Dive group size?

[elora_c]

Are there regulations on how large of a group a single guide can take? I know many places say a max of 8, but I didn't know if there was an actual rule.

If one of the guests is a certified dive master/instructor, does that not count towards the total?

Thanks.

 

[cicopo]

8 to 1 as far as I know AND the DM must be (not sure of the correct term) licensed by the Marine Park Authorities.

 

[NDL_Diver]

8 to 1 is correct, however larger "cattle" boats put 2 or or more DM in the water depending on group size. So the cattle boats can have 16 or more divers in the water. They can even advertise "No more than 8 divers per group", but they don'say how many groups.

Most of the boutique dive shops limit it to 6 - 8 divers per boat, one DM and a boat Capitan. If asking a dive shop a question, it is better to ask what their maximum divers per boat and what kind of boat(s) they have.

Some of the big boats can split the group better than others by off-setting the drop off. Some don't and put a DM in front and one on back with a swarm of divers in the middle.

I stick to the small fast boats.

Al

 

[mstevens]

If one of the guests is a certified dive master/instructor, does that not count towards the total?

No. In terms of the Marine Park rules, what's required is certified Marine Park guides, not just DM's. I've been to some Cozumel dive sites many, many times but I'm nowhere near competent to guide divers at those sites.

Besides, I've dived with PLENTY of DM's, Instructors, or whatever who are outright dangerous and with Junior Open Water divers who are fantastic. What matters in terms of safety is experience and skill, not cards.

I stick to the small fast boats.

That is the correct answer!

The dive shops preferred by most here use small, fast boats and have great staff.

 

[elora_c]

Thanks, that's what I thought. Which is why I was very surprised when my first dive with a 'boutique' op (repeat customer, too) had 10 divers and only one guide. Doing a drift dive with 10 was not fun. Traffic jam whenever anything interesting was found. Fortunately, only that one trip was that bad. The other trips had that many on the boat sometimes, but at least several people were with a private dive instructor.

Thanks.

 

[mediumone]

Junior Open Water divers who are fantastic. What matters in terms of safety is experience and skill, not cards.

One of my pet peeves is when a op or DM makes some assumptions based on either age or number of dives.

I remember a July trip when my youngest turned 13, and the oldest was 14, (15 in Oct), for their 17th dive. The DM took us to Palancar Bricks for a swim-through dive. Dropped in to 60', continued to 93, then hit every swim-through that got in our way. All of us had a blast, and those kids kicked ass. It's possible that they might have touched the reef.

 

[JamesBon92007]

For some reason I thought it was six but perhaps that was the company policy at Scuba Club.

 

[Christi]

Are there regulations on how large of a group a single guide can take? I know many places say a max of 8, but I didn't know if there was an actual rule.

If one of the guests is a certified dive master/instructor, does that not count towards the total?

Thanks.

Per local Marine Park regulations, the ratio is 8:1 MAX and the DM or Instructor must be a legal to work in Mexico as well as be a certified Marine Park Guide in good standing - so this excludes tourist divers who happen to be DM's/Instructors. Even though the ratio is 8:1, IMO this is still too many especially if there are novice divers in the group. I would also not onsider a boat that took 10 divers as "boutique" unless this was a special exception and the 10 divers were part of a single dive group that requested to be on one boat - even so, that situation would require 2 local DM's per local regulations.

 

[elora_c]

It was 3Ps. There were two groups of 1, one group of 2, and one group of 6. I can only assume the group of 6 was added last, and something got mixed up. But it wasn't enjoyable. Thanks for all the confirmations. I think I'll be looking elsewhere for next year's trip (Christi, first, probably). Just too many little things with 3Ps.

 

[DjDiverDan]

I'd be interested in knowing when the Marine Park started enforcing the 8-1 ratio of divers to DMs. My one and only experience with a cattle boat operation was years and years ago - December of 1994, maybe '95, IIRC. My Dad died in 1990, and my Mother was still grieving and hated staying home for Christmas, too many painful memories. So I took her to Cozumel for Christmas week, stayed at the El Cid/La Cieba. I booked dives with the house dive op, Aqua Safari (I think?), and got put on a big boat, 22 or 23 divers with 2 DMs. They put everyone in the water at the same time, one DM to lead the group, one DM at the rear to herd the stragglers. It was awful. I cancelled the rest of my dives with Aqua Safari and finished the week with Dive with Martin.

So I gather that putting 20+ divers into the water with 2 DMs is no longer allowed - though I guess that they can still do 16 divers with 2 DMs (or 24 with 3 DMs) now. When was the 8-1 rule implemented? And are there any cattle boat operators on Cozumel that still follow the practice of dumping a big group of people off all at once with a couple of DMs?