In Cozumel now...worth a day trip to do whale shark swim or cenote dive?

[bshort4]

I have been emailing back and forth with Blue Life this morning. I am not so impressed so far. I have asked for the cost and what all it includes about 4 times and they still wont tell me, lol.

Under the Jungle has been very responsive and helpful so far. No response from Pro Tec yet.

I used CenoteXperience too and their website lists all their prices for the different cavern dives and what is included.

 

[amoses]

Pro Tech has been very responsive today. And is willing to negotiate the single diver price if I happen to be the only one. They said group diver price + $10. so, $175. not to bad. I am thinking about it. I will check out CenoteXperience also.

 

[amoses]

We dived Dos Ojos (very crowded with snorkelers and divers)

Would you skip Dos Ojos since it was crowded?

 

[bshort4]

Would you skip Dos Ojos since it was crowded?

No I wouldn't skip it--once you're in the water and away from the entrance it's fine---also depends on how early you get there--the earlier the better. I combined Dos Ojos with The Pit which is only five minutes away from Dos Ojos---we had it all to ourselves--no other divers and no snorkelers. The Pit is an advanced dive just because of the depth--you need AOW cert to dive it--other than depth there is no problem diving it. I was the only diver scheduled with CenoteXperience and they weren't going to charge me extra as a solo diver--$175 for the two dives. We did have a diver join us at the last minute so there were two of us plus the guide. I kept being told that you needed extra wetsuit protection because of the cenote temperature but I was fine in just a 3mm full suit. I dived with a hood the first dive and removed it for the second dive. I don't think I'd do both dives at Dos Ojos--Bat line and the Barbie line---our guide let us dive half in both lines so we got to see both lines in one dive.

 

[ReefHound]

$175 for a 2-tank cenote trip is kinda high especially when you add tip. I guess if you're happy it's worth it, and I'm sure you will be. Every one raves about the awesome dive guide they just had. I've done at least 10 cenote trips (20 dives) with at least 5 different guides and every single one of the guides was highly qualified, competent, safe, thorough, patient, and interesting. It seems to be a pretty close-knit community and the guides know each other well. My latest trip last December was with Jorge at DiveMike and it cost $115. I don't think we gave up anything at all in saving $60.

 

[amoses]

I think I am leaning toward waiting till next trip. If I do the bag drag, I will be on the mainland anyway.

 

[ggunn]

$175 for a 2-tank cenote trip is kinda high especially when you add tip.

I agree, and it brings up the question (in my mind, at least) of why the tip must (or should) be a percentage of the charge. Speaking strictly for myself, for example, I tend to tip a higher percentage of the check when I am in a less expensive restaurant.

 

[Hatul]

I've done a day of cenote diving when in Cozumel, twice and both times it was worth the trouble. It's a nice change to the drift diving. Funny thing is I did not enjoy Dos Ojos as it was too crowded with snorkelers and too touristy. The Pit was the best. Taj Ma Ha was pretty good too. Eden was OK.

 

[bshort4]

I agree that $175 for two dives seems expensive and that price is in line with most operators that do cavern dives--I checked out a lot of them. Some of the cavern dives are less expensive than the ones I did but these are the ones I choose--no surprises. Yes compared to a two tank dive in Cozumel it's way more expensive--I usually pay about $100 for a two tank dive with nitrox and I've paid much more in other places and far less in others (Roatan and Philippines). But for this unique experience I think I got fair value and enjoyment and didn't mind the cost to much as this isn't something I'll do on a regular basis. As far as the whale sharks are concerned--been there done that in Oslob in the Philippines--what a cluster---it was cheap enough but not an experience I'd care to repeat or recommend.

 

[scubadada]

Perhaps it was that we dived on a Thursday in March, but Dos Ojos was very uncrowded. Our 1st dive on the Barbie line started at 10 am and we were the only divers there. After a beautiful 55 minute dive and a short SI, we dived the Bat Cave line for another 49 minutes. Another group entered the water just as we were starting our second dive, but they did the Barbie line, and we were alone again on our dive. We briefly saw a few snorkelers during our dives. Great day, great experience.