Coz for week for $1k with food, flight and scuba?

[paulpost]

Blue angel dive shop has packages for around $500 for 7 nights and 5 days of diving for double occupancy I never used them but from posts on this forum it looks they are OK, or if you can get a really cheap lodging I recommend Pepe Scuba dive shop, fast boats and 5 days 2 tanks for around $265.
Good luck and have fun.

 

[ggunn]

There are lots of places to eat and drink affordably. If I had to do a Cozumel trip on a set budget, I would stay and eat cheap and spend the bulk of the budget on a quality dive operation.

FWIW, you don't have to spend an arm and a leg to dive with a quality dive op. Blue Angel gets my recommendation; they run small fast boats with great DM's, O2 on board, nitrox available, they dive all the sites with no surcharges, and they are among the least expensive dive ops on the island. They are based at Caribe Blu hotel, which is a great little no-frills inn right on the water a mile or so south of town. I'll be staying there and diving with BA in May.

 

[CompuDude]

Blue Angel looks interesting as well, at $510 at Caribe Blu hotel:

PACKAGE "B"
7 NIGHTS / 5 DAYS OF DIVING
(2 TANK BOAT DIVES)
UNLIMITED COMPLEMENTARY SHORE DIVES
GEAR STORAGE AVAILABLE
USD 510.- per person

http://www.blueangel-scuba.com/

Back to that "two tanks per day" thing, though, although yeah, there's shore diving.

 

[jlyle]

When you look at prices, make sure the quote includes the 12% tax!

 

[stevenq99]

Blue Angel looks interesting as well, at $510 at Caribe Blu hotel:

PACKAGE "B"
7 NIGHTS / 5 DAYS OF DIVING
(2 TANK BOAT DIVES)
UNLIMITED COMPLEMENTARY SHORE DIVES
GEAR STORAGE AVAILABLE
USD 510.- per person

http://www.blueangel-scuba.com/

Back to that "two tanks per day" thing, though, although yeah, there's shore diving.

hope you can find a buddy to go with you that is double occupancy price.

 

[Christi]

hope you can find a buddy to go with you that is double occupancy price.

Yes you are correct! I can't tell you how many people don't get that.

It's not that you are penalized for being "single" it's just that hotels rates are per ROOM per night, not per PERSON...unless you are talking about an AI where they do charge per person. So that means you have no one to share the expense of the hotel room.

Also Compudude, two-tank dives are the standard on the island. However, most ops have afternoon dives available now that it's high season and we will begin daylight savings time this weekend..but OF COURSE they are going to cost you more money which will most likely put you over budget.

If you are expecting more than 2 boat dives a day for a week, plus hotel, plus food, plus airfare as a single for $1K or less, it's going to be challenging unless you go with a high volume operator such as Dive Paradise who offers a third tank for very cheap. Keep in mind that that "cheap" third tank is not divers choice and it's a 95% chance that that it will be on a big boat with alot of people. AS Several have mentioned, it just depends on what's important to you.

I wouldn't give too much weight to the unlimited shore diving. Shore diving here is great for check-out dives, but after that....well...you'll see.

If you can find a buddy to go with you, you'll be able to save literally 50% of the hotel cost and have more for diving and food

 

[jayjoans]

I feel for you! For once, I'm soo glad my wife doesn't dive yet, else there's no way I'd be able to swing this!

I don't get it...if she did dive you wouldn't have the 1k restriction though, right?
You could get a direct flight, stay at the El Cantil and dive with Christi 3 times a day on a small fast boat, and I would assume you'd rather bunk with her than your buddy....

 

[dartref]

Papa Hog's/Villa Blanca, 7 nights w/5 two tank dive days, single, $659 til April 15th, afterwards $619, plus tax.

Not a bad deal at all, Mike and Margaret are great hosts, with great food and view of the ocean from the bar porch. Been with them 3 times in the past year.

 

[CompuDude]

I don't get it...if she did dive you wouldn't have the 1k restriction though, right?
You could get a direct flight, stay at the El Cantil and dive with Christi 3 times a day on a small fast boat, and I would assume you'd rather bunk with her than your buddy....

True, if my wife was certified, I'd have a $2k restriction... but more likely, she would instead want to go with me, but could not (she has insufficient vacation time with her new job, that's the whole reason I'm being given a week to myself). Then she'd be [more] jealous of my dive week without her, and not let me go.

But the wife would never go for the type of accommodations I am fine with... so the inexpensive vacation would suddenly start to cost serious dough!

Meanwhile, gee, had I but known that bunking with Christi was an option there would have been much decision to warrant this thread.

 

[CompuDude]

Yes you are correct! I can't tell you how many people don't get that.

It's not that you are penalized for being "single" it's just that hotels rates are per ROOM per night, not per PERSON...unless you are talking about an AI where they do charge per person. So that means you have no one to share the expense of the hotel room.

Also Compudude, two-tank dives are the standard on the island. However, most ops have afternoon dives available now that it's high season and we will begin daylight savings time this weekend..but OF COURSE they are going to cost you more money which will most likely put you over budget.

If you are expecting more than 2 boat dives a day for a week, plus hotel, plus food, plus airfare as a single for $1K or less, it's going to be challenging unless you go with a high volume operator such as Dive Paradise who offers a third tank for very cheap. Keep in mind that that "cheap" third tank is not divers choice and it's a 95% chance that that it will be on a big boat with alot of people. AS Several have mentioned, it just depends on what's important to you.

I wouldn't give too much weight to the unlimited shore diving. Shore diving here is great for check-out dives, but after that....well...you'll see.

If you can find a buddy to go with you, you'll be able to save literally 50% of the hotel cost and have more for diving and food

Yes, I've seen that quite clearly looking over the various packages offered by various tour operators and hotels. Double occupancy definitely bring my per-person cost down.

I have a buddy who is 90% sure he'll be able to join me, so that's going to help a lot.

I'm looking over your website, and I see a Suites Bahia package at $550 for 6 Nights with 5 Days of 2 Tank diving (if I'm reading it right). Depending on how much airfare ends up running me (always the tricky part), if I assume $300 for planning purposes, that's $850, leaving $150 for food. Not quite enough, I think, but then, airfare may be doable for less than $300.

(And looking again, $25 more gets me the same package at Casa Mexicana with daily breakfast and free internet, so that may be a worthwhile upgrade.)

I'm looking at sometime July at this point.