Blue Angel dive op?

[ChrisM]

Haven't been back to Coz since pre-pandemic. Used to use Blue XTSea and our favorite DM Pedro Pablo, picked up at the BA Pier. I know he's at Blue Project now but they do not pick up north of the Marina so we'd have to drive/cab there every day

Going back with a group of 7 or 8 in November, and we're looking at using the in house op. I know that comes with unlimited shore diving, we always did a few when we were there so that would be a bit of a plus.

Most divers have 20 + years. highly experienced, most north of 1000 dives per and some well over that. But no real divas or very demanding folks. All pretty much looking at it like a chill trip and have all dived Coz a lot.

Any reviews or opinions of the op? Looks like they get fairly decent marks online

Thanks!

 

[ggunn]

Haven't been back to Coz since pre-pandemic. Used to use Blue XTSea and our favorite DM Pedro Pablo, picked up at the BA Pier. I know he's at Blue Project now but they do not pick up north of the Marina so we'd have to drive/cab there every day

Going back with a group of 7 or 8 in November, and we're looking at using the in house op. I know that comes with unlimited shore diving, we always did a few when we were there so that would be a bit of a plus.

Most divers have 20 + years. highly experienced, most north of 1000 dives per and some well over that. But no real divas or very demanding folks. All pretty much looking at it like a chill trip and have all dived Coz a lot.

Any reviews or opinions of the op? Looks like they get fairly decent marks online

Thanks!

I have been diving for 20+ years, and I have been staying at Blue Angel and diving with them ever since they moved into that space. I like them a lot. They offer a choice between early departing fast boats and the later departing, not-so-fast No Problem. The DM's are great and the boats all have the usual safety gear. Their practice is to send buddy pairs up to the DM's buoy as they get low on air but otherwise let you dive your tank and computer. Dive sites are determined by diver consensus with advice from the DM. Is there anything else I can tell you about them?

 

[ChrisM]

Thanks, your review carries a bit of weight. What's the pax on the smaller and larger boat? And what are the approx times for the boats? I presume enough time for breakfast ....

 

[sefuchs]

My take on BA is not as positive as ggunn’s. I’ve been a Coz visitor for 15 yrs or so and have stayed at several places and tried several dive ops. Had high hopes for BA bc of their location, nice on-site restaurant and dive resort ‘vibe’ but after staying there (once only) I was very disappointed. My main complaint was how uncomfortable the rooms are and things are kinda rundown. My wife and I kept saying “how could they let a beautiful location like this go to heck”. We are in our 60’s so that factors in, if we were younger and didn’t mine ‘hostel’ type beds/rooms it wouldn’t be too bad. Can’t comment on current status of the dive shop but it is known as kind of a ‘training’ ground for dive masters. There are many ex-BA dive masters running other dive shops or working elsewhere but that may be the natural progression of the dive business but loyalty seems to be a big thing in Coz so makes you wonder why so many people transition thru BA. Since you are all experienced it probably doesn’t really matter. Anyway that’s my two cents.

 

[ChrisM]

Thanks. We've stayed at BA about 8x in the last 15-20 years so, unless it's gone massively downhill since our last trip 2019, we know what to expect on that front. We really like the vibe. And Bagheera's nocturnal visits

 

[sefuchs]

I don’t things have changed much since your last visit.

 

[ChrisM]

Thanks. For reference the only other places we've stayed are Casa Mex and that sister property around the corner. Neither of those felt very relaxing, and we're not AI resort types (and like to be close, but not too close, to town). So BA sorta splits that difference

 

[sefuchs]

Understand your dilemma, been there with group trips to Coz. BA is the most logical choice and ‘should’ be a no brainer. As long as expectations are communicated it probably is the right choice. It frustrates me that such a potentially awesome resort is so mediocre.

 

[JFS]

Thanks. We've stayed at BA about 8x in the last 15-20 years so, unless it's gone massively downhill since our last trip 2019, we know what to expect on that front. We really like the vibe. And Bagheera's nocturnal visits

I think Bagheera left . Moved to USA

 

[DandyDon]

Going back with a group of 7 or 8

They use pangas for their early boats I think, too small for your group, but I think that they do have one larger boat. It may cater to snorkelers tho; anyone know about it?

With a group that size, you can contact the owner Eva directly and work out some nice discounts.

I used to stay there and dive with them before the last ownership change when the rooms were much cheaper, I think in the $50 area altho it's been several years so I might not remember correctly - just that they doubled one year, so I moved on. I do remember it as a great location, nice rooms (I'm easy to please), nice on-site dive Op, nice restaurant, etc. The street noise bothered some but I just turned the AC on high to drown it out. It looks like they're getting in the range of $136/night on rooms now and scoring 9 out of 10 on Hotels.com so I guess they are pleasing their guests.