Looking for a dive shop offering 4 dives a day

[TGIF]

Another option is to look at somewhere like Scuba Club Cozumel. When I went on a shop trip there in June, we could do unlimited shore dives in the afternoon or after the afternoon's dive, if we wanted.

I will second what others have posted; Cozumel diving tends to be much deeper than what you'll find on the East Coast or many other parts of the world.

 

[mstevens]

Nitrox would be a must with four dives...a must.

Agreed. However, most ops can only source EAN32 and EAN36, so depending on what one thinks is an appropriate pO2 and the resulting MOD, that can limit the number of accessible dive sites to a varying degree. It would rule out my very favorite sites no matter what. Those, of course, are the ones that cause the most nitrogen loading to begin with.

Night dives are awesome, and many shops offer a twilight dive followed by a night dive. That allows more of an interval from morning dives and the sites are usually shallower. At this point in my diving career, I usually don't do morning dives if I do that. Might do a 2-tank morning and a night dive, but there will be napping in between.

If you really want to do intense diving, you may end up needing to charter a boat at least some of the time. It's not that shops won't go out without a minimum number of divers. It's that they can't afford to do it without a minimum amount of income.

 

[gopbroek]

Tres Pelicanos runs a morning boat (or as many more as necessary) daily and afternoon boats on demand. Pre booked they will schedule an afternoon boat with a minimum of two divers which is at or below the shops cost but most often once on the leader board they will get a few more divers to make it worth their while. Non pre-booked, within 24 Hrs, they will normally want 3 divers as there is less chance to book additional divers (unless I am on the island and diving that morning, then they call me and tell me I am going again in the afternoon).

3P's DM's will provide guidance as necessary but if the DM feels that you are not a danger to yourself or the reef they will allow you latitude, if you want your space, and allow you to dive your tank and not require you to surface as a group. Typical dives are around 70 minutes (a few years back I checked my logs and over 300-400 dives I was at over 70 minutes average) Regardless of who you pick I would recommend you carry a SMB and if unfamiliar with deployment practice with the DM.

November is looking to be a good month so I expect a lot of afternoon dives to be scheduled anyway, I normally try a 4x2x4x2 ….. schedule. I use nitrox every dive and most DSAT computers will handle it but I have found that for a continuous four dive a day nitrox schedule only the newer ‘tec’ based computers, like the Shearwater’s, that run a constant 02 half-life calculation will allow 4 Cozumel nitrox dives a day over an extended period (I haven’t kept up with the newer computers over the last 4 years). Many of the lower end computers limit you or will lock you out due to O2 toxicity schedule exceedance.

If you have to cancel a pre-booked dive (with a little advance warning) it shouldn’t be an issue. In the last 9 years of operation I am not aware of 3P ever charging a diver for a dive they didn’t do regardless of stated policy.

In November (mostly in the first half but a few extended) 'The usual suspects' group is in town, we have fun diving

 

[DivingChipmunk]

Thank you all for such quick responses and for sharing your wisdom, experience and helpful info.

Yes, we will dive Nitrox. We are hoping to find a dive shop/resort that can give us an LOB like diving experience with morning 2 tanks and afternoon or twilight 2 tanks. Thanks to the recommendations here in SB, looks like we have narrowed down a few shops that very LIKELY will offer such services during our visit. We are communicating with them an looking at lodging options.

And hopefully, we will also save some time for enjoying the town and the island.

Sue

 

[nodakdive]

I dive a Suunto Mosquito, which is considered to be quite conservative. I've done lots of 4 tank per day diving on Cozumel and average 3 per day on normal 2 week trips. My dives probably average in the 50 to 60 minute range. My profile is as deep as the group profiles.

4 tank days with the shop I've done that diving with are basically doing 80ft + on the first dive (generally a wall), then 40-60 or so on the 2nd tank (usually patch reef). 3rd and fourth tanks are basically the same pattern, 80+ feet, 40-60 feet. I suspect that many of the 80cuft shops profile the same.

The strategy I employ is to dive 36% on 2nd and 4th tanks, air on 1st and 3rds.. The 2nd and 4th tanks are usually not wall dives and usually have a hard floor well within the MOD of 36%. There can be exceptions and if needed I adjust, but my conservative computer does not limit me with regard to "normal" 80cuft Cozumel profiles.

 

[Mudakdivers]

Hello,

My husband and I are going to Cozumel for a week in Nov, our first diving trip there. We've found a lot of good information on SB and kudos to all the contributers here.

We are hoping to do some high volumn diving while we are in Cozumel. Any recent experience of a diving shop that offered consistent afternoon 2 tank dives, Or you think would most likely offer such service? So far, shops we've contacted have min diver requirement of 3 or 4 for an afternoon dive. The only shop that definitely goes out in the afternoon is Dressel, but we've read some comment here about their "cattle boats", thus are not sure if we should go with them. And BTW, we just found out that Iberostar (where Dressel is based) is sold out on the days we are in Cozumel.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Sue

Hello would highly recommend reaching out to Cathy at https://m.facebook.com/diveconnector/posts Cathy has great knowledge of boats in Cozumel and helped me arrange both 3 tank and 4 tank dives.

 

[Jimchris]

Another option is to look at somewhere like Scuba Club Cozumel. When I went on a shop trip there in June, we could do unlimited shore dives in the afternoon or after the afternoon's dive, if we wanted.

I will second what others have posted; Cozumel diving tends to be much deeper than what you'll find on the East Coast or many other parts of the world.

Scuba Club is our favorite. The morning boat dives are always great. Afternoons are either spent in a hammock, joining an afternoon/evening/night charter, spending 90-120 minutes on the house reef, dinner, drinks, hammock, repeat as necessary.

 

[jonhall]

Cathy has great knowledge of boats in Cozumel and helped me arrange both 3 tank and 4 tank dives.

Just curious who the dive op was that you were hooked up with. Do you pay through Dive Connector to go with the op they find for you or do you pay the dive op?

 

[bhalah]

Wow... and I thought my SAC rate was good!

Practice makes perfect.

 

[MrBigfins]

Punta Sur divers will give you 4 a day if they are not already booked out. Great shop and Nacho does a great job with some personalized touches and extra service.

Tres pelicanos as stated will go out with 2 divers prescheduled for afternoon or twilight/night divesand is a great shop with a great atmosphere.

Both are very accommodating. I'm in the same boat as you when I go, I go to dive and regularly do 4-5 a day with maybe a down day mid week if I'm there multiple weeks. I dive. Eanx 32 then 36 every dive unless we are doing Punta sur/marricabo and plan for deeper then I go air first/36 for second dive.Enjoy and be safe