Casa Del Mar shore diving question

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pelagic_by_nature

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If I'm staying at CDM, which, in fact, I am, Am I limited to Del Mar Aquatics to take advantage of the free shore diving? Or would it be possible to dive with someone else, who could maybe drop me off at CDM after the 2 tank morning boat dives with a coupla tanks to use for shore diving.
Anybody know???
:popcorn:
 
If I'm staying at CDM, which, in fact, I am, Am I limited to Del Mar Aquatics to take advantage of the free shore diving? Or would it be possible to dive with someone else, who could maybe drop me off at CDM after the 2 tank morning boat dives with a coupla tanks to use for shore diving.
Anybody know???
:popcorn:
No hotel/dive shop owns the water. They can't charge you to dive there, only for tank and weight rental. They might charge you for the use of their pier if you are diving with someone else.
 
If I'm staying at CDM, which, in fact, I am, Am I limited to Del Mar Aquatics to take advantage of the free shore diving? Or would it be possible to dive with someone else, who could maybe drop me off at CDM after the 2 tank morning boat dives with a coupla tanks to use for shore diving.
Anybody know???
:popcorn:

As Gordon said, anyone can shore dive there.

They do in fact charge $3/diver/day pier usage if diving with an offsite operator.
Tank/weight rental is $6 from Del Mar and they are very nice - AND - it's actually not a bad little shore dive these days.

As a professional courtesy, most shops will not drop tanks off at someone else's facility since they are after all the ones maintaining and providing the convenient facilities for you to shore dive - that would be kind of like walking into McDonalds with a Burger King burger for lack of a better analogy. Del Mar has a nice set-up area, easy entry, and rinse tanks for you to use.

I would not let a $6 shore diving tank rental deter you from doing your boat dives with who you want to, nor would I let that deter me from staying where I want to. Since you are a guest of the hotel, I would check with them to see if they have an arrangement with the dive shop for hotel guests diving with other ops.
 
The downside to boat diving with another Op while staying at Casa del Mar, then shore diving there is you have to hump all of your gear across the bridge, back to the hotel, and up the stairs - rather than using your own lock on their lockers. In my trip preferences & report thread last month, I mentioned that I like to stay where my Op is docked, but many do not find this a problem.

But if you have a good gear toting bag, the cafe doesn't mind you grounding it out of the way while you eat, on the way to/from the dock, and the room balconies are great for drying gear.
 
Another diving option, both boat and shore, would be Scuba Shack, which is basically right across the street from Casa del Mar but about 50 - 100 feet south. Bright Yellow stand. They have lockers you can use if you dive with them. Bring a paddle-lock. You probably don't need one, but better safe than sorry. I did 10 or so tanks with them on my last trip and really enjoyed the operation. Roberta was sending some kind of bundt cake for the surface interval between shore dives that was crazy good. Another great Cozumel dive op in my opinion. I haven't experienced diving with Del Mar Aquatics. What I've seen is bigger boats, but I'm not well acquainted with the operation. Scuba Shack was small boats. Diving with Scuba Shack avoids the gear lugging that Don mentioned above. I know exactly what he's talking about, and it's doable, but somewhat more painful the older you get. Even though I've been on the top floor (3) of Casa del Mar more often than not, and literally the furthest you can get from the exit, it hasn't killed me, and probably won't kill you if you stay at CDM and dive with an op other than Del Mar Aquatics or Scuba Shack. Many shops will take care of your gear for you, but even then you wind up wanting mask, fins, snorkel, wetsuit for snorkeling, and if you plan on doing some afternoon or night shore dives, well, you'll be lugging gear. Diving with Scuba Shack avoids that completely.

You can get tanks and weights from Scuba Shack for shore diving even if you don't dive with them, and they're probably about $6. They may even be free if you dive with the shop. I did that a couple times, but don't recall if we paid or not. I'm pretty sure they were free. We entered and exited via a ladder into a protected little cut-out in the rock. Probably not as easy as the entry right next door at Del Mar Aquatics, but easy enough. I did one little shore dive wherein I rented the tank and weights from Del Mar, and the Del Mar guys were very nice. Also, if you're staying at Casa del Mar, they don't charge to use their pier. Though there are other places I'd like to stay in Cozumel, Casa del Mar is just fine, really great in many ways, and I continue to stay there in support of their pier use policy, among other reasons. So far, at least, they seem to "get it", when it comes to the pier use controversy, and as a result, they get my business when it comes to hotel stay. The staff at CDM is very, very nice in my experience. The food may not be 5 star, but there are many great dishes. Try the queso fundido. (sp?)
Oh, and I don't know what it is, but I have to have a club sandwich when I'm there. Don't know what it is, but it rocks. I'm kind of a picky eater, but haven't had anything at their restaurant that I didn't like. I am, however, a big fan of all the great restaurants in Coz, so I eat most suppers in town. I've had many satisfying suppers at Casa del Mar, but for the most part, I eat in town at night.

When we shore dove from Scuba Shack, we entered at the shop and veered toward the Del Mar pier, and followed the drop-off. It sort of curves around, but you're heading north, basically. Did a night dive there too. On all dives, saw lots of stuff. Very nice for pictures. Be aware, though, that the profile I just described has you swimming *into* the current when you return, so plan your air and stamina accordingly. Also, there's some boat traffic, so keep that in mind too.

My dive op of choice is Deep Blue, and I will continue to dive with them when logistics permit, which has been almost always, save for my last trip in March of this year. I say this so as not to have anyone thinking I'm a ravenous Scuba Shack/Blue Bubble/Roberta's Eco-Dive (basically all the same op) fan. I'm a huge Cozumel Dive Industry fan, and logistics allowed me to experience this dive op, which did a great job and sounds like it might be what you're looking for, thus I post.

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, fling 'em at me.
-Blair
 
I believe there are several dive ops that work with Casa Del Mar on their dive packages. Some being Del Mar Aquatics, Dive Paradise and Scuba Shack. You may want to check with these dive shops to see if they offer free shore diving with the purchase of boat diving or for staying at CDM and what the policy is for shore diving, else where, other than the beach for CDM. As others have mentioned, you may not want to haul of the gear with you to shore dive, so I would suggest a dive op that is closest to the destination in which you want to shore dive, even if you have to pay a few extra bucks for a tank. Either way, you are not obligated to dive with the dive op that is associated with the hotel, the choice is your's.
 
Thank you all for your replies. My concern with Del Mar Aquatics was the large boats. Obviously, I would prefer as small a group as possible, but the convenience of diving right at the hotel is also very appealing. I get the McDonalds/Burger King analogy, and I agree. I am anxious to see the whole set up at CDM with DMA and Scuba shack. My only trip ever to Coz was this past spring, staying and diving with Aldora - kinda spoiled me.
 
Thank you all for your replies. My concern with Del Mar Aquatics was the large boats. Obviously, I would prefer as small a group as possible, but the convenience of diving right at the hotel is also very appealing. I get the McDonalds/Burger King analogy, and I agree. I am anxious to see the whole set up at CDM with DMA and Scuba shack. My only trip ever to Coz was this past spring, staying and diving with Aldora - kinda spoiled me.

So why not stick with Aldora? They will pick you up at Casa del Mar and when you feel like doing a shore dive, just pay the $6 for a tank rental...I HIGHLY doubt you'll want to shore dive more than one day from there - while it's not a bad little shore dive - it's not really worth repeating daily, especially at the expense of changing dive ops. FWIW, you're talking night and day with your dive op choices here.
 
Yes, I just may do that. Thanks
 
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