shore vs. boat based snorkelling

[kujobie]

This will be our third time to Coz. The first time, we took a Carnival snorkel excursion that was kinda lame. We took a boat from the pier to a beach just beyond chankanaab where we snorkled from the shore. The reef was mostly dead, and why we didn't just take a van instead of a boat is beyond me. It was a waste of money. The next time, we rented a car and spent a few hours at Chankanaab on our own and then just drove around. The snorkelling was better but still nowhere as good as we have seen in the Florida Keys. This time I am considering an offshore boat based independant excursion, like Eagle Ray Divers. What I want to know is, from those who have snorkelling/diving experience, is it worth it? I have heard so much good about the snorkelling in Coz and have so far been a little disappointed. If it is overrated, I would rather not spend half a day and a lot of money, but would rent a car again, shop, drive, and sunbathe. We did have a lot of fun doing that. On the flip side of that, is there a good place to snorkel from shore that is better than chankanaab where we could just rent a car or take a taxi to? Please help.

[cindygad]

We were in Cozumel Dec 8th. We rented a car and went to Dzul-Ha. Previously had did three snorkels with the Fury and this was one of their stops. Easy to snorkel from shore. The entry is just to right of the palapa bar. The reef is great and we saw hundreds of fish with some schools coming through that were huge. We brought our own equipment but there was place to rent that was reasonable. Place to rinse off when done. We used a table to put our stuff no hassle just said we would get a drink when we were done snorkling.It was about 10 min from pier,head southand get off main road where it says Parque chankannab 3.3m. Easy to find. We stayed couple hours then drove around and ate at Chen Rio. I felt we got to snorkel longer than when on excursion and would do again.

 

Hope this helps,

Cindy