Must Dive Spots in Cozumel

[ColoDale]

You can see a bit of everything on most sites and it is difficult to say what you will see or won't. As said, telling the DM what you want to see is good. Hopefully you will use a dive op that does not have set sites on set days. There are plenty of threads on dive ops.

From what can put down in a few minutes:

Corals and swimthroughs - In no particular order: Palancars, Santa Rosa (quite a few), Cedral pass has a long one, there are short passages but not great on La Francesa and Punta Dalila but these can dead end. Not a ton of fish at the Palancars. I would not do Devils Throat on Punta Sur as you have few dives.

Corals with columns- Colombia, Palancars, Santa Rosa, Cedral Wall, Punta Sur but that is deep. Less fish generally but Colombia, Punta sur and sometimes the Palancars have small sharks (black tip reef and every once in a while a hammerhead) and eagle rays.

Corals and fish - The shallower sites with hard bottoms like La francesa, Punta Dalila, Cedral Pass, San Francisco wall and top, and to a lesser extent IMO, Yucab and Tormentos. The last two generally have faster current but I have dived them on unusual occasions with very little current. These sites can have schools of jacks. I generally don't dive Paradise, Las Palmas, or Chankanaab since we stay south on the island.

Palancar bricks and Colombia shallows can have alot of fish but not alot of big corals.

Those sites on the north end have faster currents, less small fish, pelagics like large turtles, nurse sharks and eagle rays but both vary by time of year, low corals (fewer) and seagrasses. Those much further to the north I understand have reef sharks but not many dive ops go there.

Night dives - My favorites are in no particular order, top of San francisco wall, Santa Rosa shallows, and Cedral Pass. The latter can have faster currents. We dive these as we generally stay on the south end of the island. Paradise is used alot for night dives and I have dived it a few times for night dives.

I have an old dive site book called Cozumel Dive Guide and Log Book by Underwater Editions (2003-05-04)
Here is a link to one of the sites that has it. I am not pushing Amazon. Cozumel Dive Guide and Log Book by Underwater Editions (2003-05-04): Amazon.com: Books. It has become pricey and seems to be only available used. It has excellent illustrations and descriptions. Others types as mentioned are available online but may have only dive site maps or less info YMMV.
Edit: Looks like it can be bought directly for $26 from Cozumel maps, cozumel diving, cozumel dive, diving cozumel, scuba diving cozumel

 

[sharky60]

short list:
Columbia Deep
Columbia Shallows
Palancar Gardens
San Clemente
Villablanca Wall
Cedral (Pass & Wall)
Francessa ...

 

[ggunn]

The only reef I would not recommend in Coz is Paradise reef.
It's like diving the baby pool.

To each his own. I have been on some excellent dives at Paradise Reef.

 

[waynel]

Please be careful if you dive for the seahorses. It's a shallow dive and I've seen new divers pound the grass bed with their fins. But for all the photography I've taken of big critters, my favorite is the little seahorses. Just amazing.

 

[waynel]

Don't know why but Columbia Deep, and it may have been on just that day, has the clearest water I've every been in diving Coz. And since the viz on every site is gin-clear that's saying something. I once dove a spot at Columbia Deep with a DM that he said is the favorite among the Coz DM's when they just dive for fun or have extremely small groups of advanced divers (dive starts at 110 ft.). He begged us not to map it so I wouldn't know the exact entry. Saw a turtle the size of a large kitchen table on the bottom. He just laid there and the four of us finned over and just kneeled down right next to him for a while. The biggest turtles, morays, etc., as well as breath-taking structures I've ever seen! But for deep dives all of Columbia Deep is awesome.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

Columbia deep is awesome, we dove it last April and the currents were ripping so bad, it looked like a blizzard under water. My wife saw sand tornadoes. We did the same dive the next day, no current, the water was typical Cozumel clear and all the reefs had a dusting of sand looking like snow. Both dives were absolutely beautiful. What a difference a day can make in Cozumel. Wish I was there now....

Jay

 

[Streydog]

Usually, the actual dive site will be decided based on everyone's skill level and the conditions of the day. Swim throughs-Columbia Pinacles or Palancar caves. These are deeper sites. Fish and coral- Cedral, franchesca, Columbia shallows, Almost any of the shallower dive sites.

cozumel reff guide map - Google Search:

Every dive can change from day to day, so the better option is let the DM decide what works best for you. We usually tell the DM what we want to see on that dive and let him/her decide. My standard is "long, shallow, lots of critters". You could dive Cedral 10 times and not know you were on the same location. I believe it is Cedral that there is a nurse shark that has a green moray as a room mate under the same small reef ledge. When they are together, it's an interesting sight to see.

My favorite dive is Barracuda but the currents are fast and you fly over a sunken mountain range. No time to see aquatic life or coral as you go flying by. On our last trip, me, the DM, and one other diver loved it. The other 3 not so much. (One said Never again). It will test your buoyancy skills and you will use more air than usual. We usually were seeing 80-90 minute dives as a group and this one was 40. But 40 amazing minutes it was!! I can't get the theme from Top Gun out of my head on Barracuda!

Unless you are on your own boat, site location depends on everyone's choice, the skill level/air consumption of the divers, the conditions of the day, and maybe the dive ops policy on going to the far North or South sites (some may charge a fuel surcharge) Keep in mind lots of people don't like swim throughs. The DM will tell them they don't have to go, but just follow the bubbles above.

The fish and corral dives are pretty much ok for everyone. The deeper stuff will result in shorter dives on standard 80 cf tanks. Our op uses steel 120's.

Get ready for an amazing trip. We love Cozumel and go at least twice a year for a reason. The food, people, and diving are simply incredible. We just got back last week and I wish I was there now.....

Safe travels,
Jay

I got the chance to dive Barracuda for the first time this month. I was aware of how unpredictable the currents could be. We had currents at the start of the dive trying to push us off the reef into the blue. I was pretty winded just getting to the wall, once there it wasn't too bad, after I caught my breath. It was not what I would call a relaxing dive though. Would much rather have been riding the current north. Here is a short video where you can see the bubbles going out.

 

[Vic K]

@Streydog that looks like strong current. I did not get to dive barracuda. But for the first time got to Drift dive which was pretty awesome. After learning hard way on the first dive on how not to fight current it was great from there. Flying by over Reef was very cool. Just makes very difficult to shoot anything. We had very few dives without any current.

 

[Vic K]

This was our video from our trip. I know it is Jerky and not that great. But hey what do you expect from a rookie

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

I got the chance to dive Barracuda for the first time this month. I was aware of how unpredictable the currents could be. We had currents at the start of the dive trying to push us off the reef into the blue. I was pretty winded just getting to the wall, once there it wasn't too bad, after I caught my breath. It was not what I would call a relaxing dive though. Would much rather have been riding the current north. Here is a short video where you can see the bubbles going out.

Strey, our last trip it was RIPPING to the North. Absolutely an adrenaline dive. We also got caught in a down current and while I though I maxed out at 80 feet, my computer read 103 and Kelly's 105. It looked like your video caught a bit of a downcurrent as well. We will be back October 28 to Nov. 3, probably staying at CM and diving Aldora. Halloween/ Day of the Dead in Cozumel is an amazing experience. I may miss my birthday trip in April and go somewhere else, but I won't miss Cozumel for Day of the Dead. If you want to take a break before the Thanksgiving/Christmas shopping nightmare, I probably still owe you a beer!

Jay