Cozumel’s diving is so “rushed”

[Snoweman]

I really don't understand the OP's complaints. I would think solutions to a lot of the "rushes" are quite simple (other may be more difficult or expensive).

Don't stay at a hotel. Get an AirBnB and wake up around 4:00 AM and make breakfast. Keep the pan high off the burner so the eggs can get relaxed before they are fried. Isn't there a horse drawn carriage company? Hire them to take you to the marina. Get there around 7:30, and mosey on over to the boat and relax while the rest of the folks show up. I think the bathrooms are open 24 hours, so you can take a very relaxed constitutional.

Now, getting the boat to slow down will be difficult, but this will give you some freedom, too. While the boat is rushing to the reefs, leisurely put on your gear. Then you can nap while the others put on theirs. After they all backroll in at the same time (which I've never actually seen simultaneous backrolls), wait... Maybe do a forward roll while everyone is getting to the bottom. Take your time and let the upper level current take you where it wants - you will have plenty of time to relax while the boat searches for you at the end of the dive.

Don't worry about getting out of the heavy gear. You will have at least 30 minutes to do this while other are rushing to eat snacks and do a bathroom break during the surface interval. Now that you're out of your gear, you can start putting it back on before everyone else starts the bum's rush to get theirs on for the second dive. Again, take your time getting in and getting down. You will once again have a long, refreshing float while the boat tries to find you.

Of course, the easiest solution is to charter a boat for yourself and whomever else you wish to join you. Leave when you want, dive when you want, and return when you want (within reason), without holding up other people that want to get more out of their day.

 

[keepdivin]

Great thread on diving options on Cozumel.

Do your homework on picking a dive op. That's why Baskin Robins has 31 flavors right?

I'll be diving in June and diving 3P's for the first time. I booked with an expectation of having an early start. With an early start I hope for an efficient operation that doesn't waste my time sitting and waiting in the marina when we could be out diving and getting the day going. Staying downtown I appreciate getting back and enjoying lunch with a few cerveza's and then time for siesta. Evening time options for drinks, socializing and dinner.

I've had plenty of experience with dive ops on the Island and always look forward to different styles of diving and book that with in mind. That's what makes Cozumel special, something for everyone. If you like to sleep in pick that dive op. If you want an early start look for that dive time. Same with boats due you favor small fast 6 packs or larger groups and slower boats due your research and plan ahead?

Just make sure you save time for tacos, cerveza, and tequila. IF that's YOUR flavor.

Keepdivin

 

[uncfnp]

This is tough. Dogbowl is right in that a dive vacation can be hectic. It has little to do with Cozumel or 3P’s itself but everything to do with the choices one makes. It is as simple as what do you want for your vacation. If the focus is relaxation make your choices accordingly. In Cozumel, make your plans so that you can wake late, or eat a leisurely breakfast. Maybe plan afternoon dives. Or wake early and eat light then plan a long lunch and afternoon siesta.

Then there are those of us that may view dive trips as adventures and want to make the most of it. And so we plan accordingly. And yes, sometimes (ok a lot of the time) I am working with time requirements and schedules. It helps to be organized and plan ahead. For me its not about the pace to the dive but the pace of the dive.

Even in Bonaire where we dive on our on schedule we rush ourselves trying to pack so many dives into our week.

So yes, I agree with Dogbowl that staying at CM and diving 3P’s morning dives can make for a hectic morning and its probably not the best choice for the op.

 

[ReefHound]

The problem here is the thread title - "Cozumel's diving is so rushed". It is not. There is a huge variety of options and the option the OP chose may be more time "efficient" than others but that should not be an indictment of Cozumel in general. Maybe not even any particular op since nobody can know much less control how someone else "feels". OP "feels" rushed when no one has asked them to hurry up.

Maybe OP "feels" rushed simply because others are choosing to be efficient. Why would one feel "rushed" based on the taxi ride in morning traffic? You're not driving, close your eyes and take a nap. Why would one feel "rushed" based on the speed the captain is driving the boat? (Should it be trolling at no-wake speed?) Close your eyes and take a nap. The DM usually says they will give 5 minutes notice from site so you can start gearing up. If you want to do it more leisurely, start doing soon after underway. And just how long does one want to wear heavy scuba gear on their back once they get out of the water? Why would one feel "rushed" because others want to have their gear packed before arrival back at marina so they can immediately grab a taxi to hotel? Wait until back at marina, pack it slowly, and take a later taxi.

Agtain, I have no problem with anyone who wants to "take their time" and slowpoke like molasses but I do have a problem with one that wants to impose that pace on me and everyone else.

 

[Streydog]

I get what the OP us saying about feeling rushed in Cozumel. I don't mind though because I am so amped up about being able to go diving. I usually wolf down a plate of food and am walking down the stairs at the Mexicana breakfast by 7:10 then hanging out on the dock checking my watch wondering where all the other divers are. On the boat I am defogging my mask before we get past the cruise ships. At the end of two tank I also rush to get all my gear stowed away so I can enjoy the ride back. I do enjoy the relaxing 1.5 + hour SI sitting at the beach. I think as others have suggested staying somewhere closer to the reefs might give the OP the experience they are looking for.

