First Timer Advice

[deepsea21]

If you are a new diver and tend to use your air faster. Be aware of those DMs who plan a dive at 85' at the beginning. It's a trick to have you use your air quicker so to reduce your bottom time AND so they can finish the day sooner. They get paid the same whether it is a 40 min bottom time or a 70 min bottom time. Not all of them but some will pull that stunt and it was done on me and my newbie friends. Remember YOU are in charge of your maximum depth, NOT THE DIVE MASTER! All you have to do is "just say no"! and hang out a 45' to 50' and make him wait till you finish your wonderful 60 min bottom time.

I'm not sure why some here believe buffdiver's post above is nonsense as this is certainly a game some DM's and dive ops can play just as ops with slow boats will stick to the close dive sites that save fuel and time. It doesn't surprise me that most here have never experienced this as most dive with quality dive ops that don't play such games and have fast boats that get them to the best sites based on conditions that day regardless of distance.

While it's pretty normal for the 1st dive to start at 80'+, quality ops never HOLD at 80'+ on a site unless there is no ability to perform a multilevel dive that gradually ascends to extend everyone's bottom time. The key is to seek and dive with an op that offers FREEDOM. My dive op's stated limit is 700PSI, your computer, or 70 minutes - whichever comes first and I've NEVER had a DM with my op tell me it's time to surface. Asked if all is OK? Sure, but NEVER told it's time to surface. For those who want to dive deep and short or shallow and long, they have that freedom. I tend to hang shallower as my wife likes UW photography and I enjoy more color, more critters, and the extended bottom time that comes with it. Others like to hang in the dank deep hunting or for whatever and that's allowed too. My op's DM's are GUIDES only to be followed if one wishes or generally kept in sight if one wants to dive a different profile. Any dive op (in Cozumel) that requires everyone surface as a group won't see my dive $ these days. That being said, there are a few sites in Coz that surfacing as a group is probably going to be encouraged (if not enforced) but those sites are not sites I care to dive. Those few sites are specialty requests put together if there is enough interest by those who just have to experience them.

 

[ReefHound]

I'm not sure why some here believe buffdiver's post above is nonsense as this is certainly a game some DM's and dive ops can play just as ops with slow boats will stick to the close dive sites that save fuel and time. It doesn't surprise me that most here have never experienced this as most dive with quality dive ops that don't play such games and have fast boats that get them to the best sites based on conditions that day regardless of distance.

When such allegations are made namelessly and using provocative words like "trick" and "swindled", it tarnishes the image of all dive ops while denying the op a chance to be defended or to defend themself. What next, speculation that DMs bleed off 200psi from tanks early in the morning?

 

[LimitedSlip7]

Flight and hotel are booked! Ended up finding flights to Cozumel out of Cleveland cheaper than flights to Cancun from Columbus. I found flights for my buddy and his wife for $344 RT and would have had my flights for $369 but I dicked around too long and they went up to $415. Still not a bad deal flying directly into Coz instead of doing the bag drag.

Ended up booking Hotel Cozumel as well. Not sure if I will use the Dive Paradise small boats or go with a different dive op. I do like the sound of the Aldora long dives.

I'm going to be heading over to the mainland one day, renting a car, then driving up to Coba and maybe Tulum to check out ruins and a few cenotes. Would anyone recommend a one-day car rental near the ferry on mainland?

Also going to be spending a day with Cenote Xperience doing a 2-tank dive. I definitely want to do Dos Ojos, but which other cenote would you guys recommend? It looks like the options would be Angelita, Zapote, El Pit, or Otro. Or maybe just both dives in Dos Ojos?