K_girl
Contributor
Cannot recommend Cortez Club at all. Here is a list of problems I encountered:
1) I wanted to work out a better deal with Cortez Club for lodgings at La Concha, the hotel on-site. He wanted a 25% deposit for the entire deal, which I gave him. But then I realized that the hotel deal he gave me was actually not so great. I was able to book the hotel directly on their web site at a much better price that included the American Breakfast. So he kept all of my deposit towards diving.
2) The lunch we ordered was not on the boat. They tried to give me someone else's lunch which I had no desire for. In addition, the lunches (which included things like salad) were not refrigerated. After 4 hours in the hot sun, it looked very unappetizing and even unsafe. I refused to eat it, I never received a refund for the $12 lunch.
3) They have no oxygen or defibrillators. The premiere dive site are 2.5 hours away. What are your chances of survival if you should have an incident? Pretty much nil.
4) The small boats are old and not very comfortable at all, most especially if the ocean gets rough. No back support whatsoever. Other operators with more modern small boats have good back support with cushions. More importantly, if the ocean is rough, you are not going to make it out to the premiere dive sites of Los Islotes or El Bajo. On the bigger, faster more modern boats, it takes 1.5 hours to get to those sites. You need to add an extra hour on the smaller boat. They may tell you that the smaller boats are faster, but they can't go fast if they can't handle the ocean conditions. Even what seems to be a mild wind on shore can churn those waters up. We hit an open channel and stopped and were told to put on our wet suits for the remainder of the trip about 45 minutes in. We were mercilessly pounded and pummeled for the next hour. I felt like I was in a perfect storm without the wind and rain. We watched enviously as the bigger boats zoomed past us, divers relaxed on board in shorts. One passenger had to sit on some kind of pole underneath her cushion. At the end of the day I helped her off with her shirt because she could not lift her hands above her head. We were not happy that we were not told of the ocean conditions we would face that day and given the opportunity to say - no thanks, not for us.
4) In addition, we were told that we would be diverted to a camp site to pick-up some Japanese tourists and that it would only be 1/2 hour. It was a grueling 1.5 hours just to get there. At that point, there was no way we were going to make it out to the planned dive site so we had to do a dive there near the camp site. It wasn't a regular dive site, viz sucked and there was nothing to see. The second dive was worse and we only dove for about 20 minutes and everyone was pretty much done.
5) We were told that conditions were going to be the same for the next couple of days. I wanted the rest of my money back, but the operator refused. We were offered whale shark expedition. I asked if they had found any whale sharks that day and they said they find them every day. Later, I saw a hotel guest in a wet suit and asked them if they went whale shark hunting. I asked them if they found whale sharks. He said no.
6) Final straw was he charged me $45 per-person for the taxi when the hotel can make arrangements at a straight fee for everyone in the taxi which was much less than what Cortez Club charged me.
I requested a refund of my remaining deposit and then wanted to go on a day-to-day basis based on ocean conditions. Even though I disputed the charge with my credit card company, because they were an international merchant, the merchant has to cooperate to return the money. They refused. This was not a cancellation. We showed up, we received one day of service and we were not happy. I believe a diver has a right to refuse a dive if the ocean conditions are not right on a day trip basis.
We switched to another operator who saved our vacation. They had new boats that were truly fast, comfortable and with all the safety features. Lunch was on the beach and was prepared fresh by a cook under a dining tent which was awesome. The cost was actually $10 less with lunch than with Cortez Club and they picked us up for free at La Concha. But this is not about advertising for another company, so I won't do it. This is strictly about the poor service I received at Cortez Club. By the way, we enjoyed our stay at La Concha and the food was actually some of the best in the area. They have a very fine chef.
If you still want to dive with Cortez Club, there is no need for you to give them a deposit. Book your room directly with La Concha and see what each day brings you. Because you will not, under any circustances, get that deposit back.
After we switched dive ops, we thoroughly enjoyed the diving in La Paz. If you have never been to Los Islotes to play with the sea lions or seen the sea mount at El Bajo, you need to put these two dive sites on your bucket list. These are the premiere dives in La Paz. Also, several dive ops offer camping closer to the dive sites. They provide the tents, cots, food, etc. The camp sites are all on the beaches of small islands - it really is beautiful, but since I haven't done it and can't vouch for the experience.
