Female first time travelling solo, first dive trip. I think Cozumel is the way to go?

[ohsomeday]

That's taxes and marine park fees included for 3P. I'm not sure how much more it would be for taxes and everything for DWM. My friends/family are thinking it's a better idea to do 3P because it will ease the stress of not having to worry about taxis, getting breakfast on time, etc.

 

[DandyDon]

My replies keep getting deleted, arrgh. Anyway I was quoted $838 for 4 days diving, plus gear, plus a night dive with 3P and Bahia Suites. DWM is $285 for 4 days diving plus a night dive. If I got a hotel downtown, say hotel mary carmen, it would be about $268, so with that and DWM it would be $553. I am really torn because I like the idea of the convenience of 3P and Bahia, but for me with the exchange that's about almost $1300 where as a hotel and DWM would be around $800 CAD.

I've never dived with DWM - but heard all good, and I have never stayed at that hotel - but it looks nice enough. For those prices, I'd do it...!!

I hope you are talking USD to keep this discussion straight. Things are priced in USD or Mexican Pesos. Taxis are quite easy to obtain. Just get your Pesos from a bank ATM (not a money machine on the street or anything other than a bank ATM), agree on the price before your board, and you'll be good. You can always find food.

 

[nodakdive]

Looks like taxes at 3P are 16%, so if they're not included for DWM, add $45US to the DWM price. A taxi one way from downtown to the Intl pier is probably 90 pesos, with the exchange that's about $10 round trip X 5 = $50. So, it'd be about $380US to use DWM. Add whichever hotel. I hadn't paid close attention to 3P's equipment rental pricing such to compare apples to apples, but a dive computer with 3P is an additional $10/day. I assume it's free with DWM. It's free with Deep Blue. If you look at 3P's "rack price", diving with them would be about $425, including taxes and full equipment with a computer. If you subtract this from the $838 package price, it looks like you're getting the Suites Bahia for about $60/night. I just did a quick check, and the 3P rate for 5 days of 2 tank at the Bahia is $19 less (per person based on double occ.) than Deep Blue's price.

You may have addressed this in one of your replies that didn't make it, but I'll get off the Deep Blue thing after this last mention. I'm not normally someone that's cheerleading Deep Blue every time someone posts about dive shop options. I did in this case simply because it seemed to fit what you're looking for, and it's extremely convenient due to their downtown boat departure. You'd walk a little more than a block, maybe two, from the Suites Bahia, no taxis, no car rides, no rushed breakfast, and you're on the dive boat at a price that's barely more than what you're comparing. In fact, if you use DandyDon's higher (than Ron's) price for the Bahia, it's actually cheaper than 3P. I have nothing against 3P. I have every reason to believe that they're a really good shop, but if your friends/family are talking about "less stress", it couldn't get easier than diving with a shop that leaves from downtown, a little later.

I didn't see anything on their website about it, but I think I remember someone saying that you leave the 3P shop at around 7:30am. I think breakfast opens at Casa Mexicana at 7am. You have 30 minutes to eat and get to the shop. I'm pretty sure I've heard others post on this board about the time being a little tight. I think there's a post in this thread that talks about the quarters in the car ride being a little tight. Last thing I'd want to do is gobble down breakfast, and then get to the shop and climb in a car with a bunch of people. Not the end of the world as you might meet some really nice, interesting people. Even if you're squished in, you'll be whizzing down the coast of a beautiful island. It's all cool, but having stayed at Casa Mexican and gotten on the boat downtown, I'd rather do that especially if I'm looking for low stress, easy peasy.

Whatever you choose, you'll have a great time, eat some great food and do some great diving. If it's all too much, just book the 3P thing and relax, as someone mentioned earlier. Fwiw, I'd choose them over DWM. DWM has a lot of moving parts. 3P is smaller and newer. People are turning into pelicans for goodness sake. Who doesn't want that? It'll all be good.

 

[MikeRiley]

Where's the aldora love? If you're staying at suites bahia, aldora is 30 seconds away and they leave from the downtown pier across the street I was very, very satisfied and thank the board for the recommendation!

