Question Cozumel Dive Shop for Group Wanting to be Certified

[ggunn]

Do your class and pool work at home and do the open water cert on Cozumel. That way you can get a lot more dives in during your vacation.

Better yet, IMO, would be to get completely certified elsewhere before the trip. For one thing, the newbies could spend the entire vacation diving the reefs. For another, conditions around Cozumel are near best case, so certing there gives a new diver a narrower comfort zone.

 

[Snoweman]

Better yet, IMO, would be to get completely certified elsewhere before the trip. For one thing, the newbies could spend the entire vacation diving the reefs. For another, conditions around Cozumel are near best case, so certing there gives a new diver a narrower comfort zone.

Eh. I am a warm water diver. I would have zero interest in doing an open water dive in New York.

 

[ggunn]

Eh. I am a warm water diver. I would have zero interest in doing an open water dive in New York.

OK, but that is an extreme example. My wife and I got certed in Lake Travis near Austin. The water was pretty warm but the viz was about 10'. Our first ocean dive was on Tormentos Reef; we were totally comfortable immediately, and later when we dove Monterrey Bay we were not disconcerted by the lower viz.

YMMV, of course.

 

[eelpout]

If you pick Blue Angel , ask for Mateo to be your instructor. He is originally from Chicago and is a great instructor.

 

[Snoweman]

OK, but that is an extreme example. My wife and I got certed in Lake Travis near Austin. The water was pretty warm but the viz was about 10'. Our first ocean dive was on Tormentos Reef; we were totally comfortable immediately, and later when we dove Monterrey Bay we were not disconcerted by the lower viz.

YMMV, of course.

It's also where the OP is located.

 

[Divegoose]

Scuba Club Cozumel would be a good option. Accommodation and meals on site. Great shore dive right in front of the resort. On site classroom and excellent instructors. Boats pick you up right at their pier.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Do your class and pool work at home and do the open water cert on Cozumel. That way you can get a lot more dives in during your vacation.

If the OP, @ru4real16666, isn't aware, this is what Snoweman is referring to:

Learn to Scuba Dive with a PADI Open Water Referral

A PADI Open Water Referral allows you to start your scuba training at home and complete your certification dives anywhere in the world.

blog.padi.com

 

[ggunn]

If you pick Blue Angel , ask for Mateo to be your instructor. He is originally from Chicago and is a great instructor.

Second that. Mateo is an old friend and fellow Deadhead. He is a great DM as well. We got lucky last year; when we were staying at BA he didn't have students so we got to dive with him several times.

I also highly recommend the restaurant that he and his wife own, 'Ohana. Their coconut shrimp is among the best I have eaten anywhere.

 

[ggunn]

It's also where the OP is located.

As Emily Litella would say, well now, that's very different, isn't it? Never mind.

 

[Triple C]

Scuba Club Cozumel is great and a bargain. I completed 5 classes there last year to get my Master Diver cert. I had an instructor, William Torres, for all my classes and we dove apart from the group each day, which was great.

The resort and food are pretty basic but really inexpensive. You can walk to a great supermarket and restaurants. There is an okay shore dive where you can get time in the water to get comfortable with your gear, practice your skills, etc but there's not a lot to see. I'm going back for a week in April just because it's too much of a bargain to pass up. Cozumel diving is good, and to me measures up with other destinations in the Caribbean.