Trip Report Great family trip at Coz Iberostar -- similar kid friendly resorts?

[wateraddiction]

Eleven hundred DOLLARS per night? Yeesh, that's too rich for my blood. Where I stay on Cozumel I pay less than that per week.

Yeah, I showed my kid the price differential and she was like, why don't we just come to Iberostar 3x/year?

Your husband's gas use will definitely improve with time, experience, and learning to let the current do most of the work (and relaxing is also big one). But his use will almost certainly never be as good as yours. Men burn more gas than women as a rule. If you have a significant disparity and you are leaving a lot of gas in your tank, he could always request a larger tank (100 CF or 120's are available through many dive ops. At least one shop offers 117's). My wife has gills so when I'm at 500psi, she's at least double that. But she gets cold faster than I do so we're both ready for the SI at about the same time

He noticed he went down 40 bar after checking out the toadfish and I told him he can't do this here or we would be done at 40 min! By the end of the week I was coming up with 1200psi so it would be nice for us to hit 60 min (which we did in Roatan....). Does your daughter jr diver manage the current just fine? I'm concerned that my kids will find it stressful although I got certified in Cozumel and I didn't know the difference since I had nothing to compare it to.

 

[Shawn C]

Our daughter has only two trips, so far, with us under her belt as a diver. On all our dives with her, she had a private DM. We also requested reefs with low current. That's not always a guarantee, and things can change mid dive, but so far she hasn't had to contend with any significant current. Just the gentle moving sidewalk kind that's so pleasant to dive in. On the second trip she was doing swim throughs and had her buoyancy under control. My mask must have been leaking as my vision was all blurry

 

[ggunn]

Our daughter has only two trips, so far, with us under her belt as a diver. On all our dives with her, she had a private DM. We also requested reefs with low current. That's not always a guarantee, and things can change mid dive, but so far she hasn't had to contend with any significant current. Just the gentle moving sidewalk kind that's so pleasant to dive in. On the second trip she was doing swim throughs and had her buoyancy under control. My mask must have been leaking as my vision was all blurry

Our daughter was a natural as well. We got her cert'ed at 13 and she dove Cozumel with us on every trip until she grew up and got her own life.

 

[Bookworm11]

I've gone to Cozumel 4 times and am going back for my fifth trip this November. I started diving with Dressel, but always stayed at the Occidental. You can walk to Dressel from the Occidental. The Occidental is significantly cheaper than the Iberostar, and the beach is actually sandy. The Occidental is also very kid friendly, although I hear the Allegra is even more kid friendly, but with much worse food. I think the food is better (I am very happy with the food!), but I've never eaten at the Iberostar. The regular staff Dressel divers are great-and the extra staff they get when they need extras are hit and miss. I stopped diving with Dressel after this trip as I kept getting thrown in bad diving groups (not the same ability as me) or being made to come up when I still had lots of air left, or not getting to dive with the FT staff. I dove with Aldora, and they are amazing! They will pick you up anywhere, and groups are limited to 4. At the Occidental, I never had anyone ask me for a pier fee. Aldora also has steel tanks so you stay down longer. The nicest two hotels on the island are the Intercontinental (kid friendly, lovely beach, 2 big pools!), but EXPENSIVE! You can get picked up there, and they do have a dive shop. You can snorkel by the hotel, too. Great restaurants, too! The best way to go there is on points if you have IHG points. I had a horrible time with them, but others have written good reviews. The Westin is lovely, but it is near nothing at all! Nice snorkeling right by the hotel, though! I won't be diving with anyone but Aldora anymore!