mtnredhed
Registered
We were down there 22-29 jul 2004. I'll report them in the order we dove them. I've been to Coz more than a few times and dove with about 5 different operators prior to this trip. I'd used DeepBlue before, and liked them. Staying at the Iberostar is great if you want to see the southern reefs, but you do miss a lot of the reef fish sites further up the coast
Dressel Divers. This is the house shop for Iberostar resorts, and since we were staying there, we tried them first. Dressel is corporate diving and is primarily geared to the resort diver (new/infrequent divers) . Pre-dive, we had to fill out the PADI health survey, and be cleared by a MD for any positives. The trips are all to pre-scheduled destinations. DM's were well equiped and professional, but not really there to show you anything special. Boats were all DAN oxy equiped with radios. Pre-dive briefing was adequate My group was 8 divers, but the other groups look like they might have run more, and multiple groups on a big boat. They pump their own air, but nitrox has to be hauled in. Expensive ($72/2 tank dive) with a %10 discount for hard currencies. Basically, when the first divers run out, everyone starts up. Big boats with dive platforms on the sterns. Rentals were also pretty step. They did have a nice dunk tank on site. Water, but no soda or fruit for the SIT
Black Shark. We booked them through the applevacations desk at the Iberostar. Pretty much the other end of the spectrum from Dressel. They never even asked to see our C-cards. The DM was nice enough, but you could tell we were weren't diving very high on the food chain, if you get my drift. Basically a ride (fast boat), a tank, and a weightbelt. $55/2 tank dive. water during the SIT. I felt like they pushed the suface time, but our aladins didn't complain, so I guess we were good. I didn't see any oxygen, but they did at least have a radio. They did let you dive till either you or the DM (not likely) were at 700psi. They did have us do 2 safety stops for the deep dive. The aladins said we never got closer than 8 minutes to our NDL's, but it was probably not a bad idea. Getting them to bring my nitrox was hit or miss.
DeepBlue. Only got to dive with them one day this time due to some other things that came up. Checked C-cards and filled out the health survey. Fast boats, radios, saw a DAN sticker, but not the kit (could have been stowed). Very knowledgeable, sharp eyed and well equiped DM. Very good briefing. $65/2 tank dive, but 6% charge for paying with plastic. Fast boats with fruit, soda, and water for the surface time. Dove till we hit 700. We were told to wait for boat to pick up. Both my son and I felt that DeepBlue's DM was a much better guide. We had about 4 people to a DM, but I don't know if that was standard.
In general, viz was about 100ft, but late in the week we ran into "chunks" in the water (maybe 1-2 mm), could have been washout from heavy rains. water temp was 82F or warmer. Seems like all the better equiped DM's have finger reels and "sausages". Early risers are told to stay near the line.
I should note that it doesn't look like Iberostar/Dressel is hassling the other dive ops now.
Dressel Divers. This is the house shop for Iberostar resorts, and since we were staying there, we tried them first. Dressel is corporate diving and is primarily geared to the resort diver (new/infrequent divers) . Pre-dive, we had to fill out the PADI health survey, and be cleared by a MD for any positives. The trips are all to pre-scheduled destinations. DM's were well equiped and professional, but not really there to show you anything special. Boats were all DAN oxy equiped with radios. Pre-dive briefing was adequate My group was 8 divers, but the other groups look like they might have run more, and multiple groups on a big boat. They pump their own air, but nitrox has to be hauled in. Expensive ($72/2 tank dive) with a %10 discount for hard currencies. Basically, when the first divers run out, everyone starts up. Big boats with dive platforms on the sterns. Rentals were also pretty step. They did have a nice dunk tank on site. Water, but no soda or fruit for the SIT
Black Shark. We booked them through the applevacations desk at the Iberostar. Pretty much the other end of the spectrum from Dressel. They never even asked to see our C-cards. The DM was nice enough, but you could tell we were weren't diving very high on the food chain, if you get my drift. Basically a ride (fast boat), a tank, and a weightbelt. $55/2 tank dive. water during the SIT. I felt like they pushed the suface time, but our aladins didn't complain, so I guess we were good. I didn't see any oxygen, but they did at least have a radio. They did let you dive till either you or the DM (not likely) were at 700psi. They did have us do 2 safety stops for the deep dive. The aladins said we never got closer than 8 minutes to our NDL's, but it was probably not a bad idea. Getting them to bring my nitrox was hit or miss.
DeepBlue. Only got to dive with them one day this time due to some other things that came up. Checked C-cards and filled out the health survey. Fast boats, radios, saw a DAN sticker, but not the kit (could have been stowed). Very knowledgeable, sharp eyed and well equiped DM. Very good briefing. $65/2 tank dive, but 6% charge for paying with plastic. Fast boats with fruit, soda, and water for the surface time. Dove till we hit 700. We were told to wait for boat to pick up. Both my son and I felt that DeepBlue's DM was a much better guide. We had about 4 people to a DM, but I don't know if that was standard.
In general, viz was about 100ft, but late in the week we ran into "chunks" in the water (maybe 1-2 mm), could have been washout from heavy rains. water temp was 82F or warmer. Seems like all the better equiped DM's have finger reels and "sausages". Early risers are told to stay near the line.
I should note that it doesn't look like Iberostar/Dressel is hassling the other dive ops now.
