Trip Review: Tres Pelicanos (3Ps) & Casa Mexicana

[mediumone]

It can happen.

Afternoon trip. 2nd tank. 2 groups, one new divers, the other advanced divers. Current moving south to north. Shop DM with the new divers and a freelance with the advanced group. We were running a little late that day.

We wondered what was up during the briefing. The freelance said we (advanced divers) were going to swim from the reef (50-60 max) to the wall, but we weren't going to dive the wall or even go very near it for fear of down currents. Ok, but we wondered why. The new divers drop first. After we get down, the DM leads us southwest across the sand. We were at about 90 feet fairly quickly and kicking into the current. We get to the wall and the DM is off the wall about 40 feet, over sand, heading north and kicking, but not hard. We follow. After a short time, he heads back to the original reef, now heading southeast, and kicking into the current again. We get back to the reef and meet up with the new divers and finish the dive, which was about 45 minutes in total.

All we could figure is that he didn't want us to do a 45 minute dive and have a bunch of air in our tanks at the end of it. There was absolutely no point in going to the wall other than getting us deep and kicking the whole time. Had it been one of the shop's DMs they'd have known that doing a 45 minute dive and having a bunch of air left in our tanks, but staying on the reef, wouldn't have bothered us a bit.

Very similar story here. Don't have time to go into the details at the moment, but we did a LOT of kicking into the current - never did get to drop over the wall, even though that was the plan. Same DM regularly hauled us back to look at something "interesting".

This is one of the reason's that I get so frustrated with the cheerleading. Might truly be a great shop, but a knucklehead DM, or one you just don't click with, can completely change the experience.

 

[AdivingBel]

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[dberry]

Dove with 3P two weeks ago, on various dives with Jorge, Edgar and Julio. Jorge doesn't point out as much little stuff as the others (and Julio kept pulling out his magnifying glass.) But Jorge made up for it on a night dive by finding a Splendid Toadfish in a hole WITH 6-8 toadfish babies no more than 1 cm long - very very cool. Jorge also seems to like swim-thrus more than the others, which I appreciate.

 

[ReefHound]

Maybe I've gotten old but I no longer find the appeal in going through "swim throughs", especially if I'm not in the lead.

 

[uncfnp]

Jorge can be a very polarizing guide. Divers tend to love him or ... not. Part of this is based on what you expect and want from a guide. Jorge is a divers guide. And by this I mean that he has a very relaxed style of guiding once he knows you. He is most often requested and dives with experienced divers and most often with repeat customers. He has a very large and very vocal following. But if you make a specific, reasonable request he will do his best to meet your request. And if a new or uncomfortable diver is aboard, he is very capable and able to assist. And yes, he does get cold easily, he is a triathlete with not an ounce of fat.

My recommendation here as well as in past threads, if you like and are comfortable with a relaxed style of guiding and a high level of independence, ask for Jorge. You will be lucky to get him if you are new with Tres Pelicanos.

If you are a photog and want a guide that will work hard to find you shots, especially macro, ask for Julio. If you want just a great all round guide, ask for Edgar. We love them all and like all guides they each have their strenghts (or weaknesses if its not what you want).

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Maybe I've gotten old but I no longer find the appeal in going through "swim throughs", especially if I'm not in the lead.

I have no idea about other operations now but quite a few years ago it was widely known that many DMs would take people deep or fin hard so they could get to the cantinas quicker. I believe it still happens but less than years ago. Most divers don't understand how the DM can control the "get home" time.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[AdivingBel]

Most divers don't understand how the DM can control the "get home" time.

Depends on the circumstance and only if you let them...all divers didn't just fall off the truck. I'm sure there are sneaky ones out there, but if a shop is going for experienced/repeat divers, those DMs won't be around long.

One of the nice things about Coz is there are lots of ops with various styles for various styles of divers. It also seems like there is a lot of competition so truly bad ops don't stay around long or are relegated to "one off" customer bases or "captive audiences."

 

[deepsea21]

But Jorge made up for it on a night dive by finding a Splendid Toadfish in a hole WITH 6-8 toadfish babies no more than 1 cm long - very very cool. Jorge also seems to like swim-thrus more than the others, which I appreciate.

All DM's are different. I believe I've seen Jorge wearing reading glasses to see up close when he's not diving so his ability to find the tiny stuff may be getting limited (I'm getting there as well and certainly wish I were in the physical condition Jorge is in!). Who can afford custom bi-focal masks? I enjoy diving Jorge, Edgar, and Julio all for their individual styles.

The fact is the vast majority of divers seem to want to see BIG THINGS... They want to see big Green Morays, Turtles, Sharks, schools of Barracuda, Eagle Rays, Whales, sunken treasure chests, swimming Unicorns they can ride, etc. Dive ops reside in the service industry and have to cater to the common dive customer's wants. Only a few care about the small treasures to be found that one can spend 100, 500, or 1000 dives trying to spot these days . DM's who are highly skilled at finding such critters have actually been scolded by dive shop owners and managers for not finding and pointing out enough BIG THINGS based on feedback from their divers.

In my personal opinion, there has been an explosion in the number of certified divers who are basically Touron, selfie stick photo op divers looking to impress the world with a selfie of them riding a turtle, laying beside a sleeping shark and who only dive a day or 2 during their week visit. They spend the rest of their time renting dune buggies, getting massages, parasailing, letting minnows eat the dead skin off their feet (YUCK), and dining here and there all to be recorded and posted in some screwy attempt to impress their "friends" on social media. Life lived recording it through a smart phone is no way to live in my opinion but to each his/her own.

 

[gotdogs?]

Who knows if the DM in question had a motive or not. If I felt I was being manipulated in order to burn through my air faster, I would(with my buddy) dive at much shallower depths and stretch out the dive time until my computer reached it's limits or air runs low. The DM would get stuck waiting for me! Once I was on a dive (not a Cozumel drift dive) where after 35 minutes the DM wrote on her slate that she was getting cold and returning to the boat, but to take our time and hang near the boat. There were no grudges or stiffing of tips. We got our dive time and she communicated professionally with us. I would rather a DM be up front about feeling tired, cold or on a tight schedule than to take us away/toward/away from the wall in hopes of going through our air. That would pi$$ me off!

 

[scubafanatic]

I have no idea about other operations now but quite a few years ago it was widely known that many DMs would take people deep or fin hard so they could get to the cantinas quicker. I believe it still happens but less than years ago. Most divers don't understand how the DM can control the "get home" time.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

I have experienced this very same thing myself, on a few dives with Liquid Blue (Cozumel) in the early 2000's, DM's deliberately swimming us into strong currents, I'm convinced it was to shorten dives. That was years ago, but it can/does happen, it's not just a conspiracy theory.