DiverDave65
Contributor
Quick Cozumel Report while it is all fresh in my mind.
Dove Cozumel from 3-10 June 2023. About my 10th or 11th trip since 1985. (Might be more). Brought a relatively inexperienced girlfriend with an AOW card who was new to Coz. We both had a great time overall.
Did a dive package with Dive Paradise at Hotel Cozumel Wyndham. I had stayed there once 4 years ago prior to pandemic. Still a good choice; decent rooms, not luxurious but totally good enough and we bought a package of room and breakfast and 5 days of two tank diving. Good choice and happy with it; glad we did NOT do the all inclusive with dinners as I would have gotten tired of the hotel dining room. Breakfast every day was superb!! Made my reservation with the Dive Paradise US office in Galveston TX; Lisa was very helpful, did it all right on the phone and she emailed me all the vouchers.
Dive shop is on site, the hotel has an underground tunnel across the busy street, and they have a small beach area and the dock where the boats pick up divers every day. Works really well. Divemasters and deck crews were superb, always helping with the tank switches between dives, great briefings; all dives well led. Very safe and competent, great boat Captains.
Got to Colombia twice, Palancar Gardens, Santa Rosa Wall, Francisco, Cedral, Tormentos, Tuniche, Las Palmas, Villa Blanca..... might be missing one or two. Vis was spectacular, probably over 100 ft every day, water temp 84-85F. I wore no wet suit except a neoprene beanie every day, GF wore a 3/2 shorty (she's real skinny and no body fat.).
Only saw a couple turtles, a couple small nurse sharks, a couple rays and lobsters. Lots of the usual small fish. Coral reefs looked good and healthy, especially out at Colombia and Palancar.
Only very MINOR complaint I would have is that there weren't many divers there and I was hoping to dive the smaller, fast boats, but they just wouldn't put us on them. Kept using their older big very slow boats, and they take over an hour to get to the farthest sites. (First world whining, I know.) Think you can sign up in advance for the "express" boats, but they need 4 divers minimum. One day we only had 3 total divers on their big, slow boat.....sure they lost money that day.
I would recommend this place for sure, certainly the hotel/breakfast package. If they couldn't promise me the fast boats, I would consider contracting my dives with another company, as long as they could pick me up at the Wyndham dock. I suppose some folks prefer the more spacious big boats, but they bore me.
The downtown Cozumel museum is worth a trip if you haven't been there, open 9 -5 and about 7$ a ticket.
Short political rant: I noticed there were new artificial piers that had been built south of town past the pier I always associated with cruise ships. Dive shop crew confirmed they were new and that they pretty much eliminated the old Paradise reef that we used to dive on, especially with students. Another pier is scheduled to be built in another area that might affect Villa Blanca reef accessibility. Crew told me in the winter there were 7-8 cruise ships in port every day!!! Problem is, this is all controlled by the Federal Mexican Government, and all the port fees for those ships go to the Fed Government; the Cozumel locals don't really benefit from the cruise ships other than when the tourists get off the boats and wander into town to eat/drink/buy stuff. And there are many concerns about how cruise ships handle their "black water" sewage waste. As usual, big $$$ is slowly degrading the superb diving there, making it questionable for future generations of divers. I asked the dive boat crews if they had any access to local politicians who could fight for the reefs and the dive shops and they mostly laughed. OK, rant over. Felt it had to be said.
Cozumel is pretty special to me, one of the first international places I ever visited as a diver, and I go back almost 40 years; always fun to return. Hope I can do it for another decade or more!
Dove Cozumel from 3-10 June 2023. About my 10th or 11th trip since 1985. (Might be more). Brought a relatively inexperienced girlfriend with an AOW card who was new to Coz. We both had a great time overall.
Did a dive package with Dive Paradise at Hotel Cozumel Wyndham. I had stayed there once 4 years ago prior to pandemic. Still a good choice; decent rooms, not luxurious but totally good enough and we bought a package of room and breakfast and 5 days of two tank diving. Good choice and happy with it; glad we did NOT do the all inclusive with dinners as I would have gotten tired of the hotel dining room. Breakfast every day was superb!! Made my reservation with the Dive Paradise US office in Galveston TX; Lisa was very helpful, did it all right on the phone and she emailed me all the vouchers.
Dive shop is on site, the hotel has an underground tunnel across the busy street, and they have a small beach area and the dock where the boats pick up divers every day. Works really well. Divemasters and deck crews were superb, always helping with the tank switches between dives, great briefings; all dives well led. Very safe and competent, great boat Captains.
Got to Colombia twice, Palancar Gardens, Santa Rosa Wall, Francisco, Cedral, Tormentos, Tuniche, Las Palmas, Villa Blanca..... might be missing one or two. Vis was spectacular, probably over 100 ft every day, water temp 84-85F. I wore no wet suit except a neoprene beanie every day, GF wore a 3/2 shorty (she's real skinny and no body fat.).
Only saw a couple turtles, a couple small nurse sharks, a couple rays and lobsters. Lots of the usual small fish. Coral reefs looked good and healthy, especially out at Colombia and Palancar.
Only very MINOR complaint I would have is that there weren't many divers there and I was hoping to dive the smaller, fast boats, but they just wouldn't put us on them. Kept using their older big very slow boats, and they take over an hour to get to the farthest sites. (First world whining, I know.) Think you can sign up in advance for the "express" boats, but they need 4 divers minimum. One day we only had 3 total divers on their big, slow boat.....sure they lost money that day.
I would recommend this place for sure, certainly the hotel/breakfast package. If they couldn't promise me the fast boats, I would consider contracting my dives with another company, as long as they could pick me up at the Wyndham dock. I suppose some folks prefer the more spacious big boats, but they bore me.
The downtown Cozumel museum is worth a trip if you haven't been there, open 9 -5 and about 7$ a ticket.
Short political rant: I noticed there were new artificial piers that had been built south of town past the pier I always associated with cruise ships. Dive shop crew confirmed they were new and that they pretty much eliminated the old Paradise reef that we used to dive on, especially with students. Another pier is scheduled to be built in another area that might affect Villa Blanca reef accessibility. Crew told me in the winter there were 7-8 cruise ships in port every day!!! Problem is, this is all controlled by the Federal Mexican Government, and all the port fees for those ships go to the Fed Government; the Cozumel locals don't really benefit from the cruise ships other than when the tourists get off the boats and wander into town to eat/drink/buy stuff. And there are many concerns about how cruise ships handle their "black water" sewage waste. As usual, big $$$ is slowly degrading the superb diving there, making it questionable for future generations of divers. I asked the dive boat crews if they had any access to local politicians who could fight for the reefs and the dive shops and they mostly laughed. OK, rant over. Felt it had to be said.
Cozumel is pretty special to me, one of the first international places I ever visited as a diver, and I go back almost 40 years; always fun to return. Hope I can do it for another decade or more!
