Really confused about Kona, Hawaii vs Cozumel???

[Skittl1321]

then they break out their calculators, punch a bunch of numbers in, ask you if it's OK, and of course the answer is "uh, sure, I guess so."

You should go with my Op, she did that- asked me if it was okay, and I had to tell her, no- you seemed to have missed several hundreds of dollars... a less honest person could get a great deal.

 

[gopbroek]

Perhaps: $160 total, per day, for diving, food, lodging, flight and booze. I have gotten silly in the past but lately I try to keep it a little below this price.

 

[Mossman]

Perhaps: $160 total, per day, for diving, food, lodging, flight and booze. I have gotten silly in the past but lately I try to keep it a little below this price.

Hmmm. Counting tips, my last trip came out to about $370 per day but that's only because I got a free flight. Still, I got my money's worth.

 

[gopbroek]

Hmmm. Counting tips, my last trip came out to about $370 per day but that's only because I got a free flight. Still, I got my money's worth.

As a true cheap Ba$t%^d, I lack your standards in lodging and food, but I make up for it with the dive quality (Tres Pelicanos). I have flight benefits so the flight runs about $80 RT. I have never heard a bad word about Jeremy, I just haven’t found a reason to look elsewhere and dive with him. If I did I would probably go with Jeremy then Alison and then Aldora, in that order, I prefer a small boutique operation first but Aldora, while expensive, lacks any detractors and appears to be the local ‘Gold’ standard, for large operators.

 

[hankthecowdog]

Uh, did you see hankthecowdog's response in post #41? "I manage to spend upwards of $160 day for diving in Cozumel but that's just me and those unlucky enough to get dragged along into my foolishness."

With tip and nitrox probably more like $200. But I'm hyperactive and can't stand to go out in the morning and then do nothing, so I do another boat. A gluttony that I for sure couldn't afford in Kona. Two weeks of that again starting the 18th!!!!

 

[Skittl1321]

Hmmm. Counting tips, my last trip came out to about $370 per day but that's only because I got a free flight. Still, I got my money's worth.

I was at $185 pp/pd once everything was added in. Diving, food, alcohol, flights, lodging, a few souviners, a few taxis. No bathrobe though.

 

[spt29970]

I have been to Cozumel three times and to Kona once. You can have good dives in both places, although they are very different. If I were planning another trip and the choices were between the two, I would give the nod to Kona.

I have always been a little confused about people who rave about Cozumel diving. I have had decent dives in Cozumel, even good dives, but I have never had a dive that I would consider great. My pet theory is that Cozumel gets its reputation by being easy to get to from the east coast of the US. That combined with the fact that it is reasonably economical and has consistent blue water is probably why it has such a devoted following.

However, even though I have only been to Kona once (two weeks during last November), I had two completely mind-blowing dives there: The Manta night dive, and the Pelagic Magic dive. Perhaps I was just lucky but on the Manta night dive, we have forty (40) mantas wheeling and bashing into us. On the Pelagic Magic (black water) dive I saw the strangest life I have ever seen in the ocean. Take a look at these manta videos

Hawaii Manta Dive - YouTube
Manta loop-de-loop - YouTube

I have some Hawaii photos at:
Hawaii 2013 - a set on Flickr

and some Cozumel photos at:
Cozumel 2009 - a set on Flickr
Cozumel 2008 - a set on Flickr

Lastly, one big difference been Cozumel and Kona was that in Cozumel I felt that the dive operators intentionally took divers deep to limits dives to less than an hour. In Kona, Jacks Diving Locker enforced a max dive time of 80 minutes (really!) so I had nice relaxing dives.

Enjoy!

 

[Mike]

Aldora, while expensive, lacks any detractors and appears to be the local ‘Gold’ standard, for large operators.

Probably because they have figured out the magic formula of being a large operation that interacts with it's customers like a boutique one.

 

[Sideways]

Lastly, one big difference been Cozumel and Kona was that in Cozumel I felt that the dive operators intentionally took divers deep to limits dives to less than an hour. In Kona, Jacks Diving Locker enforced a max dive time of 80 minutes (really!) so I had nice relaxing dives.

Enjoy!

Not sure I get what you're saying with "Enforced 80 min dive" Max I can do on a steel 120 or 15 liter is about 70 mins, unless the depth is 25 feet, then maybe more.

 

[rorhound]

Besides the manta dive, for me Cozumel hands down. Hawaii is pretty much like being here in So Ca but more expensive. Personally I like the heat and humidity and the kick back atmosphere of Coz over Kona.