Dominica vs cozumel?

I was planning a March trip to Cozumel and was offered to go with the local dive shop to Dominica the same time.
Aside from the terrible air schedules, is the diving better? In most of the Dominica videos that
I watch on youtube, the vis does not seem that great. We would be diving from Roseau(sp?) with Castle Comfort dive shop.
I would be interested to hear opinions from someone that has dove both places.

I know they have whales in the area, bit how about Mantas and sharks?

Thanks,
Russ

Been to both. Coz. yearly, Dominica years ago. We also dove with Castle Comfort. Dominica had some interesting, but not spectacular dives. It was a great place to visit because of the nature of the island. We did 2 dives in the am, then spent the afternoons hiking/touring the interior. If you are interested in ecology, you'll love it. One day we walked into a canyon and swam though a tunnel into an area where the walls were high above us with vines hanging from the walls. Beautiful. There are also hikes to waterfalls if you enjoy clambering over rocks. I would be sure to go there once. Cozumel will always be there.

I agree with Donna. Dominica has a couple of extremely spectacular dive sites, but it is a volcanic island, without the extensive coral reefs that surround an island like Cozumel. Dominica's reefs are relatively small, limited to areas shallow enough to support them. In many places depths of several hundred feet exist within a mile of the shoreline. In effect, the slope of the seabed mirrors the slope of the adjacent mountains which plunge abruptly and directly into the sea. As a consequence Dominica's reefs are limited to a relatively narrow band of appropriate depth that surrounds the island, except in the extreme south, where the remains of an violent ancient geologic event have created a much larger area. Still, there are far more massive boulders than coral heads.

The proximity of extreme depths so close to shore is what attracts whales. I've seen them from the stony beaches, breaching, toothy jaws agape scattering schools of small fish.

There are many excellent dive sites around Dominica, but the real draw for me is the interior, the rain forest, countless rivers and streams, the mountains, the wildlife, the edenic lushness of the place. There are very few tourists excepting those that arrive on the cruise ships and spend a few hours ashore being carried to various places in busses. The population of Dominica is very small. In contrast to Cozumel, local people are for the most part uninterested in tourists. They are polite but tend to ignore you. There are only a few restaurants, and decent food can be hard to find. There is almost no tourism infrastructure, and commercial conveniences are almost non-existent. You are pretty much on your own, in one of the world's most beautiful places.

I've never been to Dominica but plan on it in November unless a better offer comes my way. I have been to Cozumel and while it is closer and probably cheaper, it is all drift diving. I found the currents too fast to really enjoy the scenery and they are a bit unpredictable. Had the current change direction on my group on two different dives which resulted in "concerning" swims back to the pier.

On the other hand, I have no complaints about the dive operator Scuba Club Cozumel.

Forget about the diving differences and just go! Dominica is an amazing island. You can practically watch the vegitation grow right in front of your eyes. It's one of the lushes islands I've ever been to. It's not easy to get to, so it's a lot different then many other highly touristed islands in the Caribbean. If you're an active person you will be blown away with the place, it's an adventurers paradise.

If you have the opportunity to go to Dominica, just go, Cozumel will always be there but few people get a chance to go to Dominica, and the two islands are absolutely 180 degree different.

Thanks you all for your great info!

So you can do 2 am dives and still have time to see the interior? We were planning on spending the first 2/3 of our trip near Rousseau diving and the rest on a villa in the interior - exploring the interior. It's next years trip so plenty of time to figure things out.


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mikeycanuk:

So you can do 2 am dives and still have time to see the interior? We were planning on spending the first 2/3 of our trip near Rousseau diving and the rest on a villa in the interior - exploring the interior. It's next years trip so plenty of time to figure things out. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

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You could do 2 am dives and then take a trip into the interior. Many people do that with the afternoon at Titou Gorge, Emerald Pool or Trafalgar Falls. But the the afternoon will be rushed. The am dive won't get you back until after noon and it can be 45 minutes to an hour drive to get into the interior. To really experience the interior, and do things like the Boiling Lake hike, spend a few days in the interior. The diving is good but the interior is fantastic. If you just want to dive go to another island, it will be easier and cheaper to go elsewhere and food will be much better. But if you want to see lush jungle and rivers through them go to Dominica. The first night in the interior we couldn't believe how noisy the jungle was from the insects and whatever, definitely a different experience than other Caribbean islands in a good way.

I've been to Dominica once and Coz twice. If I had my preference I'd much rather go back to Dominica than Coz. But living on the US west coast Dominica is tough to do if you only have a week while Coz or other islands can easily be done in a week.

Thanks!

While we dive, we mainly started diving to have something else to do on our Caribbean vacations. So we aren't averse to splitting up site seeing and diving, besides we usually go away for 14+ days. That villa in the interior is just stunning at a price comparable to other islands


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