polyester1970
Registered
This is my 3rd time in Cozumel and I think I've wrote a report or two on it already. Besides, there are so many Cozumel trip reports I'm not sure I can add much, but I'll give a little review about the operator I used that I don't think gets enough attention here on SB.
We planned this trip way in advanced. I think I bought the vacation in April for a trip in November. This was a trip with a medium sized group so I wanted to find a good dive operator. After doing a lot of research I decided to go with Scuba with Alison.
One thing that caught my attention is she's originally from the SF Bay Area, where I live, and got certified at a dive shop that I frequent.
She was super prompt about replying to emails which is my preferred way of doing this type of stuff. She usually replied the next day.
She has a small, fast boat. She maxes at 6-8 divers, so no cattle boats. Her boat has 2 really fast engines on it and we were speeding past most other boats. However, it was a smooth ride. It didn't stink like exhaust either.
She and another dive master goes down with the group. Some of the people in my group just got certified and they were really helpful watching them, helping them descend, taking them up on their safety stops. They were all top-notch on safety which really took a load off me from all the novice divers in my group so I could enjoy my dive a lot more. Actually, one of the divers in our group was doing the referral certification. The cool thing is they did all the dives with us so the group could go out together. Most other dive ops I called did their certifications separately in the afternoon, on a shore dive which isn't very good in Coz.
She lets you dive your computer and doesn't have preset time limits.
She picks up pretty early, 8am, and gets us back to the hotel a little earlier than some of the other guys. We had some non-divers waiting for us so we wanted to have some day left to do stuff with them.
Although I didn't rent gear some people in my group did. Her gear was actually pretty nice stuff. The wetsuits were all pretty new. Nice Seaquest BCDs that were in really good shape. Sherwood regs, etc... That sort of thing says a lot about an op to me that they don't just rent out junky, beat-up gear. And her rental prices were really reasonable. $5 a piece.
Although this wasn't the deciding factor it was a huge bonus - her prices are really good. $60 for a 2-tank.
Next time I'm in Cozumel I'll definitely dive with her again.
We planned this trip way in advanced. I think I bought the vacation in April for a trip in November. This was a trip with a medium sized group so I wanted to find a good dive operator. After doing a lot of research I decided to go with Scuba with Alison.
One thing that caught my attention is she's originally from the SF Bay Area, where I live, and got certified at a dive shop that I frequent.
She was super prompt about replying to emails which is my preferred way of doing this type of stuff. She usually replied the next day.
She has a small, fast boat. She maxes at 6-8 divers, so no cattle boats. Her boat has 2 really fast engines on it and we were speeding past most other boats. However, it was a smooth ride. It didn't stink like exhaust either.
She and another dive master goes down with the group. Some of the people in my group just got certified and they were really helpful watching them, helping them descend, taking them up on their safety stops. They were all top-notch on safety which really took a load off me from all the novice divers in my group so I could enjoy my dive a lot more. Actually, one of the divers in our group was doing the referral certification. The cool thing is they did all the dives with us so the group could go out together. Most other dive ops I called did their certifications separately in the afternoon, on a shore dive which isn't very good in Coz.
She lets you dive your computer and doesn't have preset time limits.
She picks up pretty early, 8am, and gets us back to the hotel a little earlier than some of the other guys. We had some non-divers waiting for us so we wanted to have some day left to do stuff with them.
Although I didn't rent gear some people in my group did. Her gear was actually pretty nice stuff. The wetsuits were all pretty new. Nice Seaquest BCDs that were in really good shape. Sherwood regs, etc... That sort of thing says a lot about an op to me that they don't just rent out junky, beat-up gear. And her rental prices were really reasonable. $5 a piece.
Although this wasn't the deciding factor it was a huge bonus - her prices are really good. $60 for a 2-tank.
Next time I'm in Cozumel I'll definitely dive with her again.
) These days we only book with her. And you hit it right on the nose when you said "she takes YOU diving, rather than you pay to go on THEIR dive service." It's like diving with a good friend. I've noticed I'm always more relaxed with her, my air consumption is much better, and it's just overall a great bit of fun. And these days I do consider her a good friend. It says a lot (to me anyway!) that our next 3 trips are all diving with her .... 
