Bluewater Cozumel Group Trip Report
reviewed by adam gibson
Cozumel constantly suprised me with new sightings on every dive
I'm sad to be writing this, because it means our Cozumel excursion has come to an end! It's been a phenomenal trip, with a number of great sightings, and of course a fantastic group of divers!
Left: Trumpet Fish Right: Hawkbill Turtle Cruising Over
Upon our arrival, we checked in, and immediately went to the dive shop to take our "welcome shore dive" to start things off. Within 5 minutes of the dive, 2 massive Eagle Ray's glided right by my head... what a way to start the trip off! Of course since it was "just a checkout dive" I had brought down my housing with no camera to ensure everything was working properly with no flooding... so you'll just have to take my word for it :)
For the next week, we spent everyday diving 2 morning dives, and then 1 afternoon/wreck/or night dive. Due to the 1 hour boat trips to the southern divesites (a near standard from most resorts in Cozumel), you end up spending most your day out on the water...no complaints here! Cozumel is mostly drift dives, but If you'd compare it to a water-park, I'd call it "lazy river" style, as opposed to a "zooming roller-coaster" which I'm more accustomed to in my experiences in other areas.
Left: We saw Eagle Rays very day Right: Schooling Jacks
Left: Common Ray Right: A common sighting, a turtle soaring over the reefscape
I've never been one to quite grasp the idea of taking a holiday to the same destination each year. I've always had the desire to travel somewhere new each vacation. From those that prefer repeating though, I've continually heard Cozumel mentioned as their destination of choice... This trip really proved to me why. From the ease of getting there, fantastic diving we incurred, great staff and resort, all of it just came together to be a perfect weeks getaway from the daily grind... I'd like to go back already!
Left: Turtles everywhere! Right: Hermit Crab
Left: Juvenile Jackknife Right: Nurse Shark
Cozumel hosts a great combination of both macro and wide-angle subjects. Thanks to its mild currents, you get the benefits of covering a large surface area (better chance to find big things), but can quite easily fight the current (or more likely hide behind a bommie) to focus in on some critters. Besides an abundance of your standard reef fish like Angelfish, Filefish, Triggerfish, Groupers, etc. you have a great number of the "more exciting" things to find like Toadfish, Turtles, Eagle Rays, Sharks, lesser electric rays, Octopus, Juvenile Jackknife Fish, Squat Anemone Shrimp, an abundance of massive lobsters, the list goes on and on.
Left: Filefish Right: Schooling Snappers
Left: Brown Toadfish Right: Arrow Crab
The reefs were extremely healthy, and the diver operators in Cozumel all take great pride in enforcing a strict no touch policy and immediately report any other dive operators violating the rules. I was extremely pleased to see this... Mexico in the past has had a bad rep of "you can do what you want... it's Mexico" which fortunately wasn't the case at all in Cozumel!
Left: C53 Wreck Right: Inside the C53 wreck
I was also a big fan of the night dives we did. I've done plenty of night dives, but I felt Cozumel especially had a lot of critters that come out. Every couple minutes we were finding something new and exciting, and saw numerous Octopus on the hunt which I personally can never get enough of :)
Left: Beautiful Swim-throughs, Hussam modeling Right: Hank & Cindy on the hunt
A bit about the Resort and Dive Operator:
Casa Del Mar is where we stayed at for this group trip. Their staff is so friendly, and they have such a phenomenal relationship between their resident dive operation (Cozumel Marine World) I was constantly impressed. They went above and beyond with trying to anticipate and please all our guests needs and desires. They really work for that "one big family" type atmosphere (actually both the resort and dive operation managers are siblings...so that probably helps). Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect originally, due to the amazing affordable package prices, and a couple not so friendly reviews I had read online. I had come with a "don't expect much so you're not disappointed" type of mindset.. boy was I wrong! Rooms were nice, food was great (although possibly a little limited in terms of variety), and they even squeezed in some nightly entertainment for guests on various nights!
Thanks to all of the staff at both Casa Del Mar and Cozumel Marine World for taking great care of all of us and doing a phenominal job. Most importantly, thank you to our Bluewater guests that joined John Fifer and myself. I had a trip of a lifetime and hope to see everyone again very soon!
- Adam Gibson
Awesome Bluewater group
HOW TO BOOK A TRIP TO COZUMEL
Bluewater Travel can book you on a trip to Cozumel for the same cost or less than booking any other way. We know the Cozumel resorts, dive operators, divesites, and logistics better than anyone else!
Email us at info@bluewaterdivetravel.com to start your adventure.
