Review of Blue Magic Scuba, Cozumel

[Jezabel]

I've been lurking in this forum since I started diving a few years ago. I've gathered so much good information here, that I thought I should begin contributing:

My husband and I have been diving in Cozumel with Blue Magic for the last ten days. (we are still here. In fact I'm writing this review from La Choza. Don't be jealous...)
After doing a great deal of research before our trip, I settled on Blue Magic because of their reputation for small groups and good service. When we arrived in Coz we found that the company had been sold and that the new owner, Juval, had only been on the job for a couple of weeks. We were a little nervous when we heard this, but we haven't encountered any difficulties as a result. Juval is very enthusiastic about his new business and has gone out of his way to make us feel like VIP's.

Blue Magic's primary DM is named Pumba. He takes great care of his clients, but not in a "babysitting" way. He also has an amazing eye and can probably find anything that you request. He even found the mermaid I jokingly asked for. She was swimming at the surface : )
The other DM is Edgar. We had dived with him through a different op on another trip. He's also excellent and we were happy to dive with him again.

Blue Magic's boats are very fast. I didn't realize until we dove with them what a huge advantage this is. Because they can get to the dive sites so quickly, we got to sleep in a little later which is always a plus.

Our trip isn't over yet, but so far the largest group we've dived with has been five people, including ourselves. On days that beginner divers were with us, they dove with their own DM.

Cons: only one that we can think of, which is that there are no towels on the boat. We don't mind bringing our own, but would have liked to know in advance since we were cold without them on the first day. On other days we've lent our towels to other I'll-prepared divers.

Bonus Points for rinsing and storing all our gear. We love the convenience.

I will write a proper trip report when we get home.

 

[Mike]

How do the dive? Do you dive your computer and tanks or are they timed dives? Do they send up people as they run low on air or do you all go up as a group?

Is that Edgar from Aldora you're referring to?

 

[sddiver]

Do me a favor. Ask Pumba if Sandro is still there. If not, ask if he knows where Sandro is working now.

Thanks
rich

 

[Jezabel]

Mike, I don't think the dives are timed. Today we ran my computer down to within two minutes. Sometimes divers get sent up early but only when it's safe to do so. The currents have been ripping so most of the time we go up as a group.
Edgar aka Camel is a freelancer. We dove with him last year through Deep Blue.

Rich, I Haven't met Sandro, but I think I remember seeing his name on the board last week. I will ask tomorrow.

 

[Scott]

Do me a favor. Ask Pumba if Sandro is still there. If not, ask if he knows where Sandro is working now.

Thanks
rich

No Sandro is not. I received an email from him last week saying he is no longer the GM at BM. Juval has taken his place.

 

[mstevens]

Juval Tamari has taken Joyce Mustin's place as the owner, not Sandro's as operations manager. Joyce is still at least somewhat involved during the transition, but no longer owner. Jorge Aguayo is doing most of the business management and my impression is that Poti is managing the operations side along with Enrique Ascencio/"Pumbaa". At least as of a couple of days ago, Sandro told me he wasn't working as a DM anywhere on the island. My wife's still on the island and will be meeting up with him for supper at some point. He and Joyce had a falling-out.

They frequently have Edgar/"Camel" as a DM along with a few others. It looks as if Gabriel Santana Perez has moved on, since Pumbaa asked me last week if I'd been in touch with him. Alvaro Pech/"Acha" is still captaining along with a new, young guy Carlos/"Captain Jack" who needs more practice.

Blue Magic is a "dive your computer" op in general. As long as divers are experienced enough not to need their hands held on ascent, they'll usually send up buddy teams as they get LOA and let others stay down longer.

I miss the towels, too. On the plus side, fruit has now been supplemented with cookies*.

I've really liked Blue Magic Scuba since shortly after they opened. I'm keeping an open mind about the changes, but I'll be considering trying some of the other great shops now.

*edit: including the oddly wonderful "fluffy cookies".