best transportation cozumel

[SCUBA Dog]

I have dove with Del Mar Aquatics once in the past. Not a bad experience, but it was on a "cattle boat". Seems to me they are mostly (if not all) larger boats, which means lots of divers. I now dive with Scuba Shack. As was already mentioned, primarily recreational, but great service and small boats. I am very pleased with them. If you end up on a six-pack boat, my experience has been the dive site is chosen by the group of divers on the boat, sometimes with recommendations by the divemaster. On occassion, the divemaster may overrule a dive site if conditions are not favorable. The far south sites (Punta Sur and Maracaibo) would require you to prearrange a trip with the shop and cost a little more. I would not expect to ditch the SCUBA police. The area is a National Park and requires a permit to dive ($2 per day). The divemasters go through training to conform with the requirements to dive in the park. So they in effect are an arm of the SCUBA police. In addition, they make their living off of tips. It would not benefit them to take you out and just cut you loose on your own.

The Lonely Planet book on Cozumel has some good info on the island and dive sites. It might be helpful for you to pick up a copy to help research the sites. Particularly for your shore dives. It might make it easier for you to plan the beginning and end points of your shore dives and then coordinate a plan for transportation accordingly. Just a thought.

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