Iberostar Paraiso Beach next week, looking forward to it

[gcarter]

Leaving for Iberostar Paraiso Beach on Sunday for a week, first time to Mexico. I've booked the "Gorilla" package with Dressel: Cenote excursion with 2 dives, Cozumel excursion with 2 dives, and another 6 + a night dive.

I have been advised that they don't do DIN so I will do a quick revert on my first stage to yoke before I go.

I started my year with six in the DR, it will be nice to end my dive season with some more warm water / high vis diving after spending most of it in the St Lawrence . Although it hasn't been a bad year with temps reacing 74F, and still at 71F as of last night.

Anything in particular I should be looking out for, good or bad?

Cheers!

 

[jonhall]

Staying a few resorts over (Grand Mayan) the end of October. Please give a report of how everything goes. Plan to use Dressel, because of pickup service at our resort and free AOW course. Plan to dive some in Puerto Morelos also.

Although TripAdvisor gives good reviews, wonder if any SBers have any knowledge of Dressel (at the Iberostar Paraiso) and cenotes to dive and snorkel (for wives.)

 

[gcarter]

Just got back late last night and had a great time. Between it all, I went through 3 of the Dressel shops, the one at Paraiso, Cozumel, and Playa Del Carmen. Great people, well run. My only issue was at Paraiso they seemed to be having an issue with the Nitrox - analysis results were inconsistent. I don't know if was operator or equipment. I did not bother me too much as the majority of the dives were not deep enough for EAN to make much difference.

Keeping in mind that it is a development shop, the DMs / instructors were all great people. I brought my own gear but the rental equipment all looked reasonably new and well maintained.

The shop also did a good job of sorting divers into groups that dove well together.

The centotes I dove were Kukulcan and Chac-Mool. My brother and his wife snorkeled, but not though the dive shop - they did a Tulum tour through the hotel that included snorkeling in the cenotes and ocean snorkeling with turtles. They were quite happy with that package.

(Me on the end)

 

[jonhall]

Thanks for the report. Emailed Dressel and have received their info and prices. Said they would do 2 tank morning dives everyday although their info showed they only did them on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Did you experience 2 tank morning dives on other days of the week?

I also will be taking my own gear. Was your wetsuit 3mm? Would 3mm be good for the cenotes or do you recommend wearing something underneath or something thicker?

Would you recommend the Gorilla package or would you have done something different knowing what you know now?

Appreciate any answers you can supply. I'm looking forward to our trip in a couple of weeks.

 

[gcarter]

I was quite happy with the package. I should point out that I switched out the night dive for another day dive and finished with 1 on Saturday - didn't fly until ~ 4 p.m. yesterday, so I was good. Timing did not work for me otherwise due to doing stuff with my brother and his wife. Cozumel was a full day, arrived at Iberostar Cozumel around 11, met at the shop for the actual dives at 1:15, back at the resort around 7. The cenotes excursion saw me back at the resort by 3. With the shop on the resort, I moseyed down for 8:30 for local dives, 8:45 for pickup for the excursions.

I wore a 3/2 and 3mm boots on all my dives, including cenotes. I prefer a full suit for protection, and the boots are a must with my spring straps. Ocean dives I recorded a low (!) of 29.4C @ 90FSW. Cenotes were 25C, no thermoclines. The other two guys with me were Swiss and wore 4mm shorties, they were fine as well.

I will also confirm that Dressel has 4 dive guides who take turns on the excursions, and they are all full cave certified as required.

My first dive day, Monday, I did a morning and afternoon. Wed / Friday were my excursions, I don't know what they did. Tues / Thurs were 2 tank mornings, as was Saturday (although I did not do the 2nd). The shop is pretty flexible and I believe 2 tanks on the other days depends a bit on demand. But I can't say for sure.

 

[jonhall]

Thanks for the detailed info.

 

[DSR-3]

Thanks for the report. 'thinking about a return trip.
How about your thoughts on the hotel, please?

 

[gcarter]

Very happy with the hotel. I haven't done a ton of AIs, but this was the nicest I have been to of 4 in total - the others were 1 in Cuba and 2 in the DR. Of course, I do generally travel opportunistically on price.

The property is very large with several Iberostar hotels sitting side by each and sharing amenities - pools, restaurants, etc. The bad part is that you can spend a bit of time walking depending on where your room is and where you want to be. The good part is that it means there are more (and more varied) amenities available to you. They have some golf carts that travel the property when you need to be moving your bags, so that is a help as well.

