Dock fees have jumped the shark at the Cozumel Palace

[arew+4]

3Ps sent a cab every morning when all five of us were diving. And when it was just 2 or 3 of us we would jump in and out of the dive guides basically still moving truck.

 

[deepsea21]

As another stated, if you want to stay at The Palace do so and just book your dives with Tres Pelicanos. They are always picking up divers out front of The Palance around 7:45AM and dropping them back off between noon and 1PM depending on sites visited and street traffic that day (for AM dives - Not sure what the timing is for afternoon/twilght/night dives).

Furthermore, you leave all of your gear with them (except masks and regs since Covid) and they take care of it all... No hauling and rinsing all that gear. Every day you arrive at the boat and all of your gear is there set up and waiting for you to attach your reg. After diving you take your mask and reg with you, bag up all of your gear and walk away from it... Let them deal with it. For the SI there's always water, cookies, cakes, fruit, etc.

Such boutique diving that blows Aqua Safari out of the water these days. I should know because we dove with Aqua Safari for over a decade before Bill Horn sold it to The Palace and it quickly went down hill. That's when we made the move to 3P's and have never looked back. These days the typical 3P's diver is generally the kind of diver who used to dive with Aqua Safari before Bill sold it. Don't get me wrong, Aqua Safari has some great DM's who remain good friends of ours to this day but even they understood our need to move on 7-8 years ago. You'll see more sites, further sites because the boats are fast, dive with fewer divers, and you get the FREEDOM TO DIVE YOUR OWN PROFILE. You end your dive at 700PSI, your computer limit, or 70 minutes, whatever comes first and every now and then if there is interest they'll do a short SI and hit Columbia Shallows for a 90 minute dive. Want to stay deep and short, feel free. Want to hang shallower and dive longer, feel free. It's diving the way I want to dive these days. When you look at the UW dive time you get with 3P's for the price and the level of service I'm not sure anyone can compete with them but as I haven't been diving with all 100 ops on the island I can't say for sure.

 

[SwampTiger90]

... sold it to The Palace and it quickly went down hill.

3Ps sounds great.

I'm curious how AS went downhill. Somebody else said that in this thread but hasn't yet responded to my question about it.

 

[deepsea21]

3Ps sounds great.

I'm curious how AS went downhill. Somebody else said that in this thread but hasn't yet responded to my question about it.

Well, when Bill Horn sold AS to the Palace part of the deal was he would stay on for a year to make for a smooth transition and he did. But once he had done his time The Palace fired the 2 people who also knew how to manage a dive op who worked for Bill and put some numbskull in charge who came from hospitality management and knew nothing about dive op management. He managed to constantly screw everything up (wrong boat assignment, wrong gear, wrong tanks, not enough tanks, etc. it turned into a total S show). This clown just kept coming out to the boats in his business attire shaking hands and calling us "sir" and "mam" and apologizing with a painted on smile. After 1 trip of dealing with the constant chaos he was creating we said screw this... NO MORE!

From what I understand he was subsequently removed from that position and put back in charge of housekeeping or something and Palace management re-hired Gustavo who had been with AS for years. Under Gustavo's management I understand things started running smoothly again and the DM's and crew and captains were happy again. I have to assume he is still in charge but I don't know.

Once we made the break and found 3P's there was no going back. AS was a great and very safe dive op as new divers and we loved them but when things changed at the same time we had more and more dive experience it was a good time for us to migrate to a boutique dive op that offers more for our dive $ these days.

We still have friends who dive with AS and have been with them for 25-30 years or something and they are happy and made it through those rough times but for us we just really appreciate dive freedom and extended bottom times 3P's offers given our level of experience now. We don't need hand holding anymore and don't care to dive with a group who needs it and the restrictions and limitations placed on that group as a whole.

I'll also say that someone who is new to diving should not in any way be afraid to dive with an OP like 3P's where everyone is allowed to enjoy the freedom provided. Since lots of 3P's divers go about their own thing while keeping the entire group in sight that pretty much leaves a new diver who want's to sick right beside the DM with their own personal dive master! How can ya beat that? There's no reason to pay for a personal, dedicated DM with 3P's as the groups are small and lots do their own thing so the DM can be your personal DM.

 

[SwampTiger90]

From what I understand he was subsequently removed from that position and put back in charge of housekeeping or something and Palace management re-hired Gustavo who had been with AS for years. Under Gustavo's management I understand things started running smoothly again and the DM's and crew and captains were happy again. I have to assume he is still in charge but I don't know.

Thanks deepsea. Seems like they've recovered from a rough transition. We've been diving with them for over a decade, but sporadically until the last four years. We may have been lucky enough to miss the roughest patch.

 

[Guitarcrazy]

Anyone who actually stays at the palace upset?

I am booked in April and am looking at other options. It is late so not a lot of good options and may have to stay with the Palace and walk to the nearest pier. I won't be paying $100 a day for the 4 of us to use a pier.

 

[yle]

Hence I remember and agreed with Aldora Dave that everyone should swim out to the boat. Fight the man!!!

I've dived a handful of times with Roger's Scuba Shack in Barbados. His boat anchors near a sandy beach, in a bay, and we haul all gear... tanks, etc... through the water until we're about waist deep, where it's lifted onto the boat. Personally I think it's a lot of fun... getting wet before we even get on the boat. (Of course the water is a consistent 84 degrees, and the air is usually a bit warmer than that.)

I'd have no problem doing the same in Cozumel, to avoid using a dock, if others were for it.

 

[TheRealScubaSteve]

I've seen multiple threads over the years with X op not allowed to pickup at X location. Are roads in Mexico not "public," as in the US? In other words, how can they charge for a pickup on local streets? I understand we're talking docks, which is different. Is the issue of time/distance and/or lack of transportation other than boat?

 

[ggunn]

I've seen multiple threads over the years with X op not allowed to pickup at X location. Are roads in Mexico not "public," as in the US? In other words, how can they charge for a pickup on local streets?

They can't, but any op who picks up on the street most likely has to come to some sort of understanding with the taxi union.

 

[bhalah]

They can't, but any op who picks up on the street most likely has to come to some sort of understanding with the taxi union.

Or hide the pickups in the trunk.