Diving with Fantasea in Playa del Carmen

[Oside Jimc]

OK, what is it with this Jason? Why is he so great?.

Personal, professional service from a genuinely nice guy. He bends over backwards to make sure you have a great time, makes sure you are doing dives within your comfort zone. He takes the time and is wiling to burn a little extra gas to get to many less well known spots (Isoletes for example, I was amazed by the dive), so while yes, most ops in PDC are running smaller boats, they all seemed to be congregated on the same spots (On the way to Isoletes we passed one spot with no less than 6 boats on it, IMO a small spot loaded with divers is still a cattle call, yuck).

Have I dove every op in PDC to compare? No, those who have are welcome to post reviews, but apparently do not seem to have had the outstanding experiences that make them want to. Personally if it aint broke don't fix it so I'm counting the days until I get back next year to dive with Jason again.

 

[DET]

I have dove with a few shops in PDC with quite similar experiences. Although, I liked a particular shop, I had a hard time contacting them for reservations this past winter. So, I searched and dove with another. We enjoyed our dives and we tipped.

On the same trip to Mexico we arranged for dives in Cozumel. What a difference in shops and service. Apples and oranges. I felt like I tipped too much in PDC, so, I tipped more in Coz. But, I expected a difference because I knew what was included with the dives and the cost reflected that. In a sense, I got what I paid for.

In my search I did not find a similar shop in PDC like the one in COZ. Maybe I missed something. But when several people say they had a great experience with the same dive guide in PDC, I needed to know if it was better than my experience in COZ for comparison and, if so, why.

From reading everyones posts, I have come to the conclusion that our experiences were different and can not be compared equally.

 

[Sharkdiver_Mac]

Give us more info before you say that a dive experience w/ Jason can't be compared to the Coz shop you're referencing. Everything I've read about Jason in this thread and others has said he's a great guide - what puts the shop in Coz you're referring to at a different level?

Everyone who has dove with Jason seems to be happy with the experience and service he provided. Based on what I've read from fellow SB members, I would certainly dive with Jason if we were in PDC. And if you provide a lights-out review of the shop in Coz, I'd probably look into diving with them as well.

That's the beauty of these forums - getting opinions from other divers on the good, the bad and the ugly.

 

[DET]

Give us more info before you say that a dive experience w/ Jason can't be compared to the Coz shop you're referencing.

First of all, I am not trying to make this a debate of "which location has the better dive shops, COZ or PDC?" You select dive shops by location.

What I am looking for is a comparable shop in PDC like I had in COZ. Note, this is my own personal comparison, not a figure of speech. Blue XT Sea Diving in Cozumel has set the bar for me on the island. Their website listed the inclusions with the dives and they've had good reviews. I knew what to expect and got more. Now I need a new bar set in PDC. From reading and searching thru websites and forums like this I haven't seen any PDC shops that compare with Blue XT Sea. I can't compare services if they are not listed or I have no experience with them. Also, if a dive shop charges more for diving than others or gets rave reviews I want to know why.


That's the beauty of these forums - getting opinions from other divers on the good, the bad and the ugly.

That's all I am looking for.