Question December Port Closures & Dive Op
- Thread starter bdyslm
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And I'm saying they aren't the only ones that go there - we go there and many other places up North - as do others. They are unique sites, different in a way than in the park.
Wow! Thanks for all of the great info! To answer some of the more generic questions..
I'll be there 12/20-1/4. From the 21st-28th I am staying in town and will be diving with a dive op like Aldora, hence my search. On the 29th I check out and I'm getting a car and touring the island ultimately spending my afternoon learning to surf before I check in to Secrets and dive with their in-house shop (Dive House) until the 3rd. Just found out they don't dive on New Years' day because the chamber is closed down that day.
The surf instructor said I should do San Gervaiso in the morning because of the heat, but maybe he was just trying to sell me on having him do it when it works for his schedule. I've done Tulum, Coba, and Chichen Itza. I don't expect it to be anything like those but would still like to see it. I've also snorkeled the cenotes before getting certified and would really like to dive them. I'm ok with an early morning ferry ride. Yes, I may be trying to pack too much into 8 days, but I always over plan so I can roll with it with no stress once I'm there. However, I'd be willing to skip some of the diving at Secrets or some of the other activities in order to do some of the more advanced diving like the Aldora adventures trip.
I am under 100 dives. Currently 55, ~40 in Bonaire, ~10 in Bayahibe DR, 2 in Punta Cana, and one at the national aquarium in Baltimore. I have my AOW including Nitrox and Advanced Buoyancy and 6 others all through SDI. Im aware of the faux pas of mentioning certs but it was called out so I figured I'd mention it. If it's worth anything (probably not) my open-water checkout instructor told me at the end of 3 weeks in Bonaire that I looked like I had been diving for 5 years and was a natural. As a complete side note, she spent about 4 hours of class time with me on the Nitrox cert even walking me through the process while she was blending and filling tanks and had me analyzing all of those tanks (not just ours) just for repetition. The other instructor at her shop had me pulling spoons out of the sand with my mouth and playing tic-tac-toe underwater amongst other things during my AB class. I trimmed from 16lbs down to 8 and could have probably done 6 with some more effort. Point being...I would agree that the cert doesn't mean jack, I think it's all about the quality of the instruction you get in the water and how you apply that. But what do I know...I'm a noob but that's why I keep pushing for new and varied experiences. Right now I don't even know what I don't know about drift diving or diving in Coz. I'm ok with people judging me however they want to without having dived with me. I don't think I will have an issue getting approved for the more advanced dives, but who knows, I've only done one dive I would consider a "drift" dive in PC. I plan to start my trip with the drift diving cert just to get some knowledge of theory on it ahead of time. Also, I want to compare the e-learning for either PADI or SSI to SDI. Honestly, I thought the e-learning for SDI was trash on so many levels. Very poor content and clearly they didn't use an instructional designer. But that's beside the point. I also need to tune in my new BPW during the first day or two as it didn't arrive in time for my DR trip and I rented a different one from a shop in the DC area and took it with me.
I did find the spreadsheet that Christi was tracking the blown days on but it looks like she stopped tracking in 2018. Either way it gave me an idea that January seems to be the higher month but even still, on average we are talking 3-5 days a month and not 15-20 which is kind of what I was trying to figure out. ie did I make a bad choice deciding to go in December? I had actually booked a flight to Roatan and Utila for these same dates and then found out that December is the height of the rainy season. I don't want to spend my winter vacation in rain every day so I canceled it and booked Coz even though it's only a high probability. Likewise, I was looking at going to Raj Am Pat or the Philippines instead and found out that there are certain things that make Feb/March a better time to go. So when I started reading about the Nortes I was like, crap, did I just make a bad call on Coz in December. hence this thread. After some research, I'm totally comfortable with my decision and super excited about my trip. Any day on a tropical island and any day underwater in warm water is better than DC in the winter.
This might be a better summary of what I meant for the next question and this is the experience I'm looking for.
