I have just finished a week of diving with Living Underwater, who I have dived with for many years. The sites ranged from Maracaibo at the far southern part of the island to Barracuda in the north. (we were blessed with good divers throughout the week). My shortest dive was about one hour and it was deep with no shallow reef around to extend it (barracuda). Most of my dives were in the 70+minute range. Longest was 90 minutes as it was the established max, regardless of air reserves. Surface intervals are about 2 hours, give or take. Not a huge issue for me as I always use nitrox on my 2nd tank but the long dive times could be an issue, restricting dive times, for those who are on air.
I think that it is useful to gather opinions of others on the board but it is well that you have indicated you will be personally contacting those ops in which you have an interest. Besides asking if they pick up at your hotel, ask:
1. Do they allow you to dive your air?
2. Do they lead profiles that will allow you to maximize your No deco time limits?
3. Are there any restrictions on locations they take you to for their basic price?
4. What is their boat like? (I prefer two engines, for starters...redundency and all that)
5. Can t hey tell you which DM you may be diving with and what their special skills are? How long have they been DM in Cozumel? (not elsewhere as you want someone who not only knows the reef but also current, weather conditions etc etc)
That is just me though. Some people like DMs that make jokes, others like them businesslike. Some want to be hand held and others do not. Some want a long beach SI with fruit and other nummy treats and others do not. Some want the greater air and different buoyancy characteristics of steel tanks and others have no need or interest. So those are things you need to seek out. Seldom do trip reports, much less individual replies to questions such as yours go into that level of detail. What things are important to you?
