New Diver, Going to Cozumel in May; Rent there or before leaving.

[PhilaDallas]

Two Newbies!
Title pretty much says it. My wife and I are going to Cozumel in May. We are doing our school and pool sessions at home, then doing our check out dives in Cozumel. We will be at Aura and diving with Dive Palancar. I already confirmed that they accept referrals.

When we get there, we will own only booties, fins, snorkels and masks. Should we rent the rest of the gear there, or is it likely we can save money renting prior to leaving.

Can't wait to post my "OW Certificated" thread.

 

[rick00001967]

is the question.....is it cheaper to bring rental gear from home rather than rent gear from dive palancar ?? if so, it will def be better just to use the gear from the dive op in coz.

 

[scubafied]

+1 for using the Coz Ops equipment. Makes more sense if you are going to be doing your check out dives there and it will give you more room for packing your luggage normally without having to worry about the weight issues.

 

[PhilaDallas]

Thanks for the replies!

 

[LowDrag]

Good luck...I look forward to reading your post certification thread.

 

[Bonairetrip]

The downsides of taking rental gear to Mexico:
a) You have to haul it through the airports and dry the gear before you leave
b) If there is a problem with the gear, you might be out of luck or are paying to repair gear you do not own
c) You may incur baggage fees (depending on weight)

That said, if the US gear is stuff you are very comfortable or the price difference is huge, then you might want to haul it down.

I prefer to own my gear and travel with it. If I was renting (in a place like Coz), I would always rent local.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I have never dove with rental gear, but if I was using rental gear and the dive destination had quality stuff available, I would certainly rent locally rather than carry an extra piece of luggage with rental gear. I have no problem paying extra to take my own stuff around the world, but not rental gear. And Dive Palancar will have decent gear. Not as nice as what you would buy for yourself ( something I feel strongly about) but adequate for your diving on this trip.
DivemasterDennis

 

[timhack]

Rent it when you get there. If you rent before, you will need to rent the gear for enough extra days that you will probably end up paying much more than you think you would be saving. That is before adding in the checked baggage fees. In my experience rental gear in the Caribbean is not any more expensive than renting closer to home. In most cases I actually found it to be cheaper.

 

[PhilaDallas]

Hijacking my own thread. Wanted to share a little excitement.

Just finished the last of the pool sessions last night. Much more comfortable in the water, and was properly weighted so I was able to descend at a decent rate once my BCD was empty. Now I am really excited to get to Cozumel! We ended the session with the short bit of skin diving and it felt very liberating having all of that weight off. Felt like I was floating above the water. All of the skills went well except for the controlled emergency swimming ascent where I forgot to exhale on the way up. Glad I was in the pool at 10', instead of in the ocean at 30'+. Felt really nice to get the fin tip relatively quickly, and the hover quickly.

 

[farsidefan1]

Congratulations on everything EXCEPT FORGETTING TO EXHALE ON THE WAY UP Actually you can do serious damage from the bottom of a pool, glad it didn't happen to you. I assume lesson is learned so you are in for a great time diving. Coz is beautiful and the clarity is probably better than the pool you learned in plus you actually have something other than the girl in the bikini or the guy in the speedo (whichever way you swing) to look at. I agree that it makes more sense at this time to rent when you get there. Hauling gear is a pain. I do it all the time now but it's still a pain. The only time I dove with rental gear was when I went to Hawaii with the family and then we flew over to the big island for the manta night dive. It was the only dive planned for the trip so I used rental gear (hated it ). Nonetheless, were I to do that trip again I would again rent. The reason I hated the rental gear is simply that I am so dialed in with my stuff after 300 plus dives is that I habitually reached where something wasn't. You are new enough to easily adjust. In my case it was never dangerous, just a bit irritating (still less irritating than hauling an extra 50 lb bag all over he,,,).