PARADISE HUNTER
Contributor
I call you smart.
Stick to your gut instincts, in has obviouisly served you well for the past 30 years.
Despite what many will say, the customer is not always right.
Saludos tambien de frio Michigan!
PH
Aquasafari Cozumel
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I call you smart.
Stick to your gut instincts, in has obviouisly served you well for the past 30 years.
Despite what many will say, the customer is not always right.
Saludos tambien de frio Michigan!
PH
Noboundaries
Guest
We dove eleven dives with Aqua Safari over four days last week. It was our second time to dive with them and just like the first time last November/December, our experience was fantastic. You could pretty much set your watch by the arrival of the boats. The DM's listened to our dive site preferences for the day and made sure we saw what we desired. And I can definitely attest to their ability to accurately recognize dive ability. The fact that my wife and I were not "invited" to dive Devil's Throat at Punta Sur is a choice I genuinely respected. When that invitation does happen, it will mean even more.
The staff went above and beyond our expectations to ensure we had an enjoyable week with them. Although we enjoyed all the dives, one sticks out as representing their commitment to service. Despite our best efforts to recruit divers for the Tuesday night dive, only the minimum of 5 divers signed up. When two cancelled at the last minute, they still went ahead with the dive! My wife and I and the one other diver had an incredible dive, taking many memorable photos.
Many thanks to Bill and all the staff at Aqua Safari. You can count on us as regulars. I've already been trying to find the time for our next trip to Cozumel. A dive couple we know with French ancestry claimed my wife and I are acting very French ourselves. They said "you anticipate your vacations with a lot of energy, then as soon as you get back, you start planning your next vacation." Oui oui!
The staff went above and beyond our expectations to ensure we had an enjoyable week with them. Although we enjoyed all the dives, one sticks out as representing their commitment to service. Despite our best efforts to recruit divers for the Tuesday night dive, only the minimum of 5 divers signed up. When two cancelled at the last minute, they still went ahead with the dive! My wife and I and the one other diver had an incredible dive, taking many memorable photos.
Many thanks to Bill and all the staff at Aqua Safari. You can count on us as regulars. I've already been trying to find the time for our next trip to Cozumel. A dive couple we know with French ancestry claimed my wife and I are acting very French ourselves. They said "you anticipate your vacations with a lot of energy, then as soon as you get back, you start planning your next vacation." Oui oui!
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bwudcock
Registered
I learnt to dive last April with Aqua Safari while staying at the Coz Palace. It was excellent, there were just two of us and the instructor, Ricardo, was fantastic. It was great we could do our training dives right off the shore.
bwudcock,
welcome to this board.
welcome to this board.
driftin' by
Contributor
I know I'm not helping matters, but this thread just won't die, will it?
diver 85
Contributor
I'll help it out, what size tanks do they use??.TIA.......
kentmorrdave
Contributor
Aqua Safari on their smaller boat Belinda Easter weekend past. Here was my take:
Saturday March 22
Today I will be diving on the Belinda, operated by Aqua Safari, the on site and long time operator in Cozumel. It is different having to get the gear out of the locker, grab weights, and haul my gear to the boat and set it up!! I know, I know, poor baby and I should do it anyway. I sometimes forget how spoiled I’ve been by Aldora and Living Underwater over the years. However, the crew of Captain Augustine and DM Mariano sooth any worries I have and we are off. The Belinda is a nice boat filled with the maximum 8 divers. We giant stride onto Palancar Caves for our first dive Saturday. I had doubled my lead using an AL 80, compared to my usual Steel 120, and it was just right, although I could have got by with 14 pounds. What a great dive the Caves is, lots of turtles and swim through and just a great place to lay back and enjoy the view. I had left my camera on shore as it was a new boat and new configuration for me. I would surely regret leaving it behind on the second dive. 80 fsw for 59 minutes and I had 850 psi left. During our surface interval I whip out some cookies and brownies and I soon make some new friends. A great bunch was on board today, including Kathy, a longtime Cozumel diver who has dove with Aqua Safari for decades! So much so that Mr. Freddy, long time AS instructor who now operates Mestizo divers, lets her stay in one of his houses on her many visits to the island. A great diver and even nicer person. During the surface interval, I mentioned my new mask was still slightly fogging. Captain Augustine placed a lighter under the glass and made a few passes with it. He then scrubbed it out in the rinse bucket and presto! No more fogging issues, what a trick. After our 1 hour surface interval we giant stride onto Cedral, always one of my favorites. We get to the bottom and much to our delight is a small school of 12 squid in a slight formation. It was so cool and no camera! We continue the dive and enjoy the vibrant reef covered with growth. We soon see lobster, crab, banded coral shrimp and a juvenile drum the size of a fly! What a find by Mariano. Mariano seems to be a fan of the small stuff and he is constantly finding stuff. My dive buddy discovers an octopus in the opening of a small coral head. The octopus is eating a conch and could care less we were all staring at him. It was great; we must have spent 3 to 5 minutes with that octopus-but no camera! Our great dive ends at 60 fsw for 60 minutes.
Easter Sunday, March 23,2008
It is my second day on the Belinda, and a beautiful calm day greets us on our trip south. Once again, 8 divers fill the boat. The Captain, Augustine, has a great sense of humor and puts the boat just where it should be. The DM, Mariano, is serious about his job; I believe a good trait in a DM. We giant stride onto Dalila at 8:41 for 59 minutes at 66fsw. The water temp is higher here, up to 81 degrees. I’ve been wearing a skin and a 2 mm wetsuit. We enjoy seeing a nurse shark,turtles and big,big groupers.
