So, I booked my BD trip to Coz

[DandyDon]

How to you manage to stick to shallow dives in Cozumel?

Talk to your dive op, then your DM of the day. The op can try to put you on boats headed to shallow dives, but they may well be newbie boats.

 

[MrBigfins]

How to you manage to stick to shallow dives in Cozumel? I also prefer staying shallow for longer bottom times, more color, and more life. But it seems like every op in Cozumel does a first dive in the 70-100 ft range, and if a boat is doing 2 shallow dives it's usually because it's full of brand new divers.

Most of those "70-100'" dives can be done much shallower, so you and your buddy just ride a bit higher on the same reef. Sometimes currents make this a bit more difficult, but there are plenty if large enough coral heads to hide behind to wait for everyone to group back closer

 

[anchochile]

Most of those "70-100'" dives can be done much shallower, so you and your buddy just ride a bit higher on the same reef. Sometimes currents make this a bit more difficult, but there are plenty if large enough coral heads to hide behind to wait for everyone to group back closer

That makes sense. I don't travel with a buddy so prefer to stay within a few kicks of the group.

 

[MrBigfins]

That makes sense. I don't travel with a buddy so prefer to stay within a few kicks of the group.

If you get lucky then buddy up with someone who has similar goals.

 

[DandyDon]

If you get lucky then buddy up with someone who has similar goals.

Talk to your dive op, then your DM of the day.

They can try to pair you off appropriately.

 

[deepsea21]

How to you manage to stick to shallow dives in Cozumel? I also prefer staying shallow for longer bottom times, more color, and more life. But it seems like every op in Cozumel does a first dive in the 70-100 ft range, and if a boat is doing 2 shallow dives it's usually because it's full of brand new divers.

I dive with 3P's that provides its divers a great level of freedom and runs smaller boats with groups that are generally less than 10. 3P's dives the same sites all of the other boutique ops do but those who care to hang shallower (while keeping the group in site) and those who care to hang with the DM on the tour he is providing at the profile he choses are welcome to do as they wish. At the end of the day, if the DM is starting a dive at 80' and leading a tour of the base of a reef and I chose to hang at 50-60' above and tour the top, it's only 20'-30' between us (less than 10 yards) but that little difference makes a big difference in color and bottom time.

 

[DandyDon]

I expect the airline to make changes on me anyway as they do whatever they want to with people these days, so when that happens - I'll be in charge of changes anyway.

And they did. Instead of leaving Lubbock at 8:33am with a one-hour connection in DFW, now it's leaving at 6:30am with a three-hour layover. How fun.

 

[DandyDon]

I expect the airline to make changes on me anyway as they do whatever they want to with people these days, so when that happens - I'll be in charge of changes anyway.

I had a nice 8:45am departure with a one hour change in DFW and 1:20pm arrival.
Currently, I have a 6:30am departure with 2¾ hours in DFW and 1:23pm arrival.

Worse, I had a 4:20pm Cozumel departure with 3 hours in DFW to clear I&C and TSA and change planes to arrive Lubbock at 11:27pm.
Now I have a 2:15pm departure with less than 1½ hours to clear I&C and TSA and change planes to arrive Lubbock at 7:45pm. That's certainly optimistic. At least I don't have to remove my shoes and belt for TSA.
I could ask them to book me on the later flight to Lubbock instead that would get me there by midnight, but I hate the idea of a voluntary change to 5½ hour layover!

I'm thinking I'll stick with their scheduled rapid change and ask them what they can do to get me from Customs to my gate fast.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm an experienced air traveler with the expectation that the airlines will do whatever they want with you once they have your money collected and hopes throttled, and I have learned to watch my long-range plans for their dirty tricks. I am still fuming tho about them changing my nice one-hour DFW change on the way down to a nearly three-hour layover, and worse - my three hours to clear I&C and TSA on return changed to less than 1½ hours! I guess that I should just shrug and go with it, happy with the cheap fare I snagged in the beginning.

