Basscat
Contributor
I dive with Blue XTSea, they pick up at the Aldora pier at 8, usually.
First time visitor
- Thread starter Marc Lieberman
- Start date
Please register or login
nodakdive
Contributor
Deep Blue leaves from a downtown pier at 9am too. (The Aldora pier?) Their prices are right around the average.
www.deepbluecozumel.com
I didn't know Blue XTC picked up downtown. Pick up meaning get on their boat? A 7am breakfast with an 8am boat departure from downtown works. It depends on your pace, etc. That wouldn't feel too rushed for me. If they pick you up to get you to the marina at 8am that works well too.
www.deepbluecozumel.com
I didn't know Blue XTC picked up downtown. Pick up meaning get on their boat? A 7am breakfast with an 8am boat departure from downtown works. It depends on your pace, etc. That wouldn't feel too rushed for me. If they pick you up to get you to the marina at 8am that works well too.
Our breakfast starts at 7 as well, but coffee and fruit are usually available at about 10 til. Even if you got to breakfast at 7, 20 minutes should be more than enough time the eat and get to a 7:30 pickup. Aldora leaves from their pier which is actually closer to the Plaza by a block or so. Both Aldora and Blue Magic will keep your gear for you and have it ready for you on the boat every morning. BM keeps everything, Aldor does not keep your wetsuit.
That being said Blue Magic is awesome, Pumba is a legend and one of the oldest DM's on the island. (I hope he is still there) They were literally like diving with family. They provide a cab from their shop to the marina and back to their shop. Zermatt is a local bakery to the east and has great pastries and cookies for snacks in your room or surface interval as well as morning coffee. Burrito Gordito and King Burrito are on the same corner and are great for lunch after diving. blue Magic has aluminum 100 tanks and if i remember correctly, you surfaced with your buddy when air hit 700 psi. It's been a couple of years since we dove with them but if they had steel 120's we would still be diving with them. Send them an email and ask what the end of dive plans are. It may vary by divemaster.
Absolutely do a night dive, even if it means not eating! Drink a Bohemia Obscura for me and eat lobster at La Perlita. The grilled lobster and coconut crusted lion fish are cheap and worth the cab ride.
Finally, be careful on getting your money's worth at the breakfast buffet. If I overdo it, I get horrible heartburn during the dive. It's brutal for me, but you may be fine. You also don't want to be the guy blowing chunks over the side of the boat. That would suck as well. Your results may vary.
Either way, your going to have a great vacation. We will probably be there around April 18th but may have to go super cheap because of a trip in Feb. to Roatan. Probably stay at Suites Bahia (unless we can find an apartment) and dive with Dive With Martin, maybe Blue XTSea.
Good luck, the good news is you really can't make a wrong choice!
Jay
That being said Blue Magic is awesome, Pumba is a legend and one of the oldest DM's on the island. (I hope he is still there) They were literally like diving with family. They provide a cab from their shop to the marina and back to their shop. Zermatt is a local bakery to the east and has great pastries and cookies for snacks in your room or surface interval as well as morning coffee. Burrito Gordito and King Burrito are on the same corner and are great for lunch after diving. blue Magic has aluminum 100 tanks and if i remember correctly, you surfaced with your buddy when air hit 700 psi. It's been a couple of years since we dove with them but if they had steel 120's we would still be diving with them. Send them an email and ask what the end of dive plans are. It may vary by divemaster.
Absolutely do a night dive, even if it means not eating! Drink a Bohemia Obscura for me and eat lobster at La Perlita. The grilled lobster and coconut crusted lion fish are cheap and worth the cab ride.
Finally, be careful on getting your money's worth at the breakfast buffet. If I overdo it, I get horrible heartburn during the dive. It's brutal for me, but you may be fine. You also don't want to be the guy blowing chunks over the side of the boat. That would suck as well. Your results may vary.
Either way, your going to have a great vacation. We will probably be there around April 18th but may have to go super cheap because of a trip in Feb. to Roatan. Probably stay at Suites Bahia (unless we can find an apartment) and dive with Dive With Martin, maybe Blue XTSea.
Good luck, the good news is you really can't make a wrong choice!
Jay
jonhall
Contributor
1. Your decision on whether to eat or not on days of diving. If it's "free," then no big loss.
2. Been with 3 different ops in Coz. Prices have been what was listed on website, but be prepared to pay a couple more dollars per day for marine park and hyperbaric chamber fees which may or may not be added in the website price.
3. If money and/or time is an issue, dive with the closer one. (If you have your own gear, it's really convenient if the op will keep it for you until your next dive) I hate lugging wet gear in a taxi.
4. Nitrox is not a necessity. Many of the ops charge $10-12 bucks extra for that, although some may offer it for free.
5 & 6. I would commit to 3 days and tell the op you may want to add a 4th and/or 5th day. You already know the packages give you a little bit of a discount the more diving you do and the op should honor the discounted price if you add days. Don't worry about being committed to one op; you can't go wrong with any, imo, as the diving itself is great.
7. If you go with a resort dive op, times may be shorter (4 weeks ago I actually ferried over to Coz from Playa for the day and dove with a resort: dive times 45-49 minutes) because they want to stay on a schedule. Previous times, while staying in Coz, dive times ranged from 50-65 minutes (65 min was with larger tanks.)
The only other question I like to have answered is where does the op do its surface interval. First time in Coz, the op I used went to a beach bar and the surface interval wound up lasting longer than necessary. Liked everything else about the op.