1) I wanted to work out a better deal with Cortez Club for lodgings at La Concha, the hotel on-site. He wanted a 25% deposit for the entire deal, which I gave him. But then I realized that the hotel deal he gave me was actually not so great. I was able to book the hotel directly on their web site at a much better price that included the American Breakfast. So he kept all of my deposit towards diving.
2) The lunch we ordered was not on the boat. They tried to give me someone else's lunch which I had no desire for. In addition, the lunches (which included things like salad) were not refrigerated. After 4 hours in the hot sun, it looked very unappetizing and even unsafe. I refused to eat it, I never received a refund for the $12 lunch.
3) They have no oxygen or defibrillators. The premiere dive site are 2.5 hours away. What are your chances of survival if you should have an incident? Pretty much nil.
4) The small boats are old and not very comfortable at all, most especially if the ocean gets rough. No back support whatsoever. Other operators with more modern small boats have good back support with cushions. More importantly, if the ocean is rough, you are not going to make it out to the premiere dive sites of Los Islotes or El Bajo. On the bigger, faster more modern boats, it takes 1.5 hours to get to those sites. You need to add an extra hour on the smaller boat. They may tell you that the smaller boats are faster, but they can't go fast if they can't handle the ocean conditions. Even what seems to be a mild wind on shore can churn those waters up. We hit an open channel and stopped and were told to put on our wet suits for the remainder of the trip about 45 minutes in. We were mercilessly pounded and pummeled for the next hour. I felt like I was in a perfect storm without the wind and rain. We watched enviously as the bigger boats zoomed past us, divers relaxed on board in shorts. One passenger had to sit on some kind of pole underneath her cushion. At the end of the day I helped her off with her shirt because she could not lift her hands above her head. We were not happy that we were not told of the ocean conditions we would face that day and given the opportunity to say - no thanks, not for us.
4) In addition, we were told that we would be diverted to a camp site to pick-up some Japanese tourists and that it would only be 1/2 hour. It was a grueling 1.5 hours just to get there. At that point, there was no way we were going to make it out to the planned dive site so we had to do a dive there near the camp site. It wasn't a regular dive site, viz sucked and there was nothing to see. The second dive was worse and we only dove for about 20 minutes and everyone was pretty much done.
5) We were told that conditions were going to be the same for the next couple of days. I wanted the rest of my money back, but the operator refused. We were offered whale shark expedition. I asked if they had found any whale sharks that day and they said they find them every day. Later, I saw a hotel guest in a wet suit and asked them if they went whale shark hunting. I asked them if they found whale sharks. He said no.
6) Final straw was he charged me $45 per-person for the taxi when the hotel can make arrangements at a straight fee for everyone in the taxi which was much less than what Cortez Club charged me.
I requested a refund of my remaining deposit and then wanted to go on a day-to-day basis based on ocean conditions. Even though I disputed the charge with my credit card company, because they were an international merchant, the merchant has to cooperate to return the money. They refused. This was not a cancellation. We showed up, we received one day of service and we were not happy. I believe a diver has a right to refuse a dive if the ocean conditions are not right on a day trip basis.
We switched to another operator who saved our vacation. They had new boats that were truly fast, comfortable and with all the safety features. Lunch was on the beach and was prepared fresh by a cook under a dining tent which was awesome. The cost was actually $10 less with lunch than with Cortez Club and they picked us up for free at La Concha. But this is not about advertising for another company, so I won't do it. This is strictly about the poor service I received at Cortez Club. By the way, we enjoyed our stay at La Concha and the food was actually some of the best in the area. They have a very fine chef.
If you still want to dive with Cortez Club, there is no need for you to give them a deposit. Book your room directly with La Concha and see what each day brings you. Because you will not, under any circustances, get that deposit back.
After we switched dive ops, we thoroughly enjoyed the diving in La Paz. If you have never been to Los Islotes to play with the sea lions or seen the sea mount at El Bajo, you need to put these two dive sites on your bucket list. These are the premiere dives in La Paz. Also, several dive ops offer camping closer to the dive sites. They provide the tents, cots, food, etc. The camp sites are all on the beaches of small islands - it really is beautiful, but since I haven't done it and can't vouch for the experience.
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