See above. Maybe I generalized too much or didn't articulate well enough in my attempt at expedience. Maybe I am snooty. I don't get to dive that much compared to some people I know, so the number of dives was a bad approach on my part. I've been around people who had been diving for 30-40 years and had 0 situational awareness. Kicked me in the head several different times. Dropped down on top of me several times. Literally, had someone swim right into me to shove me out of the way so they could get their $30k camera rig 2 inches from a seahorse I was checking out. Watched them repeatedly chase rays out into the blue yonder because they had to get those pics. I've also been with newer people who clearly didn't pay attention in class, who just skip all of their safety checks, and seemingly have no interest in perfecting their craft, burning through their air and ending the dive early for everyone else, putting themselves in risky situations that then impacts the rest of the group. I've watched people show up drunk to a night dive and my instructor/dm turn them away. I've watched people get on a dive boat drunk, and dive. I guess in the end there are a-holes in every group and it's a total crap shoot every time. But I would prefer to have a higher likelihood of diving with people in my tribe. To me being down there is a spiritual experience unlike anything else, so if I can ask some questions to try and separate the wheat from the chaff, thereby improving my chances of maximizing my time, money, and experience, then that's what I'm going to do. If I need to change my screen name to MrMcSnootyBooty then so be it. If there is a better way to ask that in the future to find what I am seeking, then please educate me. I'm here to learn.
Even though their website touts "guaranteed diving" by moving ops to the east side, I get the impression from my correspondence with them that they rarely do this and most likely it won't happen. It was odd how they tried to downplay/ignore it when I asked questions about it.
I'll be there 12/20-1/4. From the 21st-28th I am staying in town and will be diving with a dive op like Aldora, hence my search. On the 29th I check out and I'm getting a car and touring the island ultimately spending my afternoon learning to surf before I check in to Secrets and dive with their in-house shop (Dive House) until the 3rd. Just found out they don't dive on New Years' day because the chamber is closed down that day.
The surf instructor said I should do San Gervaiso in the morning because of the heat, but maybe he was just trying to sell me on having him do it when it works for his schedule. I've done Tulum, Coba, and Chichen Itza. I don't expect it to be anything like those but would still like to see it. I've also snorkeled the cenotes before getting certified and would really like to dive them. I'm ok with an early morning ferry ride. Yes, I may be trying to pack too much into 8 days, but I always over plan so I can roll with it with no stress once I'm there. However, I'd be willing to skip some of the diving at Secrets or some of the other activities in order to do some of the more advanced diving like the Aldora adventures trip.
I am under 100 dives. Currently 55, ~40 in Bonaire, ~10 in Bayahibe DR, 2 in Punta Cana, and one at the national aquarium in Baltimore. I have my AOW including Nitrox and Advanced Buoyancy and 6 others all through SDI. Im aware of the faux pas of mentioning certs but it was called out so I figured I'd mention it. If it's worth anything (probably not) my open-water checkout instructor told me at the end of 3 weeks in Bonaire that I looked like I had been diving for 5 years and was a natural. As a complete side note, she spent about 4 hours of class time with me on the Nitrox cert even walking me through the process while she was blending and filling tanks and had me analyzing all of those tanks (not just ours) just for repetition. The other instructor at her shop had me pulling spoons out of the sand with my mouth and playing tic-tac-toe underwater amongst other things during my AB class. I trimmed from 16lbs down to 8 and could have probably done 6 with some more effort. Point being...I would agree that the cert doesn't mean jack, I think it's all about the quality of the instruction you get in the water and how you apply that. But what do I know...I'm a noob but that's why I keep pushing for new and varied experiences. Right now I don't even know what I don't know about drift diving or diving in Coz. I'm ok with people judging me however they want to without having dived with me. I don't think I will have an issue getting approved for the more advanced dives, but who knows, I've only done one dive I would consider a "drift" dive in PC. I plan to start my trip with the drift diving cert just to get some knowledge of theory on it ahead of time. Also, I want to compare the e-learning for either PADI or SSI to SDI. Honestly, I thought the e-learning for SDI was trash on so many levels. Very poor content and clearly they didn't use an instructional designer. But that's beside the point. I also need to tune in my new BPW during the first day or two as it didn't arrive in time for my DR trip and I rented a different one from a shop in the DC area and took it with me.