Over the 7 days, we booked at 3 specialty restaurants, Italian, Japanese, and the steakhouse. We were quite happy with the meals at each, as well as with the food at the buffets.

They were doing some work in a couple of areas - it was a bit off season - but for the most part you would not even notice.

Staff were friendly and helpful. Rooms were in good repair and clean, and I have a general overall favorable impression of the property. I would return.

 

[jonhall]

Thought I'd give my thoughts on Dressel Divers at the Iberostar Paraiso.

Also did the Gorilla package consisting of the 11 dives. The pre-trip business of communicating with and booking the dives was very easy. Although based in Spain, everything (my questions, itemized costs) was communicated quickly and the process of payment was easy with a quick confirmation. Scheduling dives was done once I arrived and made contact with the dive shop, all done by using the WhatsApp texting app. Replies were always quick and the app made it easy to check on anything I had questions about and scheduling future dives.

The staff (instructors, DMs, people who took care of gear, drivers) were exceptional.

I want to explain a few of the reasons (and the good/bad associated with those reasons) I chose to dive with Dressel at this location.

1. They had pickup/dropoff from the resort we stayed at. These times were set at picking us up in the morning and leaving the Iberostar Resort at 4:00 pm. Having dive times of 8:30, 10:30, and 1:30, no matter what dive times you went with, the transportation home was always 4:00. Also if they did only the 8:30 and 1:30 dives, you had to wait around at the resort which is all inclusive, so you couldn't buy food. My buddy and I took sack lunches 2 days.

2. They had a free AOW course (course materials had to be paid for though.) On just about any dive, you could fulfill one of the 5 dives for AOW. Although there may have been several groups on the boat, there were generally plenty of instructors so that one would be there to have you complete the skills for a particular dive. The negative to this was that there may be several divers in the group diving for fun, but having to wait until the student(s) completed their skills. The only AOW dive that was just students, my buddy and I, and instructors was the navigation dive. There were still other groups out on the boat though.

As it turned out, my buddy, who has been diving regularly since 2008 with his PADI Scuba Diver certification (gained in 1975) was deemed not to have his Open Water certification (no record with PADI although they showed his Nitrox certification.) The staff allowed him to take the course for free except for the cost of course materials. He was so appreciative but had to complete this before he could complete any AOW dives. He was still able to accomplish everything within the 11 dives we prepaid for in the Gorilla package.

3. The Gorilla package included 1 night dive, 2 cenote dives, 2 dives in Coz, and 6 dives from the Iberostar Paraiso. Wading to and from the boat with all gear on (minus the air tank) in strong waves on the 6 dives from the resort and the night dive in Playa del Carmen from the Iberostar Playacar wasn't fun. On the night dive, upon return the boat stopped 100 yards out and you had to back roll into the water with gear, less air tank, and swim to shore. The cenote dives had us going to another Dressel in the Barcelo Resort to get needed gear before traveling to the Tach Majal cenote. These were nice dives and I found the water to be warmer than expected. Had 77 degrees F on my computer. Probably could have worn the 5mm instead of the 7mm that was provided. The Coz dives were by far the best (as everyone knows they would be.) Calm water and very good visibility. The visibility on dives from the mainland was poor (was good for the navigation skills) and the water at the surface was slightly choppy. On all dives from mainland the different groups that left the boat came up in different places, so you would have to wait for the boat to locate and then pick you up. We were there the last week of Oct. and the first week of Nov.

Last comments: Realizing that Dressel is dive shop on a resort which is not a dive resort, the schedule is set. Dive sites were repeated many times in my 6 dives there, and dives were planned for 45 minutes to depths of no more than 45 feet, although I hit 50 once. For convenience, if I stayed at the resort, I would dive with Dressel, as it is a nice set up where you can safely leave your gear and have it taken care of, but having stayed at a different resort and knowing what I know now, I probably would take a taxi to a different dive shop as I did in a previous trip, going to Puerto Morelos.

 

[Jim Agnew]

Thanks for the comments guys. We are headed to Iberostar Paraiso this Sat for a week. Second trip to Riviera Maya. We have cenote dives scheduled with a cave instructor we used two years ago Wily Ortega, he is fantastic and an independent guide. He is the go-to guy for many of us connected to our local Boston dive shop. We have some time later in the week and will look to Dressel Divers as well.

Thanks.
Jim