We had some Easter treats during our 1 hour SI on the boat, and its time for Punta Tunich. When I was here last month we dove a deeper profile, to 77 fsw, while on this dive we reached a maximum 34 fsw. Mariano considers Tunich a nursery for the fish. We did a 66 minute dive and I still had 1100 psi left. Mariano is the drum fish king. He spots another drum fish the size of a fly, same as yesterday, then finds a pair the size of a quarter with beautiful wings gently floating about, and to wind it up a pair in excess of 5 inches!! Very, very nice. We also enjoyed the tons of fish and scores of anemones. I jump off the Belinda, with all my gear and lead, onto the dock and say so long to new Cozumel friends. I really enjoyed my two days on the Belinda and can recommend them.
Saturday March 22
Today I will be diving on the Belinda, operated by Aqua Safari, the on site and long time operator in Cozumel. It is different having to get the gear out of the locker, grab weights, and haul my gear to the boat and set it up!! I know, I know, poor baby and I should do it anyway. I sometimes forget how spoiled I’ve been by Aldora and Living Underwater over the years. However, the crew of Captain Augustine and DM Mariano sooth any worries I have and we are off. The Belinda is a nice boat filled with the maximum 8 divers. We giant stride onto Palancar Caves for our first dive Saturday. I had doubled my lead using an AL 80, compared to my usual Steel 120, and it was just right, although I could have got by with 14 pounds. What a great dive the Caves is, lots of turtles and swim through and just a great place to lay back and enjoy the view. I had left my camera on shore as it was a new boat and new configuration for me. I would surely regret leaving it behind on the second dive. 80 fsw for 59 minutes and I had 850 psi left. During our surface interval I whip out some cookies and brownies and I soon make some new friends. A great bunch was on board today, including Kathy, a longtime Cozumel diver who has dove with Aqua Safari for decades! So much so that Mr. Freddy, long time AS instructor who now operates Mestizo divers, lets her stay in one of his houses on her many visits to the island. A great diver and even nicer person. During the surface interval, I mentioned my new mask was still slightly fogging. Captain Augustine placed a lighter under the glass and made a few passes with it. He then scrubbed it out in the rinse bucket and presto! No more fogging issues, what a trick. After our 1 hour surface interval we giant stride onto Cedral, always one of my favorites. We get to the bottom and much to our delight is a small school of 12 squid in a slight formation. It was so cool and no camera! We continue the dive and enjoy the vibrant reef covered with growth. We soon see lobster, crab, banded coral shrimp and a juvenile drum the size of a fly! What a find by Mariano. Mariano seems to be a fan of the small stuff and he is constantly finding stuff. My dive buddy discovers an octopus in the opening of a small coral head. The octopus is eating a conch and could care less we were all staring at him. It was great; we must have spent 3 to 5 minutes with that octopus-but no camera! Our great dive ends at 60 fsw for 60 minutes.
Easter Sunday, March 23,2008
It is my second day on the Belinda, and a beautiful calm day greets us on our trip south. Once again, 8 divers fill the boat. The Captain, Augustine, has a great sense of humor and puts the boat just where it should be. The DM, Mariano, is serious about his job; I believe a good trait in a DM. We giant stride onto Dalila at 8:41 for 59 minutes at 66fsw. The water temp is higher here, up to 81 degrees. I’ve been wearing a skin and a 2 mm wetsuit. We enjoy seeing a nurse shark,turtles and big,big groupers.
We had some Easter treats during our 1 hour SI on the boat, and its time for Punta Tunich. When I was here last month we dove a deeper profile, to 77 fsw, while on this dive we reached a maximum 34 fsw. Mariano considers Tunich a nursery for the fish. We did a 66 minute dive and I still had 1100 psi left. Mariano is the drum fish king. He spots another drum fish the size of a fly, same as yesterday, then finds a pair the size of a quarter with beautiful wings gently floating about, and to wind it up a pair in excess of 5 inches!! Very, very nice. We also enjoyed the tons of fish and scores of anemones. I jump off the Belinda, with all my gear and lead, onto the dock and say so long to new Cozumel friends. I really enjoyed my two days on the Belinda and can recommend them.
We will be diving with aqua safari for our final open water dives to finish our certification in May. Any suggestions on other ops to use for a little variety while we are there. We plan on diving 5 more days after the initial 2 days of instruction.
Thanks
Brian
Thanks
Brian
IMO, the variety is in the dive sites, not the ops. There is something to be said for settling in with a single op; the better they know you, your prefs and skills, the more they can tailor the dives to fit you. Change ops if there's something about them that you don't like, but I wouldn't change just to change. DSFDF and YMMV, of course.
wow, why is EVERYONE so hostile to the reefer. the OP asked for opinions either way - good/bad. I had a horrible experience with them in 06. would NEVER use them again. i have even Never written on any boards before but felt i had to due to the posts i'm reading and the extrememly unsafe experience i had. it was easily the worst dive experience in my life anywhere in the world. never mind the somewhat cocky, greedy owner, the dm left us behind and we ended up several hundred yards from boat. thank goodness for the stranger with the camera who stayed with us as it was hard to get their attention in the choppy water when we surfaced......now don't all bash ME because i had a bad experience and won't recommend them....get a life!
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