JediCheese
Registered
Worked too hard this month and ran into an issue where I needed 8 days off. GF works M-F so I looked around for a cheap diving and found Blue Magic Scuba in Cozumel for something to do during the week.
Flew down on July 21st and dove July 22nd -24th, flew home on the 25th.
I chose Blue Magic Scuba because they had a good reputation and they had a hostel that they run (I love the fun hostel atmosphere). They were extremely responsive to emails and had it all sorted out before I flew down for 4 tanks on July 22nd and 23rd, and 2 tanks on the morning of the 24th. I paid for nitrox because with 4 dives a day my NDLs on air was going to be nothing by dive 4 and they have a computer on the boat to analyze tanks (I asked, have heard that not all places have an analyzer to do self testing). Also since I was doing 4 dives a day, they required a computer (I have my own but they also rent them).
Did me a favor on the pricing and let me buy the 5 day scuba package and use it over 3 days.
Seamless check into the hostel and they were expecting me. I was in the 12 person Max room with AC (cost an extra 50 pesos a night - about $2.50 US at the current exchange rate). If you wanted the non-AC room it's free with daily diving! There were 4 people staying in the room the whole time I was there (it's low season). The hostel also has the dive masters in training which was awesome to pick their minds at night and talk about the diving we did during the day. They have no alcohol signs but that's no the rule anymore. Also no food or drink in the rooms but they have a kitchen area and a spacious common living area. There's also a 9ft scuba pool in the back that looks cool, but I'm not sure how to use it outside maybe arranging for a tank to be delivered to the hostel.
The only downside to the hostel that I saw was they really didn't have enough hanging lines to dry out everyone's swimsuit/rash guard. Plus the drying lines that were hung up were not covered so during the mid day rains the swim stuff got wet again. Between the rains and the 100% humidity, they weren't quite dry when I pulled them on 40 hours after hanging up (I had two sets and wore the same set day 1 and day 3).
The dive shop is an easy 10 minute walk from the hostel. I brought my own gear so dropped it off at the shop on the 21st and they took it into the back room to bring it to the boat the next day.
Initial meetup each day at the shop is 7:45 AM and back to the shop around 6 PM each day after 4 dives. Boats were fast and were reasonably roomy with the number of people onboard. I could see them being more packed during high season.
Full concierge diving. They had my gear set up at the boat when I showed up each day. Double checked the setup and it was done right (I dive backplate and wing so a little unusual). After the first day they even had my weight belt set up and the weights in my tank strap. Turned on the air before handing the equipment to me and helped me into it before each dive. They already had my nitrox tanks analyzed day one but I asked to double check (they gave me correct info). Every other day they did it in front of me and didn't pre-analyze them (I think because I asked the first day). My tanks did range a little from 32% on day 1 to 33/34% on day 3, so happy I did analyze them (never went over 90ft depth on any dives so no problems, but they said there are deeper spots down some of the walls).
Did 10 fun drift dives. I had all three DMs they seem to use. Stayed with the same DM each day but different DMs each day. Sorry no names, I have the memory of a gold fish.
I had a computer and was on nitrox so didn't really run into issues with NDLs. They ask to be notified at 1000 PSI or 8 minutes NDL left. That wasn't the end of the dive, but they'd slowly make their way toward shore where the current was less kickass and the boat would pick up the divers. If the diver didn't have a computer, they also asked the diver without the computer to stay at or above the DM for NDL reasons.
Since they have DM trainees on each dive, the DM sometimes would bring someone having bad air consumption up to the surface when they got low, leave the group in the care of the DM trainees and then come back once the people low on air were back on the boat. Sort of nice that the whole group didn't have to thumb the dive for one person.
Surface breaks had snacks of cookies and fresh cut fruit. Bring a water bottle to refill because they have a water dispenser onboard. Since I was doing 4 dives a day, they swapped out groups and tanks around 1 PM on the dock for a good half hour break. The dive shop arranged a paid lunch for me of a sandwich which was great (also had burrito or other things if you asked in advance, I'm not a picky eater). Grabbed a cold drink from the store in the dock area to wash down my lunch.
After diving for the day, would put my gear into a dive bag supplied and they stored it and dried it out each day. Didn't have to do anything outside of packing it all up, pure concierge diving.
Day 1 I had Nitrox AL80's and only got ~45 minutes. Day 2 and 3 I paid the extra $2 for a nitrox AL100 and each dive was an hour long (the max they do). If you want the extra air, I'd recommend going with a larger tank.
Didn't really do much on land except eat, sleep, and swap diving stories back at the hostel. Had exactly 24 hours after last dive before flying out so it was a packed diving adventure.
Food:
Ruta 25 was good cheap tacos. $1 tacos and stuffed my face
Arabian Tacos put a middle eastern flare on the tacos.
K'ooben Laab was excellent fresh pasta. A little pricy but a nice treat.
I used my own gear, but they seem to be using scubapro rentals. MK2 1st stage and a S270 second stage. Non droppable pocket BCD used with a weight belt. Full foot fins. A computer was extra. I don't know if you could rent a DSMB and spool but I didn't see any of the people using rentals having one.
