Hi all - my wife (OW) and I (AOW) are visiting Cozumel last week of January, staying at the Secrets Aura. This scuba board has been fantastic for my advance research - thank you so much!!!
That said, we are having some difficulty putting together a diving package, which might include, variously,
- multiple 2-tank reef or wall dives w/ gear rental
- Nitrox course for me
- excursion dives such as for bull sharks
- possibly other dives, e.g. twilight/night dives
It's very difficult to assemble a vacation diving package from 1650 miles away when
- we haven't been to Cozumel before (but many dives in PDC / Puerto Morelos so we hope to see something new or different)
- the dive shops offer different services (e.g. some don't do excursions, some don't include dives with the NITROX course)
- the dive shops websites vary in quality of info provided, and they don't always post their prices, or their rates can be confusing (some multi-dive package deals are for one person only; and do I really have to rent each piece of diving gear separately?! Are dive computers mandatory ( I have one but my wife does not - mus she rent?)
- dive shop locations vary and I want to avoid time-consuming and costly travel
- dive shops take days, even weeks to respond to my emails and then they rarely answer all my questions (e.g. are 2 dives included with the NITROX course or not?!); and they never ever answer the phones whenever I call! Not even once.
- The local weather may be bad with no diving possible, and I don't want credits for cancelled prepaid dives or excursions
Thinking Dressel for its size, reputation, online discount and free NITROX (drawback: they are 5 km away), or DivePalancar or Dive House because they are located near or at our AI (nothing beats walking down to the pier to go diving) but they do not appear to offer the same range of services which may be geared to different (read: hotel) clientele (i.e. visiting the same local reef and walls each outing)
At this point, it seems likely that we will go with two different dive shops, and prepay for basic dive package and then add other dives or services later.
January is high season and I want to finalize arrangements asap. I'm a little worried about:
- booking too late ("sorry we are full")
- being on crowded boats ("we can squeeze you two in")
- seeing the same dive sites
- prepaying if there is no discount or other incentives to do so
Appreciate any thoughts or advice on any of the above observations and comments!
Thanks!!!
Fred
Toronto, Canada
