tricky
New
Just returned this week from a 5 day stay - 3 days dive trip to Cozumel at the Fiesta Americana. 1st day we dove with Papa Hogs because we weren't able to pre-arrange space on the "good" boats at Dive House prior to our trip.
The Papa Hogs arrangement was ok for the first day, small boat with just 6 of us. If you're looking for a loosely run operation this is the one for you. I dubbed it the "two guys and a boat" operation. Brought us paperwork on the boat, but didn't get to finish filling it out, didn't ask to see C-Cards, no provision for us to test the Nitrox mix ourselves. (Probably all comes from the same place in town anyway.) We told them we had brought our own equipment and Nitrox for 2 of the divers for all dives. They arrived with Nitrox also for the air divers for one of the 3 dives, not enough tanks for all 6 people, and didn't have weights on board since we said we had our own equipment. After a trip out to the reef, then back to their base shop, then back out to the reef we finally did some diving. Their operation seems to go to the reefs closer to shore and not much south of the Santa Rosa Wall area based on our observations during the other two days.
Had pre-arranged prior to our trip to have a special 2 tank dive, first one to go down while it's still light and end while it's starting to get dark - wanted to get a couple new night divers introduced to night diving. The second dive we wanted to go down while it's not quite dark, and end while it's totally dark out. They indicated there would be no problem arranging this for us. But after our first day of diving we confirmed our arrangement for the next evening. They were convinced we wanted 3 tanks - two for a "twilight" dive and one for a "night" dive as they said they didn't offer what we originally had arranged. We decided to cancel the evening dives with Papa Hogs the next morning. Went in to the office the last day of our trip to pay for our first day of diving. Not the classiest dive operation, but definitely one of the loosest I've seen. We had been quoted prices on the internet prior to our trip, but when we pulled out our credit card there was suddenly a "required 15% tax surcharge" that we had not been informed of earlier, and no statements or receipts, just the total charge amount on our credit card.
The rest of our dives were scheduled with the Dive House, the on-site dive operation at the Fiesta Americana. I can't say enough about how helpful and professional everyone on their staff was. Rauel is the man to see at the dive desk, he did a wonderful job getting us set up with the right equipment, nitrox tanks, answering questions, etc. Rauel prepared itemized statements of all charges, and did NOT have the "required 15% surcharge". They did the nitrox by the book, divers tested the nitrox mix themselves, logged it in the book and signed it. All equipment and tanks were exactly as requested, and they carried plenty of weight on board to get us all set up correctly, as well as plenty of refreshments.
We dove with the Dive House IV crew for all of our remaining dives. Francisco did a good job as our guide during the day, and Rodolfo and Jorge were always ready to assist as needed. The night dive was guided by Manuel. He was actually my favorite guide, as he really gave us a show - pointing out lots of critters and fish as we explored. I felt very comfortable with this dive outfit and crew, and felt they could handle any emergency should it arise. We liked the spaciousness and cleanliness of the boats, and they dove with a maximum of 10 on board, plenty of room.
The Fiesta Americana hotel was very nice. I was concerned about having to cross over the road to get to the dive shop. It turned out to not be a problem at all as the hotel is actually pretty much isolated and really no traffic on the road - it's not the main road south of town. We bought the all inclusive package, which was probably a good deal as meals are pretty expensive, but then we wouldn't have eaten and drank as much if we were paying our own food bill. A great time and hope to return soon one day.
The Papa Hogs arrangement was ok for the first day, small boat with just 6 of us. If you're looking for a loosely run operation this is the one for you. I dubbed it the "two guys and a boat" operation. Brought us paperwork on the boat, but didn't get to finish filling it out, didn't ask to see C-Cards, no provision for us to test the Nitrox mix ourselves. (Probably all comes from the same place in town anyway.) We told them we had brought our own equipment and Nitrox for 2 of the divers for all dives. They arrived with Nitrox also for the air divers for one of the 3 dives, not enough tanks for all 6 people, and didn't have weights on board since we said we had our own equipment. After a trip out to the reef, then back to their base shop, then back out to the reef we finally did some diving. Their operation seems to go to the reefs closer to shore and not much south of the Santa Rosa Wall area based on our observations during the other two days.
Had pre-arranged prior to our trip to have a special 2 tank dive, first one to go down while it's still light and end while it's starting to get dark - wanted to get a couple new night divers introduced to night diving. The second dive we wanted to go down while it's not quite dark, and end while it's totally dark out. They indicated there would be no problem arranging this for us. But after our first day of diving we confirmed our arrangement for the next evening. They were convinced we wanted 3 tanks - two for a "twilight" dive and one for a "night" dive as they said they didn't offer what we originally had arranged. We decided to cancel the evening dives with Papa Hogs the next morning. Went in to the office the last day of our trip to pay for our first day of diving. Not the classiest dive operation, but definitely one of the loosest I've seen. We had been quoted prices on the internet prior to our trip, but when we pulled out our credit card there was suddenly a "required 15% tax surcharge" that we had not been informed of earlier, and no statements or receipts, just the total charge amount on our credit card.
The rest of our dives were scheduled with the Dive House, the on-site dive operation at the Fiesta Americana. I can't say enough about how helpful and professional everyone on their staff was. Rauel is the man to see at the dive desk, he did a wonderful job getting us set up with the right equipment, nitrox tanks, answering questions, etc. Rauel prepared itemized statements of all charges, and did NOT have the "required 15% surcharge". They did the nitrox by the book, divers tested the nitrox mix themselves, logged it in the book and signed it. All equipment and tanks were exactly as requested, and they carried plenty of weight on board to get us all set up correctly, as well as plenty of refreshments.
We dove with the Dive House IV crew for all of our remaining dives. Francisco did a good job as our guide during the day, and Rodolfo and Jorge were always ready to assist as needed. The night dive was guided by Manuel. He was actually my favorite guide, as he really gave us a show - pointing out lots of critters and fish as we explored. I felt very comfortable with this dive outfit and crew, and felt they could handle any emergency should it arise. We liked the spaciousness and cleanliness of the boats, and they dove with a maximum of 10 on board, plenty of room.
The Fiesta Americana hotel was very nice. I was concerned about having to cross over the road to get to the dive shop. It turned out to not be a problem at all as the hotel is actually pretty much isolated and really no traffic on the road - it's not the main road south of town. We bought the all inclusive package, which was probably a good deal as meals are pretty expensive, but then we wouldn't have eaten and drank as much if we were paying our own food bill. A great time and hope to return soon one day.