Coz has what I refer to as some of the easiest diving I've done. Even on days it rained, the water was calm, visibility was great, boats were clean and had plenty of room, current wasn't very strong, and the dive op staff were good. You'll love it.
Basscat
Contributor
Yes, they pick up at the Aldora pier, the downtown pier across the street from Suites Bahia. Occasionally may make other arrangements with a taxi, depending on conditions, but they always get me on the boat.
I stayed at Hotel Plaza in October 2015 and dove with Aldora. The breakfast spread was not as big as Casa Mexicana but it was still good. They always had some kind of dish that was ready to go or they would cook eggs to order. I always just ate what was there and around 7:15 would walk down to the Aldora pier. Aldora will store all your gear except wet suites and have it ready for you in the morning. The only time you need to go to the dive shop is to drop your gear off and fill out forms on arrival and pick up gear and settle up on departure.
I requested a fridge when I booked and sure enough it was in my room at no extra charge. Felt kind of bad because it was a fairly large size fridge and I just kept a 6-pack in it.
I requested a fridge when I booked and sure enough it was in my room at no extra charge. Felt kind of bad because it was a fairly large size fridge and I just kept a 6-pack in it.
dlofting
Contributor
Not sure about Aldora but most "operations" in Cozumel are fairly laid back about times, so 7:30 can easily become 7:45, particularly if they know you are coming.....just remind them the day before.
OP
Marc Lieberman
Registered
yeah, I don't wanna be That guy. I'll just make it a quick bite. I will try to drop off my equipment the night before
deepsea21
Contributor
Hey Marc... Great to see you here and congrats for getting your final cert in the Fl Keys! 14 years ago my wife and I completed our class and in-pool training in Boston, MA of all places. When it came to check-out dives we had the option of some 1/2 frozen rock quarry or a trip to Cape Cod which was equally freezing cold. We opted to fly to the FL keys to complete our check out dives and it is cool to have dive cert cards from Captains Corner Dive Center, Key West, FL.
After diving Coz annually for the past 14 years (we are heading back for another 2-week dive trip this Saturday, Hello X-mas in Coz again!), I know exactly where you are staying as we walk past the Hotel Plaza all time as we stroll around town every afternoon/evening after returning from our dives. We stay at the Casa Mexicana in town which is just a few blocks south of the Hotel Plaza.
One of my biggest concerns staying at the Casa Mexicana was always having a dive op that could let me stuff my face on that breakfast buffet before diving. Yeah, some don't like to eat before diving (acid reflux and such), but not me. We pack enough pink pepto pills so I can eat 2 pills in the AM and 2 every PM before bed and have no issues whatsoever the entire trip. (Note, your poo will be black with those Pepto pills but no worry, you don't have cancer and you aren't bleeding internally!)
Given where you are staying and the short walk you'd have to the "Piers" that have been talked here. Umm... These are common piers and you could probably throw a rock from one to the next so any dive op that claims to have a "private pier" is full of BS. The last pier in town anyone considered semi-private was the old Aqua Safari owned by Bill Horn for 30 years or something and has been re-built after hurricanes and such and has a history maybe others here can talk more about.
Anyway, there are many good dive ops on the island and there are a handful of GREAT dive ops on the island. Of couse, we all believe our dive op to the best but for what you are looking for and where you are staying, I'd recommend our current dive op, Tres Pelicanos. You can enjoy a quick 7AM breakfast just as we do and then you have a short walk to 3P's dive shop in town for their courtesy transport to and from the marina. You're back in town before 1PM almost always and have the entire afternoon to have top-side fun. I say look into Tres Pelicanos and contact Jeanie through their website with all of your wants, needs, concerns, and schedule. I bet she can deliver the absolute best of the best experience you are looking for. After all these years of diving Coz, I know we aren't looking for another dive op these days.
Cheers!
After diving Coz annually for the past 14 years (we are heading back for another 2-week dive trip this Saturday, Hello X-mas in Coz again!), I know exactly where you are staying as we walk past the Hotel Plaza all time as we stroll around town every afternoon/evening after returning from our dives. We stay at the Casa Mexicana in town which is just a few blocks south of the Hotel Plaza.
One of my biggest concerns staying at the Casa Mexicana was always having a dive op that could let me stuff my face on that breakfast buffet before diving. Yeah, some don't like to eat before diving (acid reflux and such), but not me. We pack enough pink pepto pills so I can eat 2 pills in the AM and 2 every PM before bed and have no issues whatsoever the entire trip. (Note, your poo will be black with those Pepto pills but no worry, you don't have cancer and you aren't bleeding internally!)
Given where you are staying and the short walk you'd have to the "Piers" that have been talked here. Umm... These are common piers and you could probably throw a rock from one to the next so any dive op that claims to have a "private pier" is full of BS. The last pier in town anyone considered semi-private was the old Aqua Safari owned by Bill Horn for 30 years or something and has been re-built after hurricanes and such and has a history maybe others here can talk more about.
Anyway, there are many good dive ops on the island and there are a handful of GREAT dive ops on the island. Of couse, we all believe our dive op to the best but for what you are looking for and where you are staying, I'd recommend our current dive op, Tres Pelicanos. You can enjoy a quick 7AM breakfast just as we do and then you have a short walk to 3P's dive shop in town for their courtesy transport to and from the marina. You're back in town before 1PM almost always and have the entire afternoon to have top-side fun. I say look into Tres Pelicanos and contact Jeanie through their website with all of your wants, needs, concerns, and schedule. I bet she can deliver the absolute best of the best experience you are looking for. After all these years of diving Coz, I know we aren't looking for another dive op these days.
Cheers!
