Cozumel
 

Going in a couple of months to Cozumel .Looking to do some diving.Want to know brst place to stay,dive company resturants,ect.

I've dove with Paradise, Aldora, and Aqua Safari. All pretty awesome. My wife and I have stayed twice with Cozumel Palace, which is all-inclusive (not the diving!). She isn't quite the dive nut that I am, so it's nice to have great food, awesome room with hot tub, spa, etc....
But if it is a scuba focused trip, I'd say call Aldora, do all your dives with them (they'll take care of your gear), and get their recommendations for losing and food.
Whatever you do, the diving there is fantastic.... Make sure you get/practice with/bring a DSMB; it's all drift diving....

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Should have said "lodging and food"....

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I've been four times and each time I've gone with Dive Paradise. Really good service and excellent dive masters. They have discount deals with the Barracuda Hotel and Hotel Cozumel. Both offer dock access right out the back door and the locations are g[B]ood for restaurants, especially the Barracuda. La Mission and La Casa Mission are great for dinner. La Choza is also good and cheap. A good breakfast can be found just about anywhere. The reefs are sorely degraded compared to my first trip in 1990. But fish are plentiful. Drift diving is the best. But be mindful of currents. I nearly ended up in Cuba during a safety stop last year. US dollars are accepted everywhere. Just make sure they are crisp and clean.

Also check out prodive Mexico south of the island (allegro resort). Did 4 dives with them two years ago and was really impressed


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I've used Dive Paradise and was very pleased but Aldora is awesome if you're hard core. Steel 100's and 75 minute dives are hard to beat. They also do some dives up north that the other shops don't do. The lodging is nothing like the luxury of Cozumel Palace(which we also loved) but the diving makes up for it for me.

If you stay at the Palace try the Miami Vice (virgin for me) I must have had 3 of those a day while we were there!

has anyone heard of las ventanas ? thoughts?

What is "dsmb"?

Deployable surface marker bouy. Sometimes called a "safety sausage." Tall, tubular inflatable to mark you position. The difference between a DSMB and an SMB is that you can shoot the former up from depth (like on your safety stop) where the latter is inflated at the surface.

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Dsmb are a good idea in Cozumel... lots of boat traffic so makes you visible. Also, currents are strong, so if you get separated from the pack, dsmb makes your easier to spot by dive boat


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My understanding is that many dive ops are now requiring them, and teach how to use them during basic open water certification. I never even heard of them back when I got certified. (Of course, when I got certified, only Dive Masters had an octopus on their rig! I am getting old!). My last trip to Coz, I used mine on every single dive.

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Are the currents too strong to swim into? If you pass something and want a better look can you get back to it?

will depend on the site and the currents that day; you can hunker down in the sand or hang to a rock, but often, its strictly drift diving. The current was so strong in one site (Tormentatos? i butchered the name i am sure), that just following the pack was a chore. i wouldn't recommend stopping unless the whole group was going to stop too; otherwise you can quickly get separated from the pack

Like tenurepro said, depends on the day and the site. Tormentos has been ripping every time we've done it. Delilah which I think I remember is close to Tormentos also is usually pretty strong.

We did some night dives on Paradise Reef and Columbia Shallow and the current was almost non existent. If you duck behind a coral head and descend you can hold your place easily in most currents, but as said above keep your eyes on the group so you don't get left behind.

Drift diving in Coz is about as close to flying without a plane as you can get.

Wow,ok thanks. Do you decide dive sites or does the boat ?

Depends on the dive op, but most of them (especially smaller boats) will ask the divers after their last pickup. The boats generally go from pier to pier out behind the hotels to pick up whoever is booked from that location.
My experience is that the larger boats (purpose built dive boats) have a preset location that you chose at booking, but the small, fast open boats are muy flexible...

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Hi....new to Reef Central.....not new to Coz! We have stayed many many places on Cozumel. The past few years at the Palace. It really depends on what you are looking for. Palace is top notch all inclusive and yes that does include diving minus the nominal service charge. It's right in the heart of town which makes it very far from the best reefs. Palancar, Columbia, Cedral. Aqua Safari is the Op. They are great but the boats are slow....expect lunch at two p.m.. Pros and cons to everything. Palace is great. Did I mention all you can eat Sushi?
Hotel Cozumel also in town is very affordable, lot's of kids, great dive Op small fast boats. Food not so good. Good inexpensive place.
Fiesta Americana....halfway down the pipe. Food Great, Dive House (Op) awesome.
Sabor.....Right there. food meh.....rooms nice.
Just got back from a dive show where Dressler was there spoke to them in depth. They operate out of Allegro. The last resort on the pike and also the closest. They do there surface intervals back at the resort! 4 dives a day is easy peasy. Have not visited but am intrigued.
80% of the Op's are great. If safety is a concern...just stay with the divemaster. STAY WITH the DIVEMASTER. Currents can be quite swift and depths require you to stay on top of your air. Most definitely take a day trip to Playa for some fun and Cenote diving. It is superb. I am a regular down there and I love it and to talk about it. Any questions feel free to ask!

Is there public transportation or rent a car or walk?

Taxies are very easy to come by; about $20 usd for one way from
Southern tip to main town if I remember correctly. You can rent a car also and park in the town or resort/hotel parking lot


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I don't speak spanish will I be able to communicate?

Si; no problemo señor


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All my experience diving in Coz was while in port on a cruise ship, but we always used Papa Hog's. They also have a hotel/restaurant there also. Location is in town so you can walk to any of the other restaurants in the area. They also have smaller boats. Of the 4 times we have dove with them, 3 ended up being just the wife and myself, and the 4th was another couple.

You can stay at the Palace without using their dive op. We actually used Paradise Divers when we stayed there. Aldora will definitely let the divers choose the dive sites with the exception that they won't usually do two deep wall dives back to back due to the bigger tanks/longer bottom times.

Yes. Spanish would help, but totally not necessary. As I would advise anyone going anywhere, though, learn a few survival/courtesy words & phrases; people like it when you at least try...

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Any safty issues? Places or areas I shouldn't go ?