Hi! I am the new owner of Blue Angel Dive Shop, Cozumel

[ski-diveSteve]

Welcome to the board Eva. I met you in November on my first visit to Caribe Blue. Best wishes in everything you are trying to do there. When the economy finally rebounds you should be well positioned with an improved property. Hopefully you will be a trusted source of local knowledge on this board, much like Christi and Dave are.

Try to get some diving in too! Jorge and the others will take good care of you.

Steve Knapp

 

[driftin' by]

Welcome, congrats and good luck! For 4 years, I've exclusively used Blue Angel for diving but have yet to stay at the Hotel mainly because we travel with our young child and there didn't seem to be enough activities available for her. But when she grows up or mom and I get a trip alone, CB it tops on my list.

BTW, will Jeanie and Mike still be involved with the dive operations?

 

[sharky60]

Hello Eva, welcome to "THE BOARD"!

My wife and I are among the Caribe Blu faithful, we are looking forward to meeting you and your husband and seeing the Buscher's and all our old amigos and amigas this spring, hopfully in the late April/ early May time frame.

 

[evalovescozumel]

of course please find me so i can say hello
eva

 

[evalovescozumel]

thanks for the kind words hope to see you again soon

 

[evalovescozumel]

right now i am working on the garden...i have found some wonderful people with the help of new friends on the island...i was a little discouraged how long it was taking and people just not showing up but i am very happy now with the progress....i cant wait until it is finished! i will post some pix.
eva

 

[scubasdaniel]

Eva,

We did notice that you where working very hard to fix the place up and New Years Eve was really nice. We did see alot of area's that need addressed. Hot water in the showers would have been welcome. Floors that where not so slick when wet-Barb fell once and almost went through the sliding glass door. Lighting in the room was very dim and made it hard to read or service our dive cameras. The dive staff was very friendly and hard working but did not seem to grasp the technical knowledge needed. On one day they set up Barbs equipment for the first dive on 36 % nitrox a no no for deep dives but we where told we where only going to 70 feet for the first dive. The older gentleman that was the divemaster that day actually went to 95 feet and spent the majority of the dive with most of the group at that depth for over 30 minutes. Being a IANTD advanced Nitrox Instructor I kept Barb on top of the Reef at 60 feet to avoid any issues. I was surprised no one got bent that day. One of the divers was a fairly inexperienced male recently certified that had a BCD that would not hold air. Most of the tanks needed the o-ring replaced in them and when we told the crew the tank was leaking tehy would remove the regulator spit on the o-ring and replace the regulator!!! The customer with BCD problem did not make the second dive and my guess will never dive Cozumel again. One day the boat was short of weights and neither one of us ever got enough weight even though we asked for more each consective day. Another day we where short on tanks and we had to go into the harbour to get more and I witnessed some very frightening actions. I watch the boat crew toss scuba tanks three of four feet onto the concrete dock luckily none of the valve got knocked off. We witnessed the No Problem run into one of the other boats a rip the bowrail off the boat. In the United Stated we have Coast Guard licensed boat captains. We mostly dove the 10 am trip and to be honest I really do not like being shoved off the back of the dive boat. I have thousands of dive and worked for over 5 years in the Florida Keys as a instructor,boat captain and store Manager so its like I am inexperienced.
We where never asked to see out certification card during our week there We witnessed the young couple where got the defective BCD that where just certified open water and taked to 95 feet. Open water diver are not to exceed to 60 foo depth. I truely believe your trying hard to run a good business but I think the two of you lack the knowledge and training to run a dive operation. The thee employees that you have that really shine are the Husband and Wife Instructors and Evie the Divemaster/Videographer. You need to place these three in a management position and either train the rest of the staff or replace with more knowledgable staff.

