Help Choose Dive Ops. / Hotel

[amadeus00]

Headed back to Coz for our second time. First time we went with Dive House and stayed at FA. It was nice to leap out of bed and walk across the street to go diving. The staff was great but I would like to try something different. Maybe a smaller, more exclusive group.

I will be going with my wife with intermediate skills and me with intermediate to advance skills. I've been reading up on Blue XT, Deep Blue and Bottom Time Divers. I know they are all great operations but I would like the have easy access to my hotel like I did with FA and Dive House. Is there a equavlent hotel next to these diver operators? AI is not a must but desired. What do you suggest you Cozumelics?

 

[d56nut]

I don't know about the others, but BlueXTSea will pick you up right at the Fiesta Americana dock. We stayed at Fiesta Americana in December and BlueXTsea picked us up there with no problems at all. We are staying at The Grand in just over a week and they are picking us up there all week. I know there is one hotel that the do not pick up at but can't remember which one it is. Maybe someone else can help with that. BlueXTsea is a wonderful dive op. We also dove with Dive House on 3 separate trips in 2004. If you like Dive House you will love BlueXTSea. We never thought we would dive with anyone but Dive House because we liked them so much but there was one day where Dive House couldn't take us out (we knew ahead of time so we planned accordingly) and we decided to give BlueXTSea a shot. They are amazing!

Hope you have a great time!

Headed back to Coz for our second time. First time we went with Dive House and stayed at FA. It was nice to leap out of bed and walk across the street to go diving. The staff was great but I would like to try something different. Maybe a smaller, more exclusive group.

I will be going with my wife with intermediate skills and me with intermediate to advance skills. I've been reading up on Blue XT, Deep Blue and Bottom Time Divers. I know they are all great operations but I would like the have easy access to my hotel like I did with FA and Dive House. Is there a equavlent hotel next to these diver operators? AI is not a must but desired. What do you suggest you Cozumelics?

 

[parrotheaddiver]

If you are thinking about something smaller as in dive op and hotel...

BXT is great
http://www.bluextseadiving.com/ We will be with Christi in July...

The Caribe Blu is a nice smaller hotel http://www.caribeblu.net/ and it is close to town.

We always stay at Hotel Cozumel it is larger but it suits us and it is close to town as well http://www.hotelcozumel.com.mx/

Most dive ops will pick you up at almost all hotels.

 

[ednedfred]

Whatever you do, if you happen to stay at the Iberostar, do not use Dressel Divers. They are perhaps the worst dive op in Cozumel.

Have fun

 

[diveborg]

Whatever you do, if you happen to stay at the Iberostar, do not use Dressel Divers. They are perhaps the worst dive op in Cozumel.

Just don't stay there period. Just about all the dive OP's in Cozumel will pick you up from any of the places south of town, but Iberostar is so difficult with off-site dive OP's trying to pick up divers there that several of the dive OP's will no longer stop there.

Stay at Fiesta Americana again if you liked it the first time and make arrangements with the dive shop of your choice. You'll have no problem getting picked up there and you can still rent tanks at Divehouse for shore diving and use the rinse tub and shower.

 

[scubawife]

Last week we stayed at Fiesta Americana and dived with Living Underwater. This was our first trip to Coz and we enjoyed it so much that I've already booked for December. The location of Fiesta Americana, we thought, was perfect. It's far enough south to make for reasonably short boat trips, but still a short taxi to town if you want to go shopping or for dinner.

Living Underwater picked us up at the hotel pier, so that was very convenient. We only had 4 divers and I think they only take 6. The boat was fast and very comfortable and overall, the service and attention to everything in and out of the water was first rate. Jeremy will also take care of rinsing and storing your gear overnight. The extras like plenty of water, snacks and fruit, towels, seat cushions, jackets, etc., SI's at a beach club, not schlepping your gear back and forth every day, really make for a very enjoyable dive trip. All we had to do was enjoy the diving. LU uses steel 120's and 95's. Long, leisurely dives. Dive sites were selected based on what the divers wanted. If we didn't have a specific site, Jeremy made a choice based on the type of diving we wanted and what we wanted to see.

Any of the small operators will cost you more then Dive House, but I think that they are a great value for you get. They will pick up at FA's pier since it's on the way south to the dive sites. You can still have the convenience even if you aren't using Dive House.

 

[michaelp68]

My wife and I stayed at Fiesta Americana a couple months ago.

We used Blue XT Sea for our diving. They picked us up at the FA pier every morning exactly when they said they'd be there. No extra waiting around. Pick-up was the same spot/pier as that used by FA's own in-house dive operation.

So, if you liked FA, just go back there and book with Blue XT Sea.

My wife and I loved our experience diving with Blue XT Sea, by the way.

The link to my trip report is: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=86797

Michael

 

[5615mike]

always stay at FA or a condo. FA is much more convenient. Always use www.aldora.com. Great DO IMO. Have used them for the last 5 years. Used DWM once when Aldora was full and they did a very nice job as well. Both use small fast boats and do their level best to group divers accordingly. Have a great trip.

 

[amadeus00]

Thanks for all the feedback! I've put out some quote requests and now I'm just waiting.

Question: Does Hotel Cozumel have good shore diving or should I stick with FA?

 

[divematt]

Headed back to Coz for our second time. First time we went with Dive House and stayed at FA. It was nice to leap out of bed and walk across the street to go diving. The staff was great but I would like to try something different. Maybe a smaller, more exclusive group.

I will be going with my wife with intermediate skills and me with intermediate to advance skills. I've been reading up on Blue XT, Deep Blue and Bottom Time Divers. I know they are all great operations but I would like the have easy access to my hotel like I did with FA and Dive House. Is there a equavlent hotel next to these diver operators? AI is not a must but desired. What do you suggest you Cozumelics?

We just booked Hotel Cozumel for $85 a night and are working on a dive operator right now. I'm talking with Blue XTSea and Deep Blue and am sure that I'll be happy with either. Another D.O. that sounds pretty good is Living Underwater. There are so many decent operators, it's hard to choose. Heck, I usually speak highly of Dive With Martin, but think I'll try someone new this time. If you hear enough good feedback on a dive operator, you can certainly save having a bad experience. It's a vacation, so putting in the time to do the research can really make a difference when choosing a hotel and dive operator. Everyone on this board can be really helpful by their trip reports, and opinions.