Cozumel vs. Curacao

My boyfriend and I usually dive Cozumel. We were considering Coz or Curacao this winter. We Are both experienced divers who prefer great diving over being entertained. We Are looking for opinions on whether diving Curacao is better than Cozumel? Thanks in advance!

If your decision is based purely on diving rather than more general vacation considerations, and if your decision is based on not just quality of a dive viewed individually but rather all aspects of your dive vacation, such as variety of dives, dive ops, etc., Cozumel is, hands-down, a better choice than Curacao.

You really should throw Bonaire into the mix! It's a 15 min flight from Curaçao and its unlimited, awesome diving! If you value diving over on-land entertainment, Bonaire is the place!!

I have been diving Cozumel for years and love it BUT the question "is Curacao better than Cozumel" is subjective. I have only dove Curacao once from a cruise ship but it was just like Bonaire (the islands are very close) where I have dove and love. Cozumel and Curacao (or any of the 3 ABC Islands) diving is really very different and both are excellent, since it appears you have not visited one of the ABC's to dive I encourage you to go for Curacao (or Bonaire). I feel sure you will not be sorry but thats just my opinion so wherever you go have a great trip and stay wet.

If you had asked about Cozumel vs. Bonaire, my answer might be different. Curacao has some very good dives--and looking at any one dive individually it's probably just as good as a dive on Bonaire--but I believe Bonaire has a more extensive lineup of easily accessed dive sites and is just more geared toward the diver than Curacao. So, if the question is Cozumel vs. Curacao for a dive trip, I still say Cozumel wins hands down.

I'll dissent from the everpresent Coz love fest that this board is so obsessed with and say that diving in Cozumel is mediocre at best. Curacao has nice sites and a very nice deep second reef. It's much more "macro" diving. That said, go Pacific - diving in the Atlantic/Caribbean is just lackluster all around.

agree with paulw statement ..." the question "is Curacao better than Cozumel" is subjective." they are also very different styles of diving.
both are great and highly enjoyable for me. Would gladly go back to either. Unfortunately for me it comes down to flight expense and timing. Main reason I haven't been back to Cozumel. Also would recommend you look at Bonaire. I find it preferable to Curacao but it is less convenient to fly to generally.

Curacao is a wonderful island, not just in terms of diving but also in terms of history and diversity. The eastern part of the island has more resorts, activity, and commerce. You'll see lots of Dutch flavor in terms of architecture and a great variety of cuisine. The history is incredible and there are good museums. For diving, you can dive out of the east or west. There is a "Dive Bus" that goes to different parts of the island if you want something kind of funky. There's also a small island, Klein Curacao, off of the east side where you can go for diving and a barbecue. Regardless of how you feel about Cozumel, Curacao is worth visiting.

This recent thread comparing Curacao to Bonaire should help you get an idea of how to plan a trip to Curacao and your options for it. A key question is what kind of diving you will do.

I did 2 dives on a cruise ship stop in Cozumel, independently booked with Living Underwater, which has 120 cf steel tanks so you can stay down a good while. Would love to do it again. Have been to Bonaire 7 times, well over 100 shore dives there, haven't set foot on a boat in Bonaire yet.

On a Cozumel trip, you will stay at a resort (e.g.: Scuba Club Cozumel) or a hotel, and dive (perhaps 2 dives/day?) with a charter boat op. - Living Underwater, Aldora, Blue Xstacy (? spelling) seem well-regarded on the forum, and there are others. You'll be doing guide-led drift dives, reef topography varies substantially across sites, and you're fairly likely to see some 'big' animals. Drift dives keep you moving along. On my 2 dives, I saw a big black grouper, a large eagle ray swam right up under us, a southern stingray was seen in the distance, a huge green moray came out behind me and I never saw it, and I saw a channel cling crab - all this over 2 dives.

Curacao diving is likened to Bonaire. Bonaire shore diving often involves a shore entry, then swimming parallel to shore along a reef that slopes at a roughly 45 degree angle, looking at hard corals, gorgonians, sea fan, etc..., lots of smaller fish, some mid.-size (e.g.: school masters, blue-striped grunts, parrotfish, spotted morays), and occasionally something bigger (barracuda, green moray, a few sea turtles (only greens & hawksbills for me so far) or tarpon.

Bonaire's appeal is diving any time of day or night you feel like, without advance planning or anybody else's schedule, no guide needed in most places, and you can dive again & again, as much as you can stand, and rack up 20+ dives in a week. Most sites have little current. You'll probably dive nitrox EAN 32 and only use 80 cf tanks (unless you prefer smaller). Since it's a longer drive between sites on Curacao, I suspect you won't be racking up as high a dive count there.

So, if you compare more diversity & bigger animals drift diving guided dives with an option for big tanks with some op.s, to a larger number of shorter shore dives with smaller stuff but done on your own schedule, what sounds more fun to you?

Richard.

jlevine:

Curacao is a wonderful island, not just in terms of diving but also in terms of history and diversity. The eastern part of the island has more resorts, activity, and commerce. You'll see lots of Dutch flavor in terms of architecture and a great variety of cuisine. The history is incredible and there are good museums. For diving, you can dive out of the east or west. There is a "Dive Bus" that goes to different parts of the island if you want something kind of funky. There's also a small island, Klein Curacao, off of the east side where you can go for diving and a barbecue. Regardless of how you feel about Cozumel, Curacao is worth visiting.

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Absolutely. My wife and I got married on Curacao, as the infrastructure and other non-diving-related attractions suited us. We squeezed in a little diving. Then we went to Bonaire for the honeymoon. We enjoyed Bonaire far more than Curacao as far as the diving was concerned. As I said in my comment above, if you compare a single sample dive on Curacao with a single sample dive on Bonaire, it's probably a tossup. But I believe Bonaire offers more for a diver there on a dive-only vacation than Curacao.

As for the "Cozumel love-fest," I love Coz, too! I'm torn between Coz and Bonaire, as they are so different from each other and each great in its own way. But not Curacao.