 

[DjDiverDan]

Where's the aldora love? If you're staying at suites bahia, aldora is 30 seconds away and they leave from the downtown pier across the street I was very, very satisfied and thank the board for the recommendation!

While I too love Aldora, the OP was looking for lowest cost options. Aldora give great service, and with the HP Steel 120 tanks very long bottom times. But it's definitely not a low cost option for travelers on a tight budget. There just is no "best" Dive Op for the simple reason that everyone has different priorities.

 

[ohsomeday]

Looks like I will be booking with Tres Pelicanos. Thank you everyone for the advice!! Maybe someday in the future I will try Dive with Martin, but for the convenience and ease, and with it being my first trip, 3P sounds like the least stressful. I get cold easily, so I'm going to be renting a wetsuit for my first day at least and see how it goes. Do most wear a wetsuit in Cozumel? Thanks so much.

 

[MMM]

Yeah, I wear a 5 mm full suit plus a 3 mm hooded vest underneath. Some people wear more, some people wear less. I do long dives and I hate to be cold.

Looks like I will be booking with Tres Pelicanos. Thank you everyone for the advice!! Maybe someday in the future I will try Dive with Martin, but for the convenience and ease, and with it being my first trip, 3P sounds like the least stressful. I get cold easily, so I'm going to be renting a wetsuit for my first day at least and see how it goes. Do most wear a wetsuit in Cozumel? Thanks so much.

 

[judydivescoz]

I get cold quickly. I wear a 3 mil plus a 3 mil vest and a beanie in the winter. I always take a 2nd wetsuit to put on the 2nd dive. Between dives and for the ride back to the marina I always wear a dive parka to stay warm.

 

[MikeRiley]

i dove a 3mm shorty and felt good but I'm not a small guy and don't get cold.
Ton's of jelly fish on a few of the dives at the surface. Luckily i didn't get stung but i would have felt more comfortable in a full suit just for the skin protection.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Hi SB,

I am still a new diver, aside from getting my OW, I did the 2 tank Manta Ray dive in Kona, Hawaii, that's it. I'd like to get more experience, and I think I can get lots of great diving in Cozumel. Costs are a concern because of the Canadian dollar, which is why I am choosing Cozumel over Roatan or other islands in the Caribbean. I want to take a refresher course, and do about 4 days of diving and a night dive. I am leaning towards Dive with Martin because of the free rentals, open to other suggestions for a new diver who will be renting equipment. I am a little stuck on where to stay, leaning towards airbnb because of budget (would like to possibly stay under $1500 CAD total IF possible). Planning on getting a direct flight from Toronto to Cancun, then heading over to Cozumel. Is this fairly easy to do? I have a fair amount of travelling under my belt, but this is my first time solo. I understand if I have accommodations downtown, I will need to taxi to Dive with Martin - any idea how much I should take in pesos/USD? Or would it be better to rent a car? Also, how do I get DAN insurance as a Canadian? Has anyone spent time in Playa del Carmen? Thinking of maybe spending a day or two there. I appreciate any advice. Is this do-able as a solo female? Thanks very much.

My girlfriend and I stayed at Scuba Club Cozumel last month and liked it very much. It is only about 1 block from the edge of town and they have specials sometimes. Breakfast and lunch is included and for an extra $99 you get dinner. The food was very good. I do not regret opting for the dinners but did not see much of San Miguel while staying there. They feed you breakfast, you get on the dive boat (the dock is right there), they take you for two dives, bring you back, and feed you lunch. They have it worked out very well. Plus you can check out tanks and dive from the resort in the afternoon or at night. They rent whatever gear you didn't bring with you. One thing though: they expect you to tip everyone when you leave and they expect very generous tips. It's sorta like you are employing all these people while you are staying there. But considering that many Mexican workers only get paid about 70 or 80 pesos per day and often work 10-12 hours for that little bit of money they really need the tips. I didn't tip the boat captain so I assume he is getting paid well. He deserves every centavo.

