Resort Dive Shops vs. City Dive Shops

[blizzard]

Hi there,

I wanted to get some opinions of diving with your resort dive shop versus going into town to hook up with a city dive shop.

Specifically, we will be diving in Playa del Carmen. We have investigated the dive shop at the resort and talked to them by email. Their prices are higher than the shops in town, but I think we will go with the resort shop for a few reasons:

- convenience - nice to be within walking distance of the shop
- added costs of transportation - taking a taxi into town isn't that expensive, but if you do it enough it can really add up.
- food/water breaks - being at our all inclusive resort means that we can have free lunch and drinks while we are taking breaks. We do not have to worry about the quality of the food or water.
- safety - this may be only a perceived benefit, but I have heard of some strange goings on with independant operators, whereas the resort shop is affiliated with a large chain of resort operators, so likely would want to avoid law suits etc, at all costs. A small independant could just disappear and come back with a new name.
- included items vs. add ons - I will be doing my AOW, which is free when you book 5 dives (except for $30 certification fee and they hose you on materials if you don't bring your own - I'm bringing my own)

I would appreciate hearing any comments on this matter. If staying at an all inclusive have you gone somewhere else to dive? If so what drove you to that decision. If you have considered the options and stayed, why did you do that?

 

[Randy-S]

Were are you staying at I love the Playa and Coz areas and have stayed a few all inclusive's in the areas.

I will give you a example of my last trip to Coz. I stayed at the OC Grand all inclusive. Very Nice had a great time. I also dove with a shop in town. Liquid Blue I think they were called. I also did a dive with the resort shop.

I much preferred liquid blue to the resort shop for a few reasons.

1. They came to pick me up at the resort pier. So cant decide on the taxi cost thing.
2. We were the first ones on the reef therefor had our choice of dive sites.
3. Staff new me be site and name.
4. smaller dive groups
5. We did more challenging dives but I felt safer because the smaller groups aloud more attention to each diver.
6. they let "like" divers dive together. Same skill levels.
7. they cleaned and stored my gear between dives, I did not have to hump my gear back to the room.

Resort shop. More divers
Bigger boat.
All skills on same dives.
more divers per dive master on each dive.
Different dive master on each dive.
I felt it a little looser or unsafe even know the dive sites were less challenging.

Let me know what else i can tell you.

in the end i had fun with all my dives. the private op was just more enjoyable for me on that trip.

Randy

 

[Damselfish]

It's best not to make generalizations or assumptions anyplace about resort based ops vs "independent" ops. Resort based ops may be great and the right choice. Or they may be lousy and run cattleboats and not be worth any perceived convienience or savings. You need to research your specific options to make sure you get what you want.

 

[blizzard]

Were are you staying at I love the Playa and Coz areas and have stayed a few all inclusive's in the areas.

This trip we will be staying at the Riu resorts on the south end of Playa del Carmen. The onsite dive shop is Scuba Caribe.

The last time we were in Playa del Carmen, we were staying at the Iberostar resort north of Playa del Carmen. Their onsite dive shop is Dressel Divers.

We had an excellent experience with Dressel Divers last time we were there. The surf on the coast was very high the day we wanted to dive, so we paid a little extra (only $60 if I recall) to go to Cozumel for the day. We had a dive instructor all to ourselves, who paid all the taxis and ferry to Cozumel and dove at the Iberostar resort at Cozumel. We did 2 dives with the instructor as well as a pool session at the resort. While we were sitting around after the dives, we were talking about dive shops and how many divers there were in Cozumel. We were also talking about decompression chambers and were surprised to learn that they are in frequent use. While not trying to scare us, he did say that a lot of operators in the area just don't care if you get sick. He told us that a lot of operators can be "bought off" to do whatever you like. ie: diving you are not experienced, or licensed to do, or just plain ignoring limits. If you are willing to take the chance and pay the money, they just don't care.

I realize that this is not universally true, however it does make one pause. As we all know, the least expensive operation is not always the best. Hence my reason for asking for opinions on the matter. The dive shop in question seems to run smaller boats, so I don't think that being lost in the shuffle is necessarily a concern. I have read somewhere else though that they sometimes cancel dives such as night dives if they don't have enough people. I should also mention in this thread that my DH will be completing his open water dives on this trip (pool and classroom to be done before we go). I want to do something while he does his dives, so was thinking that an AOW certification would be a good way to get back into diving (I will be doing a refresher course before we go)

We are talking about doing dive vacations in the future, as once he is certified it will be much easier for us. All-inclusives are an ideal vacation for us, as the price is quite reasonable including airfare for a week from here.