Steven Daniel - PDIC Instructor 5177 and IANTD Instructor 1527

 

[scubawife]

Eva,

We did notice that you where working very hard to fix the place up and New Years Eve was really nice. We did see alot of area's that need addressed. Hot water in the showers would have been welcome. Floors that where not so slick when wet-Barb fell once and almost went through the sliding glass door. Lighting in the room was very dim and made it hard to read or service our dive cameras. The dive staff was very friendly and hard working but did not seem to grasp the technical knowledge needed. On one day they set up Barbs equipment for the first dive on 36 % nitrox a no no for deep dives but we where told we where only going to 70 feet for the first dive. The older gentleman that was the divemaster that day actually went to 95 feet and spent the majority of the dive with most of the group at that depth for over 30 minutes. Being a IANTD advanced Nitrox Instructor I kept Barb on top of the Reef at 60 feet to avoid any issues. I was surprised no one got bent that day. One of the divers was a fairly inexperienced male recently certified that had a BCD that would not hold air. Most of the tanks needed the o-ring replaced in them and when we told the crew the tank was leaking tehy would remove the regulator spit on the o-ring and replace the regulator!!! The customer with BCD problem did not make the second dive and my guess will never dive Cozumel again. One day the boat was short of weights and neither one of us ever got enough weight even though we asked for more each consective day. Another day we where short on tanks and we had to go into the harbour to get more and I witnessed some very frightening actions. I watch the boat crew toss scuba tanks three of four feet onto the concrete dock luckily none of the valve got knocked off. We witnessed the No Problem run into one of the other boats a rip the bowrail off the boat. In the United Stated we have Coast Guard licensed boat captains. We mostly dove the 10 am trip and to be honest I really do not like being shoved off the back of the dive boat. I have thousands of dive and worked for over 5 years in the Florida Keys as a instructor,boat captain and store Manager so its like I am inexperienced.
We where never asked to see out certification card during our week there We witnessed the young couple where got the defective BCD that where just certified open water and taked to 95 feet. Open water diver are not to exceed to 60 foo depth. I truely believe your trying hard to run a good business but I think the two of you lack the knowledge and training to run a dive operation. The thee employees that you have that really shine are the Husband and Wife Instructors and Evie the Divemaster/Videographer. You need to place these three in a management position and either train the rest of the staff or replace with more knowledgable staff.

Steven Daniel - PDIC Instructor 5177 and IANTD Instructor 1527

Wow! With all those issues day after day, did you take the time to report any of this to management when it happened? Always best to address problems when they occur and to give the shop or hotel or whatever, a chance to rectify it.

 

[scubasdaniel]

No by the second day in Cozumel we had decided that Grand Cayman,Bonaire, Maui,St. Croix etc and our faithful standby Key Largo stood heads above Cozumel. Side walks the dropped 4-5 feet to rocks or concrete with no protective railings. Barb wire along the side walk and just a block back from the main drag reminded of the area's in the slums back the US. We like to dive but we also enjoy doing topside stuff too. Mau, St. Thomas and St. Croix's top side beauty makes for wonderful photo opportunities. I love to photograph sunsets,etc since my top side photo gear is heads above the olympus underwater gear I like to have the chance to shoot with my Canon EOS system.

 

[Martha]

No by the second day in Cozumel we had decided that Grand Cayman,Bonaire, Maui,St. Croix etc and our faithful standby Key Largo stood heads above Cozumel. Side walks the dropped 4-5 feet to rocks or concrete with no protective railings. Barb wire along the side walk and just a block back from the main drag reminded of the area's in the slums back the US. We like to dive but we also enjoy doing topside stuff too. Mau, St. Thomas and St. Croix's top side beauty makes for wonderful photo opportunities. I love to photograph sunsets,etc since my top side photo gear is heads above the olympus underwater gear I like to have the chance to shoot with my Canon EOS system.

To each their own, but it seems to me that you were just looking for things to complain about. My family and I (husband and kids, age 8 & 13 at the time) walked into town for dinner most nights when we were in Cozumel and we never had a problem walking on the sidewalk or felt that they were unsafe. They are pretty wide, so it's not too hard to stay away from the edge.