OP
If Cozumel is #1... where is #2?
- Thread starter Crush627
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
OP
Crush627
Registered
Thank you all for the great feedback! I know we could do Coz again and still not see it all. We just have a bit more time available for this trip, and since it will just be the two of us we have more flexibility.
CoCo looks amazing! Might be an option once we factor all meals and diving. Anything to do there aside from diving?
CoCo looks amazing! Might be an option once we factor all meals and diving. Anything to do there aside from diving?
OP
Crush627
Registered
Any specific feedback for Anthony's? Price is tempting.
Rred
Contributor
"a few years" may be a problem. In SE Florida and the Keys, if you haven't been diving for two years, they'll ask you to either book a guide or take a refresher course, before anyone will rent gear or take you on a boat. I can see the logic, but personally, I'd say that if the diver couldn't handle re-immersing themselves and getting back in the water, someone made a mistake in certifying them in the first place. But that's the way the business goes, call ahead to make sure that you will not have similar problems, they vary by the locale.
- Messages
- 10,954
- Reaction score
- 4,131
- # of dives
- None - Not Certified
It was more a rejection of the entire premise. If I were to be asked, In the Caribbean, what is my #1? I could only say what my Top 5 might be. What I'm getting at here is that the more expansively you travel, the more your basis for comparison will change.
Cozumel gets the bulk of exhortations (general concensus) because it's close, quick, and cheap. It also provides a bit of drift diving that is new to many, plus the big draw of a Jimmy Buffet lifestyle. The great majority of visitors are not there for diving, they are there for the vacation. If you ask divers where the drift diving in current is the best, they will say Cozumel... This is what they know. It is a breezy day in the park when compared to the Tobago's wild rides, but there are no bars and restaurants in Tobago like in Cozumel.... and Tobago takes all day, 12 hours, to get to. Of course, if it was closer to Texas, it would already look like Cozumel.
Now that you are looking at what you refer to as "Coco", and I'm thinking you refer here to Coco View... That visit may well provide for you a lifelong yardstick for comparison of SCUBA experiences. It does set a standard for comparison.
In the Caribbean, you simply can no longer get what could be defended as "world class diving", it's too close to civilization. More far flung Indo Pacific locations present greater quantities and varieties, more colors and larger specimens. It is popular and we North Americans go there because it's quick to travel to,
It is what it is, but that doesn't dissuade me from two or three more weeks a year of Caribbean diving!
For the purposes of this, my "Caribbean top five" are not cogent, but the Bay Islands do provide you, in terms of Caribbean diving, some of the "best that's left". There is arguably better diving available elsewhere, even in the Caribbean, but it is in locales that has no dive infrastructure, no dive ops, housing, airports, that stuff. The obcpvious solution of liveaboards have taken root successfully only in the Bahamian out islands.
There is not much to do at Coco View besides dive. That's why we go there for two weeks every year.
Last edited:
OP
Crush627
Registered
snowdog61
Contributor
read the reviews from the 2013 Invasion. Lot to be said for splashing after a 3 minute boat ride. Food I thought was very good and accommodations were good. My most memorable dives though were on the other end - by Cocoview. It just seemed like the dives sites had "more" not that any of the sites were just 'meh'. No real house reef at Anthony's though but only did 1 shore dive as we were doing 4 or 5 dives a day
robint
Contributor
PatW
Contributor
Utila is another possibility. It and Roatan are in the Bay Islands of Honduras. There are direct flights into Roatan. For Utila, you either have to fly into the mainland and take the ferry, affectionately known as the "vomit comet" or fly into Roatan and take Island Air to Utila or the ferry. Utila has a number of options from the pricey to the pretty basic. I think the diving on Utila is better than Roatan. It has more variety in its dive sites: muck dives, walls, sea mounts, a couple of wrecks, and shallow reefs. Also, Utila has the best corals I have seen in the Caribbean including Roatan, Cozumel, the Caymans, the Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos and the Keys. However, it is heavily fished so you will not see the bigger fish that you see in Cozumel, the Keys or the Caymans. If you like out islands, you might try Grand Turk or Salt Cay in the Turks and Caicos. You might like Key Largo in the Florida Keys. It has good corals, great fish populations, great shallow reefs and great deep wrecks. The visibility is not really great. The marl bottom produces a certain amount of milkiness in the water which limits the visibility to about 80'.
diver 85
Contributor
Holy Guacamole, I'm overwhelmed.
I've spent the past week researching Belize, to the point that I am second guessing myself. We've already been to Cozumel and loved it. Was just hoping to try somewhere different this time.
Planning for July (husband's bday). We are certified, although sadly it's usually a few years in between trips. So... looking for suggestions on a somewhat inexpensive dive trip. We are using AA miles for flight, so that is not a huge factor. Main focus of the trip will be diving, although if we do end up in Belize, I want to do a Cave Tubing excursion. Lodging needs to be motel 6ish at least (no hostels), for 5-7 nights. Meals included is not a deal breaker as long as it is a good value. If no meals, access to good food. Dive operator on site or very close; would prefer not to have to lug equipment around.
Here is roughly what I am working against: Ramon's/Sunbreeze 5 or 7 night trips with dives for $1900-$2500 total for two divers, including flight to San Pedro. Some options include breakfast. That is really the way upper end of where we would like to be.
Thanks!
All I can say is..."LOL..".......& 'keep trying, one day you'll find #1...."
Similar threads
