Customer Reviews

Diving Cozumel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike the poorly-written, insubstantial dive guides published under the Pisces name, the Aqua Quest dive guides are generally thorough and well written. Diving Cozumel by Steve Rosenberg is no exception. A dive guide without good photographs is useless, and Rosenberg's photography is worth the price of the book. Like the other Aqua Quest guides, this book includes a helpful chapter on Cozumel hotels, restaurants, and sites that will save you from having to buy a separate guidebook for above water. All the well-known dive sites are covered, and I found the descriptions to be accurate

I have been diving for over 30 years and my wife had never done scuba until she got "hooked" in Cozumel a little over a year ago. She certified and I recertified over the last year and did a bit of local diving here in the Carolinas and in Florida.

We decided to go back to Cozumel this last year and started to look around for the best reference book on the subject. We decidedly are most happy to report that this book has to be the best of its kind out there. There was not one time that it led us down the wrong path. I won't comment on our accommodations because they were wonderful and quiet, and we would like to keep them that way.

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, Diving Cozumel by diving expert and underwater photographer Steve Rosenberg is a gorgeous, descriptive, and illustrated tour of the drift driving seen in the exceptionally clear waters of the Mexican island of Cozumel. Covering 33 of the best shore and boat dive sites in intricate detail, along with basic information on where to stay, dine, and shop, and a chapter devoted to the Mayan ruins on the nearby Yucatan Peninsula, Diving Cozumel is a handy and practical guide. The stunning color photographs also allow armchair travelers a virtual tour of some of the most amazing seascapes to be found.

Bought this book before a first ever dive trip on a first time trip to Cozumel. Loved the breakdowns on all the reefs & they were pretty much spot on. I think that it may be an older book because we stayed at the Iberostar in the Southern part of the island & the book had no mention of this resort but did mention quite a few others.
If you're looking for a first timer's book to the island, this is a fantastic choice.

I like guide books and picked this and picked this one for a trip to Mexico.

Broken down very well by dive site location an general overview (depth, skill level) together with a description of the dive sites in terms of formations and marine life.

It is a very good overall guide that you can skim during a plane flight to see what you might be interested in going to and pretty accurate based on the places I have been to.

This is a great general diving resource. I loved the pictures for each dive site and the descriptions of each. The sites are broken down by diving ability which makes it easy to find exactly the type of dive you're looking for. It supplies a good overview of what can be expected to be seen on each dive. The compactness is a plus as well - it's very easy to throw in a bag.

NOTE: We traveled to Cozemel BEFORE the 2005 hurricane season. I can't vouch for what effect it had on the reef and how it now relates to this book - especially the shallower dives.

So what makes a good dive guide? Certainly those cheap books which are heavy on photos but short on information leave much to be desired. Then there are those which cover the diving - and nothing else, and once again they leave the potential visitor with an awful lot of questions. Some publishers need to learn that there is so much more to a diving guide than just information on diving and plenty of pretty underwater pictures to pad out the content. Firstly, there is all the information the visitor needs to know long before departure; Seasons, weather, currency, climate, dining, accommodation, entry & exit requirements (and charges.), driving, shopping, and time difference - and all that before we come to whetting the appetite on what may be found underwater.

Aqua Quest set the highest standards and demand all contributing authors maintain those standards at all times. I am, therefore, not surprised to find yet another excellent guide book from their stable - and yet another which contains just the right amount of detail on all those points which need to be covered.

The book itself measures 10" x 7" containing 120 pages of exactly what we require from a first class guide book for scuba divers. It is well laid out and easy to follow beginning with an introduction to the Island of Cozumel itself which is both informative and interesting to read. This is followed by chapters which cover all the aforementioned information before getting down to the subject of Diving. Here Rosenberg very skilfully sets the scene for anyone contemplating a scuba diving visit with paragraphs on shore, cavern and boat diving in addition to coverage of those less frequented sites. Rounded off with all the additional information such as marine life, emergency and useful numbers etc, this book certainly does not leave the potential visitor looking for more information.

In short, once again the combination of Rosenberg and Aqua Quest have combined to produce an excellent product.

NM

This series is a must for the touring diver and the Cozumel guide gets you past the language barrier by providing reef descriptions and drawings as well as narrative on the reef and marine life. After three dive trips to Cozumel, I still use my guide to refresh my recollections both before and after the dive.
Now if we could only get the publisher to print this on logbook size pages.

This book gives fairly detailed descriptions of the most popular dive sites in Cozumel and adds a few pictures to each description. As a resource book that would help you plan or preview your dive, it is not very useful. I found it too verbose and lacking the kind of detail I was looking for.

There is another book I have seen in dive shops that has a schematic view of each reef; the possible dive plans in each reef are detailed with color lines. That book would have been more useful in helping me understand the topography and various depths of each dive site.

I bought this book for our upcoming trip to Cozumel. The book is good, the information is really good. The book is written in an easy to read and concise language. THe pictures are astonishing.

My main reason for only giving it 3 stars is that it is not nearly comprehensive enough. I really need a much larger book about the different underwater life in Cozumel so I really know what I see when I get there.

I would also love to see further information about favorite snorkel spots on the island. The additional info about the history of the island is nice info to have - but if I were to choose between that and more comprehensive underwater info I would go with the underwater info.