I have dove with 4 ops on the island and they all wanted to see my c card and nitrox card. They didnt care which c card I had but they did want it. I will say after OW, the only 2 courses that I thought were good was beak buoyancy and Rescue. Rescue is fantastic and I think all divers if they are diving more than once a year should do it.
best learning experience in cozumel
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mstevens
Toadfish. Splendid is implied but not guaranteed.
Most of the ones that people here recommend do. I imagine rates vary, but it's not going to be much compared to what you get out of it. I know Christi from Blue XT Sea frequently sets this up at what seem to be reasonable rates.
I wouldn't count on this from the on-site dive shops at big resorts or from the big ops that cater to day visitors. There are many reasons besides this to use one of Cozumel's great "boutique" dive operators, which cost little (if any) more than the cattle-boat shops.
I actually took my 10 y/o son to the Bahamas for his OW training since there's less drift and shallower bottoms. In retrospect I think Cozumel would have been fine for him but ten years ago I didn't know any Cozumel instructors.
I have had young family members trained privately with Sandro Quijada Huerta (with whom I can put you in contact if you like) and Gabriel Santana Perez (who's the operations manager at Del Mar Aquatics). There are other instructors around who are good with kids.
For my personal, idiosyncratic list of some topside activities, have a look at Activities - Casa Suzana
Some places, maybe, but not in Cozumel, at least not with any of the ops I have used.
Recognize up front that there is no "best", since it's not really possible for any of us to take classes from every instructor and do a comparison, and because personalities are a HUGE factor.
That said... We've done a fair bit of diving with Aldora (and will be diving with them next week...) and have never had a bad experience. They don't use DM's; all their guides are instructors, and I'd feel good taking a class with any of them.
Sue and I did PADI Nitrox with Julio back whenever, and I took IANTD Deep and Advanced Nitrox with him. He's excellent.
That said... We've done a fair bit of diving with Aldora (and will be diving with them next week...) and have never had a bad experience. They don't use DM's; all their guides are instructors, and I'd feel good taking a class with any of them.
Sue and I did PADI Nitrox with Julio back whenever, and I took IANTD Deep and Advanced Nitrox with him. He's excellent.
nodakdive
Contributor
It sounds like I'm not the only one who has read the stories, or had personal experience with the fact that some places/resorts in the Caribbean do require an AOW card to go to advanced sites. Actually, I've read plenty about people that weren't allowed deeper than 60 feet without one. Again, I've never heard of it in Cozumel and it's not an issue as the OP already has one.I've rarely shown a card in Cozumel, but I did in Jamaica, Bimini and in Belize. I showed a card in Cozumel the two weeks I dove with shops other than Deep Blue, and I think I showed one at Aldora, where we didn't end up diving, but did stop in and fill out paperwork. I haven't ever shown a card at Deep Blue, on the other hand, I did the OW referral, the AOW and the Nitrox certs with them. heh.I think the ballpark for a private DM is $50 for a 2 tank trip, but inquire with the dive operator. Really is worth it for one trip at least, and more if you feel like it's needed. First tanks in Cozumel are around 80 feet, which is technically considered a deep dive. Talk to the private DM about it before the dive. You don't know what you don't know, but if you ask about info specific to deep diving, you'll get it. 2nd tanks are usually around 50-60 feet and are more "fishy". As about the fish you will see and after talk about the fish you saw. With a private DM, though, you could set your own max depths such that if you wanted to go deeper than 80 feet, or shallower, you could do that, at the DMs discretion.
Brules
Contributor
THE ONLY CARD THAT MATTERS (other than open water lol):
Get that before you make your trip. Forget the rest.
Get that before you make your trip. Forget the rest.
mediumone
Contributor
THE ONLY CARD THAT MATTERS (other than open water lol):
Get that before you make your trip. Forget the rest.
I always get trip insurance, (for a number of reasons), and get more coverage for less, than with DAN. For example, our next trip in April of 2016, I purchased RoamRight Preferred.
Some may correctly point out that not all travel insurance policies cover diving. The policy that I purchased requires that the participant be PADI or NAUI certified. There are no other restrictions. Some policies stipulate depth limits, some require accompaniment by a DM, ect.
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You can still be a member of DAN without their insurance. In fact, you can still call for counsel if you think you're hurt even if you're not a member.
The last time I was asked to show a card was years ago in Roatan. I showed him my faulty Padi card, and it worked. I should get a title printed on there...
Are you referring to DAN TRIP insurance, vs diving insurance? Like I buy DAN dive insurance for like $75 for the entire year. I don't buy DAN trip insurance, which does seem expensive. I do buy trip insurance someplace else for non-diving stuff. Currently I am liking https://www.medexassist.com/ as it is mainly just medical stuff. I don't want to pay for insurance for bags, delays, cancellation or what not.
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