Really confused about Kona, Hawaii vs Cozumel???

[blue steal]

I've been to Hawaii many many times, always to surf. Hiking is great, and snorkeling is good.
Love Kona and Hilo for sure.
But it just has gotten to expensive for me for what you get. Hotels are quite high and forget about an ocean view unless you got some bucks.
Food is also expensive. Airfare a bit cheaper than to Cozumel and travel to Hawaii from LAX is easy.
Then about 5 years ago I found Cozumel (shoulder injury took me away from surfing that year). Airfare a bit higher to get to, but hotel costs are much less. And you can get an ocean facing room for a reasonable price. Food is cheap, and there are so many restaurants to choose from.
People are much more friendly in Coz. Good vibes, not always the case in Hawaii.
So I keep coming back to Cozumel, I feel the diving is good. I actually like it better than the Philippines, which I have gone to quite a few times.
So go to Hawaii for the topside scenery, hiking, kayaking, snorkeling. Scuba not so much.
Anyway that's my dos centavos worth.

 

[spt29970]

Not sure I get what you're saying with "Enforced 80 min dive" Max I can do on a steel 120 or 15 liter is about 70 mins, unless the depth is 25 feet, then maybe more.

I have very low air consumption and with Al80s I did several dives that were 75-79 minutes. In Cozumel I found the DMs would start signaling to ascend after around 45min. When am doing photography and in the zone I like to stay down as long as I can do so safely. In Kona it was refreshing to find a dive Op that would let me hang around under the boat and have nice long dives. They also had long surface intervals so that I wasn't forced to shorten my second dive either.

 

[cvchief]

I have very low air consumption and with Al80s I did several dives that were 75-79 minutes. In Cozumel I found the DMs would start signaling to ascend after around 45min. When am doing photography and in the zone I like to stay down as long as I can do so safely. In Kona it was refreshing to find a dive Op that would let me hang around under the boat and have nice long dives. They also had long surface intervals so that I wasn't forced to shorten my second dive either.

Then clearly your problem is needing a Coz op with a 'dive your tank' policy. We enjoy dives of that length in Cozumel all the time. Many OPs offer that.

 

[mstevens]

Yeah, I do not have what I'd consider very low air consumption and quite a lot of my Cozumel dives are in the 70-80 minute range. My wife could probably go 90 minutes on a Maracaibo dive...

 

[robint]

I have been to Cozumel three times and to Kona once. You can have good dives in both places, although they are very different. If I were planning another trip and the choices were between the two, I would give the nod to Kona.

I have always been a little confused about people who rave about Cozumel diving. I have had decent dives in Cozumel, even good dives, but I have never had a dive that I would consider great. My pet theory is that Cozumel gets its reputation by being easy to get to from the east coast of the US. That combined with the fact that it is reasonably economical and has consistent blue water is probably why it has such a devoted following.

However, even though I have only been to Kona once (two weeks during last November), I had two completely mind-blowing dives there: The Manta night dive, and the Pelagic Magic dive. Perhaps I was just lucky but on the Manta night dive, we have forty (40) mantas wheeling and bashing into us. On the Pelagic Magic (black water) dive I saw the strangest life I have ever seen in the ocean. Take a look at these manta videos

Hawaii Manta Dive - YouTube
Manta loop-de-loop - YouTube

I have some Hawaii photos at:
Hawaii 2013 - a set on Flickr

and some Cozumel photos at:
Cozumel 2009 - a set on Flickr
Cozumel 2008 - a set on Flickr

Lastly, one big difference been Cozumel and Kona was that in Cozumel I felt that the dive operators intentionally took divers deep to limits dives to less than an hour. In Kona, Jacks Diving Locker enforced a max dive time of 80 minutes (really!) so I had nice relaxing dives.

Enjoy!

Not to contradict you on your dives quality in Cozumel.... but you were there 2008 & 2009 right after the hurricane devasted the reefs. You really have NOT seen Cozumel reefs. The recovery took several years and NOW the reefs are back to their pre-hurricane brilliance. It is time for you to go back and see them again.

 

[ggunn]

Not to contradict you on your dives quality in Cozumel.... but you were there 2008 & 2009 right after the hurricane devasted the reefs. You really have NOT seen Cozumel reefs. The recovery took several years and NOW the reefs are back to their pre-hurricane brilliance.

Well, yes and no. While the reefs indeed are in much better condition than they were right after the storm, some of what was destroyed during Wilma will not be back the way it was in our, or even our grandchildren's, lifetimes.

 

[dcabbar]

Thanks for all the wonderful advice in this thread. This thread, by far, is the most useful one I have ever seen.

Following the advice given here, we have decided to go with Cozumel and booked our diving + stay w/ Aldora, and our interaction with them have been fantastic, so looking forward to this trip.

Having said these, it is time to ask for some nice restaurants in Cozumel... Any recommendations?

Once again, thanks a lot for all the help!

 

[Mossman]

Having said these, it is time to ask for some nice restaurants in Cozumel... Any recommendations?

What a novel question!

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/co...ators-restaurants-taxis-more.html#post6541110

 

[lamarpaulski]

Apples and oranges. I have been to both and loved them. If you have never been to Caribbean then go to Coz...if never to tropical Pacific go there. For a newer diver Cozumel is really more amazing underwater. They have very different sets of fish and corals and the Caribbean, as others have said, can get a little monotonous after hundreds of dives. I would say Coz has more wow diving factor between the deeper reefs, amazing visibility, easy drift diving and healthy numerous fish. The Yucatan has some great Mayan temples and cenotes too...while Big Island is also great topside with volcanoes and scenery galore. You can find some economical places to stay on Big Island too but they're probably more $ that Mexico and good food is definitely a bit more. Mexico is not the USA but Cozumel is one of best run localities I have seen in that country. How comfortable are you in foreign country ? Tough but pleasant decision. I think I have just confused myself.

 

[Gdog]

For what its worth, I just returned from Kona. It was my second trip there in 5 years. I have been to Cozumel several times over the last 12 years. In Kona, we did several shore dives, as well as some boat dives that included the manta night dive and the blackwater dive. Both of those were awesome, and the shore diving there is good. That being said, I can tell you I would go to Cozumel in a heartbeat over Kona any day. Hawaii's reefs are drab and dull in comparison to Cozumel reefs. The stay as a whole is much more enjoyable as well in Cozumel. Hawaii has gotten so expensive. Even a trip to the grocery store costs much more than it does in the mainland. While I enjoyed the shorediving off Kona, which is the one place it outshines Cozumel, the rest of the quality of the coral, structure, visibility, water temp, diversity of the reef, are all much much more in Cozumel.
Several times during our stay in Kona, my wife and I often commented that while we were having a great time, we would much rather be in Cozumel.
Just my 2 psi.