Dive House - Scuba Du

[PurpleBleeder]

Been a Dive House loyalist for 4 years. Can't say enough good things about their dive masters and crew. This is our 5th year to Cozumel in a row. First 3 at Fiesta and Dive house. Last year we stayed at Cozumel Palace and I cabbed it to Fiesta to dive with the Dive House.

This year we are at Presidente. So I have Scuba Du right there. And I meet a few of them a couple years back. Seems like a good operation.

Anyone know where Dive House is stationed now? Do they have a shop at one of the hotels? I love to have a shop at the dock. Swap out a wet suit, gear. Hang out. I did the "pick me up at the dock" thing last year. It's fine but I prefer everything right there.

Opinions on Scuba Du?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Diver Kat]

From the front page of their website .....
"Dive House has four locations on the island; the MAIN PLAZA of town, Hotel SECRETS AURA, Hotel SUNSCAPE SABOR and Hotel CASA DEL MAR."

And from their News page ..... DIVE HOUSE is pleased to announce the opening of our NEW full service dive shops at the Hotels Secrets AURA & Sunscape SABOR Cozumel!


Guess they found somewhere to settle after Fiesta Americana closed for remodeling. Although they do still have the link to FA's main page on their website. So maybe they'll go back if FA ever opens again?

 

[Mike]

The best way to understand the differences between those two dive ops is to consider who they cater to. Scuba Du at the presidente is a boutique dive operator as there are a lot less divers staying at the Presidente. Think, smaller more personal service catering to a higher level of clientel with higher expectations.

 

[messenone]

The best way to understand the differences between those two dive ops is to consider who they cater to. Scuba Du at the presidente is a boutique dive operator as there are a lot less divers staying at the Presidente. Think, smaller more personal service catering to a higher level of clientel with higher expectations.

Plus one on what Mike said!

We stayed at El Presidente in July, 2011 (so this makes my review not the most recent : ) ) and we were very happy with Scuba Du.

Our dive master was Hector who I think is no longer with them. If you are not going to dive with Scuba Du look up Hector.
He risked his life for our group when he bulleted to almost the surface for one of the divers.
He calmed her down and everything went smoothly after that.
Here is his facebook profile: " https://www.facebook.com/drumfish75?fref=ts "

Walk out your bedroom, go to the little dock there and you are done. You dont even load your own things on to the boat.
When you finish your dive you can rinse your equipment there at the dock or just take them back to your room .

Very good service.

 

[Darol]

Hector left went to Liquid Blue, and left them and now is with Black Shark I think.

 

[Mossman]

The best way to understand the differences between those two dive ops is to consider who they cater to. Scuba Du at the presidente is a boutique dive operator as there are a lot less divers staying at the Presidente. Think, smaller more personal service catering to a higher level of clientel with higher expectations.

I would consider 3 of their 5 boats to be cattle boats ("we take a max. 10-12 divers for comfort"). Many people who dive with an in-house hotel dive op on Cozumel simply don't know any better. Cattle boats and divers who don't know any better scream out "newbie" to me, not "higher level of clientel [sic] with higher expectations." Unless, by "higher level" you just mean more money?

---------- Post added February 10th, 2014 at 12:39 PM ----------

I thought this part of ScubaDu's website was interesting: "NOTE: For safety Scuba Du requires a Private DiveMaster for any diver that is extremely overweight."

I wonder how they define "extremely overweight" and who gets to tell the overweight diver the good news?

 

[Mike]

Yep, more money, more hand holding. However you want to look at it, I think it's an accurate description by saying the two dive operations are very different and cater to different types of clientele.

I thought this part of ScubaDu's website was interesting: "NOTE:For safety Scuba Du requires a Private DiveMaster for any diver that is extremely overweight."

Probably the same way all Mexican dive masters discretely sugar coat and avoid confrontation, probably no differently then how they make up a plausible excuse about current or viz or something else stopping them from going to a dive site that they don't believe the diver is experienced enough to do after watching them dive a couple of times.

 

[Skittl1321]

I thought this part of ScubaDu's website was interesting: "NOTE:For safety Scuba Du requires a Private DiveMaster for any diver that is extremely overweight."

I wonder what the justification for that is. Is overweight really much higher of a risk factor than the bajillion of other things that might be wrong with a diver?

 

[Mossman]

Probably the same way all Mexican dive masters discretely sugar coat and avoid confrontation, probably no differently then how they make up a plausible excuse about current or viz or something else stopping them from going to a dive site that they don't believe the diver is experienced enough to do after watching them dive a couple of times.

"Senor, there is so much of you that you need your own DM"

Not sure if there is any way of sugarcoating that. It's easy to lie about a current to a newbie, but how do you tell them you're charging double because they're so fat? I wonder if Scuba Du has any ex-Southwest flight attendants as DMs?

---------- Post added February 10th, 2014 at 02:30 PM ----------

I wonder what the justification for that is. Is overweight really much higher of a risk factor than the bajillion of other things that might be wrong with a diver?

I could see charging double if they took up so much space on the boat that they had to take less divers. Besides the DCS concerns from more fatty tissue (which can be alleviated by conservative profiles and diving nitrox), the number one concern would be a heart condition. However, this wouldn't require an extra DM to mitigate. A good boat captain will ensure the diver doesn't have to swim and the diver can doff his gear in the water just like I do with Living Underwater. It sure doesn't seem fair to fat rich people who stay at El Presidente.

This is not the first time I've seen a weight restriction for diving. When I was looking at excursions the last time I took a cruise, mainly to see how much money I'd be saving by booking on my own, I noticed that one excursion listed a maximum weight of 250 lbs for divers. It's possible this was due to equipment concerns, i.e. not have outsized wetsuits, but there wasn't any exception for divers with their own gear. Weird.

 

[sddiver]

I wonder what the justification for that is. Is overweight really much higher of a risk factor than the bajillion of other things that might be wrong with a diver?

From a cardiac standpoint, absolutely. I've seen big folks that are very nimble and athletic, and also seen others that look like they are ten steps away from a wheelchair and O2. The second group shouldn't be diving, but have meet some on dive boats. Either way immersion in water has certain affects on the body that create stress for everyone. The obese already are at great stress on their cardiac functions.
Good luck being the decision maker on this call, good thing its Mexico, in the US somehow I see a policy like this inviting douche bag lawyers. Apologies to any douche bags offended by that.

Rich