No Morning Dive After Flight the Day Before with ProDive Mexico?!?

[Prop Joe]

So I'm in the process of having a very frustrating conversation with the online rep at ProDive Mexico. For some reason, they don't want to allow us to dive the morning dive the morning after our arrival. Besides hydration, what could POSSIBLY be the reason for this?

I'd look to another op
Drink plenty O water on the plane. Lots of water.
I'd recommend the twilight double if you can get your gear up and to the boat the evening you arrive. Tell the dive op your needs.
I've done a twilight double within an hour or two of landing. They are usually shallower and a good way to check diver skill so as to be on the right boat with your like diver skilled group the next days morning dives. Drink lots of water.
ALDORA DIVERS
Did I mention to drink water?
Have fun!

Edit: Aldora has "Express" dives that are close to the Villa/Town, relatively shallow that can be arranged the day you arrive. Call the shop.

 

[gopbroek]

About 10 minutes ago I made the decision to head down tomorrow. Called my LDS and they will pick me up at the airport at 3:15 and I plan to do a twilight at 5PM.

 

[deepsea21]

About 10 minutes ago I made the decision to head down tomorrow. Called my LDS and they will pick me up at the airport at 3:15 and I plan to do a twilight at 5PM.

You Texans really like to rub it in don't ya! Let me guess... this a 2-day dive jaunt or are you going all out for a 3-day this time? The coffee is for when you step off the plane on your return and head straight to work. Peanuts and pretzles for breakfast!

 

[gopbroek]

You Texans really like to rub it in don't ya! Let me guess... this a 2-day dive jaunt or are you going all out for a 3-day this time? The coffee is for when you step off the plane on your return and head straight to work. Peanuts and pretzles for breakfast!

Pretty much, full blown three day. I call it 'a weekend'.

 

[Dan G]

Maybe we are talking about the same person, but in the case I know, when the shop refused to give him a nitrox fill with his trimix card, he asked if they would give him trimix instead. When they said they would, he asked for trimix with 0% helium. At that point the shop realized how stupid they were being and gave in.

 

[ReefHound]

From the chat transcript, Coralie tried to set up the 10 am check dive, but the potential customer has pretty much made up his mind to not deal with the shop.

I have doubts he ever intended to deal with the shop. It sounds like he initiated the chat with an agenda to pick a fight over their policies and then publish it on the internet. With so many good shops available, if I didn't like the policies of one I would simply try another shop and not waste my time arguing.

 

[ReefHound]

So, what did this response mean? "Coralie: Hi, sounds good"

Bottom line:. It looks like four divers are going to the Allegro for a week of diving and some other dive op will get the $2k they will be spending!!!

Assuming he didn't "embellish" the part about the size of his group like he did with his dive qualifications.

Sometimes the smart thing to do for a business is to forgo the money and avoid problem customers...

 

[ReefHound]

Anyhoo, in this instance, looks like the op was willing to make a policy exception but the OP didn't want to the play. I think the Op dodged the bullet, to be honest.

I think ProDive dodged the bullet. If a customer is that confrontational in a chat asking about policies, how confrontational is he going to be on the dive boat over DM/captain instructions?

 

[ReefHound]

The real interesting thing to me about ALL of this is we have never been asked to do this before or this issue even been raised. This is our 3rd trip to Cozumel in the last year. In addition, we have dove in the Bahamas, the Florida Keys and the Flower Gardens this year. NEVER did we need to "audition" for a dive op. We offered our C-card and all was good.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. We chose a different dive op that we have dove with before. No auditions required.

I get it. You know your qualifications and what dives you can do safely and nobody likes being challenged on that. But different shops have different policies and you have to just let it slide or pick another shop. My gf and I went to Roatan last year and despite being a working DM with 1000 dives, I dropped into the 10' of water and did a mask flood/clear and reg remove/replace demo for the DM just like everyone else. I didn't question it. They have a process and it's easier for all if we just follow the process. And we repeated that process when we returned earlier this year.

I think you should work as a DM for a few years and then I bet you'll see things from a new perspective and will try to be the "easy" customer that allows the process to flow smoothly and make things easier on the shop and crew. And you'll probably tip more as well. ;-)

 

[chillyinCanada]

Reefhound, which op in Roatan had you doing that?

While I appreciate your equanimity, and accept that in some places in the world, I'll be doing a checkout dive, I draw the line at proving capable of clearing a mask. I'm just difficult, I guess.