Help Choose Dive Ops. / Hotel

[ggunn]

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?

Cozumelics = Cozumel Relics? I guess I resemble that description... ;^)

Where the hotel is relative to the dive ops is (mostly) not a consideration, since most of the ops will pick you up mostly anywhere. Exceptions are anywhere north of town (most ops won't go there) and possibly Iberostar (they give any ops other than their in-house op a lot of grief over picking up at their dock). In general, the larger ops with larger boats tend to dive to the lowest common denominator, i.e., rigid profiles based on time rather than air reserves, and go to prearranged sites rather than polling the divers at pickup.

Any of the three ops you mention will give you great service and will pick up at FA.

Cheers,

 

[jawfish]

There are also some great private condos and villas. You may try that avenue as well. There are a lot right there in town and lots have fitted themeselves with divers in mind. Just an idea.

 

[Fin59]

You should have no problem getting any of the dive ops to pick you up at FA so do some research and decide who you want to go with. You will still have the same convenience. Just let them know where you will be staying. The ops with the smaller boats/groups do NOT always cost more. I know Dive With Martin has 5 days 2 tanks/night dive and video for $255 and is great. Never used Dive House so I don't know what their rate is. Some shops may charge a little more to upgrade to the smaller boats, but, you are going to get longer bottom time. Have fun!

 

[Divingnthedark]

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

I have stayed at Hotel Cozumel my last 4 of 5 trips. The diving off the dock area is pretty unimpressive IMHO- YMMV. What I have taken to doing is jumping in a cab to Villa Blanca for a night dive there. There are 2 dive ops at villa Blanca although I chose to rent tanks from Dive Paradise $6.00 US for tank and weights since they were open at 8:00PM. If you want to night dive at Villa Blanca show up by 8:00pm and bring your c- card. I talked my nervous nelly sister into doing a night dive there earlier this month she thanked me profusely afterward. We saw a nice carribean octopus, a small spotted moray swimming along the bottom, squid, scopian fish, and lots of little critters too. If you stay at Hotel Cozumel you can no longer walk across the road to dive but must use the walkway that goes under the road. Hard on those with bad knees and carrying camera gear... I would check out http://raul@bottomtimedivers.net/index.html they get my vote! Hope this helps
Loretta

 

[J75]

While it has gotten mixed reviews on SB, I really like the Reef Club. It's north of town and kind of isolated, therefore the dive boats aren't crowded at all. It's all inclusive and the food is decent enough. There is an excellent Italian restaurant on the premises as well. Granted, it's not a 5 star resort, but you won't pay 5 star prices either. Compared to other resorts in Coz, it's pretty standard. You can fall out your door in the morning and take a very short walk to Sand Dollar Sports. They have lockers there where you can store your gear. (I left everything there except my reg and my computers). The beach also provides great snorkeling for after your dives.

 

[azsilver]

Check out liquid Blue Divers, http://www.liquidbluedivers.com/indexx.html

We just got home late last night from Cozumel had a great time diving with Roberto and Jorge as DM's. Michaela is wonderful for setting up your dives and taking care of all the details. She meets you at the pier in the morning and also at the SI at the beach.

This dive operation is a Class Act and has true customer service. They will really work with you to insure you get what you need for great diving.

They may seem a little more expensive for two tank dives but when you figure out how much longer your bottom time is with ST 100's or 120's we found it is a much better dive value for your money. They also have nitrox available in ST 100's & 120's for an extra $10.00 a tank.

We look forward to diving with Liquid Blue Divers in the future...and hope it will not be too long!

AZ Divers!

PS a trip report will follow!

 

[Christi]

While it has gotten mixed reviews on SB, I really like the Reef Club. It's north of town and kind of isolated, therefore the dive boats aren't crowded at all. It's all inclusive and the food is decent enough. There is an excellent Italian restaurant on the premises as well. Granted, it's not a 5 star resort, but you won't pay 5 star prices either. Compared to other resorts in Coz, it's pretty standard. You can fall out your door in the morning and take a very short walk to Sand Dollar Sports. They have lockers there where you can store your gear. (I left everything there except my reg and my computers). The beach also provides great snorkeling for after your dives.

Actually, the Reef Club is SOUTH of town along with several other of the all-inclusive resorts.

J75, you have the right attitude. If you are going to stay at an all-inclusive, don't expect a five-star gourmet meal every night...unless of course they are advertising this and you are paying a high ticket price for it. Otherwise, AI's are not known to have excellent food. It's always amazed me that people expect anything other than medicocre food at an all-inclusive resort. You are getting a value and for what you pay to stay at the Reef Club, if you don't like the food, you can still justify going into town a couple of times for a good meal.

I also always wonder, are people here to eat or dive?

 

[Christi]

Check out liquid Blue Divers, http://www.liquidbluedivers.com/indexx.html

We just got home late last night from Cozumel had a great time diving with Roberto and Jorge as DM's. Micheale is wonderful for setting up your dives and taking care of all the details. She meets you at the pier in the morning and also at the SI at the beach.

This dive operation is a Class Act and has true customer service. They will really work with you to insure you get what you need for great diving.

They may seem a little more expensive for two tank dives but when you figure out how much longer your bottom time is with ST 100's or 120's we found it is a much better dive value for your money. They also have nitrox available in ST 100's & 120's for an extra $10.00 a tank.

We look forward to diving with Liquid Blue Divers in the future...and hope it will not be too long!

AZ Divers!

PS a trip report will follow!

Glad to hear you had a great time with them and that it all worked out for you with the larger tanks!!! It was nice to see you guys, even if it was brief

 

[ggunn]

I also always wonder, are people here to eat or dive?

That's an easy one - both! ;^)

Oh yeah, and to fish, too.

See ya soon!

 

[WAPADIDM]

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.

Well this is bad new, I am going down and staying at the Iberostar, with their dive package I'm sure run by dressel dive ops.

Can you tell me why the negative feed back on them, boats, sites, attitudes?
This will be my first trip to Coz, I probably can't fix the two tank dives as part of the package.

Your honest feed back would be appreciated, or any advice on how to prevent a negative experience.

Thanks,

Chuck