Does anyone else think this is a silly question, or worse, sort of like Sophie's Choice? There is no one dive at Cozumel that has it all. My favorite dive at Cozumel is a tossup between the one I just did and the one I will do next.
If you could only do one...
- Thread starter PaulVS
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PaulVS
Contributor
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Heheh... I knew going into it I wasn't going to get one *definitive* answer... and I didn't.
Columbia Shallows, Palancar Gardens, and Paradise Reef seem to be the "top 3" so far.
We'll most likely do 4 dives when we're in Coz... not just one... and I now have good choices based on the responses here. (Not that I'll get to choose dive sites myself, but at least I'll have some informed input if it's put to a vote.)
prosdog
Contributor
I really haven't done that much diving in Cozumel (12 dives total) but I've done Paradise Reef twice and I think it was the most all-round fun dive we did. Its shallow so lots of bottom time, fair amount of coral and marine life. The second time I did it I was down for almost 70 minutes and I'm an air hog. It was so much fun it seemed like 20 minutes.
Geckotek
Contributor
Funny, today I did Punta Tuniche followed by Paradise. 
Edit: we found 2 seahorse @ Paradise today. That was nice.
Edit: we found 2 seahorse @ Paradise today. That was nice.
halocline
Contributor
Palancar reef hands down...so many amazing routes and sites. Paradise as a 'best' dive in Coz? Different strokes, I guess. Worst dive, maybe, I'd believe that. And it's not like it's a 'bad' dive. The moral is, there are lots of great sites each with its own appeal.
Gdog
Contributor
Punta Tunich...or Maricaibo
nodakdive
Contributor
For whatever it's worth...
For those people that are coming to Cozumel for the first time and are wondering what they should dive, or that have heard of Devil's Throat and feel that they must do it, I'd say a pretty cool goal, in a 5 days of 2 tank diving trip, would be to dive all of the 4 Palancar sites, and if you can, get to Santa Rosa. Devil'sThroat is cool, but if you've never been to Cozumel, you won't miss it. If you never come back to Cozumel and didn't dive it, you still didn't miss the jist of Cozumel. I'd do Palancar Gardens the first day because it's a great "first time getting wet this trip" kind of dive. You descend in about 30 feet of water over sand. I'd probably dive a day or two for Santa Rosa. It's a sheer wall, and probably best to have your diving dialed in a little before you go there. If you're like most, you'll really like Coz, you'll come back, and then you can see the rest. The shop I've done most of my diving with didn't repeat a site on me for the first two trips. Probably luck, but I've seen them being conscious of getting people to different sites, and I'm sure all the shops try their best to get you to everything in a matter of a couple trips or so, skill
level etc., dependent. Anyhow, I realize you weren't inquiring about Devil's Throat. Just had to vent my .02.
If you're going to do 4 tanks in two days, my list would look like this:
Day One
Palancar Gardens - For reasons stated above.
Paradise - You've been to Coz. You ate at La Choza. Same deal. Everyone's been to Paradise, and it's a nice dive. Lots to see. Shallow, like 40 to 45 feet.
Day Two
Santa Rosa - Reasons above.
Columbia Shallows - Very Shallow. Loaded with stuff. Problem is, it's quite south, and it might not be logistically feasible if you're not diving Columbia, Punta Sur, etc. (?)
If Shallows fell through, no big whoop. Same with Paradise. All the others are probably actually more representative of Coz shallow dives. They're usually 50 to 70 feet. Places like Tormentos,
Las Palmas, Cedral, La Francesa, Punta Tunich, Dalilah, Chankanaab etc. I think the only thing you'd really want to get done if you're diving 4 tanks in Cozumel is to get to one Palancar site. The Palancar reefs are what put Cozumel on the map, and once you see it, you'll know why.
Have a great trip!!
-Blair
For those people that are coming to Cozumel for the first time and are wondering what they should dive, or that have heard of Devil's Throat and feel that they must do it, I'd say a pretty cool goal, in a 5 days of 2 tank diving trip, would be to dive all of the 4 Palancar sites, and if you can, get to Santa Rosa. Devil'sThroat is cool, but if you've never been to Cozumel, you won't miss it. If you never come back to Cozumel and didn't dive it, you still didn't miss the jist of Cozumel. I'd do Palancar Gardens the first day because it's a great "first time getting wet this trip" kind of dive. You descend in about 30 feet of water over sand. I'd probably dive a day or two for Santa Rosa. It's a sheer wall, and probably best to have your diving dialed in a little before you go there. If you're like most, you'll really like Coz, you'll come back, and then you can see the rest. The shop I've done most of my diving with didn't repeat a site on me for the first two trips. Probably luck, but I've seen them being conscious of getting people to different sites, and I'm sure all the shops try their best to get you to everything in a matter of a couple trips or so, skill
level etc., dependent. Anyhow, I realize you weren't inquiring about Devil's Throat. Just had to vent my .02.
If you're going to do 4 tanks in two days, my list would look like this:
Day One
Palancar Gardens - For reasons stated above.
Paradise - You've been to Coz. You ate at La Choza. Same deal. Everyone's been to Paradise, and it's a nice dive. Lots to see. Shallow, like 40 to 45 feet.
Day Two
Santa Rosa - Reasons above.
Columbia Shallows - Very Shallow. Loaded with stuff. Problem is, it's quite south, and it might not be logistically feasible if you're not diving Columbia, Punta Sur, etc. (?)
If Shallows fell through, no big whoop. Same with Paradise. All the others are probably actually more representative of Coz shallow dives. They're usually 50 to 70 feet. Places like Tormentos,
Las Palmas, Cedral, La Francesa, Punta Tunich, Dalilah, Chankanaab etc. I think the only thing you'd really want to get done if you're diving 4 tanks in Cozumel is to get to one Palancar site. The Palancar reefs are what put Cozumel on the map, and once you see it, you'll know why.
Have a great trip!!
-Blair
ff1diver
Guest
Columbia Shallows....I could live on that reef!!!!
diveprof
Contributor
Why one dive? If you are on a dive boat you get two. I vote Columbia Deep followed by Columbia Shallows.
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