4 tanks per day

[andies]

Are they any dive operators that go from downtown that regularly schedule do dive 4 tanks per day?
ie same as the all inclusive hotels in the south end?

 

[ggunn]

Are they any dive operators that go from downtown that regularly schedule do dive 4 tanks per day?
ie same as the all inclusive hotels in the south end?

Most ops schedule two tanks in the morning and two in the afternoon only if there is demand for it, i.e., a sufficient number of divers who want to go.

 

[Skittl1321]

It probably depends on the time of year you go, but when we were there Tres Pelicanos had an afternoon boat daily.

They don't pick up downtown, but you can hitch a ride with them to the marina in the morning from their office; then they drop you off at Money Bar for lunch and pick you up for the afternoon dives.

 

[ggunn]

It probably depends on the time of year you go...

True enough. In the middle of winter it might be tough to schedule 4 daylight dives.

 

[nodakdive]

As ggunn mentioned, for most shops it's based on demand. Ask the shops you're interested in, but if you have 4 divers that's enough, and with some shops, 3 divers is enough, to "make" a boat. I've done most of my diving there with Deep Blue. They leave from the downtown Aldora dock and pick up divers at their hotels on the way out to the reefs. The last time I was there we had 4 divers in our group so we went out any and every afternoon we wanted. After the second morning dive, they'd drop us off at a beach club where we'd have lunch. They'd pick us up at the beach for the 2 afternoon dives and deliver us back to our hotels at the end of the day, unless the weather got iffy in which case we'd all go to the marina and take a taxi back to the hotel/s. The dive shop covered the taxi fare back to their shop downtown, or the hotel, though the taxistas can be hit or miss in terms of accommodation. (About half want to charge for every hotel drop off. The other half charge one fare between the marina and the shop, and they just drive to the shop and collect it even if they don't have anyone to drop at the shop.) It would depend on the shop, but you might be able to go out in the afternoon with just 2 or 3 divers if you're willing to "stay close" to the marina. Villa Blanca, where there's a wall and a shallow dive, is between downtown and the marina. Paradise is basically right in front of the marina. Las Palmas, the C-53 wreck and Chankanaab are pretty close to the marina. I'd ask what the shop policy is, and see if they were willing to take a smaller group than 4, or 3, if you were willing to not go far south.

 

[Skittl1321]

True enough. In the middle of winter it might be tough to schedule 4 daylight dives.

We were there in early December. I was thinking low season = not enough divers, but you are right that hours of light also comes into play!

 

[gopbroek]

As others have said most of the smaller in town OP’s base the afternoon dives on demand. One of the reasons is that many people will not or cannot do multiple repetitive 4 dive days due to the amount of bottom time involved. If the OP’s are doing 60-70+ minute dives you are looking at 4-5 hours bottom time a day, after 3-4 days of a schedule like that I am either pushing NDL’s or even with EAN my computes max out the O2 limits. If the OP is limiting the dive time to ¾ an hour I could sustain it, but what’s the point? If they limited my dive to 45 minutes I wouldn’t be with that Op anyway.

I personally like a 2, 4, 2, 4…. bottle schedule but with only a 50% rate on the afternoon’s makes it a little hard to get an afternoon boat together during the off season. I am heading down next weekend and there are currently no afternoon dives scheduled with my local Op (but I remain hopeful) During the winter thru summer season ,with a larger base of on island dive-a-holic’s plus the day trade off the mainland they usually run an afternoon trip. For the next several months it is the ‘low to dead season’, as an example a couple years back on an October AM trip I could only see 6 boats on the water looking both North and South from Palancar.

As to 2 trips for the same boat in the winter, now that the time does not change this should be much easier to do since it will add an extra hour of daylight to the afternoon. Cozumel will remain in the GMT -5 time zone year round, starting this year.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

AS gopbroek suggests, is it the number of tanks-- or hours of quality diving at quality sites? There is a big difference. With our 120 cf tanks we of course provide long morning dives, with a true average of 1 hour 10 minutes per tank for ALL divers--even those with average skills). We now have a a critical mass of divers/boats and thus can guaranty afternoon 1 tank dives for our customers from the Downtown Aldora pier. Usually we will have 4 or more but will go even if only one wants to go.

Dave Dillehay

Aldora Divers

ALDORA DIVERS

 

[ggunn]

Another thing to consider from the op's POV is that unless they have a bullpen of DM's it can be difficult to staff a sustained 4 tank/day schedule.

Once, a DM who will go unnamed with an op who will also go unnamed took my wife and me out for a couple of tanks in the afternoon (we didn't dive in the morning). At the end of the second dive I saw him take his computer off his wrist and send it up with his SMB. That's creative nitrogen loading management, eh?

 

[oldschoolto]

That why we dive Bonaire....

Jim..