Dressel Cozumel Alternative

[Jayfarmlaw]

I have never dove with Dressel...but crowded boats is all I need to hear to nope the hell out on that. We dive with Aldora for several reasons, but mainly 120 cf tanks, 7 boats so you don't get put on a boat with brand new divers, and they pick us up less than a block from our hotel, Casa Mexicana. We have dove with Blue Magic and Dive With Martin and can recommend them without hesitation. Tres Pelicanos and Blue XTSea have outstanding reputations and I'm sure will provide fantastic service as well. Most ops can pick you up at your resort.

There are dozens of first class dive ops on Cozumel, the hard part is finding the one that works best for you. As you can tell, lots of us are rather protective of our preferred dive op. The key to finding your "best" dive op is not about the services provided, but how they differ.

The difference will be in the following primary categories:
Cost
Departure time
# of boats available
Small boats vs cattle boats
Departure plan- pick up at your pier, leave from shop, taxi to marina, etc
Valet service- they take care of all your gear each night, rinse, and set up
SI plan- on the boat, natural beach, or beach club
Standard tank size- al80. Optional al100, hp100, hp120, steel or aluminum
Surface plan- as a group, as you hit 750 psi, time limit,
Boat snacks- just water, water and snacks, water and lunch, other drinks (I buy coconut water at Mega and bring them-really helps with cramps on the second dive)
Cash Discount!!!
Stay and dive packages- op gets discounted dive and hotel packages
Average dive times
Air share with DM to extend dives- some do...some don't
Nitrox cost
Regular Trips to the North end
East Side trips
Ability to dive when port is shut down
Permitted to dive the marine park (some boats don't have legal permits)

I don't know how to explain how each op seems to have their own "feel" ...Blue Magic felt like we were diving with family from the moment we got there. They even invited us to a going away party for one of their DMs that was returning to Egypt.

Out of over a dozen DMs we have dove with, there is only one that I don't care to dive with again. There are several that I would follow to another operation if I could and they met our criteria. Sharif at Aldora was the best DM we have dove with anywhere at any cost... he apparently moved to Spain....dammit.

Our most important criteria are big tanks, downtown pickup, and like skilled divers. I wish Aldora would leave at 8 instead of 730....but a big breakfast before a dive gives me heartburn from hell...so im better off anyway. When diving with friends and we have the boat to ourselves, they do let us control the boat though.

It's hard to pick a bad op on Cozumel....the hard part is picking the one that is best for you. Ask about the differences and it will save you some trial and error...but that's not necessarily a bad thing. More dives means more happy!!!

Safe travels,
Jay

 

[rfield54]

Thanks for the replies. We're set at Iberostar - at least for this trip - so these are our priorities:
> smaller boat, fewer divers (6 per DM max preferred)
> pick up at Iberostar (pier preferred, but beach okay)
> pick up after 8:30am or later
> the valet is a really attractive option (never had that before)
> competitive price (for 5 or 6 double dive days for 2 people)

 

[MMM]

Thanks for the replies. We're set at Iberostar - at least for this trip - so these are our priorities:
> smaller boat, fewer divers (6 per DM max preferred)
> pick up at Iberostar (pier preferred, but beach okay)
> pick up after 8:30am or later
> the valet is a really attractive option (never had that before)
> competitive price (for 5 or 6 double dive days for 2 people)

If you are sure that your fees include Marine Park Fees, taxes, etc. etc. then you will likely find that the valet op prices are all fairly close. They don't compete on price but on service.

 

[Trailboss123]

Thanks for the replies. We're set at Iberostar - at least for this trip - so these are our priorities:
> smaller boat, fewer divers (6 per DM max preferred)
> pick up at Iberostar (pier preferred, but beach okay)
> pick up after 8:30am or later
> the valet is a really attractive option (never had that before)
> competitive price (for 5 or 6 double dive days for 2 people)

Blue XT Sea. There are others that might meet your criteria- but that's my choice. Blue XT~Sea Diving - Cozumel Scuba Diving - Blue XT~Sea Diving

 

[rfield54]

Unfortunately Blue XT doesn't pick up at Iberostar...


...I stand corrected. Apparently they pick up/drop off at the beach.

