Tank Rental Shops?

[northernone]

Good day!

Heading back for an extended dive trip in Mexico on the economical side of things (read public transportation and lots of beans/rice) and will be carrying my cave SM gear.

Looking for shops that will rent out tanks for self guided diving. Shore diving locations or simple a shop where I can transport tanks away for day trips. (Sturdy duffel houses 2 tanks and a wetsuit for padding/normalisation)

Tulum and Mahahual both have multiple options I used on a previous trip and read Cozumel has a few spots but would like more possibilities.

Anyone want to share where they find their air?

Thanks,
Cameron

 

[Diverspoint]

In Puerto Morelos you MUST have a guide when diving inside the park. No self guiding here.

 

[northernone]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[BRT]

In Puerto Morelos you can rent tanks here.

Google Maps

Play del Carmen has a place just off the freeway but I can't remember just where it is.

Meridiano will rent tanks in Cozumel. They are right here.

Google Maps This references Puerto Morelos but it is in Cozumel.

Puerto Morelos apparently just put a law in effect about diving alone but we did a number of dives off the beach there without problems other than an irate dive shop owner yelling at us. Everything in the Riviera Maya is about getting you on a dive boat and separating you from your money. They are really unhappy if they can't do that.

 

[Diverspoint]

Maybe I should have elaborated a bit more.

You may be able to rent tanks from Stathis in Puerto Morelos, but diving in the park requires you to bring a local certified guide. These are rules from the national park. The only exception is if you would go with your own personally owned boat.

As sson as you rent a boat you need a guide. The only exception is diving from the beach, that is still allowed. The moment anyone is making money from you you need a guide here in Puerto Morelos. The rules have been there for a long time, they have started to enforce them about a year ago. This is a in the park rules. Nothing to do with the Puerto Morelos municipality

 

[BRT]

Maybe I should have elaborated a bit more.

You may be able to rent tanks from Stathis in Puerto Morelos, but diving in the park requires you to bring a local certified guide. These are rules from the national park. The only exception is if you would go with your own personally owned boat.

As sson as you rent a boat you need a guide. The only exception is diving from the beach, that is still allowed. The moment anyone is making money from you you need a guide here in Puerto Morelos. The rules have been there for a long time, they have started to enforce them about a year ago. This is a in the park rules. Nothing to do with the Puerto Morelos municipality

Thanks for that clarification. The new owner of Wetset yelled at us and told us we couldn't dive from the beach. We ignored him and had some great dives there. Very shallow as you know but an amazing amount of life. We saw the biggest Southern Stingray I've ever seen. Night diving there was really nice.

(We dove with Wetset from 1997 till Paul sold the shop)

 

[northernone]

In Puerto Morelos you can rent tanks here.

Google Maps

Play del Carmen has a place just off the freeway but I can't remember just where it is.

Meridiano will rent tanks in Cozumel. They are right here.

Google Maps This references Puerto Morelos but it is in Cozumel.

Puerto Morelos apparently just put a law in effect about diving alone but we did a number of dives off the beach there without problems other than an irate dive shop owner yelling at us. Everything in the Riviera Maya is about getting you on a dive boat and separating you from your money. They are really unhappy if they can't do that.

Wonderful news, that's exactly the information we were hoping for!

Currently in cozumel renting tanks from paradise divers. Drift dove along the various house reefs/rubble.

Will check out Meridiano tomorrow!

 

[northernone]

Maybe I should have elaborated a bit more.

You may be able to rent tanks from Stathis in Puerto Morelos, but diving in the park requires you to bring a local certified guide. These are rules from the national park. The only exception is if you would go with your own personally owned boat.

As sson as you rent a boat you need a guide. The only exception is diving from the beach, that is still allowed. The moment anyone is making money from you you need a guide here in Puerto Morelos. The rules have been there for a long time, they have started to enforce them about a year ago. This is a in the park rules. Nothing to do with the Puerto Morelos municipality

So to clarify, there are tank rentals are available, and no law against diving from the beach since that is allowed self guided?

If so, it seems different from the original post and the information you provided.

Please clarify as accurate information is very important to me.

Regards,
Cameron

 

[Diverspoint]

OK, here goes. Stathis, the owner of the filling station may or may not rent out tanks to individuals. Up to him. As far as I know he had problems with people in the past not returning the tanks, and he did stop renting tanks to private people he does not know. He may have changed his mind though.

Diving from the beach is allowed without guide is allowed, as long as nobody makes money on you. So the moment you pay someone to do anything for you in the water it is considered commercial, and you need a bracelet of the park, and an official guide. So a local diveshop needs a licence, as does a freelance guide. At the moment there are only 2 shops with this licence.

And as soon as you rent a boat to go diving on the reef it becomes commercial, and you need that bracelet and a licenced guide. Then you also MUST bring an oxygen tank and many other things. These are harbour master regulations. The boat must have a licence to go diving inside the park. If you have your own, personal, boat (owner must be on the boat) you can do anything you like, as long as you are a tourist.

Getting weights is also a problem. I know most shops stopped renting these out as well. I can tell you we stopped renting them out, and I know 3 others have as well. Too many people not returning these at all or in time. Maybe not friendly, but after people did not return on time or did not return at all 6 times you start to think.

Does this help?

 

[northernone]

Magnificent. That certainly clarifies the situation.

In regards to weights, if we visit your shop for weight rentals would 200$ deposit help reassure we won't forget to carry them back to you?

I can appreciate wanting people to use your tour guides and dive boats, but I must assure you, having beach diving and tank rentals advertised is the very best situation to have us come to Puerto Morelos. In fact it is the only situation where we might choose Puerto Morelos as a destination. If we, as dive tourists, come to your location it increases the likelihood we'll spend are dive charter budget with your shop's boat services. Otherwise the other numerous dive locations in the Caribbean will receive our cash.

Regards,
Cameron