I spent a week in Roatan a couple years ago and dove with West End divers. They had a set schedule of three single tanks a day. Their boat could easily handle 20 divers but there was never more than 6 the whole week. Dives were limited to an hour, very short boat rides, and they handled all your gear. If you wanted to dive a certain trip, you just wrote your name on the board. Of course I dove every dive possible that week. It was a very different vibe than what I am used to in Cozumel.

 

[deepsea21]

For the benefit of others who may use this thread for research, might be worth explaining about this. IIRC, Casa Mexicana's breakfast buffet opens at 7 a.m. Divers gather at Tres Pelicano's dive shop at 7:45 a.m. (and sit around a bit, before loading into vehicles for transport to the marina). You can walk out the front of Casa Mexicana, turn right, walk a short distance, take another right, and walk down the block to T.P.'s shop. Depending on how fast you walk, maybe 5 or 10 minutes?

Breakfast is a nice, long buffet, no waiting to order, and my 8-day stay there was generally easy access, without having to wait in a slow line.

My point is, you're looking about about 35+ minutes for breakfast. Decide for yourself whether that sounds leisurely, rushed or somewhere in the middle.

Quite frankly, I'd MUCH prefer an early breakfast from 7:00AM to 7:35AM than to sleep later, eat later and dive later. 35 minutes for breakfast is more than enough time for me... I mean how long does it take an adult to eat a plate of food taken from a buffet who doesn't play with it like a toddler (or doesn't spend 15 minutes taking pics of everything and posting them real time on social media to rub where they are and what they are doing in all their "friends" noses who aren't on vaca)? Last December we were among the few people (virtually all divers) who were at the breakfast buffet when it opened at 7:00AM as the sun was just starting to rise. We had the buffet to ourselves and Santa was there working the grill always starting my wife's waffles and my scrambled egg with cheese for my usual self-made bacon or sausage egg and cheese sandwich without us even asking as she quickly remembered our daily routine from prior visits. On the few days we missed diving due to port closures the breakfast buffet became an absolute zoo with a hostess managing a wait-list by 9AM or so. Yup, even if I weren't diving I'd be up early at the breakfast buffet at the opening to enjoy what I consider to be a relaxed 35 minute breakfast than that managed chaos when all the relaxed vacationers staying at the Casa and its sister hotels decide to wake up and eat. When peak season hit the week of X-mas it wasn't uncommon to come back from morning dives around 12:30PM and find the buffet STILL open getting the last late sleepers fed... FREE LUNCH FOR ME!

 

[deepsea21]

I think as others have suggested staying somewhere closer to the reefs might give the OP the experience they are looking for.

Streydog... A friend of mine has been vacationing at a southern AI for decades. He dives with Dive With Martin. He did say one of the issues he has diving with DWM instead of the house op is DWM leaves early and there is no breakfast buffet set up before he has to be on the pier for the the pick-up. I think he mentioned that there was coffee and such and some trays of continental breakfast set up early that he grabs a few danishes from or something but the BIG breakfast isn't out that early. He is always back before noon and goes straight into lunch. So, AI's may work if one dives with the house dive op that may leave later but if one wants the type of dive experience a boutique dive op offers that may pick up earlier a sacrifice may need to be made in terms of the type of breakfast that is available to them.

 

[ReefHound]

I love me a breakfast buffet but I find my air consumption and diving comfort is better on an empty stomach. Or at least not a full stomach.

 

[chillyinCanada]

For the life of me, I do not understand why some of you are taking exception to Dogbowl's OP.

It is *his* perception of how *his* experience has been for *him*. Fortunately, he's taking all the criticism well but it's so darned unnecessary and in some instances, down right rude.

Please consider the OP vs the title of the OP.

 

[ReefHound]

For the life of me, I do not understand why some of you are taking exception to Dogbowl's OP.

It is *his* perception of how *his* experience has been for *him*. Fortunately, he's taking all the criticism well but it's so darned unnecessary and in some instances, down right rude.

Please consider the OP vs the title of the OP.

Please do. The thread title and the first post was not a statement about his "perception" but a blanket declaration of how Cozumel diving is. The exception people are taking is to point out his "experience" is the result of his "choices" and that Cozumel offers many different options. Don't like eating breakfast at 7am and being at shop at 7:40am? Rather than whine about being "rushed" for breakfast, choose an op that leaves at 8:30am and you can have a leisurely breakfast and play with your food.

You should also be aware that it is not only the OP in a thread that gets to share their perceptions and opinions. It is perfectly reasonable for others to disagree that Cozumel diving feels rushed. If having a different opinion and voicing that opinion constitutes unwarranted criticism, then might as welll close down the forums.