Staying at Iberostar - Want to dive Colombia Reef & Santa Rosa Wall

[SunTunnel]

Hi All,

Heading back to Coz this weekend. Taking the family & staying at Iberostar down south.

While there, I would like to dive a few deeper sites, especially Colombia Reef & Santa Rosa Wall, but the dive shop at Iberostar do not go to dive sites that are deeper than 100 feet.

The nice thing about their shop is they do list what dive sites they visit on each day of the week, so it's easy to plan if you have specific spots you'd like to see.

Can anyone recommend other dive operations that could pick us up from the hotel jetty that goes to these sites, and ideally do a similar thing - list where they go do on a particular day so we can plan.

Thanks in advance!

Ollie

 

[BronxJoe]

1st of all, both of those dives can be done at less than 100 feet. They can be done deeper too, really a matter of choice. Most dive op's will let divers on the boat choose which site, so if you have a decent sized group you have a good chance. Almost all the dive ops will pick up at your pier

 

[Addicted2H2O]

If you want a good recommendation for a dive operator in Cozumel, I'd recommend Dimi Divers. Did a few dives with them last year while on a trip with my LDS and they were great! The DM's were very knowledgeable and even funny and they really seemed to know their stuff. And it was a bigger boat than one of the little boats you normally see. My LDS actually uses them exclusively now when they put trips together. The owner, Diana is great, too! They're a real class act in my opinion! Looking forward to diving with them again!

Dimi Scuba Tours Cozumel Mexico

 

[SunTunnel]

1st of all, both of those dives can be done at less than 100 feet. They can be done deeper too, really a matter of choice. Most dive op's will let divers on the boat choose which site, so if you have a decent sized group you have a good chance. Almost all the dive ops will pick up at your pier

It could be that because it's an all-inclusive, the resort dive shop has more newbie divers so keeps the dive sites quite shallow? I originally asked them about Devils Throat though.

 

[Christi]

Hi All,

Heading back to Coz this weekend. Taking the family & staying at Iberostar down south.

While there, I would like to dive a few deeper sites, especially Colombia Reef & Santa Rosa Wall, but the dive shop at Iberostar do not go to dive sites that are deeper than 100 feet.

The nice thing about their shop is they do list what dive sites they visit on each day of the week, so it's easy to plan if you have specific spots you'd like to see.

Can anyone recommend other dive operations that could pick us up from the hotel jetty that goes to these sites, and ideally do a similar thing - list where they go do on a particular day so we can plan.

Thanks in advance!

Ollie

Hi Ollie - both of these dive sites are regular dives for pretty much any shop in Cozumel and both are beautiful at 100ft or less. In fact, the main features of Santa Rosa are well above 100ft.

With that said, your profile shows you to be a very experienced diver. I would encourage you to check into one of the more boutique style shops that cater more to advanced divers. Dressel may be convenient because it's onsite, but they are a high volume resort operator catering to the least common denominator. I don't think they are a good match for you.

Aside from that, I also encourage you to not be so attached to specific dive sites. If it happens great, if not, you're still going to have some amazing dives. No shop that is being honest with you will guarantee you any specific sites other than the large high volume resorts that have pre-set dive site schedules - they are literally the only ones who do this.

There are too many variables to consider to provide high quality dives to plan them out by specific site on a specific day Typically, with the better ops, dive sites are chosen each day on the boat as a group taking variables such as surface conditions, currents, crowds, dives done with gusts on board in previous days, experience levels, requests, etc. So trust that your Dive Master and Captain's goals are to provide the best dives they can on any given day with all of these things (and more) considered. If you've never dove Cozumel, you're going to be pleasantly surprised at how great the diving here is.

With that said, if you're diving with Dressel, and then looking to dive with another shop only for these specific dives and profiles, good luck with trying to control those logistics unless you're chartering a private boat - otherwise, there are other guests on the boat who get a choice as well.

Some shops I can recommend that cater to more advanced divers and may be a good match for you, in alphabetical order (and not exhaustive by any means):
Aldora
Blue XT~Sea (my shop for full disclosure)
Liquid Blue
Living Underwater
Tres Pelicanos
Scuba Tony

 

[Charles2]

I dove with Dressel Divers, the Iberostar on-site dive operation, in 2016 and we did those sites then. Have you checked out their website that lists all of the dives?

Scuba diving in COZUMEL with Dressel Divers

 

[ReefHound]

Aside from that, I also encourage you to not be so attached to specific dive sites. If it happens great, if not, you're still going to have some amazing dives. No shop that is being honest with you will guarantee you any specific sites other than the large high volume resorts that have pre-set dive site schedules - they are literally the only ones who do this.

I've come to pretty much not give a twit what site we go to on any given day. In recent years I've been deferring to the newer divers on the boat. I'll dive Cedral or Delila several days in a row if that's how it plays out because there's just no telling what you will see on any particular reef on any given day.

 

[mstevens]

I think most divers end up happier with one of the boutique shops such as the ones Christi lists than with the on-site shop at a resort. I've never dived with Christi (she's always been fully-booked when I've tried) but she steered me to an alternate shop years ago with which we've mostly continued.

I strongly echo the sentiment that it's best not to get too attached to the idea of one specific dive site. They're all good, and they can all be mind-blowing under the right conditions. Some of the best sites can be less impressive when conditions are wrong.

It's not even always possible to get to a given site on a particular day. We always charter a boat with our DM friend, his family, and a few others on our daughter's birthday and on the day she died. We go to Maracaibo, then spend a very long time on the beach (I'm not saying which, but you have to charter a boat to get to it) having lunch and swimming, then go to San Clemente or somewhere similar. This year for the first time conditions were wrong - we got to Maracaibo, but after a good look our DM scrubbed the dive and we headed to Colombia Deep. He's like a brother and I trust him with my family's lives, and he knows how much we want to dive there that day, so if he says "no" we listen. We had great dives anyway. Honestly, we've beat the odds greatly being able to dive Maracaibo on those specific 2 days each year for so many years running.

Like ReefHound, we've dived Paso del Cedral many days in a row and had great - and different - dives each time. I have nothing against Santa Rosa, but I've never really seen why people are so very set on diving there. For big formations, I personally tend to go for Colombia (especially the Deep section), and I'm a fan of Palancar Cuevones/Caves for swim-throughs. As you can tell, I'm a big Maracaibo fan. I'll take that over Devil's Throat or Cathedral any day.

 

[SunTunnel]

Yep, I know there's never a guarantee that you can go to your preferred site.
Thanks for all your answers - I'll do some checking on the companies you've recommended!

 

[mediumone]

I like the deeper dives, but if I'm in a situation where there are those on the boat that wish to stay more shallow, Palancar Bricks satisfies nicely.

Edit to add:

Agreed, Cedral in my opinion, is many dives in one