Riviera Maya - Dressel Divers Whale Package (18 Dives) under 40 USD per Dive

[Ditziano]

Hi there,
I will move to Riviera Maya in December and stumbled upon the Dressel Divers (Puerto Aventuras) Black Friday Deal (25% Discount).
That means for their Whale package (18 dives), the individual dive is under 40 USD + Marine Park fees.
I do consider it is quite a good deal...

While I do know Dressel Divers is a large diving operator, non-boutique...etc., my experience with them has been very friendly, professional &, efficient.

Any thoughts or alternatives before I pull the trigger?

Note:
no gear rent required as this is quite expensive with them.

Thanks for your comments
Daniel

 

[MSP Rescue Diver]

Hi there,
I will move to Riviera Maya in December and stumbled upon the Dressel Divers (Puerto Aventuras) Black Friday Deal (25% Discount).
That means for their Whale package (18 dives), the individual dive is under 40 USD + Marine Park fees.
I do consider it is quite a good deal...

While I do know Dressel Divers is a large diving operator, non-boutique...etc., my experience with them has been very friendly, professional &, efficient.

Any thoughts or alternatives before I pull the trigger?

Note:
no gear rent required as this is quite expensive with them.

Thanks for your comments
Daniel

How was your experience with Dressel? I stay in Puerto Aventuras every year for a few months and usually dive with the local dive ops in the marina. But I'm always open to other experiences.

I believe they're located in the Barcelo next door to PA? How was the staff and the boat? How rigid are they on bottom time?

Thanks

 

[Bookworm11]

I can't speak about the PA Dressel group, but have a great deal of experience with the Cozumel group. The FT divemasters were fine with up to 60 minutes or up to 700 psi on your tank with a buddy. The freelancers usually made everyone come up at 45 minutes.

 

[Ditziano]

How was your experience with Dressel? I stay in Puerto Aventuras every year for a few months and usually dive with the local dive ops in the marina. But I'm always open to other experiences.

I believe they're located in the Barcelo next door to PA? How was the staff and the boat? How rigid are they on bottom time?

Thanks

Hi there,
dove with them a couple of time in the last months.
Diving experience depends a little bit on the group you are diving with.

Dive time around 40 to 45mins.
With the package you can also make dives from their centre in Playacar, will try that next time as I was told you have more marine life there.

The dives from Barceló are convenient, dive center is comfy, boat time is < 5mins, relaxing, almost no current...etc.
I strongly recommend to have all your gear and take one of the packages.
- you have up to 5 years to use up all the dives
- they charge quite a lot for equipment.

The dives itself are nothing to write home about, you might see a turtle, barracudas, ray, lobster...etc., the usual stuff in the area.
Will also try the dive shop in PA just to compare.

BR
Daniel

 

[Racer_X]

Similar to Bookworm, I can only speak to the cozumel folks. it 100% matters who you dive with as your divemaster as to the quality of your experience. OTOH, any day diving isn't going to bad, and none of the DMs are awful. Just....not good.

Also, for some reason, every night dive is a Charlie Fox - it's almost always a mess, but always for different reasons. When I go to the area again, I'll be bringing a couple more people, some DM requests for alignment, and if I want night dives, I'll probably do them with someone else.

 

[Bookworm11]

I can state that the two night dives I've done with Dressel were the best night dives I've ever done.The second one was on my birthday, and the DM took the other 3 people around and I stayed nearby, but dove on my own. I saw 2 octopus, a juvenile moray eel, a number of cool nudibranches, lobsters, crabs etc. The first one, we saw 2 octopus and even a squid for 8 minutes. They were shallow dives on a reef with no current. And each time the group was 4 people.