Dive with Martin?

[tiggy]

My husband and I will be in Coz for one day this October. (Doing the sampler platter of the Western Caribbean.) I've gone through the reviews that I can find. They seem favorable, but I haven't seen too much that's recent.

We're interested in Dive with Martin because they're right on the pier where we dock, leave early (we get in at 6am), and have smaller boats. Both of us are new divers, if that influences your comments.

If you've used Dive with Martin recently, what was your opinion of them? Also, if at all possible, could you comment on their rental gear.

Thanks!

 

[Christi]

My husband and I will be in Coz for one day this October. (Doing the sampler platter of the Western Caribbean.) I've gone through the reviews that I can find. They seem favorable, but I haven't seen too much that's recent.

We're interested in Dive with Martin because they're right on the pier where we dock, leave early (we get in at 6am), and have smaller boats. Both of us are new divers, if that influences your comments.

If you've used Dive with Martin recently, what was your opinion of them? Also, if at all possible, could you comment on their rental gear.

Thanks!

Please make sure that they KNOW you are new divers. I cannot stress the importance of this enough.

I cannot comment on their rental equipment, as I haven't seen it recently. It seems like I read somewhere that they had purchased new BCD's recently, but someone who has actually rented their equipment will be able to speak to this better.

Have fun and write a trip report when you get back

 

[sharky60]

Just got back from diving with Martin last week, we own our own equipment, but several people on the boat were renting. the BC's looked fairly new, none were faded at all, and no one had any equipment problems while we were there.

 

[sprange]

While we brought our own gear, their rental gear appeared new (lack of fading/etc as was noted by Sharky). They had Faber LP 95 tanks available (din/yoke) and were generally filled to 2400 psi so the volume was comparable to the overfilled aluminum 80s. We found their package to be a good value and enjoyed the DMs/crew. The only downside of being situated at the cruise ship pier is diving with their passengers. They usually need to be back early and hence the dives will be closer/shorter, or reduced surface interval. This only happened to us once, however.

 

[herman]

We just returned from Coz diving with Martin as well and like the others, we took our own grear. The DM and captains were great and the boats were fine. The only down sides were, it was a little pita to get tanks for shore dives and the staff at one of the beach sites we stopped at during the SI on 2 tank dives was down right rude. Not Martin's fault but we insisted they take us to a different place the rest of the week. Plan on taking a few dollars with you, you may want something to drink or eat between dives. Martin does provide water and fruit.
You do need to discuss your level of experience and be comfortable doing free ascents and descents to/from 50 to 80 ft of water. You need to be able to do safety stops while hanging in open water. Oh yea, most of his boats require you to do a back roll off the side rail of the boat, my wife was not to happy about it the first time

 

[Hooked4Life]

I personally did not Dive with Martin, but I spoke to some of the divers who were at our hotel. They dove with Martin and they seemed very pleased with their service. They were repeat customers. They do group the divers by leval of experience so please let them know in advance.

There are many good dive ops on Cozumel. The only things I can recommend is read plenty of trip reports and PM people to get their thoughts.

 

[tiggy]

Thanks for the comments! Since we're on one of those ships, Dive with Martin sounds like a reasonably good fit for us.

Christi, at this point, I'm tempted to tatoo NEWBIE on my forehead. I'll be sure to make sure they're very well aware of our lack of experience. And if it comes to it, we simply won't dive if we think we're in over our heads. That much I've learned from reading the boards.

Five of our six checkout dives were considered drift dives, so we're ok with free ascents and descents. Haven't done a backroll entry before, but there's always a first time for everything.

Once again, thank you! And yes, I'll be writing a trip report when we get back.

 

[Cozoholic]

Haven't done a backroll entry before, but there's always a first time for everything.

.

Thats the BEST PART !

 

[Christi]

Thanks for the comments! Since we're on one of those ships, Dive with Martin sounds like a reasonably good fit for us.

Christi, at this point, I'm tempted to tatoo NEWBIE on my forehead. I'll be sure to make sure they're very well aware of our lack of experience. And if it comes to it, we simply won't dive if we think we're in over our heads. That much I've learned from reading the boards.

Five of our six checkout dives were considered drift dives, so we're ok with free ascents and descents. Haven't done a backroll entry before, but there's always a first time for everything.

Once again, thank you! And yes, I'll be writing a trip report when we get back.

You're going to have a great time! Since you've drift dove before, that's half the battle, so I think you'll be just fine

Just for clarification, I was not being insulting at all by telling you to make sure they are well aware of your level. I hope you didn't take it that way. Many people are not up front or assume the dive op will know about their level and they end up on the wrong boat, and I just wanted to make sure you didn't end up in that situation.

Becky is right, the backroll is also half the fun!

 

[Strat Planner]

We have used Dive with Martin several times and have always had very good experiences with the staff, boat captians, and DM's. We did the "western swing" on a cruise ship recently with a stop in Cozumel. I had emailed "Martin" in advance to coordinate our dives and that worked very well.

If possible request "Orlando" as the DM. He is great! We have dove with him several times and it was always a pleasurable experience. He keeps everyone on the boat very attentive to his divers.

Now the chances that he is availble will depend on your day of arrival, and the boats schedule. I know it is rare for him to be available for the cruise ship slots, but it never hurts to ask.

Good Luck.