Cozumel for beginners?

[Jarrett]

I'm a newbie and felt safe with Blue XT Sea's crew. They even recommended changing a dive site to add more safety for us newb's. That sold me. Out of the three dive ops I've been with in Coz, they were the best easily. I'm not sure they want to be labelled as "good for newbs" but I'm headed back to dive with them again next month

To answer badger's question, out of the three times I've been there I've found the water to be very calm for saltwater conditions. And definitely Coz is a drift dive spot.

<---That's what it looks like when you are under water there

 

[ggunn]

So are most of the dives in Cozumel drift dives? It sounds like from the above posts the waves tend to be lower compared to Keys, is this true?

Yes to both.

There is nearly always some current on every boat dive; how much varies from site to site and day to day. Even the direction can vary in some places due to eddying of the constant southwest to northeast flow against the shoreline.

The prevailing seas come from the main part of the Caribbean to the southeast of the island, and most of the dive sites are close in to the island on the other side, so the island shelters them most of the time from the larger waves. An exception to this is when a strong cold front moves in from the north, which can churn up the channel between Cozumel and the Yucatan quite a bit.

 

[MMM]

What???? Huhh? On what do you base this statement?

Diving the reefs at Key Largo with an operator who carters to newbies is a lot safer than diving Cozumel, where most operators are not as careful.

 

[Gradyk]

My wifes first true open water dive (after cert) was in Cozumel. I think its about the easiest dive there is. Just control your bouyancy and enjoy the ride. We used Aldora, they are a little more expensive. There try to put people with simular experience levels on the same boat, 6 per boat max. They use large 120 cubic foot tanks. Their DM's are also instructors. I can't think of anything with/about them to complain about. With the large tanks just make sure you understand your computer or the one they give you... if you have a low air consumption rate, you can very easily challenge decompression limits. Our dives (15) averaged more than an hour each.

 

[Moodiejeff]

Has anyone else noticed this thread is almost 2 years old?