As I look for other things to worry about, there is my departure flight. Since they changed my 8:30am first flight to my leaving the house in the dark to catch a 6:30am plane, if it flies, but with American's recent record, one has to wonder about the likelihood of it making it. If it doesn't, they'll try to crowd me onto the next one at 10:25am with no chance possible of connecting to Cozumel the same day! The one flight a day from DFW to the island will be long gone by the time I get to DFW, so then they'll want to send me to Cancun for the bag drag with a 46 minute DFW connection probably in a different terminal - ugh. "Oh yeah, and who is going to pay for my taxi and ferry if I go that way?" They'll tell me to ask the agents in Cancun, who will already be busy with missing bag complaints, etc. At best it'll be 3:10pm and I should already be unpacking in my room, if I don't miss my connection and end up arriving at 5:10pm with a bus and ferry ride to go. It's happened a few times before.

I used to pay a little extra for Main Cabin over Basic Economy when they first started that choice, but those upgrades have gone up so much that now I stick with the cheapest ticket. Then they try to get me to pay extra for seat selections, but I wait until the 24-hour advance check-in to pick from what's left for free. I don't care what I get on the flight to DFW, but for the plane into Cozumel, I like an aisle seat maybe four rows from the back, far enough from the privies to avoid the lines that build for those, counting on the plane being emptied from front and back both. Looking at the current chart, it kinda looks like those have already been sold, or is that more of the game? I know that no one has paid extra to chose the back two rows, but my favorites might already be gone?

Looking at my CZM-DFW flight, I'll be wanting to get as close to the front of the cabin as possible like everyone else, and they are counting on that. Front row & exit row seats going down are $41 for those who will pay, but on return - $84! Yeah, nickle and dime the traveler to death, any change you get. I guess I'll keep notes on everything they do to me and email my complaints when I get back in hopes of scoring some future ticket credits.

 

[ggunn]

I'm an experienced air traveler with the expectation that the airlines will do whatever they want with you once they have your money collected and hopes throttled, and I have learned to watch my long-range plans for their dirty tricks. I am still fuming tho about them changing my nice one-hour DFW change on the way down to a nearly three-hour layover, and worse - my three hours to clear I&C and TSA on return changed to less than 1½ hours! I guess that I should just shrug and go with it, happy with the cheap fare I snagged in the beginning.

As I look for other things to worry about, there is my departure flight. Since they changed my 8:30am first flight to my leaving the house in the dark to catch a 6:30am plane, if it flies, but with American's recent record, one has to wonder about the likelihood of it making it. If it doesn't, they'll try to crowd me onto the next one at 10:25am with no chance possible of connecting to Cozumel the same day! The one flight a day from DFW to the island will be long gone by the time I get to DFW, so then they'll want to send me to Cancun for the bag drag with a 46 minute DFW connection probably in a different terminal - ugh. "Oh yeah, and who is going to pay for my taxi and ferry if I go that way?" They'll tell me to ask the agents in Cancun, who will already be busy with missing bag complaints, etc. At best it'll be 3:10pm and I should already be unpacking in my room, if I don't miss my connection and end up arriving at 5:10pm with a bus and ferry ride to go. It's happened a few times before.

I used to pay a little extra for Main Cabin over Basic Economy when they first started that choice, but those upgrades have gone up so much that now I stick with the cheapest ticket. Then they try to get me to pay extra for seat selections, but I wait until the 24-hour advance check-in to pick from what's left for free. I don't care what I get on the flight to DFW, but for the plane into Cozumel, I like an aisle seat maybe four rows from the back, far enough from the privies to avoid the lines that build for those, counting on the plane being emptied from front and back both. Looking at the current chart, it kinda looks like those have already been sold, or is that more of the game? I know that no one has paid extra to chose the back two rows, but my favorites might already be gone?

View attachment 727391​

Looking at my CZM-DFW flight, I'll be wanting to get as close to the front of the cabin as possible like everyone else, and they are counting on that. Front row & exit row seats going down are $41 for those who will pay, but on return - $84! Yeah, nickle and dime the traveler to death, any change you get. I guess I'll keep notes on everything they do to me and email my complaints when I get back in hopes of scoring some future ticket credits.

View attachment 727392​

That sounds terrible. Why do you even bother going?