Newbie diver long trip report - Questionable diving?

[scubawife]

Why did we go with Eagle Ray? Mainly because I got the impression from reviews that they were really oriented towards families/new divers and I thought Scuba Mau was good for people that knew their diving. In hindsight I think this is not quite the case. Scuba Mau is definitely one of the top rated ops there and I would pick them for next time.

DandyDon, thanks for the tips on weights. Although I understand the benefits of owning gear, when it comes to weights, don't people usually leave them at home when air travel is involved? Just trying to understand what people normally do. It's kind of expensive if two people are checking in 12-16 lbs each in their luggage. We had to pay for each checked bag. Or do people usually carry the belt and retainers and rent weights from the dive shop?

I have no first hand experience with Scuba Mau, but I do know that in the grand scheme of Cozumel's dive shops they are a newer player. What sources are you referencing to determine that they are "one of the top rated?" Like with most forums that are specific to one interest or area, ScubaBoard's destination sub-forums have their die hard cheerleaders who put across a message that makes their shop of choice (or favorite hotel or restaurant, etc) sound like the best thing since sliced bread, which for them I do not doubt it is. There are a lot of people on this board who've been going to Cozumel for years and who won't answer every questions with, "(shop x) is the best! You have to dive with them!" Some of them have dived with 10, 12 or more shops on the island and have their favorites too, but they recognize that their choice for their situation may not be the best for everyone. My experience on this board over the years is that the people who've been going to Cozumel for a lot of years and have dived with several shops, stayed at many different hotels, condos or resorts, are the ones who will tell you to decide on what you wont then go look for the shop that best fits what you want, rather then just telling everyone to go to their personal preference of shops or accommodations.

Check out resources like Undercurrent. While I'm not a huge fan of the publication for a few reasons, I do keep my online subscription and find their database of dive shop reviews worthwhile and a good reference. A lot of very experienced and well traveled divers, and divers in general aren't participating on online forums. Undercurrent gets reviews from a broader cross section of divers, IMO. And it's also easy to compare reviews on a shop under their review format. You know at a glance how many dives a person has, where else they've been, etc., so you can easily determine if their opinion or needs are going to be similar to yours or not. Its interesting to me that there's not one review in Undercurrent for Scuba Mau, but if you only read ScubaBoard you would think they're one of the only and/or most popular shops on the island.... Local divers in your area are another great source of information. Get involved with a dive club. You'll meet a variety of people with different levels of experience, different travel interests and clubs usually organize at least monthly meetings where they have speakers or a presentation by a member on different destinations or topic of interest to divers.

Again, I'm not for or against this or any other shop. I have my favorites that meet what I'm looking for and I know that just because I love them it doesn't make them shops that will suit everyone. Diving - chosing a dive operator, gear, destinations,etc. - is not a one size fits all sort of thing. And as your first travel and dive shop experience has shown, you do need to do the research, ask questions, etc., and choose wisely so that you do get the experience that you're looking for.

 

[DandyDon]

DandyDon, thanks for the tips on weights. Although I understand the benefits of owning gear, when it comes to weights, don't people usually leave them at home when air travel is involved? Just trying to understand what people normally do. It's kind of expensive if two people are checking in 12-16 lbs each in their luggage. We had to pay for each checked bag. Or do people usually carry the belt and retainers and rent weights from the dive shop?

It's very rare that anyone flies weights; don't know how you took that from my post? Those are furnished at no charge by most Ops everywhere; I can only think of a couple of liveaboards catering to local divers where I had to make other arrangements.

My first BC has an integration system that I hated so I got a belt with velcro pockets. Now my home bud & I have the same BC brand with integrated pockets, along with a pair of spare pockets I scored along the way and that old belt that I've loaned out several times to folks diving rental gear. It'll get lost someday, and I know how many are about borrowed gear but oh well.

Most Ops supply web belts and weights to rental gear divers so if you are going to continue to dive rental gear, my suggestion was to get a few weight keepers as shown in the photograph in my last post and linked to one supplier's listing of such items. I've seen weights migrate all around the bodies of divers in the water as well as fall off when they removed the belts on ladders and the keepers are a good way to secure weights on loaner belts. Ops will not furnish keepers tho as they know how tourists are with smaller items like that, and besides - there's money to be made in charging for lost weights. I picked up one on my last freshwater practice dive; glad I wasn't below when it was dropped in the busy hole...

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