Alison and I have been scuba diving since 1989. We've been to many places but keep coming back to Cozumel.
Lots of places have good diving. But many are in the middle of nowhere, and
diving is all there is to do. Not only does Cozumel have some of the best diving
in the world, it also has some of the best topside attractions: some excellent
restaurants, nightlife, the #1 shopping in the Caribbean, ancient ruins, Mayan culture, and
many of the conveniences of home, including broadband Internet, satellite TV,
cell phones, VOIP (Vonage), etc.
Some of the best snorkeling on the island is right off our condo at
the sunken pier. Diving there is super-easy and lots of fun -- I
saw the largest school of fish I've ever seen right there. It's
shallow at the sunken pier, about 30' max. -- if you want to go deeper,
bring a shovel. You
can rent tanks from our office or the dive shop next door and go diving anytime day or night.
To get to the famous reefs you'll need to make arrangements with a
dive operation. They will all pick you up and drop you off at our
dock. We have fresh water rinse tanks in the beach area and a
walk-in locked storage cage (just for our condo, not shared with other
condos) where you can store your gear. If you dive more than one
day with the same operation, you can probably leave your gear on the
boat. They will rinse and store it and have it on the boat when
they pick you
up for your next dive.
You may have your own favorite dive operation. If so, enjoy them. If not, or if you would like to try something different...
We've been coming here several times a year for many years and have
tried quite a few dive operations. We prefer the smaller, more
personal ones. One highly recommended is SCUBA WITH ALISON (no
relation), for a slow and leisurely scuba experience -- for the novice to
the very experienced diver. Your trip will be designed for your
level of diving and your experience. She has a very
informative website, well worth a visit:
http://scubawithalison.com
For advanced divers who want a
different experience, we suggest you try DIVE COZUMEL. They have a
fabulous 50-foot yacht called the Yellow Rose. It departs in the
morrning for a three-tank trip and returns you to our condo's pier
(weather permitting) around 4:00 p.m. A delicious catered lunch is
included in addition to drinks, fruit and snacks. Or you can do a
two-tank dive beginning at 4:30 p.m. The first dive is a day/evening
transition dive allowing you to view the marine life ending their day.
On your second dive, a night dive, you can observe the night marine
life and the many interesting creatures that are asleep during the day.
You return about 9:00 p.m. See http://www.divecozumel.net/scubarecreati.html