Our Favorite Cozumel Dives
With the exception of the cenote dives, we’ve been on all of the dives discussed above; most of them many, many times. And to be perfectly honest, we’ve loved almost all of them. All have virtues that will make them perfect choices for different types of divers or for divers with different agendas on different days. For that reason, we purposely didn’t title this section Best Dives In Cozumel because in our opinion, nobody can say any dive in Cozumel or anywhere else for that matter is the “ABSOLUTE BEST!” all the time for everybody. The following are simply our favorites for the different situations given. All are discussed in more detail in the section above.
Our Favorite Resort Area Deep Dive
The southern section of Columbia Deep. Columbia Deep is the name given to a large section of reef on the southern end of the typical resort diving area. The area just north of Punta Sur is our favorite section. It offers huge coral formations that rise from a depth of over 200 feet, a portion on a deep wall and lots of crevasses and caves. Our choice for a close runner-up is Little Horseshoe.
Our Favorite Wall Dive in the resort diving area
Cedral Wall. This is a beautiful wall with changing topography and excellent fish life. And for some reason, it doesn’t get half the diver traffic that some less desirable walls get.
Our Favorite Shallow Wall Dive
San Francisco Wall. This wall tops out at about 50 feet and the best coral is at 65 feet and above. There is good and varied fish life available and while there is a current, it is usually gentle. All this makes San Francisco a good choice for an introduction to drift diving on a wall.
Our Favorite Shallow Dive
Paso de Cedral. Even though this dive site sometimes gets too many divers, it offers beautiful coral with lots of fish. And depending on how much air you have left and the current on the particular day you are there, once you pass the caves with the silver sides, you can end this dive in any of several directions. When you’re doing your safety stop at Cedral, keep an eye on the bottom as we’ve seen spotted eagle rays and turtles while doing ours there on more than one occasion. Yucab comes in a close second and has the advantage of lighter diver pressure.
Our Favorite High Octane Shallow Dive
Punta Tunich. We love to find our depth and just fly down this colorful low profile reef.
Our Favorite Boat Dives to take a snorkeler along
Columbia Shallow and Palancar Gardens. Both of these have colorful coral and lots of fish and top out close enough to the surface that they’re easily enjoyed by snorklers too. Because Columbia Shallow is so far south (and therefore a long way from town) it may be hard to talk your dive master into making it a second dive.
Our Favorite Exotic Dive
The Ocean side near Playa Bonita. We’ve made this dive several times and we’re still not sure of the name of this site. Every time we ask the different dive masters we’ve gone with, each has said it was named after themselves. We know the reputation of danger in diving the Ocean side but if you can get there on a calm day early in the morning before the current picks up, this site offers the chance to flow across and between pristine coral ridges that stretch as far as the eye can see in moderate currents. In reality, the surface conditions are a lot worse than it is under water. On occasion, we’ve caught fish and lobster at this site and brought them back to the restaurant at Playa Bonita for lunch. Can you say fresh seafood?
