Dreaming...Anyone know of any good dive deals in Cozumel?

[ggunn]

I saw that movie.

Rich People Behaving Badly

I meant that as a joke but now that I think about it, it's not that funny.

 

[rick00001967]

special was over a few days ago but they may possibly extend it to you if you called them. many here on the boards love this place. i have never been. we like hotel coz next door

 

[Snoweman]

No, we just dislike it when foreign countries use USD to price things, rather than their own currency, pandering to Americans. Why should my diving in Mexico be at all affected by the USD? Unless I'm wildly mistaken, dive ops are paying their overhead in pesos. Shouldn't prices, in Mexico, be impacted by inflation, or deflation, of their own economy?

Who says you can't pay in Pesos? If you're using a credit card, use AMEX. They will charge it in pesos and Amex will convert it for you (without an international fee). There are a few countries, like Panama, that just find it easier to use the USD as their currency, but that's not the in the countries I have visited.

 

[grassgreen]

Scuba Tony on cozumel are really good and i hear they are up and running again soon....

 

[rick00001967]

Quintana Roo government rejects June 1 reopening by hotels

reefhound just posted this ^^^

 

[Shawn C]

Who says you can't pay in Pesos? If you're using a credit card, use AMEX. They will charge it in pesos and Amex will convert it for you (without an international fee). There are a few countries, like Panama, that just find it easier to use the USD as their currency, but that's not the in the countries I have visited.

I think you are completely missing the point. Prices are posted (set) in a foreign currency - USD. If they were posted in pesos we're all good. But they are not. If the dive op chooses to accept USD as a favour to US divers, that's fine. Being able to pay in pesos is of no value to me when it's first being converted to USD to get to the rate in pesos. The only currency exchange I should have to consider is how many of my country's dollars buys how many of the country's currency I'm diving in (and, presumably, what the dive op is paying their overhead with). As it stands: I'm from one country, diving in another, and paying in a third - and paying more as a result.

 

[Christi]

Given the concern about the stability of so many businesses right now, it looks like a return to the good ol' days might be advantageous, where folks would fly in, drop their luggage at the hotel and grab a beer, then walk around the general area of Salas and 5th, and shop directly with the various dive shops.
I used to love wheelin-n-dealin' with the customers, face to face, and by minding the shop for just a couple weekend evenings, I could usually score a few resorts and certs for myself, and fill up most of the boat for the week. But once everybody grew accustomed to buying their dive packages via the internet from back home, walk-in business dropped to a trickle. I know everyone loves the convenience of booking over internet, but I kinda blamed it for ending a Cozumel ritual that I was fond of. After that, it seemed that a couple of the bigger, higher-profile operations managed to corral an even larger share of the business, and a number of smaller operations really took it in the pants.

The internet didn't kill the onsite shops - it's the outrageous and ever increasing overhead costs of operating downtown unless you've been there for 20 years and grandfathered into a lease. Why do you think there are so many vacant locales downtown? And I am afraid we will see more after this. The cruise ship industry is what killed the old Cozumel - it drove prices and greed up. A location that used to be $6000 pesos a month is now $15,000 a month - but they will quote it in USD to get even more when the exchange rate changes.

 

[Snoweman]

I think you are completely missing the point. Prices are posted (set) in a foreign currency - USD. If they were posted in pesos we're all good. But they are not. If the dive op chooses to accept USD as a favour to US divers, that's fine. Being able to pay in pesos is of no value to me when it's first being converted to USD to get to the rate in pesos. The only currency exchange I should have to consider is how many of my country's dollars buys how many of the country's currency I'm diving in (and, presumably, what the dive op is paying their overhead with). As it stands: I'm from one country, diving in another, and paying in a third - and paying more as a result.

I think this is semantics. With a relatively high fluctuation in the Pesos, the dive shop would have to adjust prices daily, based on the conversion rate to the USD. Like or not, the USD is king (for now).

 

[Mark IV]

The internet didn't kill the onsite shops - it's the outrageous and ever increasing overhead costs of operating downtown unless you've been there for 20 years and grandfathered into a lease. Why do you think there are so many vacant locales downtown? And I am afraid we will see more after this. The cruise ship industry is what killed the old Cozumel - it drove prices and greed up. A location that used to be $6000 pesos a month is now $15,000 a month - but they will quote it in USD to get even more when the exchange rate changes.

Yeah, I agree. I wasn't really saying the internet necessarily killed local ops, just that it drastically reduced the once-popular tourist routine of strolling around town on Friday or Saturday evening, and shopping deals directly with the shops.
As you mentioned, the cruise ship industry, along with it's symbiotic sister industry, the jewelry stores (a pox on them both ! ), pushed more nice little pop-and-pop operations out their locations, than I can recall. As I'd been told,(usually by friends directly affected), the powerful jewelry store chains like Diamond Creations offered the property owners much higher rents, if they'd not renew the leases of those smaller businesses, so they could take over the premium spot. This really changed the face of Cozumel, into something closer resembling Cancun or South Beach, than the quaint, casual (and economical) tropical island it used to be.

 

[ggunn]

[The cruise ship industry and jewelry stores] really changed the face of Cozumel, into something closer resembling Cancun or South Beach, than the quaint, casual (and economical) tropical island it used to be.

So true; I have watched it happen over my 35 or 40 trips there since 1978. A good friend of mine who lived on Cozumel all his life once told me, "Cozumel is a whore," to which I replied, "Puta Langosta." He thought it was pretty funny.