Cozumel on the cheap

[_RAGNAR_]

I'm looking for any ideas from experienced Cozumel divers for the cheapest week possible. Prefer all inclusive.

Scubaclubcozumel has a 7 night package w 5 days of two tank boat dives, including meals for $830 additional dives are $35-45 each for wreck and night dives. Unlimited shore diving but wondering how fast that will get old.

Any other good ideas?

Thanks

[Jeremy]

My experience is that to PNW divers, unlimited shore diving in the Caribbean takes a long long time to get old.

[KneeDeep]

Not sure about where to stay while on the island, watch out for the hack dive shops... there are too MANY of them. The cruise lines dump the tourist off and it's free feeding.

Find a place to stay for cheap and use Aldora Divers, you will not be disappointed in their quality of service.
http://www.aldora.com/

[Tom Nic]

My experience is that to PNW divers, unlimited shore diving in the Caribbean takes a long long time to get old.

Unlimited shorediving in Bonaire, yes. Cozumel I'm not so sure.

[enchantmentdivi]

We stayed at Scuba Club Cozumel a few years back, and we loved it. Food is good. The entire hotel is geared for diving--it's not just a hotel that offers diving. It is semi close to town, and you could walk there if you really wanted to. SCC is not a 5-star resort by any means, but we really liked it.

The shore diving is great if you want to go slow, look for critters, and take photos. It's shallow with mild-to-moderate current, and we'd stay out there for hours puttering around. On the shore dive, we saw octos, squid, and lots of other cool stuff.

We've been to Coz 4 times, and if we were to go again, we'd stay there again in a heartbeat.

[BillZ]

If your looking to go on the cheap, Scuba Club Cozumel is a good option. Most of our local dive shops run their Cozumel trips to Scuba Club and they have a good reputation. It's a bit more of a party atmostphere than I personally like, but that's probably just me. The down side to Scuba Club is that they run a cattle boat operation so you'd be hitting the divesites with 20-30 other divers of various skills.

If I were planning another trip to Coz, I'd either find a VRBO rental close to downtown or stay at Casa Mexicana. For diving I'd either go with Aldora or find another 6 Pax (person) dive operator. The smaller operators have more flexability and taylor the diving to the skill level of the divers on the boat. I went with BlueXTsea last time I was there and they were pretty good.

Edit:
If you're going to splurge on additional dives, do a trip to the mainland for the Cenote diving. You may just pick up a new addiction.

[MorningDiverBob]

My non-diver wife and I stayed there in Feb. 2008. We walked less 2 mins.very short to the restaurant for all meals, dive shop (tanks, classes..), dive shore, dock for dive boats,swimming pool, etc.. from room in scuba club. A resort is private, safe, and secluded from crowds. A gate front with security (24 hours). After mornings two dives by boat, I took two tanks (unlimited shore diving)from dive shop and put them in the locker (brought my own lock) for later dive evenings and nights because dive shop closed at early evening. We walked to town for fun, shopping... A cab is low price depend where to (we don't need a rental car). I dove two night dives before we went a late dinner (they ready for us) closed at 10:00pm. A shore dive really easy enter / exit. Not crowd on the dive boats. Another dive center retail store across the street. We like a nice place (comfortable/relax).We'd go again someday.

Bob

[kdupreez]

We've been at Hotel Cozumel a couple of times in past few years and its been a fantastic all you eat/drink/dive resort.

they have onsite dive shop and walk across to the beach where the boat picks you up everyday for boat diving..

[PNWDVR2012]

For a small boat I think it would be hard to beat Scuba Tony (http://www.scubatony.com/). We did a couple of dives with his crew and they were great. If/when we go back we are thinking of staying in one of their houses.

I agree with Billz, a trip to Cozumel wouldn't be complete without at least going swimming in a Cenote (Grand Cenote/Dos Ojos), and diving them is like icing on the cake.

[KneeDeep]

I've heard nothing but good things about www.aldora.com, but have no clue on pricing. And they also have HP 100's