Roberta's Dive Shack Opinions and Dive Site Recommendation?

[Ocean Child]

We just came back from staying at Village Tan kah and diving with Scuba Shack, I can definitely say it was great. Rooms were clean and the whole atmosphere was relaxing. Everyone there knew each other, it was like one big family (reminded me of the show Cheers) and Roberta was right in the middle of it. I definitely see us being regulars there.

 

[Andrew Dawson]

I am told we are allowed 1hr per dive...I can use up an AL80 in less than an hour for sure...depending on depth...and even at 60fsw can use it up before an hour.

Having 2 [full] AL80s per dive is a way for me to have the redundancy and freedom to use up all the time allotted

The whale shark tour was suggested and offered by Roberta herself

The extra cost was for having 2 tanks per dive or 4 tanks per two dives. IIRC, it was about $5 extra per dive...which adds about $100 for 5 days of diving...which, to me is not cheap, but if the folks are great service...and still recovering from COVID loss of tourist dollars...and are accommodating my request for the SM...I am happy to help them out right back. We are easy going folks...not here to be difficult to work with

Roberta's communication so far has been super helpful and abundant.

OK, I am making a list of must dive sites

If anyone has any other favorites and descriptions, please let me know

I will be trying out donning/doffing the cylinders this summer in anticipation of SM diving on a boat, for sure. Again, I want to be an easy customer

 

[rick00001967]

if you are doing 2 dives per trip, they would include two tanks per trip. so you should be paying 5 or 6 bucks for each extra tank (if diving air). so maybe 10 or 12 bucks extra per day. not a big deal if you need them.

i am not sure what system you use to attach clips to the tanks but if you are gonna be changing out both tanks on a small boat, pls be sure to have a quick, fool proof, easy method of doing so. make sure you have the right tools with you if using clamps etc.
just a suggestion that may help (or not)...... i always carry a spare length of bungee anyway, so i use that to measure the distance from the top of the tank valve to where my clamp / clip goes on the tank. then i tie a small knot in it. i can use that to quickly measure and make sure each tank is always set up the same.

 

[nodakdive]

I

OK, I am making a list of must dive sites

If anyone has any other favorites and descriptions, please let me know

If you haven't been there before, you'll dive the "must dive" sites by default. You must dive any of the Palancar sites (4), and you will. Palancar Gardens, mentioned above, may well be your first dive of the trip.

All of the first dives, with a few exceptions, will be at a site with huge structure. Mountains. The second dive will be on patch reef, generally speaking. First dives are usually 80' max and the second dives are usually 45' to 65' max. First dives are usually less current and less fishy. Second dives are usually more current and more fishy.

Unless you're there for a few weeks, you won't be able to dive everything, and even for a week, you won't get home having "missed" anything. It's very likely you'll want to go back and see more. If you want to do yourself a favor, keep track of where you were so that on the next trip you have an idea of sites you'd like to dive.

My suggestion would be to go with the flow and if it comes up that you're going to a site you already did, mention that to the DM and they'll likely pick a different site if conditions permit, which they almost always do.

You're going to have a great time.

 

[sefuchs]

I agree with Nodakdive. The only thing I would add is even if you go to the same site more than once that’s not a bad thing. Most sites have a couple routes so you can dive the same site a couple times and not even realize it. Just let your DM know, they are usually pretty creative.

 

[ReefHound]

After 20 trips we've dived most of the sites many times. We don't really care. If you make me pick I'll say one of the Palancars for first dive and one of the reefs like Cedral for second dive. We once dived the same site 3 days in a row. Rotating Dms and customers, site happened to get mentioned (Santa Rosa, as I recall). I joked about it on surface interval and Dm was like oh no you should have said something, we wouldv'e gone somewhere else. I'm like, no worries, saw different stuff every dive. And the thing is you never know what you're going to see on any given dive. You could dive the same site every day and see different stuff every day. Might be turtles today, might be eels tomorrow. Current might be strong one day, mild the next.

 

[ReefHound]

From the Shack's dock there are three good shore dives. Some people are meh about shore dives but we really like them because we can get almost two hours, see lots of cool stuff, and can take our time with each thing we see. Head 330 just out from where the sub docks is a dropoff with about 10' of relief and lots of corals. Head 225 (basically follow the shore line south) and there are some big coral heads, lots of rubble, a coral garden nursery, and the el Cid plane remains. Head 285 aways to what we call Roberta's Reef and there is a patch reef about 150' x 40' that has lots of stuff.

 

[yle]

The extra cost was for having 2 tanks per dive or 4 tanks per two dives. IIRC, it was about $5 extra per dive...which adds about $100 for 5 days of diving...which, to me is not cheap,

$5 extra per tank is pretty cheap by normal scuba standards. It's the cost of an air fill, which is essentially what you're getting.

 

[ReefHound]

If you just want redundancy and a little extra air you could probably get by on one extra tank per trip. Dive 1, breathe one to 1500 and one to 500, use the 1500 on next dive and breathe both to 500. 4000psi per dive. But I'd rather just pay the extra $5 and stay with standard technique of breathing them equally. That was the plan, right?

 

[Andrew Dawson]

@ReefHound yes, having full redundancy, breathing both equally is the plan

Any one got any other Cozumel diving tips, please?

I am bringing my 3mm full body wetsuit, XDeep tec, my full SM regs [minus my drysuit inflator]...will probably bring a SMB...gloves...fins...extra mask 5mm booties....

Should I bring a hood? GPS tracker like a nautilus?

Last time I did a warm water dive was in Dec 2008 at Truk Lagoon on a tec diving trip aboard the Odyssey...last time I dove this part of the world was my very first dive off of Cancun. It was 1993, my uncle [master diver for the Coast Guard] put my sister and I in the pool for about 15min...then...into a small boat and we went to some reef in the middle of nowhere, 60fsw, big open sandy bottom...and a reef about the size of large house lol I was in a T-shirt and shorts...the next day we tried to dive Isla Mujeres...but, my amatuer self could not get my mask to stop fogging up and I just could not get settled and aborted the dive. I did not dive again until I got certified in 2005 in Puget Sound