Cozumel Trip Report, Late May – Early June 2017

[ronscuba]

The operator experienced some things that are definitely not the norm from Aldora.

That being said, each of us have our own little preferences on what we want from an operator and DM. The small differences usually don't turn a good experience into a bad one, but those small differences often add up to 1 operator becoming your favorite.

Luckily, Cozumel has many good operators each having many fans. Just a matter of finding which one will become your favorite.

 

[ggunn]

The best dive sites possible -I am an experienced diver and do not wish to do any beginner sites because there are beginners on board (sorry if I offend anyone but this trip is about me and my husband. I no longer instruct or divemaster)

There are really no "beginner" dive sites (as in boring) around Cozumel. There are deep sites and shallow sites, of course, and newbie divers may do two shallow sites instead of a deep one and then a shallow one, but there aren't any sites that only beginners go to. I must say that some of my favorite sites there are shallow ones, even after diving Cozumel for 24 years. I could dive Colombia Shallows every day.

Some ops are more flexible in grouping divers by experience than others, but there's only a certain amount of doing that that any of them can do with the divers that show up that day to dive. I'm sure you understand that difficulty of the dive must be limited by the least experienced diver in the group.

As for the Throat, for my money there are lots better dives there. I've done it (been there, done that) and I'm not that interested in doing it again.

 

[Ironborn]

I may've just glossed over this, but what place did you stay at? What did you think of it, and the surroundings (e.g.: walking distance restaurants)?

Richard.

I stayed at Casa Mexicana, which seems to be the most popular choice for divers and could thus make it a good place to stay in order to network with other divers, perhaps at the free breakfast. The location was very convenient, and the quality of the accommodations and the service pleasantly surprised me. It was more than adequate for my purposes.

There were plenty of restaurants along the waterfront/Rafael Melgar Avenue. I just walked along it until I found a place to eat. The food was good and reasonably priced, and I did not get sick.

From other threads, it's been indicted Aldora ends dives as a group rather than sending up low air/nitrox divers in buddy pairs, based on the belief this is a safer practice. People vary in whether they agree with that policy. Hence we have a choice when we dive travel...

Richard.

The Aldora DM initially had me surface by myself on many occasions, so that the other divers could continue to dive their tanks/computers. This included one occasion when I had a positive buoyancy problem that the resulted from the DM's underweighting of me to compensate for the greater weight of the steel 120s. I could have used some help in that situation, or at least some extra lead, but I had to surface alone anyway. Then they changed and had us surface as a group when others were low on air, even when I still had enough air to continue to dive my tank/computer for a while. So their policy on this issue was not consistent, and the inconsistency worked to my disadvantage, i.e. I did not get to dive my tank once I had reduced my air consumption.

"The DM once aborted a dive for the whole group less than halfway through because one diver's computer malfunctioned. I do not know why he could not have surfaced alone or with a buddy and allowed the rest of us to continue the dive." I would never send anybody to the surface alone if I was a dive master. I am sure the original poster would figure out why. In the last year there have been incidents on the island that surfacing without a buddy has become an issue. As for bringing the group up because of a bad computer, that is a decision he made and I am sure he lost favor and tips because of it. It could easily have been avoided if the briefing before the dives included what to do with failed equipment.

I had gotten the impression from my pre-trip research that surfacing alone is a frequent or common practice in Cozumel, but not universal. (Cozumel veterans, please correct me if I am wrong). I had thus prepared for the possibility of surfacing alone, even though I had never done it before, as I figured it was worth expanding my skills and experience.

Were the incidents on Cozumel that resulted from surfacing alone due to issues with the boat captains not being able to find people after they had surfaced? Speaking from my own and admittedly limited experience there, the boat captains at all of the operators with which I dove were consistently able to find us quickly when we surfaced. Their ability to follow our bubbles and see our buoys from a distance so consistently impressed me. I never had to wait more than a minute or two for them to pick me or us up. The DMs also made sure that we knew the names of our boats so that we could have another boat contact them by radio if they were not nearby and another boat was nearby. I could imagine that it might be a problem, though, if you surfaced at a remote site with less boat traffic and no other boats were nearby.

