Coco View report

[Maule]

Arrived and was given the opportunity to do an orientation dive on Saturday. Was told since we arrived on an earlier Delta flight that this was an option. Cost was $10.00 per person, and there were 5 of us new Coco divers which took advantage of it. If you are new and will need to do the orientation and arrive early enough I highly recommend doing this on the day of your arrival. After the orientation dive went back to the room and unpacked. Ate supper and went back in for a late afternoon dive.

The rooms, resort and dining area are very nice. If you are expecting a 5 star experience this isn't it but the resort and rooms met, and exceeded, our expectations. The staff was wonderfully. I really liked the lay out of the gear room. You have a room dedicated to you, and the other members of the boat you are assigned to, and the room is 10 steps from the boat you will be on. There are 4 boats and 4 rooms. All meals are included and I found them to be very tasty. There was no need to go out to try to find a restaurant and while possible to do so, I don't believe anyone there the week I was attempted it.

Once on the boat our DM Eddie and boat Captain Jorge were very helpful. Our gear and tanks were carried out from the gear room to the boat every morning and the gear set up. If we wanted to do a drop off dive our gear was transferred to the second tank. Once we arrived back at the resort and went to the gear room Herman was there to remove our BC's from the tank and secure us 2 new tanks. The boat diving was good.

My positives of the resort are the grounds, dive operation, staff, rooms and dining. I think I saw more Seahorses here during my week of diving than I have in all my other diving combined. My count was 11 different seahorses. 1 boat, not mine, reported seeing 5 seahorses on 1 dive. I really enjoyed the dining area/bar as most everyone was very friendly and talkative and I found I had a chance to get to know a lot of the other guests like you wouldn't if you were not all going there for meals. My Cons of the diving here were I wasn't particularly enamored with the diving from the Prince Albert to shore. The Vis at the Prince Albert was poor in my opinion. It also appears that the lion fish are taking over and they appeared to me to be everywhere and in abundance. I have seen a few mentions on other reports concerning the operators of the resort Mitch and Deb are not being particularly friendly. While those people have been beat up for saying that I also came away with the same reaction. I saw both of them on multiply occasions and neither took the time to say boo to me. Yea I know, the world doesn't revolve around me. But I would think you would want to say hello and ask if the guests were having a good time and/or had any problems if you were the operator. But maybe it was just me.

Overall, I was very happy with my trip to CocoView and would highly recommend it to others. I hope that I have a chance to go back again.

 

[k8brandt]

This pretty much says it all.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...january-anyone-going-there-5.html#post6177411

Thanks Doc for saying what I was thinking so eloquently. I also recognize a few people in that dining room picture.

 

[lsorenson]

Personally, I think Maule sums it up quite fairly... Weather was a bit rough around the edges the first two days with scattered rain but fell into favor for the rest of the stay. Water temps were in the upper 70's and a 3/2 full or shorty worked out quite well for myself. Dives were pretty good but saw more Lionfish on both Newmans and Cocoviews wall than I would have thought with roughly 10 or so spotted by myself on each wall.

I would like to add; although Mitch and Deb did not speak to me directly (that I can remember) they did not turn and run when they saw me either. I personally have little issue with this but I do feel confident that if I did have any issue that they would have addressed it quite promptly...

This was my second stay at CCV and I suspect a third somewhere down the line and as before I will continue to recommend it to others...!

lee

PS Maule; good to see you here in SB...!

Arrived and was given the opportunity to do an orientation dive on Saturday. Was told since we arrived on an earlier Delta flight that this was an option. Cost was $10.00 per person, and there were 5 of us new Coco divers which took advantage of it. If you are new and will need to do the orientation and arrive early enough I highly recommend doing this on the day of your arrival. After the orientation dive went back to the room and unpacked. Ate supper and went back in for a late afternoon dive.

The rooms, resort and dining area are very nice. If you are expecting a 5 star experience this isn't it but the resort and rooms met, and exceeded, our expectations. The staff was wonderfully. I really liked the lay out of the gear room. You have a room dedicated to you, and the other members of the boat you are assigned to, and the room is 10 steps from the boat you will be on. There are 4 boats and 4 rooms. All meals are included and I found them to be very tasty. There was no need to go out to try to find a restaurant and while possible to do so, I don't believe anyone there the week I was attempted it.

Once on the boat our DM Eddie and boat Captain Jorge were very helpful. Our gear and tanks were carried out from the gear room to the boat every morning and the gear set up. If we wanted to do a drop off dive our gear was transferred to the second tank. Once we arrived back at the resort and went to the gear room Herman was there to remove our BC's from the tank and secure us 2 new tanks. The boat diving was good.

My positives of the resort are the grounds, dive operation, staff, rooms and dining. I think I saw more Seahorses here during my week of diving than I have in all my other diving combined. My count was 11 different seahorses. 1 boat, not mine, reported seeing 5 seahorses on 1 dive. I really enjoyed the dining area/bar as most everyone was very friendly and talkative and I found I had a chance to get to know a lot of the other guests like you wouldn't if you were not all going there for meals. My Cons of the diving here were I wasn't particularly enamored with the diving from the Prince Albert to shore. The Vis at the Prince Albert was poor in my opinion. It also appears that the lion fish are taking over and they appeared to me to be everywhere and in abundance. I have seen a few mentions on other reports concerning the operators of the resort Mitch and Deb are not being particularly friendly. While those people have been beat up for saying that I also came away with the same reaction. I saw both of them on multiply occasions and neither took the time to say boo to me. Yea I know, the world doesn't revolve around me. But I would think you would want to say hello and ask if the guests were having a good time and/or had any problems if you were the operator. But maybe it was just me.

Overall, I was very happy with my trip to CocoView and would highly recommend it to others. I hope that I have a chance to go back again.

