Little Boat Diving - Cozumel
By BJ Baker
 Having been PADI certified Open Water Diver for all of five years and logged over 25 total dives. I feel well qualified to tell you how much fun I have diving in Cozumel. Okay, so diving isn’t my first passion in life. My kids are, but I love to dive. If my dive buddy didn’t have so many problems with clearing her ears, I think I could have logged twice as many dives. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. A lot of you out there log that many dives in a year. Heck, a dive master in Cozumel probably logs more in a week than I have logged in my career. But I have been diving in some of the best locations that North America has to offer Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Saba, Aruba, St. Martin, Key West, Bahamas and Blue Lagoon, Texas. What a resume!
Well, enough with my adulterated qualifications. I here to tell you that Cozumel is tops with the American don’t want to be herded like cattle crowd. There are more dive shops in Cozumel than lies in the White House. With enough flavors to make Baskin Robbins wet their pants a pro diver like me can get lost in the decision making process. I like Blue Bubbles, no Little Urchin Divers , no Del Mar, no make that Papa Hogs - How about Blue Deep or Buena Ventura Divers. All I want is a fast boat and a friendly dive master. I want to dive with experienced divers in the group and I want a company who will take to the best dive areas.
 One thing is for sure
no matter who you go with at 9:00 am on the water it reminds
me of a big bass fishing tournament. The only difference is
the color of the water. The fast boats are overtaking the
slow boats the faster boats are roaring past everyone. There
seems to be some kind of game between captains to see how
much you can rock all of us Adventure tourists. They pass
within a few feet of each other and kind of salute with an
all-knowing smile. The tournament to get to the best site
doesn’t matter much though, unlike bass fishing - the reef
is know by every captain and dive master. The secret, out
of the way location that hasn’t been discovered doesn’t exist
anymore in Cozumel. Whether you’re on a fast 6-person boat
or a barge that doubles as a passenger ferry the results are
the same. You get to the popular dive sites and stage a convention
for Thrill Seekers Anonymous fifty feet down. Of course with
all these dive shops after an every more diverse dollar the
urge to group beginners and more experienced divers is ever
greater. I had the pleasure of one such group. I dove with
a French diving instructor who was disappointed to be with
me and I in-turn disappointed that I spent 12 minutes of my
dive waiting for a less competent diver to get down. Now don’t
get the wrong ideal, I enjoyed the company and the dive. However
given the choice I would have preferred the original planned
90 foot dive to the 78 foot dive we ended up with. I realize
that the best dives, with the best light are 30-40 feet, but
to me I’m still chasing that first love.
 Let me set the scene
for you. I was fresh out of the infamous Blue Lagoon here
in Southeast Texas - a blue former quarry for the Galveston
Seawall were everyone from Southeast Texas certifies The a
max depth at Blue Lagoon is twenty feet with a nice silted
bottom and a bevy of certifying divers. My wife and I take
a diving trip to Grand Caymans just after Tom Cruise’s big
hit The Firm has come out. We check in with our dive shop
the night before we are to go diving, we purchased a package
deal from Island Escapes. As we are going over the plans for
tomorrow my wife is in a panic that the morning dive will
be to a max depth of 90-100 feet. The dive masters and the
shop employees assure us that we will be able to handle 100
feet with no problems. Having already done 20 feet what the
heck I say, my wife has a different view. The shop explains
the dive procedures and assures her that if she has any problems
she is free to skip the morning dive and they will exchange
one of the two tank dives for a shore dive. Everything went
very well and she ended up making the two tanks dive on the
boat that day and the view from 100 feet down in the Caymans
in November has no rivals. We could see the anchor buoy on
the surface from 100 feet and see the rope from the boat break
the water heading for the boat. Of course you always remember
your first time more vividly than the rest. But make the Caymans
in the fall a must do on your dive list.
So you ask, why is this story about Cozumel and not the Caymans. Well a funny thing happened on the way to the bank. Unless you own one or have the trust fund money on the way the Caymans is out of site for the average diver. When we were there in the early 90’s a hamburger meal could be had for about $16.00 a person a chicken entry around $20.00 – got love that jerk chicken. Cozumel has all the beauty at less than half the cost, so you can afford a few good dive trips in a year.
BJ Baker is a passionate outdoor travel enthusiast who currently resides in The Woodlands, Texas. Traveling the world with his family as a kid his excursions included the Far East, - Japan, China, Thailand and other parts of South East Asia, as well as Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Mexico. Old fashion “National Lampoon Family Vacation” road trips throughout most of the USA and annual trips to the Rocky Mountains skiing have left an indelible impression on BJ. Still roaming the world and instilled with a love for culture and adventure, today BJ is the owner of several adventure and travel websites.
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