 

[ronscuba]

Surfacing alone is definitely not a common practice in Cozumel. Dive operator policy is usually surface with your buddy or surface as a group. Both normally with the DSMB launched at the safety stop.

 

[Ironborn]

This is what I am looking for if anyone has suggestions:

Smaller boats - no cattle cars

The best dive sites possible -I am an experienced diver and do not wish to do any beginner sites because there are beginners on board (sorry if I offend anyone but this trip is about me and my husband. I no longer instruct or divemaster) The Devil's Throat has been on my list but nobody would take us there. Is it worth it?

Diving in buddies - I do not want to have to end my dive because of things listed above. If someone is low on air, has an equipment problem, etc, they should be sent to the surface with a buddy to be picked up. This has always been my experience in drift diving. I would not be happy if the entire group was brought up and the dive ended.

ScubaLuis might be a good fit for you and your husband. ScubaLuis was willing to take out a boat for a two-tank twilight trip with just two divers (most operators require three or four), so if there are no other divers that afternoon/evening, it could just be you and your husband. He limits his groups to six divers - definitely not a cattle boat; as far as I could tell, it was just him, his boat, and his boat captain. He was very accommodating with the selection of dive sites. He has 30ish years of experience as a DM and would probably be an interesting person for you to meet.

I was interested in reading this summary because our experience with 3P wasn't positive. We're going back to Coz for the first time in about 4 years this fall and will be considering 3P again along with Aldora, as I believe our previous stand-by is no longer in business.

In what way(s) was your previous experience with 3P not positive? The only problem I had was that the DM kept forgetting things that I had requested, but otherwise he was fine. Their rental gear was small for me, but I had that problem with most of the other operators too.

We were in Cozumel several weeks ago as a large group and we stayed at Blue Angel. They have a pretty good following here on SB and it was my second large group trip with them. And when I go back I'll stay there again. The resort is right on the water. The rooms are large, clean, and comfortable but not fancy. The food at the restaurant is excellent and very large portions. By the end of the week some couples were sharing a meal.

Very well run dive operation and they have both smaller fast boats and larger boats with more walk around room if you prefer that. They are just slower to the dive sites is all. Great fruit and snacks between dives. They took us most anywhere we wanted to go and you end the dive in pairs and not as a group although most of the time we ended as a group because we were all good on air.

I highly recommend them as do other here on SB.

I had originally considered Blue Angel, which is on this sub-forum's "Top Ten List," but I decided against them because their Trip Advisor reviews frequently indicated that their rental gear was in poor or mediocre condition, and I knew that I would be renting gear for this trip. Yet another reason to start investing in my own gear, perhaps...

I heard that the shore dive from their resort makes for a great night dive.

Surfacing alone is definitely not a common practice in Cozumel. Dive operator policy is usually surface with your buddy or surface as a group. Both normally with the DSMB launched at the safety stop.

From the first few dives that I did with Aldora, I would have gotten the impression that surfacing alone was standard procedure, as he had me do it repeatedly, even when I had a buoyancy problem with which I could have used some assistance or at least some extra lead. He did, however, change this practice later and made us all surface as a group - even when I still had plenty of air left and could have continued to dive my tank/computer, as he had allowed other divers to do on previous occasions.

 

[ggunn]

I had originally considered Blue Angel, which is on this sub-forum's "Top Ten List," but I decided against them because their Trip Advisor reviews frequently indicated that their rental gear was in poor or mediocre condition, and I knew that I would be renting gear for this trip. Yet another reason to start investing in my own gear, perhaps...

I heard that the shore dive from their resort makes for a great night dive.

I always stay at BA and I always use their gear. I have had a couple of minor problems, but overall it has been in very good shape. BA has another location a bit down the shore at Villablanca; my wife and I got tanks there and did the drift at night from there to BA proper. It was great!

 

[Cert1967]

This included one occasion when I had a positive buoyancy problem that the resulted from the DM's underweighting of me to compensate for the greater weight of the steel 120s.

