Hotel - Iberostar. Very nice, good service, lot's of action around the swim-up bar, great bartenders, good food for an all-inclusive. The beach is there but not good for swimming. The biggest reason ohter than high quality to stay there is diving - 5 minutes to most sites.
Diving operator.
Decided not to go with Dressel - based at Iberostar, based on mixed reviews of this board, high price and the fact that they use large boats and you have no choice where to go. We were 4 people - 2 expeienced and 2 newbies. We felt that on a smaller boat we could vote things in our favor. To give them a benefit of the doubt, they do post a schedule of daily dives and 3 Dressel instructors I talked to - a Brit, an Aussie and a local guide, seemed very nice. But that was at the very end of our trip.
Tried to go with Scuba with Alison but couldn't get 4 people on the morning dives, she is a small operator so if you like to go with them, book in advance. Alison did seem very nice on the phone.
My 2nd choice was Deep Blue but for some reason no one picked up the phone.
I went with our 3rd choice - Black Shark and it's a mixed bag - 5 on a scale of 10. Small boats and yes, we could choose our dives. Old equipment but generally worked fine. Poor organization - on one of our dives they forgot to bring a wetsuit for my son and after we got to the diving site, they realized they did not have fins his size and had to go back. We had 2 instructors. The first one - Jose, was good. He kept a close look on my 14-year old son who kept running out of air (these were his first dives after certification, and helped my daughetr get down when she had ear problems - first dives as well). The second instructor (don't remember his name) was horrible. He just couldn't be bothered. We might as well be driving down a highway. He pointed out nothing, wasn't even going close to the reefs, didn't check anyone's air supply - you get the picture.
Net net - I wouldn't use this operation again. I would go back to Cozumel, though
Diving operator.
Decided not to go with Dressel - based at Iberostar, based on mixed reviews of this board, high price and the fact that they use large boats and you have no choice where to go. We were 4 people - 2 expeienced and 2 newbies. We felt that on a smaller boat we could vote things in our favor. To give them a benefit of the doubt, they do post a schedule of daily dives and 3 Dressel instructors I talked to - a Brit, an Aussie and a local guide, seemed very nice. But that was at the very end of our trip.
Tried to go with Scuba with Alison but couldn't get 4 people on the morning dives, she is a small operator so if you like to go with them, book in advance. Alison did seem very nice on the phone.
My 2nd choice was Deep Blue but for some reason no one picked up the phone.
I went with our 3rd choice - Black Shark and it's a mixed bag - 5 on a scale of 10. Small boats and yes, we could choose our dives. Old equipment but generally worked fine. Poor organization - on one of our dives they forgot to bring a wetsuit for my son and after we got to the diving site, they realized they did not have fins his size and had to go back. We had 2 instructors. The first one - Jose, was good. He kept a close look on my 14-year old son who kept running out of air (these were his first dives after certification, and helped my daughetr get down when she had ear problems - first dives as well). The second instructor (don't remember his name) was horrible. He just couldn't be bothered. We might as well be driving down a highway. He pointed out nothing, wasn't even going close to the reefs, didn't check anyone's air supply - you get the picture.
Net net - I wouldn't use this operation again. I would go back to Cozumel, though