Flew down on July 21st and dove July 22nd -24th, flew home on the 25th.
I chose Blue Magic Scuba because they had a good reputation and they had a hostel that they run (I love the fun hostel atmosphere). They were extremely responsive to emails and had it all sorted out before I flew down for 4 tanks on July 22nd and 23rd, and 2 tanks on the morning of the 24th. I paid for nitrox because with 4 dives a day my NDLs on air was going to be nothing by dive 4 and they have a computer on the boat to analyze tanks (I asked, have heard that not all places have an analyzer to do self testing). Also since I was doing 4 dives a day, they required a computer (I have my own but they also rent them).
Did me a favor on the pricing and let me buy the 5 day scuba package and use it over 3 days.
Seamless check into the hostel and they were expecting me. I was in the 12 person Max room with AC (cost an extra 50 pesos a night - about $2.50 US at the current exchange rate). If you wanted the non-AC room it's free with daily diving! There were 4 people staying in the room the whole time I was there (it's low season). The hostel also has the dive masters in training which was awesome to pick their minds at night and talk about the diving we did during the day. They have no alcohol signs but that's no the rule anymore. Also no food or drink in the rooms but they have a kitchen area and a spacious common living area. There's also a 9ft scuba pool in the back that looks cool, but I'm not sure how to use it outside maybe arranging for a tank to be delivered to the hostel.
The only downside to the hostel that I saw was they really didn't have enough hanging lines to dry out everyone's swimsuit/rash guard. Plus the drying lines that were hung up were not covered so during the mid day rains the swim stuff got wet again. Between the rains and the 100% humidity, they weren't quite dry when I pulled them on 40 hours after hanging up (I had two sets and wore the same set day 1 and day 3).
The dive shop is an easy 10 minute walk from the hostel. I brought my own gear so dropped it off at the shop on the 21st and they took it into the back room to bring it to the boat the next day.
Initial meetup each day at the shop is 7:45 AM and back to the shop around 6 PM each day after 4 dives. Boats were fast and were reasonably roomy with the number of people onboard. I could see them being more packed during high season.
Full concierge diving. They had my gear set up at the boat when I showed up each day. Double checked the setup and it was done right (I dive backplate and wing so a little unusual). After the first day they even had my weight belt set up and the weights in my tank strap. Turned on the air before handing the equipment to me and helped me into it before each dive. They already had my nitrox tanks analyzed day one but I asked to double check (they gave me correct info). Every other day they did it in front of me and didn't pre-analyze them (I think because I asked the first day). My tanks did range a little from 32% on day 1 to 33/34% on day 3, so happy I did analyze them (never went over 90ft depth on any dives so no problems, but they said there are deeper spots down some of the walls).
Did 10 fun drift dives. I had all three DMs they seem to use. Stayed with the same DM each day but different DMs each day. Sorry no names, I have the memory of a gold fish.
I had a computer and was on nitrox so didn't really run into issues with NDLs. They ask to be notified at 1000 PSI or 8 minutes NDL left. That wasn't the end of the dive, but they'd slowly make their way toward shore where the current was less kickass and the boat would pick up the divers. If the diver didn't have a computer, they also asked the diver without the computer to stay at or above the DM for NDL reasons.
Since they have DM trainees on each dive, the DM sometimes would bring someone having bad air consumption up to the surface when they got low, leave the group in the care of the DM trainees and then come back once the people low on air were back on the boat. Sort of nice that the whole group didn't have to thumb the dive for one person.
Surface breaks had snacks of cookies and fresh cut fruit. Bring a water bottle to refill because they have a water dispenser onboard. Since I was doing 4 dives a day, they swapped out groups and tanks around 1 PM on the dock for a good half hour break. The dive shop arranged a paid lunch for me of a sandwich which was great (also had burrito or other things if you asked in advance, I'm not a picky eater). Grabbed a cold drink from the store in the dock area to wash down my lunch.
After diving for the day, would put my gear into a dive bag supplied and they stored it and dried it out each day. Didn't have to do anything outside of packing it all up, pure concierge diving.
Day 1 I had Nitrox AL80's and only got ~45 minutes. Day 2 and 3 I paid the extra $2 for a nitrox AL100 and each dive was an hour long (the max they do). If you want the extra air, I'd recommend going with a larger tank.
Didn't really do much on land except eat, sleep, and swap diving stories back at the hostel. Had exactly 24 hours after last dive before flying out so it was a packed diving adventure.
Food:
Ruta 25 was good cheap tacos. $1 tacos and stuffed my face
Arabian Tacos put a middle eastern flare on the tacos.
K'ooben Laab was excellent fresh pasta. A little pricy but a nice treat.
I used my own gear, but they seem to be using scubapro rentals. MK2 1st stage and a S270 second stage. Non droppable pocket BCD used with a weight belt. Full foot fins. A computer was extra. I don't know if you could rent a DSMB and spool but I didn't see any of the people using rentals having one.
