Cozumel = "hell on earth?!"

[Diver Kat]

The couple's only other travel experience was to Boston. She was kind of angry about that trip too because she couldn't understand what the locals were saying.

LOL! My mom was from Maine and went to college in Boston .... I can kinda sympathize!!

I've done 5 day getaways there for $500. That included flight, diving, hotel, and food.

Can you be my travel agent??? Mostly the airfare is close to that!

Pretty much any other Caribbean destination requires a 3 1/2 hour flight to Miami, an inevitable delay or long layover at the strange country called MIA where nobody speaks English or any other common language, the people are mean, and the food IS horrible.

Been there, done that, but luckily can get to a lot of places through Houston instead!! MIA was NOT fun!! (But then we're spoiled by ABIA in Austin, pretty much a super nice airport!)

 

[scubawife]

I've made five trips to Akumal, the last one in 2005. The diving was still good. Has it declined that much since then?

VERY much so! And to the point that we are seeing changes to some specific sites on the middle reef in just 3-5 months between visits in '06 and '07. After a trip in Sept/Oct '07 we didn't want to believe it and pulled out pics and video clips taken on the same sites over a 6yr period. Looking at all the years of documentation on the same sites, there was no talking ourselves out of what we were seeing... The worst part of it is that about 80% was preventable, and if it's stopped now, there's a chance that it could come back. It would take years, but it's still possible. The local eco group has some bright and hard working staff, but trying to work with them and talking to locals, it's very apparent that there are just too many conflicting interests to really accomplish anything. Talk and money is not scarce.

I have to bite my tongue when we come up from a dive and a someone on the boat is raving that it's the best place they've been. Definitely a shifting baseline. If they've never been anywhere, or only seen worse, they think it's great. Lots of people I know have stopped going to Akumal, and there are many more new visitors each year. As long as what they see is better then what they saw somewhere else (or it's their first ocean diving or snorkeling experience) there's little incentive for change.

We've been spending more time the last few years in Cozumel and enjoy it much more for dive vacations. I like that Coz is a real community with a variety of neighborhoods, places to eat, etc. Much more interesting (and a whole lot more affordable) then a laid back luxury, private beach community. In fact, we'll be back in "hell" in just over a month!

 

[sharky60]

Could it be possible the Scotts where exuding sarcasm? Brittish humor can be quite dry.

 

[Mawg]

It doesn't upset me that not everyone loves Cozumel like I do; if they did, I'd have trouble getting there and trouble paying for it when I did. DSFDF and YMMV.[/QUOTE]

Couldnt possibly agree with you more Gordon. If Cozumel is hell, I must be SATAN. I've been to a LOT of places in the Caribbean, too numerous to mention here and when people say that the diving in Cozumel is " poor " and the service is bad I know that they are either lying for some reason or suffering from a serious closed-head injury. < Rant Off > Flame On.

 

[chickdiver]

It doesn't upset me that not everyone loves Cozumel like I do; if they did, I'd have trouble getting there and trouble paying for it when I did. DSFDF and YMMV.

Couldnt possibly agree with you more Gordon. If Cozumel is hell, I must be SATAN. I've been to a LOT of places in the Caribbean, too numerous to mention here and when people say that the diving in Cozumel is " poor " and the service is bad I know that they are either lying for some reason or suffering from a serious closed-head injury. < Rant Off > Flame On.[/QUOTE]

Nope, not lying or suffering a head injury. Got to the WestPac some day, there are real reefs there- with abundant life- not just a blob of coral here and there. I lived in Micronesia for a couple of years- I guess I got spoiled.

 

[Christi]

Well - we'll be right behind you!! (Or maybe in front, depending on airline schedules!!)

And to each there own ... some people don't think it's a vacation unless they're at a 5 star resort being waited on hand & foot ... we love Coz for the diving, the people, the food, and how inexpensively we can spend a vacation there.

Hey Kat...I'd love to meet you one of these days finally since I missed you last trip I'll be on the island this trip, so if you're in my neighborhood, feel free to stop by and say hello

 

[Walter]

A couple of weeks ago we were diving on a small boat with a very nice Scottish couple. They were friendly, good divers, etc.

During the surface interval they spoke of many interesting places they'd been. Then one of them confided that if it weren't for the diving, Cozumel would be their idea of "hell on earth!" I couldn't think of much of a response beyond mumbling "well, we like it..."

I think it would have been an excellent opportunity to ask them why they felt that way. Why speculate about what they didn't like when you could easily have found out.

My 13 y/o, in particular, was outraged and muttered about "hail on airth" in comical faux-Scots accents every time we'd had a particularly great dive (pretty much all of them)

Didn't they say, "if it weren't for the diving?"

Nope, not lying or suffering a head injury. Got to the WestPac some day, there are real reefs there- with abundant life- not just a blob of coral here and there.

I haven'y been there in over 16 years, but there was excellent coral and big fish back then. Has it changed?

 

[Divedoggie]

Couldnt possibly agree with you more Gordon. If Cozumel is hell, I must be SATAN. I've been to a LOT of places in the Caribbean, too numerous to mention here and when people say that the diving in Cozumel is " poor " and the service is bad I know that they are either lying for some reason or suffering from a serious closed-head injury. < Rant Off > Flame On.

Nope, not lying or suffering a head injury. Got to the WestPac some day, there are real reefs there- with abundant life- not just a blob of coral here and there. I lived in Micronesia for a couple of years- I guess I got spoiled.[/QUOTE]

I don't want to argue, but which dives did you do on Coz?
Blob of coral here and there? Not to try to directly compare to westpac diving, but when you were in Coz did you dive Columbia Deep, Maricaibo, Palancar Caves, or Punta Sur? These dives have massive and continuous reefs. I couldn't even try to describe those dives as a "blob of coral here and there."

 

[chickdiver]

When I was there in 2001 it had little clumps of coral separated by white sand, and I do not recall either variety or quantity of marine life. It was, in a word, uninspiring. Granted, I have yet to see any reef in the Carribbean that comes close to what I saw in the WestPac, and consequently I avoid reef diving when possible as a result.

 

[chickdiver]

Nope, not lying or suffering a head injury. Got to the WestPac some day, there are real reefs there- with abundant life- not just a blob of coral here and there. I lived in Micronesia for a couple of years- I guess I got spoiled.

I don't want to argue, but which dives did you do on Coz?
Blob of coral here and there? Not to try to directly compare to westpac diving, but when you were in Coz did you dive Columbia Deep, Maricaibo, Palancar Caves, or Punta Sur? These dives have massive and continuous reefs. I couldn't even try to describe those dives as a "blob of coral here and there."[/QUOTE]

Yep, dived all those sites. I'm not trying to be argumentative either, just presenting a differing point of view. As for comparing those sites to the WestPac- the unhealthiest reefs I saw in the WestPac were on Guam. They start in inches of water and extend horizontally for a mile or more, and vertically from about an inch of water to well over 200'. There simply is no comparison to Punta Sur, Maracaibo, Palancar and the like. It's like comparing play school to a university.