AOW, Stay and General Advice for Cozumel/Cancun?

[boulderjohn]

The advantage of doing the AOW while on vacation at a site like Cozumel is that it blends in well with the vacation plans. You were going to do dives anyway--it's not like having to make special plans for attending the class. You can also get pretty much what the class was designed to teach. For example, you have to do a deep dive with a maximum depth of 100 feet. Although it is technically legal to meet that requirement in as little as 61 feet, the real benefit of the experience is getting to that depth and seeing for yourself how much fast you go through air, etc. In many places, including where I live, it is not possible to get anything like that depth.

 

[boulderjohn]

It is definitely true that many places will require AOW for some dives, typically those in the 80-130 foot range. I was once registering in for such a dive in South Florida, and the shop told a customer that he could not do a dive with just his OW certification. The guy said he was actually an instructor, but he was following the common inexplicable ploy of only showing a basic card. (People who do that think they are gaining some kind of advantage.) Unfortunately, the shop's Internet was down, so his true cert level could not be confirmed. He had to hire a personal DM to do the dive.

Here is an old favorite on the topic. It has several in-jokes relating to ScubaBoard.

 

[ggunn]

I keep hearing of more and more dive ops wanting to see AOW (especially in Florida), so I think AOW in Cozumel makes sense.

I only have an OW cert, and I have dived Maracaibo (to 155 fsw, which I will not be doing again), Punta Sur (Devil's Throat and Cathedral), San Juan, and Barracuda with three or four different ops. I have never been told by any of them that they require an AOW cert. Other places may be different, but AOW is, in my experience, not needed for diving Cozumel.

 

[Rob9876]

I only have an OW cert, and I have dived Maracaibo (to 155 fsw, which I will not be doing again), Punta Sur (Devil's Throat and Cathedral), San Juan, and Barracuda with three or four different ops. I have never been told by any of them that they require an AOW cert. Other places may be different, but AOW is, in my experience, not needed for diving Cozumel.

I didn't say AOW is required FOR Cozumel, I said it is increasingly required other places (and mentioned Florida). I also said that I think it makes sense for the OP to go ahead and do AOW in Cozumel -- she can get a good night dive, there are some deep dive sites (better than 70 feet in a quarry or muddy lake), etc. -- that is, the AOW cert dives work well with the types of dives you'd want to do anyhow in Cozumel.

 

[DandyDon]

I only have an OW cert, and I have dived Maracaibo (to 155 fsw, which I will not be doing again), Punta Sur (Devil's Throat and Cathedral), San Juan, and Barracuda with three or four different ops. I have never been told by any of them that they require an AOW cert. Other places may be different, but AOW is, in my experience, not needed for diving Cozumel.

Correct. AOW cards are not required in Cozumel, unlike Florida where they often are for deeper dives. Gordy doesn't dive anywhere else so there is no need for him. For a traveling diver, the AOW card may well help and getting it in Cozumel us a good approach as you're doing the dives anyway.

 

[scrane]

The advantage of doing the AOW while on vacation at a site like Cozumel is that it blends in well with the vacation plans. You were going to do dives anyway--it's not like having to make special plans for attending the class. You can also get pretty much what the class was designed to teach. For example, you have to do a deep dive with a maximum depth of 100 feet. Although it is technically legal to meet that requirement in as little as 61 feet, the real benefit of the experience is getting to that depth and seeing for yourself how much fast you go through air, etc. In many places, including where I live, it is not possible to get anything like that depth.

A few weeks ago I went diving in Cozumel with a friend doing his AOW. He had his own trainer and came along on the boat with the rest of us. I got the feeling that he ended up with better dives than we did. He was a pretty good diver to start off with, so a lot of his "training" came natural. He ended up with his enriched air ticket also.

 

[jonhall]

I am a new diver, have my OW and ~10 dives after that. Going to Cancun/Coz this Dec. I def want to do AOW during this trip, and already leaning towards doing it in Cozumel. Any recommendations for dive shops to do AOW/ general advice is appreciated

Others have suggested some good ops. Another possibility could be Dressel Divers at the Iberostar - although, according to another SB member their prices have gone up (they used to be pretty cheap) their AOW course is "free." You still may get a deal by booking ahead online.

Adding link to my spreadsheet of dive ops that might help you make some decisions.

Dive ops by jonhall

 

[ggunn]

Mateo at Blue Angel is an excellent instructor and DM; I have known and dived with him for many years.

 

[FishWatcher747]

I agree with others that think that taking AOW makes sense. You need the one on one anyway, why not get a card out of it? You will also be exposed to the E learning prior to the trip and educate yourself about wider topics in diving.

I was required to do the E learning on certain topics and the additional dives my shop was teaching in AOW. However I also did the E learning on the topics I was not required to complete and made it an educational experience.

 

[whaleshark112]

Hey all, thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I was not expecting so many responses, especially given that I am new here! So thanks again for everyone who took the time.

Since there's some debate about AOW -
My goal of doing AOW is not to simply get the c-card or to move to an "advanced" level, but to get exposure to different types of diving in a supervised environment as a few folks have pointed out. I also wanted to learn to control my buoyancy a bit more so PPB will be one of my elective dives along with night and I'm thinking of drift/wreck as my third. All skills I want to learn and would not be able to do in my home environment easily. I live in a landlocked place with very very poor visibility (1-2 ft) and a terrible access to the water (need to climb down 3 flights of stairs with all gear strapped in to get to the lake level because it dries out; and I am a small person so its super difficult to do that with heavy gear and I am afraid I will hurt my back) When we went 60ft on my OW checkout dive, it was literal night, pitch black, and muddy in the lake for some context. So all these factors have kept me from diving locally after my OW. The only way I can dive / do certifications is on vacation. Since I am going to be diving anyway, might as well get some additional learning out of it. That's the reasoning.

The reason for doing the MUSA dive was to just get re-acquainted with diving but looks like a lot of folks are advising against that and going straight to Coz instead and doing a refresher/fun dive prior to the AOW class. Generally I think I agree and I'm slowly coming to terms with it. Figuring out the logistics between Cancun and Cozumel is getting complicated with only so much time I can spare to do everything on my own.

I asked around a few shops already and looks like they wont be starting courses on the 24th/25th Dec because of the holiday. Since I will be reaching Cancun on the 22nd, it leaves me with 2-3 days to fill before I can get any diving started in Cozumel.

I do not have my own gear, reading some of the posts on scubaboard / r/scuba I have been feeling a little anxious about which op to go with from a safety perspective. I was gonna go with 3P but I was reading their reviews and in one of the replies the shop said this below, which makes me kinda nervous, especially as a novice diver (which I am) as they are saying if you want 100% safe gear use your own... which I kind of get, but I am not at that point yet.

"As for our equipment, yes it is rental and is used. Some times tanks and inflator hoses leak due to worn O rings. However aside from the worn Velcro on the pockets, the rental equipment is serviced and safe to use."...."Perhaps now that you have gained more experience you will purchase your own dive gear so you won’t have to use rental gear."

Thanks so much for that spreadsheet, super useful info!

Others have suggested some good ops. Another possibility could be Dressel Divers at the Iberostar - although, according to another SB member their prices have gone up (they used to be pretty cheap) their AOW course is "free." You still may get a deal by booking ahead online.

Adding link to my spreadsheet of dive ops that might help you make some decisions.

Alsooooo as I am in the area for 10 days I wanted to do both diving and some land based exploration Given that I don't get to take a ton of time off in the year, unfortunately have to squeeze everything I can out of a trip.