“Mr. Bubblemaker” Explores the Underwater Beauties of Mexico

August 2000. I finally decided, at the age of 36 and, after two near drowning experiences, to take a scuba diving course. From a young age, I have always dreamed of swimming underwater with tropical fishes, turtles and dolphins.

Like all good diving instructor sharing his passion and encouraging the pursuit of the activity, ours had spoken to us about two great lively places! First; the ¨local¨ dive site at Les Escoumins. Why the quotation marks? Well, it’s a bit funny to talk about local diving when it takes about 7 hours to drive to it! His second diving suggestion was much more appealing to me. He splendidly described the marvels of Cozumel, COZ for insiders! This small island of Mexico barely 4.5 hours flight from Montreal!

He depicted the unbelievable water transparency, cardumens of all colors and shapes, magnificent turtles, the calm and warm sea, perfect for long drifts where you barely have to fin. This island’s diving is all you need to make divers from around the world to have the best of it, and so do I! Through the years, I have been there many times and it’s still one of my favorite places! I have over 3000 dives in 24 years under my belt and seen a lot of sites changing with time, but this spot remains true to itself.

Despite tropical storms like Wilma in 2005, and the huge amount of people whom visited since, the coral reef on the west coast of Cozumel remains magnificently unique, a must see for all kind of divers!

Dive centers are numerous and offer a wide choice of transportation to the sites. Don’t ever mind for the type of boat; drives are not very long!. Some dive centers are located in hotels, while others are spread along the small town of San Miguel! They pick you up at the dock of your choice or bring you on site from their facilities!

To take full advantage of this destination, it might be reasonable to have a slightly higher certification than the basic “Open water diver”. The most incredible zone is between 12 and 25 meters deep, where mastering the buoyancy technique is a must for you to have full enjoyment of the beautiful drifting along the drop off of the Palencar reef.

If you don't have the necessary certification, you could blend your trip with an advanced course. You will be accompanied by an experienced instructor who can teach you the techniques necessary to fully appreciate all that the sites have to offer. Many Cozumel dive centers have instructors from all over the world, even from from Quebec. I personally know some excellent ones who can serve you in many languages.

What changed over the years on this superb island is the increasing number of people settling down and the flourishing business opportunities, especially of scuba diving, restaurants, hotels and many other products and services.

From time to time, I also go to Les Escoumins … just gorgeous, but cold! Cozumel! Why don’t we go… right now!