Dive With Martin King Diver

[scubafanatic]

...dove with DWM July '03 and had a good time.........it was my 1st time in Cozumel, heck it was my first time to dive Blue Water! .......... My dive buddy and I special requested LP95's, the other divers used AL80's......after a couple of dives, they even began to 'issue' LP95's to one of the lady divers too (free of charge) as they insisted she use them due to her high air consumption....which was as 'bad' a mine!

Cozumel dive ops used a centralized fill station, so I was a little disappointed not to get the capacity of fills I'm used to locally....if I remember correctly I was averaging 2300--2400 psi 'cool', thus the 95's didn't provide a big advantage over an AL 80 ....a 95 @ 2400 psi is only 86 cu. ft....but I was grateful for even a small advantage.

I don't blame DWM for the fills....they use the island's centralized fill station, just like everyone else ( FYI, I think Christi from Blue XT Sea said there are now 2 centralized fill stations on Coz now.)

I used HP 120's with Liquid Blue in Oct '03, and noticed my fills ranged 3100--3200 psi 'cool', and these were 3500 psi rated tanks.....so at 3200 psi it's 'only' 110 cu. ft.....but still a nice improvement over an AL 80.

Karl

 

[Upwelling]

What kind of experience level do you need to go on the King package? Is PADI advanced enough?

 

[5615mike]

What kind of experience level do you need to go on the King package? Is PADI advanced enough?

Yes

 

[chuck41]

Has anyone out there use DWM King Diver Package? We have dove with Martin before and have nothing but good to say about the whole op but this year we are looking into there King Diver Package which is using steel 95 with 1 hour plus bottom times and going to the less traveled sites. If anyone out there has used this package before please let me know if it is worth the extra $$.

Just got back from Coz and had four days with DwM. Had DMs Allejandro, George, Pablo, and Roberto. They are different, but all good. Tell them what you want and they will work with you, but they have to consider the other folks on the boat as well.

I did go with Orlando a year ago one of my days when I was down there, and he was also great. I was a new diver then and even though they put 95s on me I was the first back on the boat that first day. After a couple days I went to 80s and did fine. This time with the 80s I was one of the last ones on the boat each time.

If you have a group of folks to make up a boatload (4) the King package is probably great. Otherwise it might or might not make a lot of difference depending on the other folks on the boat. There is also more flexibility for the special locations if you have a group to make up a full boatload.

My nine regular dives this trip (with 80s) averaged 53 minutes and ranged from a low of 39 minutes (104') to 64 minutes (45'). Only on the night dive did the DM require we all get back on the boat when the first person ran low on air.