Must-See Dives Off Cozumel

[Jackie]

Before Wilma I dove off the beach of Villa Blanca.. What is this like today?

 

[sharky60]

Before Wilma I dove off the beach of Villa Blanca.. What is this like today?

Villablanca shallows is still a nice shore dive, but nothing like before Wilma.

It used to be like a garden out there, but most of the sea fans and soft corals were wiped out and are just now making a comeback.

It is still a great place to poke around in the small coral heads and rock debris to look for juvie critters and do some shallow water photography and still a very nice night dive.

Make a night dive around the stingray enclosure just beside Blue Angel, a lot of folks I've talked to have set out on a night dive and never made it past the enclosure because of all the critters they ran accross.

we made a daytime shore dive a little further south this past April. We got in around Casa del Mar and floated north towards Villa Blanca.

This area was some of the best recovered shore diving I've seen since the hurricane. Lots of sea fans making a comeback, soft corals and sponges were making a nice headway as well.

As far as getting out on the reef, my suggestion is to talk to the DM. Matt, Jorge, Jose and whoever else is working, dive these waters every day and if you give them a little guidance on what you want to see, they will make the right decision on what site to hit.

Having said that, :d , here's my VERY short list of top Coz dive sites:

1.) Columbia Shallows...simply gotta do it. No more than 30' deep, it's like diving in a huge aquarium. Lots of critters everywhere!

2.) Palancar Bricks...this dive has it all, walls, valley's, pinnacles, swim-thrus & ship wreck dibris (on occaision).

3.) Actually any of the 4 Palacar dives are great Bricks as forementioned, Horseshoe is much like Bricks, lots of terrain to cover, Gardens is just beautiful and Caves has the great swim-thrus and a nice wall with ins & outs to explore.

4.) Columbia Deep & Cathedrals; 2 great wall dives.

5.) Villablanca Wall, a true wall dive. Just a sheer slope with very little variation, covered with Barrel and Tube sponges.

6.) Tormentos, Santa Rosa, Delihla, Yucab...it never ends.

Like my good friend Gordon (ggunn) says, paraphrasing, "the best dive Cozumel dive is the one I just got done doing or the one I'm going to do next"...that pretty much sums it up.

stand on the shore and point out towards the ocean...that's the good diving on Coz.

 

[TSandM]

Honestly, I think my favorite Cozumel dive was Paradiso at night. We did it several times, because it was just that good.

I really don't understand the desire to do the Devil's Throat dive. There are MUCH better overhead environment experiences on the mainland, and they're shallow and the dives are long. There is so much great topography on the deep reefs above 100 feet (which is all we did, because we dove 32%) that I can't see any need to go deeper.

 

[TV Mark]

The Cenotes are cool. They aren't the reef, but still great. Try Dos Ojos or Chac Mool.
Chac Mool is closer to Playa Del Carmen. Watch your head.

 

[Ms. Ann Thrope]

For a second dive, we loved Columbia Shallows--wished we could have just had a boat drop us off and pick us up much later, when we were good and ready. Francesca is a personal favorite of mine as well.

This past trip, we finally dove Maracaibo (Deep). The reef was beautiful--it looked to me like Santa Rosa and other less-deep wall dives looked back in the '90s. But it was a short dive because of deco limits, and much of it was spent with the reef 50' below us. We didn't see anything big except for some really plump lionfish. Glad I saw it, but ultimately, I prefer long dives over deep dives.

Off Punta Sur, I think I like Cathedral better than Devil's Throat, though both have their "oh wow" moments.

If you're looking for Cozumel's signature dives, I think Santa Rosa is still pretty, and all the Palancars are excellent.

I like Villablanca for night dives.

 

[jrwalsh20]

Everytime i go Santa Rosa Wall is a must for me. enjoy your trip i will be there in May and i am counting down the days.

 

[ernbob]

I did dos ojos two years ago and lived it, and I did Palancar Caves TODAY ad it was the best dive of my 8 dives this trip..