My family and I will be taking our first trip to Cozumel this winter, My brother (23) and I (21) are certified divers. We are leaving the 17th and returning the 24th of December. I just have a few questions for you Coz veterans. We are staying at El Cid La Ceiba and will be renting a Jeep for the week. I am just wondering if you have any recommendations on dive ops and if it would be wise to make dive reservations before we left. Also, any recomendations on beach diving would be great. If you have any other information that you feel would be helpful on the trip please let me know. Thanks for you time.
First Cozumel Trip
- Thread starter jnickell
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AmyJ
Contributor
Hi there,
We dove with Pedro from Blue XT Sea Diving 2 weeks ago. Great time! Very professional. Also, if you're thinking about going over to do the cenotes... then Dennis at Diablo divers is your man! Hope you have a great trip!
We dove with Pedro from Blue XT Sea Diving 2 weeks ago. Great time! Very professional. Also, if you're thinking about going over to do the cenotes... then Dennis at Diablo divers is your man! Hope you have a great trip!
loudives
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Unless you want to dive cattle boat style with short time limit dives you should make reservations. I dive with www.bottomtimedivers.net
Raul is owner/operator, has a 6 diver fast boat, dives air consumption. He is a really good person and safety conscious. Pre-pay on web or cash only on the island. Paying cash is better so if there is bad weather there is no problem you just don't pay for those days.
Get full coverage insurance for the jeep. American insurance is no good in Mexico and if you get into a fender bender you must settle everything before you leave.
Beach diving is almost non existing in Coz. There is a small reef just north of your hotel but it got torn up last year by Wilma.
Lou
Raul is owner/operator, has a 6 diver fast boat, dives air consumption. He is a really good person and safety conscious. Pre-pay on web or cash only on the island. Paying cash is better so if there is bad weather there is no problem you just don't pay for those days.
Get full coverage insurance for the jeep. American insurance is no good in Mexico and if you get into a fender bender you must settle everything before you leave.
Beach diving is almost non existing in Coz. There is a small reef just north of your hotel but it got torn up last year by Wilma.
Lou
Martha
Contributor
I definitely recommend making reservations with whoever you decide to dive with before you go. Personally, I always dive with Blue XT~Sea. Christi runs an awesome shop. You can make reservations here: www.bluextseadiving.com. By the way, I just checked her website and there are still openings for the days you'll be in Cozumel. As far as beach diving goes, I can't really help you there, since I've always stuck strictly to boat dives. People on the board have mentioned shore dives off Caribe Blu, but I have no first hand knowledge. Anyway, hope you have a wonderful trip!
Loco4Coz
Registered
Dive with Martin is right next door to that hotel. The owner died recently but the business is still run by the same family. They run a good operation, have great pricing, and run mostly the 6-pack style boats. Their boats leave the dock at 0730 each morning so that would make it easy to eat in the hotel restaraunt that opens at 0700, and then hustle over to go diving. Another thing about your location is that there is a place on the property that rents underwater cameras and video cameras for the day/week. You might consider that too. I don't remember the name but they are located to the right just before you enter the hotel.
Best of luck down there,
Michael
Best of luck down there,
Michael
mwhities
Contributor
I have to agree with Martha and AmyJ. I was there Dec 1st on a cruise ship and BlueXTSeaDiving was my dive op of choice. Pedro was my DM as well. He is truly a great guy and of course all of the crew are really helpful. Pedro helped me see my first shark!
Otherwise, from what I've read on here, your dive op selection probably will not be to bad as must all of the dive ops in Cozumel are great.
Good luck and dive safe!
Michael
Otherwise, from what I've read on here, your dive op selection probably will not be to bad as must all of the dive ops in Cozumel are great.
Good luck and dive safe!
Michael
Thanks for all the information, we have decided to go with Dive with Martin. They are very close to our hotel and have great rates. We are going to be doing four days of diving and a night dive. Again, thanks for all the information and I will be sure to let you know how the trip goes.
sharky60
Contributor
Dive with Martin is a great choice, we have used them for several years, request Orlando or David if you can.
La Ceiba used was our Cozumel home for years, it has a great location and a very good staff you should enjoy yourselves.
They used to have pretty good shore diving right out in front, for Coz. "Airplane flats" is the site, there were remnants of a place sunk for a movie out in front of the hotel just outside of the swim area. I don't know if any of it is left post Wilma, but the dive is a very shallow slope from shore to about 30-40' small coral heads and shelves.
Most of the shore diving was pretty scraped up during the hurricane. most of the seafans and soft corals and sponges were distroyed or badly damaged.
Having said that, we did some shore dives in May and there was plenty of sealife to be seen. sure you had to poke arround the rocks some to find some fo it, but it was there in abundance.
Take a day to drive arround the island, stop at "Coconuts" over on the Caribbean side, have a margarita (warning VERY strong!) and ask to see the "family albums"
there are several small beach bar/restaurants along the way, but I think Cocnuts is worth the trip for the view alone, it sits on a bluff, probably Coz's highest natural elevation, over looking the Caribbean Sea, very cool!
La Ceiba used was our Cozumel home for years, it has a great location and a very good staff you should enjoy yourselves.
They used to have pretty good shore diving right out in front, for Coz. "Airplane flats" is the site, there were remnants of a place sunk for a movie out in front of the hotel just outside of the swim area. I don't know if any of it is left post Wilma, but the dive is a very shallow slope from shore to about 30-40' small coral heads and shelves.
Most of the shore diving was pretty scraped up during the hurricane. most of the seafans and soft corals and sponges were distroyed or badly damaged.
Having said that, we did some shore dives in May and there was plenty of sealife to be seen. sure you had to poke arround the rocks some to find some fo it, but it was there in abundance.
Take a day to drive arround the island, stop at "Coconuts" over on the Caribbean side, have a margarita (warning VERY strong!) and ask to see the "family albums"
there are several small beach bar/restaurants along the way, but I think Cocnuts is worth the trip for the view alone, it sits on a bluff, probably Coz's highest natural elevation, over looking the Caribbean Sea, very cool!
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