want a pretty shore dive with reefs, go to Bonaire. But you can still have fun on shore dives in Cozumel.

 

[sffrenchman]

We did a number of night shore dives off of Blue Angel resort when we were there in September last year. While this is indeed no reef and mostly sand and rubble, there was quite a bit of very interesting marine life, such as octopus, squids, eels feeding etc.... It was a lot of fun. While it is a shore dive, there is still quite a bit of current so one has to be mindful of it (no boat is following you, start the dive against the current).