Can't Dive Cozumel w/o an Instructor?!?

[Divedoggie]

Hey Ptoone,

You are going to have a GREAT trip! Since you are going to do a combo of boat dives and shore dives, I for one, will look forward to reading about your observations and experiences.

I usually do a combination of boat dives and shore dives on Coz as well. There is a scattered reef system, as others have mentioned, just south of Caribe Blue/Blue Angel. Its really not very good diving compared to the incredible reefs accessible only by boat, but its absolutely great compared to the diving that I do in Colorado!

Have a taxi take you to Caribe Blu and then just go to the desk at Blue Angel and rent a tank and weights. They will show you a map of the little reef and the entry and exit point. Its fun during the day and should be done first during the day, but my favorite shore dive there is night diving. The Octopii and squid come out to play! Also, the little restaurant/bar upstairs above the Blue Angel dive shop is worth a stop for a drink and a bite!

Christi is a friend of mine (as well as a friend to many others on this board) and I have been diving with her and her operation many times. She runs a first class dive op and her information is right on. I didn't pick up any condescention in her post. She was spelling it out for you, since there were so many other replies that gave partial advice.

Please let us know how it goes!

 

[PToone]

DiveDoggie,

Thanks for the excellent advice. Between your shorediving information and Christi's warning in the channel I think I will have a great dive there! I am also trying to up my dive count to be MasterDiver with SSI before I get there...I heard you get a few more privilages if you've kept up on your divelogs and advanced in certification! Here's hoping!

Just to let you all know how excited I am about getting in the water again - I'm in Utah and I just dove a 46 degree 10 ft deep pond just cause I've got the fever...Cozumel will be very welcomed after a handful of dives here in Utah like that!! haha

 

[Christi]

Her tone in the begining didn't jive well with me, but it is VERY possible I took it wrong. I might have been hyped up at the fact I've called so many places in Cozumel and they said all you can do is get a DM and boat dive. Since I have already pre-paid for 4 boat trips there and would just like to do some shore dives that won't take my whole day to be away from my wife (who doesn't dive) I was frustrated. Sorry if I offended you Chrisit, but I truly appreciate your info and will be VERY careful in how I handle shoredives.

Thanks everyone else too for their responses and opinions in here.

Apology accepted...and yes, you did take it wrong ...and you're welcome for the info I was only trying to provide you with accurate information as someone that actually knows the business here...most of the info you received (from people that don't live or work here) while well intended, was simply incomplete and/or inaccurate.

I was responding to the information in your first and subsequent posts, which sounded like you didn't plan to do much boat diving if any. You also said you had never been here. As I said, I was simply trying to give you a real world view of how the diving industry operates here as well as the safety concerns for shore diving, etc. Every location in the world is different and I just wanted you to have some accurate info so you wouldn't be caught off guard and/or disappointed when you get here due to bad info.

You're going to have a great time with Sergio!

 

[scubawife]

DiveDoggie,

Thanks for the excellent advice. Between your shorediving information and Christi's warning in the channel I think I will have a great dive there! I am also trying to up my dive count to be MasterDiver with SSI before I get there...I heard you get a few more privilages if you've kept up on your divelogs and advanced in certification! Here's hoping!

Just to let you all know how excited I am about getting in the water again - I'm in Utah and I just dove a 46 degree 10 ft deep pond just cause I've got the fever...Cozumel will be very welcomed after a handful of dives here in Utah like that!! haha

Just about all the shops in Cozumel asses your skill and comfort level first-hand before they'll take you to the more advanced sites. Doesn't really matter what certifications you have or how many dives you have done. They want to see how you handle the local conditions and if they don't think you're up to the challenge then they won't take you to the sites that are deeper and/or are known for a stronger or unpredictable current.

I hope you enjoy Cozumel. If you had planned to do lots of shore diving, go into that with no great expectations and maybe think about being flexible and leave the option open to add more boat diving. You'll get the best of Cozumel diving from a boat. (Curacao and Bonaire are great options if you prefer to do a few days of boat diving and the majority of your time shore diving on your own. Good rates for packages that include unlimited tanks for a week and reasonable cost to upgrade to unlimited nitrox fills too.)

If you want to do something different and unique to this area of Mexico, head over to the mainland for a day of cenote dives. You can make arrangements for a private guide and make a day of it - 2 cavern dives with lunch between dives, or you can just go to Hidden Worlds. They have several dives a day scheduled and put a max of 4 divers per guide.

 

[RPanick]

PToone you will quickly find out that most divers and crews that run the operations don't pay that much attention to certifications no matter where you go. The only certs that they care about are you Open Water so you can go diving, Advanced (maybe) so you can go a little deeper, Nitrox so that they can do fills for you, and DM/Instructor. And here's a secret, most instructors don't advertise that they are instructors when they aren't teaching/leading they just want to be left alone.

If you watch people gear up you get a pretty good feel for who has experience and who doesn't. Experience only comes from lots of dives. Classes are good, but they are no substitute for experience. What I'm trying to say is don't get into the trap that a lot of people do that having the class qualifies them to do something in diving. That's not how it works, the class is more information to help you while you learn the stuff. At over 300 dives I still look at myself as a beginner, and treat every dive as a new learning experience.

If you really want to learn, spend some time with your instructors when they teach classes, help out doing stuff. They will teach you a lot more than you will get out of the classes.

 

[PToone]

Cool, thanks for the advice RPanick and scubawife. I am going to continue on with my training because I am learning a LOT from all of it. Hopefully I can keep practicing to become really versed with that material.

 

[buza831]

Across from the Villa Blanca hotel is a pier and small beach where you can enter and do beach dives without an instructor but I think you should purchase a bracelet for the marine park fees.
Good diving, sea horses, rays, etc but not as good as a boat dive.
Good luck

 

[Firefyter]

Across from the Villa Blanca hotel is a pier and small beach where you can enter and do beach dives without an instructor but I think you should purchase a bracelet for the marine park fees.
Good diving, sea horses, rays, etc but not as good as a boat dive.
Good luck

Correct on all counts except the part about the bracelet. That particular area is not part of the marine park.