While the DM may give you a suggestion as to weight/buoyancy, in the end, it is your responsibility as a certified diver to be properly weighted.

This board has numerous posts detailing the relative buoyancy characteristics of different cylinders.

 

[ColoDale]

Nice report. I like details and the why as much as the what.

It sounds like you may have been there during higher current or at least expectations of lower current in some spots. The currents last Nov and this Feb were slow to non-existent in some places for those days and weeks we were there. It changes constantly. I have found Yucab and Tormentos to have faster currents than other sites but I have also dived them when the current was mild but rare. It depends on the time of year, storms, wind, or which foot hit the floor first thing in the am.

I don't understand the description of Dalila and Paso de Cedral as flat and featureless. These are two of my favorites and for photography as well. Paso de Cedral at night I think is very good. The current on Paso de Cedral can be quicker but there are many places to duck behind. The group has to stick together though or you no time to poke around.

If you dive more in Cozumel and find a dive op that really has divers choice then you can try dives like half Paso de Cedral then Cedral wall or SantaFrisco (half Santa Rosa and half San Francisco), or dive the grass flats and look for seahorses or Mantis Shrimp. Or if truly divers choice, you can say "take us where there aren't other boats or divers". It may not be the high profile dives everyone does. I have the luxury of diving with the same DMs at different OPs or knowing other divers on the boat so we know what everyone will do. It is alot tougher with divers you don't know or dive OPs you've never used.

We were besieged by bloodworms on night dives in February but had almost none last Nov. We took to turning our lights off or covering them with our hand. Depends on how much faith you have in your dive lights to turn them off/on. Those little creatures are a pain and have to washed out of hair and other gear not to mention messing up photos.

So your report for me is great as you have related your experiences with being a newer diver and newer to Cozumel. It is a different perspective than mine and valuable as my dive OP may not always be around so I may have to find a new one. I have other OPS in the back of my mind. It is good to see that you went with multiple dive ops. Not many do.

For the question from DivergirlLinda with apologies for combining replies, Devils Throat I think is a bucket list dive. I have dived it ten to twelve times. I will qualify it by saying the channel side, when coming out, can be a fantastic view. My beef with Devils throat is whoever is in front of me kicking up sand. On our dive to it this May, a diver and DM from a different dive Op that got there ahead of us, were sorting out a buoyancy issue at the entrance and sanded it up so bad that we had to find another way in. Occasionally we have had a Nurse Shark or Turtle coming out as we went in, so be prepared to share the road. Some dive ops have a fuel surcharge due to it being further south (like $5 USD or so).

Honestly, I prefer Punta Sur "Sur" or some call it Pinnacles at Punta Sur. Not many go there and we can see sharks, Eagle Rays, and great coral formations

 

[Ironborn]

While the DM may give you a suggestion as to weight/buoyancy, in the end, it is your responsibility as a certified diver to be properly weighted.

This board has numerous posts detailing the relative buoyancy characteristics of different cylinders.

I looked on the Tanks section of this board for an answer to this specific question and did not find it: how much weight should one subtract from one's normal weighting with an aluminum 80 tank in order to account for the greater weight of a steel 120 tank and its air content? Perhaps I missed it because of the limitations of the board's search engine, or perhaps the answer was buried in the midst of a broader thread on other topics. In retrospect, perhaps I should have posted my specific question on the Tanks forum in preparation for my trip.

With that said, even if I had done so, I do have an inherent skepticism about the Internet and the reliability of the user-generated information that one finds on forums, review sites, social media, etc. (My distrust of the Internet stems from my work in cyber security...a long story.) I have more confidence in people that I meet in person, e.g. my DM at a reputable, well-reviewed dive operator who knows that operator's gear and the local conditions intimately. In this particular instance, though the DM's estimate was significantly off, and the other divers in my group provided estimates that were closer to what actually worked for me.

 

[ColoDale]

This is a recent thread on specs. I had to search on cylinder specifications on SB. Cylinder Specifications. I have to think about weighting when going from AL 80s to AL 100 to Steel LP 120s.