Diving Cozumel on Christmas Day

[JoieDeMer]

Are there dive ops open on Christmas Day? If any of you know of some please drop me a line...have looked at several websites already that don't run boats on Xmas and New Year's Day.

I'll be on a Caribbean cruise that week with my folks and only in Cozumel on Dec. 25 (a shame I know), and the cruise ship scuba excursion is not offered that day (not that I'd really want to book through the cruise line, but anyway). So I'm hunting around for recommendations...

Thanks so much!

 

[Christi]

Are there dive ops open on Christmas Day? If any of you know of some please drop me a line...have looked at several websites already that don't run boats on Xmas and New Year's Day.

I'll be on a Caribbean cruise that week with my folks and only in Cozumel on Dec. 25 (a shame I know), and the cruise ship scuba excursion is not offered that day (not that I'd really want to book through the cruise line, but anyway). So I'm hunting around for recommendations...

Thanks so much!

MAYBE Dive Paradise...but good luck there too!

Something to keep in mind is that Christmas Eve is huge among the locals and traditionally, it entails STARTING the party at midnight...so they are up all night, literally...whether drinking or not, although I'd say a majority are.

Not only is it next to impossible to find anyone wanting to work on Christmas Day, I wouldn't even ask it of my team. I know that we are in the tourism business, but even we need a day off every once in awhile

 

[JoieDeMer]

Thanks for the heads-up Christi I will have a look. Yeah, I don't blame you...I wouldn't want to work Xmas either!

 

[parrotheaddiver]

I went with Dive with Martin....several years ago on Christmas Day....there were very few boats out and we went to the northern reefs...but things may have changed by now....I think it will be difficult to find an op to go out that day.....

 

[scubawife]

If the cruise ship excursion aren't running then it's not too likely you'll find anyone that day. Sand Dollar does most of the ship diving and they are a big operation.

I don't know why the ship even has a port call that day. It should be a day at sea. In any port you would be hard pressed to find much open on Christmas Day, especially in a country like Mexico that's predominently Catholic.

Maybe try a couple of the really small operators? If you do find someone, tip well since they'll be out diving with you instead of spending Christmas with their family.

 

[Loco4Coz]

Hi,

On Christmas Day in 2004, I went diving with Dive with Martin. When I asked him if he did dive trips on Christmas Day he looked at me like I was nuts and replied, "We dive every day my friend." I sort of chuckled at the time, but we did do an AM dive that Christmas Day. They did shut it down in the afternoon though. I don't know if his brother will continue the same policy since Martín is no longer with us. I would call or email the operator you plan to dive with and simply ask.

Good luck,

Michael

 

[chrisc]

We are diving with Scuba Du while we are there from Dec 15th till Jan 3rd, they said they will dive the afternoon on Christmas day.

 

[sddiver]

I will be there with a group Xmas week. I am not planning on diving on the 25th. But some of the people I'm with looked into diving and only found Sand Dollar Sports planning on operating that day. It may be a later start than usual. But drop them a line, hopefully your times in port will work with whatever they are planning.

Good Luck

Rich

 

[halocline]

I'd send Roberta an email at Roberta's Eco-dive cozumel. She has a small B&B and if there are guests it would not surprise me if she has a boat going out.

 

[wwu123]

Hi,

On Christmas Day in 2004, I went diving with Dive with Martin. When I asked him if he did dive trips on Christmas Day he looked at me like I was nuts and replied, "We dive every day my friend." I sort of chuckled at the time, but we did do an AM dive that Christmas Day. They did shut it down in the afternoon though. I don't know if his brother will continue the same policy since Martín is no longer with us. I would call or email the operator you plan to dive with and simply ask.

Good luck,

Michael

They did the opposite last year Christmas Day, closed in the morning but going out around noon. I'd told them we were coming for 12/25-12/31 but didn't get a clear confirmation - they're not the most verbose via e-mail, but were always reliable previously. This time we arrived in the afternoon on 12/24 and they'd already shut down for Xmas Eve. The morning of 12/25 the phone rang through I think to their house, and I think a family member was trying to tell me in Spanish that the shop would be staffed later in the morning. I didn't want to risk taking a cab all the way down to the shop so we missed diving with them on Xmas day, but did do the rest of the week with DWM. So try to get verification from DWM on their exact schedule that day, but otherwise they're great.

I spent Xmas morning trying to find a shop actually open that day and there were very few. Maybe some were running boats, but did not actually man the shop or phones in the morning. We ended up booking afternoon dives with Dive with Paradise, and they even had their downtown booking locations open. I don't expect it's a given right to expect tourism folks to work on a holiday, so I do laud them for being open that day and was glad to have been able to do so. Not really the best dives I've ever had in Cozumel, but any dive in Cozumel is a good dive nonetheless.