Coz dive shops......give me the good the bad and the ugly??

[Rooster1]

Coz dive shops......give me the good the bad and the ugly!

It's official the price I just got today on 7 nights in Coz was enough to say for that price we got to go back again..so were there January 25 to February1.
I haven't been there in almost a couple of years so I would like some input on who to dive with and who not to . I appreciate as stated the good, the bad, and the ugly, give all of it. I trust you guys more then the operators. ( you're not trying to take my money). Let me know please who is honest /dishonest, good operation or shady. good boats or cattle boats

 

[Dee]

We all have our preferences. I'm just the opposite to Natasha, I love the smaller boats. And back rolling over the side is my favorite entry! With the smaller 6-8pak boats you usually have a better chance to go to the dive sites farther south because they go faster. And with fewer divers, the site selection is usually more to your choice and group experience level. Most of these boats have caopies to protect you from the sun but no heads. Never been a problem for us.

My favorite dive op for years has been Caballito del Caribe Papa Hog's is also highly recommended. Choice of dive op can depend on your experience level. Living Underwater is getting a good reputation for the large steel tanks, long bottom times and more experienced dive sites they offer.

 

[Natasha]

Hi Rooster1:
We all have our favorites in Cozumel. You will get about 10 different answers to this question.
First off let me say I hate the term "Cattle Boats."Drives me crazy when people call large boats cattle boats. All dive boats have a purpose. Some of the larger boats, with more divers on them are good because ..... #1 You have a head.
#2 You can do a forward stride, and not a back roll. Some newer divers are more comfortable with forward strides.
Anyway, I can go on and on. I have been on both 6 packs and large boats. I prefer large.
I also prefer a company that owns several boats instead of just one or two. This way if one or two breaks down, I know I'm still diving. Kinda like airlines that own just a lot of planes, instead of one or two.
So, with all that said {whew} I pick Dive Paradise.

 

[scorpionfish]

Dee once bubbled...


I love the smaller boats.

And back rolling over the side is my favorite entry!

With the smaller 6-8pak boats you usually have a better chance to go to the dive sites farther south because they go faster. And with fewer divers, the site selection is usually more to your choice and group experience level.

Yes, yes, yes, and, in case I was not clear, yes!

The very first question I ask before selecting a dive boat is, "How big is your boat?" The second is, "How many divers do you take?"

I guess, for me, it was having my mask kicked off a few times, having an overanxious photog jam his/her way in between me and my subject, having to surface with 1500 psi due to what Doc Vikingo calls the, "Lowest Common Diver, LCD" (I think that is the term he uses.), having someone dump his mask in the camera "bucket", etc. that made me favor smaller boats. But, I agree with Dee, it is a matter of personal preference!

If you scan the many threads related to Coz on this Board, you will find lots of dive shop recommendations. And there will be differences as to whether a certain shop is good, bad or indifferent. That is likely due to changes in personnel and to differences in diving preferences. My worst experiences on Coz (and there were not very many) came on larger boats with too many divers. For many years, now, I have only dived from a six-pack and that is not likely to change in the foreseeable future.

Rooster1's question is somewhat difficult to answer because, by various counts, there are between 60 and 80 "dive shops" operating on Coz. To list them and provide critical input would be beyond my patience! Now, Doc Vikingo...

My advice would be to surf the web and ask about folks' experiences with a given shop.

I hope this helps (a little???)

Scorpionfish

 

[O-ring]

And back rolling over the side is my favorite entry!

The backroll is so underrated...I almost NEVER get to do it and it beats the heck out of the boat rolling-shuffle-fall over-giant stride system.

 

[Natasha]

Well, I don't want to change the subject here to backward roll vs forward stride. But ..always a but, I have sent plenty of NEW divers to Cozumel, and they have felt the roll disoriented them, and were not happy on the smaller boats with no head.
I think smaller boats are great for the more experienced divers. But let's not forget we have both on here.
Of course this starts a whole new debate.

 

[Iguana Don]

Cattle boats if you want to dive, sometimes they are so packed you have a hard time getting geared up. Not to mention the fact that the DMs can'w watch everybody. Experienced and new divers alike seem to prefer the smaller boats and smaller groups.

If you want to party with a large group, stay on shore.

"Just give me that old time backward roll,
That kind of diving just moves my soul,
I reminiss about the days of old,
And that old time backward roll."



ID

OBTW - The shops that Dee mentioned and Blue Angel are among the best on the island.

 

[Dee]

Natasha once bubbled...
Well, I don't want to change the subject here to backward roll vs forward stride. But ..always a but, I have sent plenty of NEW divers to Cozumel, and they have felt the roll disoriented them, and were not happy on the smaller boats with no head.
I think smaller boats are great for the more experienced divers. But let's not forget we have both on here.
Of course this starts a whole new debate.

My very first boat dive was in Coz off a small boat with a backroll and I loved it! I love looking at the surface as I hit the water and watching the bubbles. The bubbles also tell me which way is up!

And since I never wear a wetsuit in Coz, I don't need no steenkin' head

But seriously..it is just personal preference from experience. My biggest objection to the bigger boats for new divers is there's no way the DM's can keep up with that many divers. Very, very few operations using big boats have a high enough DM/diver ratio to deal with brand new divers, IMHO.

 

[scorpionfish]

Dee once bubbled...


And since I never wear a wetsuit in Coz, I don't need no steenkin' head

Very, very few operations using big boats have a high enough DM/diver ratio to deal with brand new divers, IMHO.

I do wear a wetsuit and still do not need a head, steenkin' or otherwise! For certain operations, that is!

If the boats could actually segregate divers by experience much the way Ed Robinson does it on Maui, that would work. But they don't and so it doesn't for me.

As for rolls, backwards, rock'n', Tootsie and California, that is what I prefer, too. However, I do whatever is appropriate for the boat and it is no big deal. A diver should be able to execute whatever manuver the boat is best suited for, without hesitation, fear, lack of comfort, etc. Geez, it's just getting in the water.

That said, I think there are few things in diving as comical as watching someone plod along with all his/her gear from fore to aft in order to make a giant stride entry! Talk about awkward! Ga-floppity-flop-flop-ga-flop--

Scorpionfish

 

[Natasha]

Well, I can see on this thread I am out numbered! No problem. I can only tell you from the divers I have talked to, that is the feed back I have recieved. They didn't like doing backward rolls when they had 25 or less dives. I never even thought about it, before I started getting this feed back.
The other thing I just don't get is the "cattle boat" thing. Are not all divers are friends? Do we want to call our friends on other big boats that we pass, Hey you guys are on the 'cattle boat' so you must not be cool. That's what is sounds like.
They are still DIVERS on a big boat. Sometimes the boat has several DIVERS on it. Sometimes not. But hey we are all DIVERS.