As for arriving there, we flew into CUN and took MAYAir (Maya ir, as in "to go") and it was very difficult to find which terminal we needed to catch our flight on their prop job. It turns out that it's the FBO terminal which is actually directly across from the main terminals 1, 2, and 3 but you can't walk across the runways so you have to get a shuttle. The taxi drivers will try to rip you off but if you call MAYAir they will send a free shuttle. Once we finally found the guys from their travel company it was all easy. You buy a shuttle ticket before leaving the Cozumel terminal and they take you right to your hotel. Getting back via Cozumel airport was easy. If you can get a direct flight to Cozumel things will be much simpler. We were going to do the ADO bus and ferry but could not find reliable information about how to find the bus and the ferry at night in a foreign country in cities we had never been to and they stop serving dinner at 9:30 and we didn't know if we would have a chance to eat.

As for being a single female, I think you will be safe and fine and should have no problems (except for perhaps the taxi drivers ). We met a nice lady at Scuba Club who is about 80 and she was there alone. Everyone I encountered took either US money and/or US credit cards but I highly recommend getting pesos from the ATM (such as at the grocery store) because the exchange rate can vary from about 12 pesos to a dollar to about 17. If you pay with pesos you pay what it actually costs, but that only applies in a few places such as restaurants and grocery stores. I didn't do much shopping while there but negotiating prices is generally expected. I bought a tee shirt and coffee mug and the price kept going down the longer I was in the store

The manta dive at Kona is on my bucket list and my 2016 list! What a great way to start your diving career! The reefs of Cozumel simply must be some of the most beautiful places on Earth. I was astonished nearly the entire time and that was 10 dives. I think I saw just about everything except whales and dolphins. The visibility was easily 110-120 feet and seemed even a bit warmer than when I went to Maui. I thought the weather there was absolutely perfect. We found the Maya people on Cozumel to be very friendly and helpful, and that includes the ones we were not buying anything from. I plan to return to Cozumel soon.

---------- Post added January 11th, 2016 at 02:05 PM ----------

I forgot to add that for the two of us we paid about $1900 US total for seven nights, including diving (for one), BC rental, 3 meals per day, and tips. That does not, of course, include airfare, taxis, or shuttles. MAYAir one-way was about $65 US each to get there but only $35 to get back to CUN. This might be because it was only one week later and we got the round trip price (?). It was about $12 for the taxi to the airport when we left and about the same for the shuttle from the airport to the hotel. The special that Scuba Club had in December was about $750 for five nights and included four days of diving. Dinner was extra. Tanks and weight belts are included at no extra charge for beach diving. I was in Puerto Vallarta a few years ago and you could get dinner at a nice restaurant for about 100-120 pesos but Cozumel seems to be a bit pricier so I'm guessing the dinner deal at Scuba Club is a good deal. They only have three choices for dinner but have an extensive lunch menu. I gained weight while there. Bring a padlock and key so you can use their outdoor gear lockers.

---------- Post added January 11th, 2016 at 02:18 PM ----------

Looks like I will be booking with Tres Pelicanos. Thank you everyone for the advice!! Maybe someday in the future I will try Dive with Martin, but for the convenience and ease, and with it being my first trip, 3P sounds like the least stressful. I get cold easily, so I'm going to be renting a wetsuit for my first day at least and see how it goes. Do most wear a wetsuit in Cozumel? Thanks so much.

I took along my 2.5mm full suit and was very comfortable. It takes up very little room in my carry-on. Most of the others on the boat had shortie suits. One woman had on two shortie suits and was cold. The 80-year-old lady had on a 7mm suit and was cold. I think my suit just fits better and hardly any water gets in. I prefer the full suit also for protection from coral, jelly fish, etc. If you are going to do any snorkeling you may want a suit for sun protection.

Tres Pelicanos sounds great. On my next trip I might rent a condo and just book some dives. 10 dives in 5 days is nice but didn't leave much time for exploring the island.