Trip Report Cozumel Trip Report 2/24 – 3/1/2023: Newbie Perspective

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I think it was $500 less to go to Cancun (though the cost of transportation and the ferry to and from would eat into that a bit).

Was that $500 apiece, or the total for both you and your spouse, Arcie?
It was ~ $500 apiece more to leave from National with a connecting flight to Cozumel versus a direct flight to Cancun out of Dulles. That was looking at various options among the big-3 airlines (AA, UA, Delta). The decision to try Cancun and the bag drag was more about not wanting to deal with connecting flights, knowing the other costs would eat into the airfare difference. Plus we are stubborn, have to find out for ourselves 😅. That being said, I’d probably do it again but would just use the ADO bus to/from Playa del Carmen.
 
Nice review! We absolutely love Cozumel, but I will say it's not the easiest diving in the world. With a bunch of trips under our belts, and getting comfortable with the possible strong currents, it is our go to place. And funny thing, we were there 2 weeks over Christmas and had literally no current on many of our dives. So definitely go back. We love the dives, the resort we stay at, The Blue Angel, and all our friends that we see on each visit. Oh, and the food...Back in April!
Thanks! We checked out Blue Angel while we were there - looked great. The restaurant had some lionfish so we had our first lionfish tacos. And they were very, very good!
 
I’m vigilant about not touching/kicking anything but that is pretty easy to do in calm water. On day 1, when we were moving so fast, I found myself taking a lot of evasive maneuvers to avoid touching anything and generally focusing on that, which certainly didn’t help my bouyancy or my anxiety level 😅.
It's worth adding mention that positioning yourself relative to the reef is more complex on a guided drift dive than a zero current dive.

When there's no current, if you accidentally bump the reef with an errant fin, you may be mortified but then move further up off the reef.

When drifting at a good clip, things change. The current speed varies with distance from the reef, so if you're further off than the guide is, you may drift faster...to the point of turning so you're drifting feet first and can kick a bit to hold yourself back (at least I've done that). If you try to get at the guide's level, if you still drift a bit faster, then not running into him (or someone else) can be a problem. Guides often slow down to look for and point things out, which can add to the issue. As with many things, I think the extent to which some people are 'naturals' varies (and I am NOT).
 
I will have to go back and find out!
There's always a reason to go back!!!! "I haven't seen a hammerhead yet ... guess we have to go back!" :)
 
I found myself taking a lot of evasive maneuvers to avoid touching anything and generally focusing on that, which certainly didn’t help my bouyancy or my anxiety level 😅.
Somewhere there's a meme showing a person with a look of TOTAL relief and it says "That feeling when you realize it was your buddy you kicked, and no the reef!". Ain't it the truth. Going through training we get it drilled in our head that Poseidon himself will come for you if your fin tip hits the reef. :wink:
 
There's always a reason to go back!!!!
I always have leftover Pesos. :)
 
Thanks for the report. My adult son and I dove Cozumel 2/26-3/3/2023 so overlapped with your trip. It was just the two of us and we were only there to dive. He and his wife had had a good experience with Dressel Divers and the Iberostar AI resort so we chose them for our trip actually booking everything through Dressel. Prior to this trip I had 11 dives after my OW certification for a total of 15 dives, all freshwater lakes, quarries, and rivers. I got my nitrox cert at home before the trip and did AOW with Dressel the first 2 days on this trip. We did 14 dives over 6 days of diving including 2 night dives and 2 cenote dives. Everything about our trip was excellent and I would repeat it in a heartbeat.

Dressel: I dove with 11 different dive guides. All were professional, attentive, gave good briefings and encouraged buddy checks. They were also very knowledgeable and were responsive to questions and would offer as much or as little help as I wanted. Even after the official AOW dives were completed they were willing to teach, if asked, and I learned a lot over the entire week. Early in the week with a new BC, focusing on not touching anything, and the excitement of great visibility on my first reef dives I had to add weight a couple of times. One of the guides later in the week worked with me to start reducing weight and by the last dive I had dropped 8 pounds and believe I could have dropped 2-4 pounds more. It made a big difference along with general acclimation and breathing practice. I also asked and was permitted to practice deploying my SMB at the end of a couple of dives rather than using the guides SMB. I would definitely dive with Dressel again.

Boats: The boats were large and typically had 8-20 people on board with 4-8 people per dive guide. The cylinders were already secured on the boat when we boarded and our guide directed us to where our tanks were so his group sat together on the boat. We could immediately start setting up our gear while at the pier and on the short trip out. They only helped if they saw a problem or were asked. I thought it was perfect. As each group was dropped off, we would walk to the back and step off. We were also allowed to backroll if we wanted as long as we asked first.

Iberostar: The resort was also excellent with friendly staff, good food and a safe/calm/peaceful atmosphere which is what we wanted. I had no desire to visit town on this trip as I am no fan of the tourist crowds and street hawkers. I may try it on another trip. Our last dive day was on the mainland at Chikin Ha Cenote and Dressel arranged everything, and our guide accompanied us all the way to and from. The harbor was closed on our way back so we had to spend the night on the mainland. Dressel/Iberostar booked us immediately into the Iberostar in Cancun and made our dinner reservations at one of the on-site theme restaurants. The service was excellent.

Conditions: Starting midweek the wind began picking up. Due to pure luck, we had dived the most southern sites the first couple of days when conditions were good and then just worked our way up the reef on subsequent days. Palancar gardens/caves was closed a day or two midweek but we had already dived there so we didn't miss anything. By Friday when conditions were really bad we had already planned to dive the cenote so again it worked out perfectly. We saw a lot of wildlife including shark, turtles - including one 4 footer that swam right up to me as I was videoing it, various rays, large acid green moray eels (6-7 feet) out actively hunting during the day - we were told it was unusual, endless fish - including a lot of barracuda including a large (migrating?) school one day, and octopus on both night dives.

Other site notes: We did not go as far north as other dive companies do. We stayed in the reserve. We found out later in the week that they will take a boat to requested sites, e.g. the wreck or some other northern sites, if there is a boat load who all want to go and are appropriately experienced. We didn't bother but on another trip I might start early in the week to organize something like that.
 
Thanks! This is very helpful. I would say it is a ‘yes’ to both. I was expecting the task-loading, and am generally good with a lot going on at once (former ER/Trauma nurse) but one task that I really hadn’t taken into consideration was protecting the reef. Or rather, how much bandwidth that would take up. I’m vigilant about not touching/kicking anything but that is pretty easy to do in calm water. On day 1, when we were moving so fast, I found myself taking a lot of evasive maneuvers to avoid touching anything and generally focusing on that, which certainly didn’t help my bouyancy or my anxiety level 😅.
A comment on protecting the reef; one thing that was tough for me at first with current was false alarms - i thought i was headed for the reef because i didn't understand the extent that just being in the current would automatically move me around it. with experience, i got better at factoring that in and the amount of percieved evasive manuevers required dropped off significantly which leads to a much more relaxing experience.
 
A comment on protecting the reef; one thing that was tough for me at first with current was false alarms - i thought i was headed for the reef because i didn't understand the extent that just being in the current would automatically move me around it. with experience, i got better at factoring that in and the amount of percieved evasive manuevers required dropped off significantly which leads to a much more relaxing experience.

Thank you, this is very helpful! I hadn’t thought of it that way. In my mind, I was like Maverick flying the canyon but in reality, not so much all 😅. I’m looking forward to giving Punta Tunich another go.
 

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