Dive company recommendation for Cozumel in August

[uncfnp]

Of course, in Cozumel, its all getting rinsed in water that you can't drink anyway. I had mixed feeling about letting others handle my gear (BPW, regs and fins, ) as well but staying in a B&B and no rental car left me with few other options. I now understand why dive shops there offer this service. The dive op didn't deal with wetsuits and it wasn't too difficult for us to manage but I could not have imagined lugging all my gear back and forth much less trying to clean it.

 

[diver0008]

I could not have imagined lugging all my gear back and forth much less trying to clean it.

I generally wait for everyone else to rinse. Then get some fresh water in the tanks for my stuff. I have a pretty good backpack-style mesh bag for my gear that makes getting it back to the room a casual stroll. Most places have a drying area where I'll hang my BCD and wetsuit, which I pick up a little later.

 

[cvchief]

Personally, I do not treat the environment like a toilet bowl or garbage can to the best of what is possible.

Ya might not want to dive too close to me then. That warmth isn't a thermocline....

 

[djanni]

I believe pretty much all ops offer discounts of various sorts...multiple dives, cash, what have you.

I imagine others offer various discounts as well. Yet we can make a dive fee look good or bad depending on how it's reported.

 

[MMM]

I imagine others offer various discounts as well. Yet we can make a dive fee look good or bad depending on how it's reported.

Exactly. You need to use apples to apples comparison. You have the base price plus tax plus the marine park fee (assuming that is where the dives occur). After that, what you can negotiate is all gravy.

 

[djanni]

That math does not work for me. After 70 minutes on an AL80 I am ready to come up.

For those who can handle more bottomtime it's a significant benefit with value.

 

[ggunn]

For those who can handle more bottomtime it's a significant benefit with value.

Wow. Could you maybe be a little more condescending? It's not because of any shortcoming on my part that what has value for you has none for me.

 

[scubadada]

Wow. Could you maybe be a little more condescending? It's not because of any shortcoming on my part that what has value for you has none for me.

Relax, you're being a little too sensitive here. I also appreciate the extra 20 minutes or more when diving a steel 120. You do very well with your AL80, no problem with that.

 

[diver0008]

Wow. Could you maybe be a little more condescending?

Does not seem condescending to me at all.

 

[Mossman]

I personally have never been diving with steel tanks for the simple reason that I run out of bottom time before I run out of air diving with an AL80. There are many who enjoy the amount of air a steel tank provides and if they need that air steel is an option. However, it comes at a price... Looking at the three websites for a 2-tank dive, LU is $100 for their steel, Aldora is $93 for steel, and 3P's is $74 for AL80 (all are before tax if I'm reading them right). I prefer to sip air, save $, and dive more.

If you'd re-read my question, I asked if you knew the difference besides bigger tanks. Have you tried the real prime steaks on the island to know the difference? From what I can tell, you've only experienced Tres Pelicanos and Aqua Safari, i.e. only eaten at Black Angus and Sizzler. What about the Palm or Morton's?

For what the Cozumel Palace charges PP/Per Night I'd expect my breakfast sausages to be wrapped in 24K edible gold leaf and have a dedicated masseuse to massage my shoulders while I eat it! For what one week at the Palace would cost us, we can spend three weeks at the Casa Mexicana eating and drinking at the best restaurants San Miguel has to offer. If I'm going to spend that kind of $ on a dive vaca, I'll be taking another distant dive destination off our bucket list before I'll pay to stay at the Palace in Cozumel.

For people who have money to burn and like to suck air by all means stay at the Palace and dive with steel tanks in Cozumel.

I was only addressing your claim that Casa Mexicana had the best breakfast buffet on the island. Maybe some of us like our breakfast buffets enough to warrant the extra cost. Or we just order room service and eat breakfast sitting in the in-room hot tub.

As far as diving is concerned, quite the opposite is true... Frugal divers almost always tip more than those picked up at the AI's because they have more discretionary money to spend on their vaca and are usually diving almost every day.

Isn't this assuming that everyone has the same amount of "discretionary money" to start with? Could it be possible that some people who stay at the Palace or Secrets et al. have enough money to both stay there and leave a decent tip?

I've never dove with Aqua Safari because I don't like organized cattle trips, so I've always blown my "free" diving on better wine instead. There's a no-tipping policy in place at the Palace and perhaps guests using Aqua Safari believe that applies to the diving as well. I can't say I've ever noticed any correlation between AI and non-AI divers when diving with my preferred dive op, but I don't usually monitor what other people are tipping as it's not really my business. To each his own.