I did find the spreadsheet that Christi was tracking the blown days on but it looks like she stopped tracking in 2018. Either way it gave me an idea that January seems to be the higher month but even still, on average we are talking 3-5 days a month and not 15-20 which is kind of what I was trying to figure out. ie did I make a bad choice deciding to go in December? I had actually booked a flight to Roatan and Utila for these same dates and then found out that December is the height of the rainy season. I don't want to spend my winter vacation in rain every day so I canceled it and booked Coz even though it's only a high probability. Likewise, I was looking at going to Raj Am Pat or the Philippines instead and found out that there are certain things that make Feb/March a better time to go. So when I started reading about the Nortes I was like, crap, did I just make a bad call on Coz in December. hence this thread. After some research, I'm totally comfortable with my decision and super excited about my trip. Any day on a tropical island and any day underwater in warm water is better than DC in the winter.
This might be a better summary of what I meant for the next question and this is the experience I'm looking for.
See above. Maybe I generalized too much or didn't articulate well enough in my attempt at expedience. Maybe I am snooty. I don't get to dive that much compared to some people I know, so the number of dives was a bad approach on my part. I've been around people who had been diving for 30-40 years and had 0 situational awareness. Kicked me in the head several different times. Dropped down on top of me several times. Literally, had someone swim right into me to shove me out of the way so they could get their $30k camera rig 2 inches from a seahorse I was checking out. Watched them repeatedly chase rays out into the blue yonder because they had to get those pics. I've also been with newer people who clearly didn't pay attention in class, who just skip all of their safety checks, and seemingly have no interest in perfecting their craft, burning through their air and ending the dive early for everyone else, putting themselves in risky situations that then impacts the rest of the group. I've watched people show up drunk to a night dive and my instructor/dm turn them away. I've watched people get on a dive boat drunk, and dive. I guess in the end there are a-holes in every group and it's a total crap shoot every time. But I would prefer to have a higher likelihood of diving with people in my tribe. To me being down there is a spiritual experience unlike anything else, so if I can ask some questions to try and separate the wheat from the chaff, thereby improving my chances of maximizing my time, money, and experience, then that's what I'm going to do. If I need to change my screen name to MrMcSnootyBooty then so be it. If there is a better way to ask that in the future to find what I am seeking, then please educate me. I'm here to learn.
Even though their website touts "guaranteed diving" by moving ops to the east side, I get the impression from my correspondence with them that they rarely do this and most likely it won't happen. It was odd how they tried to downplay/ignore it when I asked questions about it.
DiverN2H2O
Contributor
I agree, and I also have met many newbies and infrequent divers who were very comfortable in the water and had great buoyancy control, fin management, and consideration for the wildlife and other divers. To many of us in here you yourself are a bit of a newbie; it is a bit ironic for you to be saying that you don't want to dive with others who lack experience because they would interfere with your enjoyment of the dive.
bdslm,
I am ALWAYS judged when diving with a new dive op. Been diving over 25 years, have 700+ dives but I am only Open Water and Nitrox certified.
A dive master can tell within the 1st minutes if you are a good diver or not. The DM will ask my how my air is on multiple times during my 1st dive. My air (nitrox) consumption is usually excellent, have what a djve master said was pin point boyancy. I have done 100 min dives on occasion with Aldora 120's .
By the second day the DM maybe ask my air once toward the end.
I do suggest divers get Nitrox and advance open (even though I never did).
You will notice a big difference going from a valet dive operation to Dive house. I would not be surprised after the 1st day you switch back to your valet dive operator.
I am ALWAYS judged when diving with a new dive op. Been diving over 25 years, have 700+ dives but I am only Open Water and Nitrox certified.
A dive master can tell within the 1st minutes if you are a good diver or not. The DM will ask my how my air is on multiple times during my 1st dive. My air (nitrox) consumption is usually excellent, have what a djve master said was pin point boyancy. I have done 100 min dives on occasion with Aldora 120's .
By the second day the DM maybe ask my air once toward the end.
I do suggest divers get Nitrox and advance open (even though I never did).
You will notice a big difference going from a valet dive operation to Dive house. I would not be surprised after the 1st day you switch back to your valet dive operator.
I tried out a new op on my last trip a couple weeks ago and even with experience going back to 2-3 trips a year to Cozumel since 09, my buddy since 02, AOW, nitrox and hundreds of dives collectively we were placed with new divers and a 60 foot floor.
I have never ran into it before in Cozumel. Lesson learned for us, will be sticking with known ops moving forward.
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