The best scuba diving in Cozumel might surprise you! I’ve been diving here for longer than I want to admit (30 years!), but there is always something new! That is always exciting for divers. Cozumel is famous for incredible, towering pinnacles of coral, so beautiful and so colorful it is a wonder to see. Turtles, eels, nurse sharks, fish…and the amazing drift diving is always a draw. When the Cozumel drift is just right, you barely have to kick, drifting happily down the reef, where the boat will always be waiting to pick you up. Fabulous! But there’s another side to scuba diving in Cozumel. It’s not quite muck diving, but it is the next best thing, looking for the little critters! How many frog fish and seahorses have you seen scuba diving in Cozumel? These sites are a photographer’s dream!
As long as I have been scuba diving in Cozumel, I have not spent much time at all shore diving. Mostly I’ve been diving off of boats, which is awesome, but lately I’ve been concentrating on shore dives before and I have found a few spots, known well to locals and expats in Cozumel, where I have seen animals I knew were here, but I’d rarely been able to find them. There are a few shore dives well worth doing, and they are Blue Angel, Villa Blanca, and Tikila. I have mapped walking directions to them, they are within two miles of one another, south of town.
I have been going to a shore dive spot off of the Tikila Restaurant, north of the international port. Mario, of Scuba with Mario, has introduced me to an exciting array of critters I am thoroughly enjoying…I can’t get enough of them! He is a terrific dive master and instructor, and I highly recommend him for anyone who wants to try diving, see Cozumel’s critter diving, or divers looking for superior customer service. He is a terrific photographer and shares his photos with his customers. Going to Cozumel? Be sure to get in touch with him, and remember, scuba diving in Cozumel is varied, it is not all drift diving!
Diving off Tikila is shallow, under 25 feet, which is great for those who want endless bottom time and lengthy dives. My dives are generally 90 minutes or so, and I love photographing the small critters I never really saw much of before, if I saw them at all. You don’t have to be a diver to enjoy the area, Cozumel snorkeling is awesome, too. Be sure to check it out next time you go to the island!
***SHORE DIVING IN COZUMEL CAN BE WONDERFUL, BUT EVEN EXPERIENCED DIVERS NEED TO BE VERY CAREFUL! GO WITH SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE AREA, THERE ARE MANY DIVE MASTERS ON THE ISLAND, AND THESE SPOTS IN PARTICULAR HAVE DIVE MASTERS TO GO WITH. CAUTION, ALWAYS BE CAUTIOUS!
You would also enjoy:
Two of the Best Dive Sites in Cozumel are full of Sea Turtles!
The Banded Coral Shrimp is indeed cute. Also, 30 years of diving at Cozumel?! Wow!
If you had to offer 3 tips to beginner divers for enjoying the experience, what might those 3 tips be?
WhaleNation recently posted…The Best Time To Buy A Kayak During The Year
My first tip would be 1. relax! 2. breathe! 3. Enjoy looking at all the color!
Breathe! Relax! Enjoy the wonder of it!
Looks like amazing place for diving. Awesome underwater pictures.