Anybody going to Iberostar Cozumel in December

[Bookworm11]

Just to clarify, I DID NOT stay at the Iberostar however. I stayed at the Occidental and walked to dressel every day. The Occidental was cheaper, and I loved the food there. And I hated the layout of the Iberostar-any time I had to walk from the entrance, I got lost. I also got a bigger room at the Occidental, with a much bigger bathroom.

 

[Shawn C]

Also, you do have some control over the reefs you dive. If you are only diving 2 dives a day, there is a schedule listed. So you can choose between diving morning or afternoon. So, for example, if Palancar Caves is your bag, and that is the first dive in the morning, you pick the morning dive. But if Yucab is the first afternoon dive, then you pick the afternoon dive instead.

And there are talented DMs there. I saw the only seahorses (3) I've seen in Cozumel through Dressel (and I've had 31 dives with Aldora-including 6 private ones!), and the best dive featuring swim thrus, and the two best night dives!

A schedule is vastly different from having direct input on which reef to dive. If a favorite reef isn't on the schedule, you'll never see it.

They also have many DMs from other countries.

 

[Shawn C]

Actually @Shawn C my hotel is booked/paid for but not my dives. Would you recommend another dive shop that I can get to easily from the hotel?

The great thing about staying where you are (it's the furthest south you can stay outside of a few villas), is that you don't have to go to a shop - they'll pick you up at the dock (or wade in) and drop you off again. You'll be the last diver to get picked up and the first to be dropped off. You'll likely only see 5 to 10 minute boat rides

We dive with Sharky's. Small 6 or 8 pack fast boats, great local DMs who've been diving these reefs their whole lives, free gear if you need anything (outside of a computer). Dive with Martin (where the Sharky's guys came from) also offers free gear. Tres Pelicanos is also great (perhaps geared a bit more towards experienced divers). There are so many other great shops to choose from. Check out this thread and have a look at the spreadsheet for details: Finding a (Best) Dive Op in Cozumel

 

[Bookworm11]

Many shops have divers from other countries besides Dressel. I can tell you that the DMs from foreign countries there know the reefs very well having dove there for many years. Aldora has DMs
from foreign countries. If you want to knock Dressel, do so, but be fair about it.Their full time DMs are very, very experienced. I've dove in many parts of the world-Egypt, Thailand, and Belize, and dove with excellent DMs who were not from the local country.

You said you had no choice. You do have a limited choice. Their prices are cheap, they offer free nitrox and free dive courses . You pay for the course, but not for the dives. I just dove at Aldora, paying top dollar to get dive choices. I had 25 dives. How many days did I get a choice? 2 of 10. The first and the last only. I dove Cedral 6 times and Yucab 5 times.I got no choice at all the others.

 

[KatieMac]

A schedule is vastly different from having direct input on which reef to dive. If a favorite reef isn't on the schedule, you'll never see it.

They also have many DMs from other countries.

I’ve done about 200 dives in ROATAN and have had very little input to which dive sites we were going to at a dive shop I’ve been diving with since I got certified.

Honestly, the only time I got to choose the dive site was when it was just me and the DM. Otherwise there’s a handful of other people on the boat who may want to go different places.

 

[ReefHound]

Maybe the "45 minutes and up" DMs will learn the correlation between happy divers and good tips.

 

[Bookworm11]

The 45 minute and up guys are only some of the freelancers. I haven't seen the FT staff do that. And at least half the freelancers don't

 

[ggunn]

Many shops have divers from other countries besides Dressel. I can tell you that the DMs from foreign countries there know the reefs very well having dove there for many years. Aldora has DMs
from foreign countries. If you want to knock Dressel, do so, but be fair about it.Their full time DMs are very, very experienced. I've dove in many parts of the world-Egypt, Thailand, and Belize, and dove with excellent DMs who were not from the local country.

You said you had no choice. You do have a limited choice. Their prices are cheap, they offer free nitrox and free dive courses . You pay for the course, but not for the dives. I just dove at Aldora, paying top dollar to get dive choices. I had 25 dives. How many days did I get a choice? 2 of 10. The first and the last only. I dove Cedral 6 times and Yucab 5 times.I got no choice at all the others.

Choice of a dive site by an individual diver is situational. One extreme is where the decision is made by the dive op days or more in advance. The other extreme is where there is one diver aboard and the boat goes wherever that diver wants to go. Most of the time, reality is somewhere in the middle.

If you are on a small boat where the choice of sites is decided by consensus of the divers aboard (which is pretty much the norm for small dive boats around Cozumel) and you get outvoted, that isn't the same as being on a boat where the destination is decided by the op in advance.

 

[Shawn C]

Many shops have divers from other countries besides Dressel. I can tell you that the DMs from foreign countries there know the reefs very well having dove there for many years. Aldora has DMs
from foreign countries. If you want to knock Dressel, do so, but be fair about it.Their full time DMs are very, very experienced. I've dove in many parts of the world-Egypt, Thailand, and Belize, and dove with excellent DMs who were not from the local country.

You said you had no choice. You do have a limited choice. Their prices are cheap, they offer free nitrox and free dive courses . You pay for the course, but not for the dives. I just dove at Aldora, paying top dollar to get dive choices. I had 25 dives. How many days did I get a choice? 2 of 10. The first and the last only. I dove Cedral 6 times and Yucab 5 times.I got no choice at all the others.

Please reread what I actually wrote. I did not say you have no choice. I said you have no input. I choose that adjective with purpose. Input does not guarantee choice. To use your example, you were able to choose the reefs you wanted 20% of the time. My outcome, with my dive op, is higher than that. If the reefs of both of our choice were not on Dressel's schedule, both of us would have had a 0% outcome.

I did also not not say that Dressel does not have good DM nor local DMs. I said they have many DMs from other countries. How long they have been with Dressel varies but they are a shop known to take on, and train, DMs from countries far removed from Cozumel. My preference is to dive with local DMs. This might not matter to others.

I want to know as much as possible about a dive op prior to diving with them. This kind of information is invaluable to me. To others, maybe less so. No harm in sharing though.

 

[ggunn]

Please reread what I actually wrote. I did not say you have no choice. I said you have no input. I choose that adjective with purpose. Input does not guarantee choice. To use your example, you were able to choose the reefs you wanted 20% of the time. My outcome, with my dive op, is higher than that. If the reefs of both of our choice were not on Dressel's schedule, both of us would have had a 0% outcome.

I did also not not say that Dressel does not have good DM nor local DMs. I said they have many DMs from other countries. How long they have been with Dressel varies but they are a shop known to take on, and train, DMs from countries far removed from Cozumel. My preference is to dive with local DMs. This might not matter to others.

I want to know as much as possible about a dive op prior to diving with them. This kind of information is invaluable to me. To others, maybe less so. No harm in sharing though.

You are WRONG! "Input" is not an adjective!