Favorite Cozumel Dive Spot(s)? (Reefs, not ops)

[underachiever]

Two things...

One, the dive boats are not a taxi service. As an individual diver, you will be able to lobby and vote if you are on a boat which decides on sites by consensus, but you will not be able to dictate unless you hire a private boat.

Two, there are no bad dives at Cozumel. When I am there, my favorite dive site is a tossup between the one we just left and the one we are headed to. It's all good.

THe OP did mention they were a family of 5 diving with a small operator. So in this case maybe the boat would be like a taxi.

Just tell the divemaster what you and your family like and let them make the call based on the weather and current conditions. Some days are better than others for different sites. Like Gordon stated. No bad dives on Cozumel.

 

[vlkr]

i see that you have at least 100 dives. rather than recommend dives for you though i would be more inclined to recommmend for the least experienced person in the group. how many dives does the youngest have? what kind of shape is the least fit in? is everyone comfortable with strong drift? does everyone have the bouyancy thing down?
if you have a good dm you can trust her/him to give you as much as you can handle without endangering the least able. imo some can't miss sites for the whole group are francessa and santa rosa.
i personally like the northern sites the best because i like the feel of flying over the reef. however, few are taken there and that is not without reason.
some people have said they like sites like devil's throat and the sunken ship. they are my least favorites so i guess it is a matter of taste.

 

[ggunn]

THe OP did mention they were a family of 5 diving with a small operator. So in this case maybe the boat would be like a taxi.

Yeah, I missed that. In that case, diplomacy might dictate that they not act as a coalition and treat the dive boat like their taxi on every dive. The DM would probably moderate that, anyway. It's sort of a democracy, but the DM has 51% of the votes.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Columbia deep!!

 

[MMM]

I just had 2fabulous dives today. We did Maracaibo Wall for first and Maracaibo Shallows for the second. The latter is my favorite. The soft corals are fab. We saw 2green morays in the open, several large groupers a nurse shark to boot. Dolphins swam past us as we got back on the boat. Conditions need to be right as these are very very far south and today conditions were beyond perfect. Flat seas, sunny and crystal clear vis. I would recommend nitrox for Maracaibo shallows as it is a fairly swear profile of around 70 feet depth.

Musicbiz I have never heard of any op charging extra for C53. It is not that far out of caleta so isn't hard to get to nor difficult to dive. The only circumstance I can think of where an op might want more dough is if they are based far south and are on a schedule. Can you elaborate on which specific op charges more for this dive?

 

[muzikbiz22]

I just had 2fabulous dives today. We did Maracaibo Wall for first and Maracaibo Shallows for the second. The latter is my favorite. The soft corals are fab. We saw 2green morays in the open, several large groupers a nurse shark to boot. Dolphins swam past us as we got back on the boat. Conditions need to be right as these are very very far south and today conditions were beyond perfect. Flat seas, sunny and crystal clear vis. I would recommend nitrox for Maracaibo shallows as it is a fairly swear profile of around 70 feet depth.

Musicbiz I have never heard of any op charging extra for C53. It is not that far out of caleta so isn't hard to get to nor difficult to dive. The only circumstance I can think of where an op might want more dough is if they are based far south and are on a schedule. Can you elaborate on which specific op charges more for this dive?

I can't elaborate on who charges "extra" for the C-53, as I don't know who actually does. I was down there last month, and I "asked around" about wrecks. It was the general consensus/response from other divers/guests that "Yeah, there's the C-53, but that's extra". Long story short, I asked (bugged) our group leader about going to it, and he arranged it with our guide(s), and we went. I think it's just a matter of who you dive with or something. We had a group of about 14 for a solid week, same boat & crew everyday. They took care of us, and we took care of them at the end of the week

Perhaps some other C-53'ers can chime in here ?

 

[judydivescoz]

I can't imagine that anyone would charge extra for the C-53. I can imagine that on a 6 pack boat finding a majority of divers on board would elect to go there would be hard to find. For me, its not so thrilling. The reef and wall dives are just so good in Cozumel. We have done the C-53 a few times the first dive of a 2 tank twilight dive where the 2nd dive (night dive) was at Paradise. We did enjoy ourselves but it is hard not to diving in Cozumel.
I like Cedral Wall and Maricabo Wall the best.

 

[blue steal]

I always put my vote on the boat as the first dive of the trip at Santa Rosa Wall. It has a little bit of something for everyone. Some like swim-thrus, (me not so much), some the reef tops, and others "the wall", my favorite.

 

[sharky60]

Columbia deep!!

I love it! Staight and to the point!

 

[BTravlin]

Sanddollar charges $10 extra pp for a wreck dive and although they don't specify C-53 I would guess that is what they mean.