Review Of East Cape Explorers + San Jose Del Cabo Diving Oct/2016

[cleung]

I did a morning of diving with this scuba shop as it was the only one operating out of San Jose del Cabo.

Pros:

- service level of Roland (instructor who led my two dives) and other staff were excellent, above average for a scuba shop - my gear brought to boat and back, always checking on boat and during dives if we were okay
- email communications in advance with Lars was excellent as well
- nice roomy boat with head
- accepted credit cards for payment
- shop has washroom and free bottle water, rinse tanks
- Roland emailed free dive photos he took during our dives
- tend to dive corridor sites which are much less crowded than sites out of Cabo San Lucas


Cons:

- needed minimum of 4 divers in order to do Cabo Pulmo trip (we did not reach minimum)
- location is far from town center or main hotel resort area
- no pickup/dropoff service from hotels citing strict local taxi regulations (cabs are very expensive in this town with cabs charging premium above already high rates back to town)

I was disappointed that I was not able to dive Cabo Pulmo during my trip. The shop was not able to get enough divers and I did not have a car to get out to Cabo Pulmo myself to dive with one of the local operators out there. Next time I go down there, I may rent a car to guarantee that I could get in a Cabo Pulmo dive.

My two morning dives in the local corridor waters were Gavelenas and Punta Bay. They were okay dives but not as spectacular as the experiences I had out of La Paz early in the week. But overall, this is a great dive shop with their excellent service level with only limitations of the local dive sites which can be great or just so-so depending natural conditions. The physical location of the shop from city center and most area hotels was also a negative factor that may or may not be within their control. If they can find a way to work around the taxi restrictions, then this would be one of the top dive shops anywhere in terms of service levels. I would return to dive with them again but would stay at one of the few hotels within walking distance of the shop.

 

[maj2]

I dove with them in late August/early September, and agree with your assessment.

A few additional things for anyone considering going:
a) As you noted, the cabs in La Playita charge about $5 more to get you back to San Jose del Cabo than the cabs in San Jose charge to get you to La Playita. We found a San Jose cab that was more than happy to give us his card with an offer to get us back. We'd give him a call after the dive, and he would pick us up in about 10 minutes and get us back for the same fare he charged for the San Jose to La Playita drop-off. Cabs are still expensive, but it saved us the premium on the return trip charged by the cabs in La Playita.

b) In my email communications prior to our trip, Lars suggested that I bring a thumb drive along. Instead of emailing the photos, Roland simply copied the whole lot of photos to the stick every day. For the hundreds of photos he took during our dives, this worked out far better than email would have.

c) They do take credit cards, but give a 10% discount for cash payment. We did four days of diving with them, so the potential cash discount ended up being significant. We did the math a head of time and brought enough cash with us to get the discount.

d) They have multiple boats. Some have a head, others do not (ours did not).

 

[cleung]

The original cabbie who took me from my hotel to East Cape gave me his phone number but said that he would be back to get me at 1:30 pm. I waited until 1:45 and he still did not show yet. That's when Roland suggested that I just grab a cab at the Hotel Ganza since 10 minutes in Mexican time can easily turn into 30 minutes. The cabbie I used from the hotel Ganza actually charged me $10 more after I did the currency conversion.

 

[maj2]

Wow... A $10 premium is crazy for the return trip. We got a cab at the Hotal Ganzo on the first day of diving and learned my lesson.
I must have been lucky to get a guy not on "Mexican time." I called him when we were almost ready, and he was there in 10 minutes tops.

 

[cleung]

That's why next time I go dive out of San Jose, I'll stay at one of the hotels within walking distance of East Cape, or rent a car.