Must Dive Spots in Cozumel

[Vic K]

Hi All,

Going to Cozumel for the first time. We will be going there in June after staying in Playa for few days. Will do some checkout dives in Playa while we are there. We are AOW certified but don't have many dives under our belt yet. Could not find a thread on this forum about great dive locations. Would love to know where would you recommend to dive? We love swim through, schools of fishes and beautiful coral. Also we have a night dive booked also any recommendations for that? Thank you for assistance.

 

[idocsteve]

I was there 3 weeks ago. My trip report is posted on this subforum

Cozumel trip report staying at Paradise Condos and diving with Aldora Divers April 7-12, 2017

Here's the part about the best dive spots.

The three Palancar deep reefs were on my 'must do' list from my prior trip in 2005 but found them to be almost completely devoid of Aquatic life sans an Eagle Ray and a turtle but the huge towering corals and numerous swim thrus make it the place to go for divers who enjoy diving for the geography and the impressive coral formations. Three reef dives that were absolutely stunning for abundant marine life were Columbia, Cedral and Yukab. Cedral had a really long swim thru, about 3 minutes.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

Usually, the actual dive site will be decided based on everyone's skill level and the conditions of the day. Swim throughs-Columbia Pinacles or Palancar caves. These are deeper sites. Fish and coral- Cedral, franchesca, Columbia shallows, Almost any of the shallower dive sites.

cozumel reff guide map - Google Search:

Every dive can change from day to day, so the better option is let the DM decide what works best for you. We usually tell the DM what we want to see on that dive and let him/her decide. My standard is "long, shallow, lots of critters". You could dive Cedral 10 times and not know you were on the same location. I believe it is Cedral that there is a nurse shark that has a green moray as a room mate under the same small reef ledge. When they are together, it's an interesting sight to see.

My favorite dive is Barracuda but the currents are fast and you fly over a sunken mountain range. No time to see aquatic life or coral as you go flying by. On our last trip, me, the DM, and one other diver loved it. The other 3 not so much. (One said Never again). It will test your buoyancy skills and you will use more air than usual. We usually were seeing 80-90 minute dives as a group and this one was 40. But 40 amazing minutes it was!! I can't get the theme from Top Gun out of my head on Barracuda!

Unless you are on your own boat, site location depends on everyone's choice, the skill level/air consumption of the divers, the conditions of the day, and maybe the dive ops policy on going to the far North or South sites (some may charge a fuel surcharge) Keep in mind lots of people don't like swim throughs. The DM will tell them they don't have to go, but just follow the bubbles above.

The fish and corral dives are pretty much ok for everyone. The deeper stuff will result in shorter dives on standard 80 cf tanks. Our op uses steel 120's.

Get ready for an amazing trip. We love Cozumel and go at least twice a year for a reason. The food, people, and diving are simply incredible. We just got back last week and I wish I was there now.....

Safe travels,
Jay

 

[Brules]

You will be happy with any and all dives you do there lol......they are ALL fantastic and each site has it's own unique formations and critters which is what makes cozumel so awesome!

 

[Lorenzoid]

What jayfarmlaw said. If you and your people have the whole boat to yourselves, you may get more say in the matter of which site the boat will visit. More typically, you and everyone else on the boat gets a vote. The divemaster probably already has some candidate sites in mind based on the experience level of the group, where people have already dived on previous days, currents, and other circumstances. The DM may say something like "How does _________ sound to everyone?" And there may be nods or raises of hands. Out of curiosity, where else have you traveled where you were given a choice of dive site?

 

[Vic K]

What jayfarmlaw said. If you and your people have the whole boat to yourselves, you may get more say in the matter of which site the boat will visit. More typically, you and everyone else on the boat gets a vote. The divemaster probably already has some candidate sites in mind based on the experience level of the group, where people have already dived on previous days, currents, and other circumstances. The DM may say something like "How does _________ sound to everyone?" And there may be nods or raises of hands. Out of curiosity, where else have you traveled where you were given a choice of dive site?

@Lorenzoid I was asking about the sites so I can ask or tell the DM or the DIve Op that these are some of the sites we would love to explore. I completely understand it is not us who makes that decision at the end. Just wanted to have some names to perhaps influence the DM or the OP. As I can't wait to dive in such a highly recommended place.

 

[Lorenzoid]

@Lorenzoid I was asking about the sites so I can ask or tell the DM or the DIve Op that these are some of the sites we would love to explore. I completely understand it is not us who makes that decision at the end. Just wanted to have some names to perhaps influence the DM or the OP. As I can't wait to dive in such a highly recommended place.

I get it, but what I was trying to say is they're probably going to suggest a few sites based on various considerations, and the divers may get to choose from those. You can ask the DM what each of them is like and decide based on what they tell you. For example, swim-throughs versus no swim-throughs, walls, pinnacles, etc. Just my opinion, but I don't think there's much advantage to memorizing a bunch of site names in advance. Also, there are a number of sites that have various sub-sites. For example, the southern part, the northern part, etc., of whatever the site is named, or something lying between two named sites. There are so many variations on how the DM leads a group through a site that I could dive the "same" site multiple times and not even recognize that I was diving the same site.

As @Brules pointed out, there are no bad sites. If this is your first trip, they will all be new to you. Get to know them, and you may develop your own favorites.

 

[Vic K]

I get it, but what I was trying to say is they're probably going to suggest a few sites based on various considerations, and the divers may get to choose from those. You can ask the DM what each of them is like and decide based on what they tell you. For example, swim-throughs versus no swim-throughs, walls, pinnacles, etc. Just my opinion, but I don't think there's much advantage to memorizing a bunch of site names in advance. Also, there are a number of sites that have various sub-sites. For example, the southern part, the northern part, etc., of whatever the site is named, or something lying between two named sites. There are so many variations on how the DM leads a group through a site that I could dive the "same" site multiple times and not even recognize that I was diving the same site.

As @Brules pointed out, there are no bad sites. If this is your first trip, they will all be new to you. Get to know them, and you may develop your own favorites.

Got it...... I guess I am so excited to go that I want to find out everything. Having heard so many good things, Just can't wait. Thank you all for your input

 

[Brules]

Instead of sites, it is usually better to ask to see certain things.......ie: turtles - the DM's will know where they have been seeing them vs not, sea horses - DM's will know where to find them - they are super hard to see! and the splendid toadfish - a must see creature!!!!

 

[Vic K]

Instead of sites, it is usually better to ask to see certain things.......ie: turtles - the DM's will know where they have been seeing them vs not, sea horses - DM's will know where to find them - they are super hard to see! and the splendid toadfish - a must see creature!!!!

I guess that is the right way to go..... Thanks for putting my head straight