Dive shop bait and switch Cozumel

[jonhall]

I asked for advanced recreational dive.

I think that the true advanced rec dives are located either at the north end or south end of the island and whether an op goes to them is dictated by the conditions. Even if requested, it's dependent on the conditions.

It's too bad you didn't get the sites you requested but, as a few others have indicated and is my experience in Cozumel, sites are generally chosen the day of the dive by divers on the boat that day or dictated by the level of the less skilled diver. I've come to the conclusion, whether in Coz or elsewhere, you get what you get when it comes to recreational diving but can always hope for the best.

 

[boulderjohn]

I think that the true advanced rec dives are located either at the north end or south end of the island and whether an op goes to them is dictated by the conditions. Even if requested, it's dependent on the conditions.

It's too bad you didn't get the sites you requested but, as a few others have indicated and is my experience in Cozumel, sites are generally chosen the day of the dive by divers on the boat that day or dictated by the level of the less skilled diver. I've come to the conclusion, whether in Coz or elsewhere, you get what you get when it comes to recreational diving but can always hope for the best.

Unless things have changed since I was there last, that is not true with some operators. I usually knew the day before a dive where I would be going, because it was arranged during the surface interval the day before. Almost all the boats for the operator did their SIs in the same location, and the manager walked around asking people where they wanted to go the next day and putting together the groups to do those dives.

If they knew you from previous trips, that could also be a factor. One year I was waiting for the boat on my first day of the trip, and when it pulled up they immediately asked if I was OK to do Maracaibo (an advanced site), and I said "sure."

You can also have advanced dives on some of the regularly visited sites if the DM knows the divers are able to do them. WIth a different operator, I was once grouped with some serious photographers on Palancar Gardens, a fairly ordinary site. There was no current at all, and those photographers were delighted to spend the entire dive in once location while I watched. The DM signaled me to follow him, and while the photographers went about their business, he led me through some spectacular swim-throughs that I doubt few divers have ever seen. That dive was only possible because of the lack of current and the fact that the DM saw I was up to the dive.

 

[jonhall]

that is not true with some operators

Granted that not all ops are the same. Until my last trip, Nov/Dec 2021, so 2017 and earlier, I don't recall ever being asked what site we wanted to visit. Two of those ops were resort ops with scheduled dive sites, so you could know the dives the next day. I dove with 3 different ops my last trip and all asked - after only diving 1 day with the first op, the next day I dove with them, the DM just told the boat captain, "lets go to Punta Sur." I got the feeling that some of the regular divers with the op were surprised at the choice, but these were guys who have been diving with the op for years - for me, I'd only done a quick shore dive and the 1 day since my last dives pre-pandemic - surprised, but excited that we went - guess I did okay the previous day.

You can also have advanced dives on some of the regularly visited sites if the DM knows the divers are able to do them.

I wanted to ask of the original poster what they considered advanced. What would you say, as an instructor, makes a regular site more advanced? Depth, drift, swim-throughs??

I have been with DM's who, with a mixed bag of divers, have led the whole group through swim-throughs and others who simply went over them. Last trip on first dive with a different op, the DM let another diver and myself do a nice swim through while he stayed with the other 3 divers - as I recall, it was Santa Rosa Wall. I got the feeling that, for me, the DM's were a little more lenient than in the past.

 

[boulderjohn]

I wanted to ask of the original poster what they considered advanced. What would you say, as an instructor, makes a regular site more advanced? Depth, drift, swim-throughs??

Many years ago, I did a dive at Palancar caves, a wonderful site with swim-throughs and a labyrinth of coral structures through which one could weave a truly delightful dive. In this dive, however, we descended, went outside the wall, and then drifted along there, not going into the reef a single time. After the dive, I challenged the DM on that, and he said one of the divers looked a little too new to do such a dive.

 

[horn34]

There are very few operators on Cozumel that won't lie to you and stick you on a boat with complete noobs, despite agreeing to every request/demand you make. I've had it happen with several boutique ops over the years including 3P and Aldora. The only op I never had an issue with was Living Underwater, since both times I used them, my group was the only one on the boat. But they generally book experienced repeat diver business anyway, so check them out next time.