 

[Chaseh]

People have often been freaked out by the need for an orientation dive, not that the OP here particularly was. Simply put, it's a buoyancy check in shallow watch, which helps ensure the safty of the divers and the sealife, and then a brief tour, which points out the landmarks underwater, the two walls, and the Prince Albert. I'm confused though, they charged $10 to do the check out?

We may do our 5th CCV trip this year. Have found the conditions to be much better in the summer.

 

[Scott]

I'm confused though, they charged $10 to do the check out?

Only if you arrive early enough and wish to do it on a Saturday, a day of rest for the DM's, any other day there is no cost.

 

[Chaseh]

I'm still surprised, but I guess it's because often the early checkout involves a DM on his time off. Maybe he gets it. You're not required to repeat the process when returning to CCV, so it's been awhile for myself.

 

[VicScubaVentures]

If you do a check out dive on Saturday, you pay cash directly to the DM. Saturday is normally their day off, so you're paying them (not CCV) for their time. If your flight schedule permits, and if there's a DM willing to lead a check out dive, it's kinda a fun way to kick of your stay at CCV.

Craig.

 

[Doc]

That's the way I believe that it works.

On Sunday through Thursday, the DM's disappear at 16:30. There is one DM as a Night Dockmaster on duty. On Friday morning, you can still take a boat ride for a dive, both AM and PM departures, but they will likely cut down the total number in the fleet that makes a departure... not so many guests dive on Fridays.

By Friday afternoon, you'll see the DM's clearing out of the resort very early, usually as soon as they clean up their boats from the AM dive.

On Friday evening, a few DM's will be rotated to be on-hand to grab-up your luggage at 20:00 hrs and store it in the "wet rooms" (dive lockers). Then they appear at the Friday night party if there is time. They spend the night in the crew's quarters and awake Saturday very early to scoop-up the remaining luggage that you leave to be picked-up. I think most of them then go home, maybe leaving two or three behind to run the Saturday dive operation.

This is where the Saturday afternoon airplane arrivals come into play. Until very recently, the air schedule was such that your arrival time was 16:30 or later. You would land, then maybe you'd arrive at CCV at Sunset.

Things changed when earlier air arrivals began a few years back. Now they had a lot of folks showing up before noon and standing there sweating... looking at the Front Yard Dive Site and wishing. So, for those early arrivals, CCV began the Orientation Dive on early Saturday Morning.

A lot of people think it's the same thing as a "check-out" dive. Not that there is anything wrong with that~ if you need to fine tune your weights, that's a great time to do it. If you need a checkout dive, you need one. If not, then just put on your dive gear and do it as an "Orientation Dive" and learn the obvious man-made landmarks that will navigate you through the Front Yard Dive Site. This will include the two distinct walls and the DC3 Aircraft, the Prince Albert Wreck- plus how to wend your way safely through "The Cut" in the very shallow fringing reef.

So as airline schedules further expanded, people started getting to CCV by 2:30. At that time, the last of the DM's had skeedaddled and the new ones arriving were there to move your luggage around. What to do? That's where they came up with a "pay the DM" program for a Saturday Afternoon Orientation Dive.

The management of CCV is extremely aware of dive safety. Beside the need for this first dive, they also believe that if you have spent a day in air travel, you are very likely to be dehydrated- they would like it if you kicked back, relaxed and drank soft beverages for Saturday's hours. Rehydrate.

But we all arrive wanting to dive-dive-dive. If you relax and start diving on Sunday morning, if you do all 4 boat dives plus a night dive every night, you're going to get about 28 dives in by the end of the week.

I have proposed, not jokingly: If you're antsy and decide to pay the $10 for a saturday afternoon orientation dive (instead of waiting for the free one on Sunday Morning), that you be refunded the $10 fee IF you do the other 28 dives easily done in a week at CCV. I don't think they would have to pay the $10 back very much.

Saturday afternoon arrivals? I recommend iced tea, explore the property, look at the diorama maps of the underwater terrain as you sit on the sun deck. Get to know the place. If you want to go for a swim, take your mask, snorkel and flippers, and go for a look-see. It will turn you on and reinforce how cool the shallows are.

Don't fret, don't rush... there will be plenty of diving over the next 5.5 days.

 

[ktkt]

I have proposed, not jokingly: If you're antsy and decide to pay the $10 for a saturday afternoon orientation dive (instead of waiting for the free one on Sunday Morning), that you be refunded the $10 fee IF you do the other 28 dives easily done in a week at CCV. I don't think they would have to pay the $10 back very much.

Funny, but I doubt anybody regrets spending that $10, and it's not like you save them money by diving your heart out. I would happily have paid the required $25 if I was the only one trying to get in the water right away, and I would also pay that rate to not have such a large group (7 divers + DM when I did it). Anyway, by spending that $10, I got to do my Saturday afternoon orientation dive with the DM, a Saturday night dive, and also the Sunday morning boat dives. Absolutely worth it. That said, I only made it to 28 dives for the week, since I had a couple of 4-dive days

Next time, I'll dive nitrox and spend more time with seahorses!

 

[Maule]

Funny, but I doubt anybody regrets spending that $10, and it's not like you save them money by diving your heart out. I would happily have paid the required $25 if I was the only one trying to get in the water right away, and I would also pay that rate to not have such a large group (7 divers + DM when I did it). Anyway, by spending that $10, I got to do my Saturday afternoon orientation dive with the DM, a Saturday night dive, and also the Sunday morning boat dives. Absolutely worth it. That said, I only made it to 28 dives for the week, since I had a couple of 4-dive days

Next time, I'll dive nitrox and spend more time with seahorses!

Kellie "only" got in 28 dives. I also agree with her in that I'm glad I paid the $10.00 for the Saturday dive. Man, there were a lot of seahorses.