why would you need a liveboard? the reef is less than a mile off shore & there are way too many great restaurants to eat at to stay on a boat your entire trip.
It is very confusing trying to find a place to stay and a dive op when you have never been somewhere before. You almost just have to take a leap of faith after doing your best research and be observant while you are here to see if there is another place you would like to try on your next trip.
Most dive ops do not pick up in the Northern Hotel Zone as the Marine Park and the harbor the dive ops use are both south of the cruise ship piers, Aldora is one exception to this.
Blue Angel Resort is where we stay and dive, have for several years now. Small property just a mile south of town (not south of the cruise ship piers, most of those properties are AI), it's located about 1/2 way between downtown and the main cruise ship piers: The International and Puerto Maya piers), very popular in house dive op and restaurant. Large, clean rooms, with all balconies facing the ocean and pool area, it is located right on the water ... not all properties are, a lot of them are across the street from the ocean.
Other non-AI properties south of town & north of the International Pier:
Hotel Cozumel (although I think they offer an AI option)
Casa del Mar
Casa Mexicana (located downtown, I think, most dive ops will pick you up at a downtown pier if you stay there)
Tiki Village (very small property)
Other top reco. dive ops:
Aldora
BlueXTSea
Bottom time divers
Living Underwater
Scuba with Alison
ScubaTony
Tres Pelicanos ... most of these have lodging options available as well, but you can pretty much stay anywhere on the island, south of town, and most dive ops will pick you up at your hotel pier.
Aldora has their own, very nice, Villas and are located in the Northern Hotel Zone.
If you have about a 1/2 hour, here's a segment I did for the Shark Tank on Finding a dive op on Coz ...
The Shark Tank radio show: Tips on finding a Dive Operator on Cozumel ...
