Finally Get to Go to Cancun / Cozumel

[George Monnat Jr]

Due to family obligations, I've had to spend my vacation time and money going to Oahu. There's good diving there, but I've already got 100s of dives around that island. It looks like for my next birthday in a month or so I may get to finally go to Cancun and/or Cozumel.

I say Cancun, because Southwest has a direct flight from Austin to there, and my wife and I fly for free (as does our dive gear).

Is it better to stay in Cancun and boat out for drift dives or find a place in Cozumel itself?

What's the best dive shop for Cozumel dives out of Cancun?

What are the best local Cancun reef dives?

Is the Underwater Museum just a gimmick or worth seeing?

 

[JamesBon92007]

I don't know about Cancun, but it's not particularly close to Cozumel as far as for diving goes. Every dive op I know of in Playa del Carmen has you ride the ferry to Cozumel and meet up with them there. If you are going from Cancun you'll almost certainly end up in Playa at the ferry dock. Personally, if I want to dive Cozumel, I stay on Cozumel. There may be a boat that goes from a port near Cancun directly to Cozumel but I've never heard of it.

As for dive ops on Cozumel, just take your pick. I don't know of any bad ones. I've gone with Scuba Club Cozumel and Blue XT Sea and both were great. Scuba Club generally uses bigger boats and takes a little longer to get to the dive sites. Some offer bigger tanks, some have faster boats, and a few have a head on board. Most have Nitrox available and come with an AL80 and weights. At least one does not charge extra for gear, but most charge something extra for a BC, regulator, wet suit, etc.

Edit: MUSA (underwater museum) is interesting on many levels. I found it fascinating and my girlfriend thought it was boring. That's generally done from Isla Mujeres.

 

[kelemvor]

I think if your goal is diving then you're going to want to be on Cozumel. You can still fly to Cancun and do the "bag drag" over to Cozumel via the ferry. Cancun to Cozumel Bag Drag I've never done the bag drag myself, but I have been on the ferry as the whale shark trips leave from the mainland.

I have heard, but cannot personally confirm, that Cancun is a more dangerous place than Cozumel (crime wise).

As for "the best" operator. I think everyone will have their personal favorites. I like the operation that runs from Hotel Cozumel, "Dive Paradise." I suspect that there aren't too many (or any?) "bad" operations on Cozumel. At least, there aren't any that I've ever heard of. There are a few operations that cater to technical divers, if that's your thing. I don't think Dive Paradise does tech diving of any kind. Otherwise, the island is your oyster.

Personally, I like doing all inclusive and I get that at Hotel Cozumel. They have prices listed for next month that are $1,447 and includes a room for 7 nights, five 2 tank morning dives, four 1 tank afternoon dives. It also includes all the food and drink you want (including booze). It's not the best hotel on the island but it's better than I'd expect for the price. I'm usually a Marriott guy in the US and Hotel Coz isn't quite up to Marriott standards but it's totally livable. The boat operation is as good as any I've used anywhere in the world. Their people are friendly and knowledgeable. They will bend over backwards to make you happy etc.

 

[cvchief]

Go to Cozumel. 45 minute ride by van to Playa del Carmen. 45 minute ferry ride to Cozumel. That island and its people are wonderful. MANY great dive shops. We dive with Scuba with Alison.

The Cancun commute would be brutal. And if you really need it, you can get a balloon hat and someone to pour a shot in your mouth in Cozumel, just not as many places as Cancun.

 

[ReefHound]

Ditto above, staying in Cancun and diving Cozumel is impractical. Just do the "bag drag" once instead of every day.

I've never bothered diving Cancun but from what I've heard you will see plenty of fish but not nearly as much coral.

 

[George Monnat Jr]

JamesBon92007, kelemvor, cvchief, and ReefHound, thank you for the information. We'll take everything but tanks and weights. I'm definitely going to do the bag drag, unless my wife really wants to dive in Cancun or cenotes. Unfortunately, I'm only going to have a few days there instead of a week+.

 

[Dogbowl]

JamesBon92007, kelemvor, cvchief, and ReefHound, thank you for the information. We'll take everything but tanks and weights. I'm definitely going to do the bag drag, unless my wife really wants to dive in Cancun or cenotes. Unfortunately, I'm only going to have a few days there instead of a week+.

If you only have a few days, you're definitely going to want to dive all of it in Cozumel. Wait for next time to do the cenotes. Or, do the cenotes this time and do Cozumel next time. Yeah, IMO they're both THAT great (outside of Asia Pacific).

 

[Addicted2H2O]

I've done both and I can definitely say if you're main focus while you're there is diving, stay on the Island. You can certainly dive Cozumel and stay on the mainland and take the ferry across but it's $18-$20/person/day. And the last one back to Playa Del Carmen leaves the island @ 9:00 pm. So if you wanted to do any night diving, I doubt you'd make the last ferry back. And trust me, you want to do night dives there. So much to see once the sun goes down in and around the reef. And you don't have to go deep to see it. I did 2-3 night dives at Paradise Reef with a floor of about 40'. The last night we were there, the rest of the group did a shore dive from the hotel (Grand Park Royale) with a bottom depth of 20' and saw just as much sealife. I'm itching to go back myself and will be ASAP. And I can say with absolute certainty that I will be staying in Cozumel. And you can always rent a Jeep and drive down to the south end of the island to go to the beach. Good times!

 

[cvchief]

Sent you a PM with my van guy and stuff.

 

[JamesBon92007]

JamesBon92007, kelemvor, cvchief, and ReefHound, thank you for the information. We'll take everything but tanks and weights. I'm definitely going to do the bag drag, unless my wife really wants to dive in Cancun or cenotes. Unfortunately, I'm only going to have a few days there instead of a week+.

If you have a longer stay some other time you can catch the ferry and dive the cenotes. Occasionally the port will be closed on Cozumel due to weather but often the ferry still runs so we can get to the cenotes. I've not done it yet but we have 17 nights on Cozumel this trip

If it wasn't for SouthWest we wouldn't be able to go to Cozumel nearly as often. They have direct flights to Cancun from LAX and we have lots of points! We have not done the bag drag from Terminal 4 yet so we plan to get ADO tickets at the booth, along with directions. Last year we landed at Terminal 3 in November and left from Terminal 4 in December. We bring an insulated bag and get a chicken special from El Pechugon when we get off the bus in Playa, hop on the ferry, get a taxi to where we are staying, and have a great dinner. The walk from the bus station really isn't very far and it's a very wide street with no cars. We wait until we get to the dock to buy tickets (lots of ticket vendors along the way) and get the best priced ticket. They can vary quite a bit. It's almost always cheaper if you pay with pesos. If you are in a hurry you can look to see which boat is boarding and buy their ticket. When returning to CUN you need to be in the left line when buying ADO tickets at the bus station. That was not very clear to me but someone gave us that tip ahead of time.