Spoiled by Coz, now what?

[aa777888]

Mrs. aa and I have been to Coz twice and are now totally spoiled. Inexpensive dig's (Caribe Blu) close to town, pick up by a fast boat at the hotel everyday, and of course the totally pampered fast-boat experience. And it's probably the least expensive dive vacation possible in warm water.

Nevertheless variety is the spice of life. We may be spoiled but we aren't quite ready to just do it all over again yet. If you can all resist the obvious answer of "why go anywhere else" what would you recommend as a comparable alternative?

We've dove FL, Bermuda and Aruba but we wouldn't say they are comparable but maybe we didn't organize the right stuff there (Scubaboard helped us design really good Coz trips). Probably any other destination is going to be more expensive than Coz but we hope not too much more expensive. Warm water is a must. Convenience on the order of the Coz-fast-boat experience is desirable. Medium to large fish would be nice--we are not well entertained by just coral and the smaller varieties of marine life.

Thanks for thinking outside the box this one time--we'll be back to Coz soon enough!

aa

 

[cicopo]

I've dove in Freeport, one part of Cuba near the city of Santiago De Cuba, and Kauai and none of them fit the bill, and none were cheaper except Cuba. The only cheaper place I've dove was in the Keys, but the majority of my dives there were Looe Key

 

[MMM]

Maybe Hawaii? Water is a bit cooler and trips somewhat more expensive (in the $100/2 tank dive last time I was there) but Big Island has some interesting things to see. Or maybe the West Coast of Mexico (Baja). More expensive than Coz and a bit cooler water also. But again, some different sights to see.

 

[Scubaman7596]

Maybe Hawaii? Water is a bit cooler and trips somewhat more expensive (in the $100/2 tank dive last time I was there) but Big Island has some interesting things to see. Or maybe the West Coast of Mexico (Baja). More expensive than Coz and a bit cooler water also. But again, some different sights to see.

I will have to agree with the hawaii part. Out here in Kauai We have been getting some amazing dives in off the boat. World Class stuff We are talkin 10 out of 10's. definitley is more expensive than coz, But It is MAI TAI's man

 

[H20Bubbles]

We have dove the Turks and Caicos, and have to say that the walls there are pretty incredible. Not quite as cheap as Cozumel, and not quite the character but the diving is great.

 

[Gdog]

Well, you could always try the Puget Sound......a little bit more as far as eats, the boat diving is not that much more, fantastic things to see, and the water is just a teeny weeeny bit cooler.........maybe only like 30 degrees or so......tee hee.

 

[jlyle]

"Cheap" and dive travel don't really belong in the same sentence! There are some bargains to be had in the Philippines and Indonesia, but airfare can bust your budget. If you do save your pennies and travel halfway around the world, spend at least two weeks - might as well see as much as you can while you're there.

 

[sharky60]

....'psst'...just come back to Coz...we won't tell

 

[BrewingDiver]

My wife and I really enjoyed La Paz (Baja, MX) in Sept-07. The diving was excellent, although very little coral. Many animals not present in the Caribbean, water temp lower but still 3mm suits in the late summer or fall, plus sea lions that time of year, which were fantastic!

The town and people were great. Excellent seafood (it's a fishing town). The boat rides are long, though, 1.5 hours+. And the dive service is not up to the level of Coz (where is it?) in our opinion.

Cost was pretty comparable to Coz and you can probably pay in pesos now and save some money on the exchange due to the favorable rate since we were there. We want to go back sometime. But . . ., it looks like we may be heading back to Coz this Spring, having missed last year. : )

 

[splicer]

Bonaire. We stayed at Buddy Dive which made diving easy. Good operation. What's cool is the shore diving. All around the island are rocks painted yellow with the dive site name on them next to the access area. The wall is about 150 yds offshore. When you go, you get a little truck with tank holders in the back. You go to this drive through air station, show your C-card then they load em up for you. Pretty cool. Coral is in outstanding condition. Food is so-so.