 

[stuartv]

I stayed at the Iberostar back in April. I did not dive with Dressel. The operator I did dive with is one I probably won't use again. One reason for that is that they only offered AL80 and AL100 tanks. They charged an extra $10 per tank for the 100s. What I learned after the fact was that AL100s have to be filled to 3300 psi to be "full". My tank were consistently 2750 - 2900 psi, every single day. Which means I was getting 83 - 88 cu-ft of gas, instead of the 100 I was being charged for. I'm not terrible on gas, but I am not great and the result of being shortchanged meant I was the first one out of the water on almost every dive. That is not the experience I was paying for.

Next time I go, I am pretty sure I am going to book with Aldora, so I can have steel 100 or 120 tanks.

 

[caruso]

The operator I did dive with is one I probably won't use again.

Next time I go, I am pretty sure I am going to book with Aldora, so I can have steel 100 or 120 tanks.

The other issue is that you're diving with an unnecessarily heavier and bulky tank and gaining nothing.

Consider posting the name of the Dive Op to help others choose who they will dive with. There's nothing wrong with stating your experience and who it was with.

I've dived with Aldora a few times and have had a generally positive experience however on a recent trip they paired us up with a couple, one of whom was poor on gas usage and they made all of us ascend even though we had plenty of gas and no deco time remaining. What's the point of those big tanks and promised long bottom times if we're limited by the highest gas consuming diver?

 

[stuartv]

The other issue is that you're diving with an unnecessarily heavier and bulky tank and gaining nothing.

Consider posting the name of the Dive Op to help others choose who they will dive with. There's nothing wrong with stating your experience and who it was with.

I've dived with Aldora a few times and have had a generally positive experience however on a recent trip they paired us up with a couple, one of whom was poor on gas usage and they made all of us ascend even though we had plenty of gas and no deco time remaining. What's the point of those big tanks and promised long bottom times if we're limited by the highest gas consuming diver?

Yeah... the tank was heavier and bulkier, but I don't really care about that. Any single tank rig seems like a feather after normally diving double steels for a while. It really was just not having as much gas as I should have that bothered me.

I have since been told that most of the shops all get their fills at some central location. And, that location only fills any tank to 3000 psi. So, I don't think it matters that operator I was with. I think if you are booking with an operator there, and you want extra gas, and the operator tells you they can supply AL100s, you should make sure that operator guarantees that you will get fills to and very close to the tank's working pressure (of 3300psi).

If the operator has steel 100s and/or 120s, the working pressure for those is 3442psi or 3500psi, if they are older. I imagine that the few operators offering steels on Cozumel probably do their own fills or have some other means by which they fill those tanks to their working pressure. But, it's still worth asking to make sure. However, even if they don't, a 120 filled to 3000 psi is still over 100 cu-ft of gas.... Way better than the AL100s I got when I was there....


I am surprised to read what you said about Aldora. For some reason, I thought that they prided themselves on people having nice, long dives, and they didn't make everyone come up just because one person ran short on air. I'm not sure what I would do in a situation like that. But, I have a feeling I might have just waved at the DM and stayed right where I was.... I will say that, with the dive op I was with last time, the DM had no problem with me shooting a bag and doing my own ascent when I got low on gas, leaving him and the rest of the divers down there. Of course, I would have rather started with an actually full tank and been able to stay longer and ascend with everyone else...

 

[caruso]

But, I have a feeling I might have just waved at the DM and stayed right where I was.....

I continued to dive along the reef after the DM signaled for everyone to ascend. Until he swam over and got right in my face and firmly and emphatically gestured to ascend. He wasn't having any of it.

 

[Snoweman]

The other issue is that you're diving with an unnecessarily heavier and bulky tank and gaining nothing.

Consider posting the name of the Dive Op to help others choose who they will dive with. There's nothing wrong with stating your experience and who it was with.

I've dived with Aldora a few times and have had a generally positive experience however on a recent trip they paired us up with a couple, one of whom was poor on gas usage and they made all of us ascend even though we had plenty of gas and no deco time remaining. What's the point of those big tanks and promised long bottom times if we're limited by the highest gas consuming diver?

Another reason I like Tres Pelicanos. The DM shoots up his SMB (if you don't have your own) and then pulls it back down when he sees that diver surface. Everyone stays their air, not the lowest common denominator.