I will be heading to Cozumel the last week in May and need to complete my SSI checkout dives while there. The brunt of my question is pretty much this: it's cheaper (~$170) to do my checkouts with a company that does them from shore. Several other companies offer 2 tank boat dives to complete the certification for a little less than double the cost; $250-$300. Do my checkout dives consist primarily of testing such that I wouldn't get much enjoyment out of the scenery on the boat dive, or do you folks recommend I do the 2 tank boat dive?
OW Checkouts in Cozumel
- Thread starter aaron1987
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pinkladydi
Guest
do the beach entry for your check out then go do some boat dives, try a few DIFFERENT dive operators and different cert agencys for your boat dives I predict that you'll see a lot of difference in professionalism from the different shops
robint
Contributor
I would find the dive op that you like first and then do whatever they recommend. 
There are dozens of great dive ops on Cozumel, too.
We did our checkout dives in Cozumel 10yrs ago, with Papahogs. The first day we did 2 shore dives right in front of their shop. The second day was 2 boat dives. Then we dove with them the rest of the week.
where are you staying? That might make a difference in which dive op to use.
robin
heading to Cozumel next weekend!
There are dozens of great dive ops on Cozumel, too. We did our checkout dives in Cozumel 10yrs ago, with Papahogs. The first day we did 2 shore dives right in front of their shop. The second day was 2 boat dives. Then we dove with them the rest of the week.
where are you staying? That might make a difference in which dive op to use.
robin
heading to Cozumel next weekend!
I'll be staying at the Park Royal. Sand Dollar Sports is the in-house dive op. I haven't really heard much about them but have had Liquid Blue Divers and Blue XT Sea recommended to me as well as Dive Paradise (which is the op with the beach entry checkout dives).
I'm in Cozumel right now. Just completed my 7th and 8th dive today. First time here and have had some great dives. Just a suggestion do check out the companies. I've seen cattle boats and others that I wouldn't want to be on. Also it had been 11 mos since my last dive so I hired a private DM for the first 3 days so in case I was an air hog and was also breaking in a new camera - I didn't want affect the other divers bottom times. Just for your info temps have been between 78 and 81. Min vis has been 60 ft.
halocline
Contributor
The boat dives will be well worth the extra money if they are treated as 'real' dives. The dive op that I am used to in Coz does exactly that; you do your skills on a sand patch and spend the remainder of the dive on the reef. There's no comparison between that and the shore diving in Coz.
I suspect any reputable dive op will be the same. You won't be going to Colombia deep, but for example, Colombia shallows would be a fantastic spot for check out dives, and there are several other nice spots that have a sandy bottom at 40 feet or so with little current. If I remember, most of the dive ops use the shore entries for the confined sessions (what you already did in the pool) and then get on the boats for the check outs.
I suspect any reputable dive op will be the same. You won't be going to Colombia deep, but for example, Colombia shallows would be a fantastic spot for check out dives, and there are several other nice spots that have a sandy bottom at 40 feet or so with little current. If I remember, most of the dive ops use the shore entries for the confined sessions (what you already did in the pool) and then get on the boats for the check outs.
robint
Contributor
contact all those dive ops and see what they say to you. Since you say you are SSI, make sure they have an SSI instructor, too. Go with the one that you feel most comfortable with and who answers your questions. Since you have already done your classroom and confined water dives (pool) before you get there, it is just a matter of doing some skills on each dive, then swimming around for around 30 minutes each dive. The 2 days spent doing these certification dives will be exhausting both mentally and physically (it is alot to learn) but so much fun in Cozumel as you will be seeing fish swim around you.
~~ side story: when I did my check out dives with my husband and daughter back in 2000, our instructor kept getting frustrated with me. We were kneeling in the sand in 10-15' deep water, doing the mask clearing and regulator recovery, but I didn't want to pay attention to her, I wanted to watch all the little fish swimming around us! LOL My husband was so embarrassed as the instructor had to keep making a noise and waving at me to tell me it was my turn to do a skill.
After the first 2 dives, the instructor laughed when we got out of the water and told me she knew I was going to be a good diver and my skills were good as she was watching me laugh at the fish (yes, I was giggling through my reg!) and then when my mask would leak because of it, I was clearing my mask without panicking. She said I did it over and over, which made her happy. The fact that I was so excited about the fish, and didn't care about getting water up my nose or in my eyes was a very good sign for things to come! robin
Sand Dollar Sports is a good operation. We used to use them for our dive and snorkeling tours when I worked onboard a cruise ship. The dives may not be too exciting from shore but there is a bit of coral and some fish swimming around. Your checkout dives are about passing skills assessments anyway so it's okay if there isn't a whole lot to look at. I would save the really pretty dives for after certification so that you can focus on the scenery and not get distracted from your skills.
I am not too familiar with the sequencing restrictions of the SSI certification dives, however I believe they are very similar to other agencies. The agency I teach for has a few skills that must be done on each of the 4 open water dives, then has several "dive flexible" skills, meaning they can be done (with minor exceptions) on any of the 4 dives. At the shop I work at, we do open water dives 1 & 2 from shore and work through all of those dive flexible skills on the first 2 dives. That way when we do dives 3 and 4 from the boat we have very little left to accomplish other than diving, and are not spending too much time working on skills when there is all that beauty to be enjoying. Also, since you are getting certified to dive to a certain depth, I feel it is only reasonable to expect that the instructor will accompany you to something approaching that depth so you can be supervised the first few times you get that deep. That is virtually impossible to do from shore in Cozumel. Enjoy your trip.
Ill be at the Park Royal Cozumel that week too Planning on doing my 4 dives for referral there, but I may end up getting it over with here and geting dry suit cert too.
Either way, Ill be doing 4-5 dives in Cozumel, so I hope to see ya there.
Planning on doing my 4 dives for referral there, but I may end up getting it over with here and geting dry suit cert too.Either way, Ill be doing 4-5 dives in Cozumel, so I hope to see ya there.
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