Technical dive training in Cozumel: A unique adventure!
Ready for a tropical training getaway?
Cozumel has long been known as a diving mecca with world-class coral and sponge gardens and some amazing drift diving. We have been diving on Cozumel several times but now there is an opportunity to take a GUE technical diving class on the island! Third Dimension Diving from Tulum has set up a satellite shop on the island and We have arranged for two GUE Tech 1 training dates. If there is enough interest, we can discuss additional dates for Tech 2, CCR 1, or CCR 2 classes. The current Tech 1 class dates are January 4th - 9th, 2023, and January 10th - 15th. Since we only just returned from teaching there, we can safely say that we have the kinks worked out of the logistics and it is "all systems go!"
How to get there
There are direct flights to the airport on Cozumel if the logistics work for you. This is a great solution because the airport is only 15 minutes from downtown. There are limited flights though so you may have to fly into Cancun and then take a taxi or car to the ferry terminal in Playa Del Carmen. Then it is a short ferry ride (under an hour) to Cozumel and you are literally right downtown. The hotel we recommended below is only a 8-10 minute walk from the Cozumel ferry terminal. You could also rent a car and drive from the Cancun airport and take the car ferry to Cozumel but to be honest, you don't really need to. We have a truck available on the island to transport divers and equipment from the shop to the training site and also to the marina where the boat charters leave from. Everything is "right next door" on Cozumel so there are no extended travel times to get to the shore training site or the marina.
Where to stay: accommodations and meals
There are lots of great hotels on Cozumel. We stayed at the Casa Mexicana (https://www.casamexicanacozumel.com/en/) and we highly recommend it. That is where we stayed just recently. Prices are reasonable and the charge includes a great breakfast! The hotel is a 15 minute walk from the dive shop and is located on the Main Street downtown and right on the ocean. There are many restaurants only a short walk from the hotel and we never went to the same one twice! The food was outstanding and very reasonably priced. We can honestly say that we have had some of the best meals we have eaten in Mexico right there in Cozumel. There is always live music on the outside bars and restaurants and cruise ships are regularly tying up and leaving. It's a vibrant and exciting place and a lot of fun to just walk around in!
Class Structure
Part of what makes a class on Cozumel "work" is the fact that we will be doing your initial classroom work via my eLearning platform. This frees up a lot of time when we are on the island. Then we will spend 3 days diving from shore which lets us easily find the 9m (30’) diving we need for our critical skills diving. The shore site is within a stone’s throw of two quite good restaurants also! Then we spend three days on the boat diving various sites on the south-west side of Cozumel. You will already have completed the classroom work on our eLearning platform so we don’t need to spend extra time in the classroom that we could spend in the water. We will review the class information that is normally more challenging to make sure you have a complete and solid understanding of the material. This usually includes gas planning and decompression planning. We will do our field drills at the dive shop where you will store your equipment.
