Your Opinion.. The TOP 5 dive spots to visit in Cozumel

[halocline]

:lol:

And come on Mattboy, his profile showed 0-15 dives--we didn't know until he explained that he actually has more dives than that. That information DOES affect the sites that I would personally recommend. I would never recommend Maracaibo or Barracuda to a newbie, would you? And a responsible dive shop wouldn't take a new diver to those sites. You can't argue the fact that some of the sites do require more experience, so chill out.

I was just reacting to something that happens pretty commonly on SB, people making assumptions about someone else's dive abilities; all the guy asked for was other people's favorite sites, not an assessment of where he is qualified to dive. I'm guilty of doing this occasionally as well, and if he had phrased the question "what are the best dive sites for a new diver" or something similar, then the responses would have been completely appropriate. I probably overstated my point.

 

[okiejeff]

Punta Sur (Wow factor, pristine, who knows what you'll see...grouper, sharks, turles, rays, etc.)

Columbia Shallows (School after school of Juveniles, slow pace, young turtles)

Dalila (nurse sharks, eels, angels, triggers, etc....)

Paradise Shallow (nightime) (Lobster, eels, toadfish, lots of little stuff that comes out at night if you go slow and look close such as: golden zoanthids, orange ball corralmorphs...)

Palancar Bricks (Blackcap basslets, turtles, and occasional eagle ray)

 

[kneptoon]

Last week was my first post Wilma trip to Cozumel. The diving is still fine but the devastation is profound. There is a lot of sand on the reefs. Wilma removed most of the sea fans, a lot of soft and hard coral, so the gorgonians were pulverized, and strangely almost all of the sea urchins are gone. Still the diving was great. We had a lot of close encounters with turtles, nurse sharks morays and the splendid toadfish . But the common menu of dive locations is a bust. There are parts of Planacar that are good, but it took three dives on Palancar to find a good dive. Palancar Horse Shoe wasn't so good. The second dive on Palancar Gardens was pretty good. Columbia was by far the best, but fairly deep(120'). Punta Sur usually a favorite was not as good. There seems to be no predictability from past experience on what will be good or not. We had good diving on Cedral, Torementos, and Punta Tuniche, all fairly shallow dives. I can't explain this as the shallower reefs were supposed to be more damaged than the deeper spots. I tend to like the smaller faster boats, as they all go to the same spot anyway. Caballito has been my choice for the past five years. I see the same repeat divers year after year, and more importantly the same dive masters, (some with the company for 10 years). This is definitely a no frills operation, but they suit me fine. I think dive operations are really a matter of personal matching. There is a little "the emperor has no clothes" attitude with diving in Cozumel. The dive operations will continue to take you out to the same locations post Wilma as if nothing has changed. There are in fact big changes in Cozumel. But there is still fantastic diving. It would be a step forward to admit that some dive sites are "under construction" and dive the sites that are less damaged. Finally, the people of Cozumel have done an incredible job in rebuilding the island and the diving infrastructure. There attitude is humbling considering that Wilma sat there trapped for 63 hours. I don't know if I've answered your 5 best dive site question. I dove 12 dives there and I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

[ggunn]

Last week was my first post Wilma trip to Cozumel. [...] There is a little "the emperor has no clothes" attitude with diving in Cozumel. The dive operations will continue to take you out to the same locations post Wilma as if nothing has changed. There are in fact big changes in Cozumel. But there is still fantastic diving. It would be a step forward to admit that some dive sites are "under construction" and dive the sites that are less damaged. .

FWIW, not even the most enthusiastic Cozumel supporters are saying that diving there is the same as it ever was. Some things are definitely different, and many are not for the better. Nature builds a reef, nature tears it down, and nature builds it back again; it's an ongoing process and those who saw Cozumel before Wilma were lucky enough to see it at its height. It's still very good there, and some aspects are rebounding quickly. Some will not recover in our lifetimes; that's just the way it is.

My experience there in May was a little different from yours; my dive op consistently took me to places where the damage was less, and some places that were actually better than before. We went to Colombia Shallows four or five times; there was very little damage there and the reef is huge. My wife and I dove over 40 tanks in two weeks, and although some were better than others, there wasn't ever a dive where I wish I'd stayed home.

 

[kneptoon]

You misread or assumed. Never said I had a bad dive. I continuously comment that the diving was fine and no one says anything about staying home. Cozumel is a different place than a year ago.

 

[ggunn]

You misread or assumed. Never said I had a bad dive. I continuously comment that the diving was fine and no one says anything about staying home. Cozumel is a different place than a year ago.

What I meant by "a little different" was that my dive op steered us around the worst of the damage rather than trying to take us to all the "normal" spots as if there weren't any damage. Sorry if it looked as if I was misrepresenting you.