Best way to spend a day of snorkeling in Cozumel?

[guessinggames]

Good day,

I'm going to Cozumel alone on either Tuesday or Wednesday this week, my last possible days before leaving Mexico, I haven't been there before. I have snorkeled a lot around the world and also used to dive (can't anymore due to a health problem), and while I love snorkeling anywhere I often find sites a bit disappointing after having snorkeled so many amazing places and seeing so much stuff.

I only have one day in Cozumel, is there a certain site / tour that would be recommendable? Basically as perhaps slightly more advanced I guess I'd like to avoid mass crowds and thus not just jump on a random tour boat with 100 people, and as I side note I spent a couple of days in Akumal with the turtles just now, so as awesome as they are turtles would currently be of low priority for me.

I did some research and it seems like there are some wrecks around Playa Las Casitas that are snorkellable from the beach, that seems interesting to me, but is it safe to access for a lone snorkelel without the flag thingy that divers use with all the boat traffic etc? Is there anything else that I can access just from the beach, be somewhat safe that is really great? Or should I definitely take a tour, and if I take a tour what would be the best site to make sure to visit?

Sorry for the semi-noob questions, I would have done more research but it seems hard to find precisely snorkeling information from non-promotional sources as everyone seems to be in Cozumel for diving, which I sadly can't do anymore.


Thanks so much if anyone can be bothered to reply and sorry if I broke some forum rules with my first post - definitely not intentional!

 

[nodakdive]

Cozumel isn't really known for it's snorkeling. The one place you'd want to go if you snorkel is Columbia Shallows. It's only 25 feet deep and there's lots of coral and fish, etc. There are many different tour operators and I don't have any specific recommendation other than to inquire about visiting Columbia Shallows. Many shops go there. Usually you'll go to a Palancar site too, as the coral comes up somewhat close to the surface, and the visibility is usually very good so you can see the mountainous coral formations. It's worth seeing if you haven't, but it's not great snorkeling if you want to see tons of color and fish.

 

[captnpat1982]

Only one day - Bummer - Punta Sur Beach would be my recommendation. It's a long swim out to the reef, but well worth it. You can also hire one of the guys on the beach with the ocean kayak and pay him to take you out there. Very enjoyable. Lots of Sea Fans and Turtles. Few Star Fish on the sands in between.

Cozumel Parks | Cozumel Mexico

 

[ggunn]

The very close in reefs have not completely recovered from Hurricane Wilma 10 years ago, and won't in our lifetime. Colombia Shallows is by far the best snorkeling spot I know of there but it is not accessible from the beach. It's 20-30 feet deep, but there are many big coral heads that come within 6-8 feet of the surface. I see snorkeling boats there occasionally, so I know that some of them go there, and the groups I have seen have been pretty small. I would advise googling up some Cozumel snorkel tours and contacting the companies you find. Ask them if they go to Colombia Shallows.

 

[sharky60]

As everyone has said, we're not especially known for our snorkeling, or even shore diving for that matter, but there are a few spots where it's not too bad. The area just south of Blue Angel at Villablanca Shallows (the beach stretch literally just south of BA & the Stingray enclosure), has some nice little coral heads not too deep (15'-25'). We made a shore dive just south of Papa Hogs a couple years ago (this is just a little further south than the previous spot), it has been the place where I have seen more fish, sea fans & sea life in the "shore shallows" since hurricane Wilma.

the spot called "El Ceilo" has become a very popular snorkel/party spot. I'm not sure what there is to see there, seems like a pretty sandy bottom with a lot of sea stars from what I've seen. Many folks are going there nowadays. Blue Angel, Albatros Charters & now BlueXTSea has started going down there. These are the one's I can think of off hand.

There are several businesses that do snorkel trips, but most of them cater to cruise shippers and are kind of "cattle boats".

You could possibly hire a private dive op for the day, or even go out with some divers and snorkel over the reef while they are diving. I agree with Ggunn, if you could get out over Columbia Shallows, that would be possibly your best snorkeling on the island.

Other "dive sites" that would be pretty good for snorkeling, would be Cedral Shallows, Chankaanab Bolones, & parts of Paradise are still not too bad, but almost EVERY snorkel & glass bottom boat are over Paradise.

if you are looking for a beach to hang out at, Playa Corona is a small beach bar/restaurant, it's a nice place to hang out for a day & actually has some pretty decent snorkeling. Very seldom crowded, nice quiet place to hang.

There is a new beach bar/restaurant I can't remember the name of, probably within waling distance of Corona, that someone said they did some good snorkeling there. But I have a special place in my heart for Corona & try to get folks to go there whenever possible.

Never heard of Playa Las Casitas in almost 20 years of going to the island, so I don't know where that is. The only wrecks I know of are the C-53, sitting in 85' of water near Chankaanab & the "Galleons" on the Caribbean side of the island, which is the windward side of the island and most of the time un-snorkelable (think I just made a new word! ) due to the high surf from the wind.