Beginner Diving in Cozumel

[davsholm423]

This upcoming Christmas Holiday, my family and I will be traveling to Cozumel for the first time. I'm doing my class and pool work of my certification before the trip, so I just have to take the Referral when I am on vacation. After becoming certified I will also want to go on a few more dives during my stay. Does anyone have any tips or advice about diving, or anything in general with Cozumel? Any favorite Dive Shops or other things I should know??

Thanks for your input.

[DiveCaptDean]

Where are you staying?
Dont drink the water...
Dont brush your teeth from the faucet
make sure you rent a car and go to the other side of the island..there is a great cantina there
visit the ruins on the other side by quadrunners
there are a ton of good dive shops in the area...who are you palnning to use...
bring sunscreen
careful snorkeling from shore as there is a bit of a current once you get out to 15 to 20ft of depth or so
If you enjoyed your dive...tip your divemasters and crew
make sure your crew knows that you are a new diver..they will be happy to help you in any way they can..

Most importantly....Dive safe..And have Fun...This is some of the best diving on this side of the world

[vmi]

Aqua Safari is a decent outfit. They are right on the first pier in downtown. They serve very nice food between dives as well...

Probably plan on using a warmer dive suit than you might think. Drift diving is chilly, at least that's what I think.

Take something to wrap up in between dives as the boat ride can get cold, esp w/ any winds that pick up.

Who is arranging your trip ?

Have fun !!

[davsholm423]

At the moment I'm not 100 % sure where I'm going to be staying. A lot of it depends on if I can get this special private timeshare rental at the Coral Princess, for a very reduced rate. But I can't be sure I have that secured untill the end of September. So my backup is the Caribe Blue Dive Resort.

For diving I'm not positive either, but I'm very interested in "Scuba Tony" or "Scuba with Allison." They're a little more expensive but I think it would be worth it to have a American instructor and DM, especially when I'm a complete beginner.

Thanks

[freedivernd]

You might consider taking the family to a cenote for some snorkeling if you ferry over to the mainland.. there's many of them very close to Playa.. you'll have to do your homework as far as catching a cartiva, taxi, bus, or tour to get to 'em. If you end up at the Caribe Blu, that's we're we stayed for a few days the last time there.. the snorkeling/freediving wasn't bad right off their entry..boat traffic was kinda nuts but I had a dive flag along and float.. little restaurant next door above the dive shop worked for a few lunches.
Remember to get a quote from the taxi drivers before you get in the car... take a bunch of 1.00 bills so you always have tip money and small bills for taxi rides, etc. Dramamine or similar for the boat rides out to dive if it's choppy. Anything you don't bring along can be bought at the wal-mart like stores. Pack light!!!

[DiveCaptDean]

Aqua Safari is a nice shop, and the owner is Canadien. Evryone speaks very good english, you wont have a problem with that. I strongly suggest taking the ferry to Playa del Carmen. If you are able to go there, right where you get off the ferry is a great little park and beach for the kids to play..especially if they are young...If you want to relax..drive down to Tres Rios...What a nice little quite place to chill out enjoy the weather and a drink or two. Xelha is nice as well..there are a ton of places to go down there...
Enjoy your visit

[Mark Y]

I've been to Cozumel twice. First time I rented a house, we had plenty of room, prepared many of our own meals, etc. It cost us $27 USD per day, per person (four of us) and included daily maid-service and water delivery. We even had a nice outdoor space over looking the soccer fields. So at night we'd down beer & watch the local teams play. We dove with Aqua-Safari. They where nice to dive with, but they pack a lot of divers into the boat, and I prefer smaller groups.

The second time, I did an all-inclusive package. I think the hotel was Brisas Cozumel, now called Hotel Cozumel (I think). It is across the street from Dive Paradise. Oh yeah, there is shore diving available. Did a night dive and a looong day dive (90 minutes). We didn't dive with Dive Paradise, though. We went with Yellow Rose, their boat was called Blue Note. The Capt., well, she was interesting - and not longer there. It was a slow boat, but didn't pack in the divers.

For my money and enjoyment, when I go back, I'd rather rent my own house and select a more technical orientated dive shop. Also, car rental is a must. There is lots to see, like Neeked Beach!

Also, I've dove Cozumel with no wet-suit, a shorty, and a 3/5/3mm suit. Although I wasn't cold when diving 'naked', I prefer the protection of the 3/5/3 mm suit.

And lastly, avoid swim throughs. Although it is fun, most divers don't have good enough control of their bouyancy and really beat up the reef. In principal, I swim over the reef and meet the group on the other side.

Hope this helps! Enjoy, Cozumel is a fun place! ;D

[davsholm423]

Thanks for all the info.

Where did you learn about this private rental??

[chbrown2]

I've been to Coz twice, & stayed both times at Casa Del Mar (). Excellent value - great, clean but not "high-brow" rooms & located about 2 miles south of town (taxis are cheap to run back & forth for dinner). Though this is not an all inclusive, it does include a fantastic full breakfast pool side in an open air restaurant. I recommend hitting downtown each night for dinner, as the restaurants are IMHO the best in Mexico. Associated PADI dive operation incorporated in their very competive diver & non-diver packages. Good dive shop for newer divers, but I've heard directly & from ScubaBoard.com that Blue XT is the best one to go with (female American DM runs operation) Check out website: bluextseadiving.com (what can I say - she's a babe : ) Coz is a must do dive destination. I've taken my wife (non-diver) & 3 kids (future divers) on my two trips, & what's really nice is that you can get serious diving in, & enjoy the non-diving scene just as well. Have a great time, & make sure you post a report of your experience!

[scubadog76]

A couple of good tricks we learned on our trip last year:

We booked our hotel at Expedia.com. When you book a hotel through that site, do so on the weekend. The owner of the hotel we stayed at was explaining to us that when they list hotels on that site, they have to pay a commission to the site for every room booked but it is only monitered through the week. Most hotels know this and jack up the prices so they won't have any bookings. Fri. night, when the cats away, They lower their rates, book a ton of people and jack the rates back up Sun. night so they don't have to pay commission to Expedia. It saved us 35.00 a night.

Next, If your planning to do any shore dives, You have to be careful of where your hotel is in relation to cruise ships. If you stay in downtown it's not really possible. The current is much stronger and boat traffic is nuts. We stayed at the Villa Blanca (further south) which wasn't exactly The holiday inn but not quite the trucker moter lodge either. It worked fine and we would do shore dives after our morning boat dives. Plus it's only a $5.00 cab ride to downtown and dive shops are right across the street.

Liqued Blue Divers is an awesome shop. They use steel 120's and although they are a little more expensive ($15-$20), the bottom time you get is similar to 3 dives and I feel they are the safest outfit I have ever dove with. TOP NOTCH!!!

Don't bring any bills higher than a $20.00. Mexico is the land of no change! Plenty of 1's and 5's and when having a few cold ones at Senior frogs stay away from the shot girl that walk around pouring shots and blowing a schreeching wistle. She is trouble, walking cirrhosis!!! ;D hope you have a blast down there.