Well I have done some reading and now I have questions and ask for opinions

[INTRUDERDIVER]

As for some know I have posted that I am going to Cozumel in May. I will be in Cozumel the 6th through the 13th. My wife and I will be completed our OW certification in New Mexico (the blue hole) the weekend before we go to Cozumel. I figured that it would be a great refresher course just before we go and jump into the ocean. I wanted to know if anyone knew any thing about the place that we will be staying and the dive shop that we will be using. I am going to post some of the places that we currently plan to dive so if you think that we should not do those please let me know your opinion if you have been there.

My wife and I will be staying at the Reef Club Hotel. I have heard a lot of good things about this hotel. We did upgrade to the suites and I heard that they are only a few years old and only a few feet from the dive area. The dive shop that we will be staying at is the Sand Dollar Sports. We are going to be there for 7 nights so we currently have only booked 3 – two tanks dives. We are diving at the following places:

Friday
Santa Rosa 80’
Punta Tunich 50’

Saturday
Divers Choice

Tuesday
Palancar Caves
Paso Del Cedral

We have other possibilities through out the week but we don’t know anything about them and we don’t want to get in over our head. So if any one has any input on these dives or the following dives please let me know.

Columbia wall 80’
Dalila 60’

Palancar Horseshoe 80’
Tormentos 60’

Palancar Gardens 80’
Yucab 60’

Thanks

INTRUDERDRIVER

 

[HammerNoMore]

My wife and I will be staying at the Reef Club Hotel.

The Reef Club is all inclusive. Not somthing I recomend in Cozumel because of the large number of restraunts providing excellent food at dirt cheap prices. (Translation, you are paying more to eat worse food.) Also AI's in Coz are "all you can order" not "all you can drink". It's also an expensive long cab ride to town from there.

The good news is it is much closer to the reefs so you spend lest time traveling by boat.

The dive shop that we will be staying at is the Sand Dollar Sports.

I did my OW referal with Sand Dollar. They are a good choice considering your level of experience. When you head back down to Cozumel in 6 months and have been diving more ask around here for a better operation for experienced divers.

We are diving at the following places:

You know what dives you are doing before hand? That's odd it's usually a day by day sort of thing that depends on conditions and the DM's evaluation of your diving ability.

 

[INTRUDERDIVER]

The Reef Club is all inclusive. Not somthing I recomend in Cozumel because of the large number of restraunts providing excellent food at dirt cheap prices. (Translation, you are paying more to eat worse food.) Also AI's in Coz are "all you can order" not "all you can drink". It's also an expensive long cab ride to town from there.

James thanks for the advice but I made sure that it was all you can drink at the reef club. I would have to attend to agree with you about paying such a price just for all you can eat. :11ztongue

The good news is it is much closer to the reefs so you spend lest time traveling by boat.


I did my OW referal with Sand Dollar. They are a good choice considering your level of experience. When you head back down to Cozumel in 6 months and have been diving more ask around here for a better operation for experienced divers.


You know what dives you are doing before hand? That's odd it's usually a day by day sort of thing that depends on conditions and the DM's evaluation of your diving ability.

The Sand Dollar actually has a schedule that they go by. It is posted on their web site. I have to say that it never crossed my mind if the site was a bad day to dive there what would happen. I guess I will have to ask. :11:

 

[HammerNoMore]

The Sand Dollar actually has a schedule that they go by. It is posted on their web site. I have to say that it never crossed my mind if the site was a bad day to dive there what would happen. I guess I will have to ask. :11:

Of the reefs you mentioned you shouldn't really have a problem. Though I've seen a Yucab dive turn into a Yucab/Tormentos dive because of fast currents. I think I remember them having a list on their website from back when I did it but I don't think it was really followed. A good op will get more of a boat consensus on where to go.

James

 

[ggunn]

We are diving at the following places:

Friday
Santa Rosa 80’
Punta Tunich 50’

Saturday
Divers Choice

Tuesday
Palancar Caves
Paso Del Cedral

We have other possibilities through out the week but we don’t know anything about them and we don’t want to get in over our head. So if any one has any input on these dives or the following dives please let me know.

Columbia wall 80’
Dalila 60’

Palancar Horseshoe 80’
Tormentos 60’

Palancar Gardens 80’
Yucab 60’

INTRUDERDRIVER

Those are all great sites, but I am puzzled by the statement, "My wife and I will be completed our OW certification in New Mexico (the blue hole) the weekend before we go to Cozumel. I figured that it would be a great refresher course just before we go and jump into the ocean." Is it your OW cert, or is it a refresher? Did you maybe mean to say AOW?

If you are going to Cozumel freshly OW cert'ed, then, in my opinion, Santa Rosa and Tuniche may be a bit much for your first encounters with drift diving. Santa Rosa is a wall dive with a 1000+ foot dropoff directly below you, and the current on Tuniche is usually the fastest of any of the southwestern sites.

Have fun, but dive safe.

 

[Scott101]

My wife and I stayed at the Reef Club a year or so ago and found it to be very nice. Granted, we were also in the suites but the property itself was very nice. If possible, ask for a room on the beach. Nothing like walking out your door and getting wet after 20 steps.

I did my dives with Sand Dollar and found them to be alright, considering that I was also newly certified. The only gripe I had was that on the night dive, it was WAY over crowded on the boat and a tad uncomfortable. That said, you should have a great time.

As for dives, I was checking my log book and saw that I had made a note that Columbia was my favorite dive. It was also a very deep computer dive. There was a group of us that had dived together all week and the DM felt confident that we would have no problem with it.

Hope you have a great time!

 

[cxg31s]

If you are going to Cozumel freshly OW cert'ed, then, in my opinion, Santa Rosa and Tuniche may be a bit much for your first encounters with drift diving. Santa Rosa is a wall dive with a 1000+ foot dropoff directly below you, and the current on Tuniche is usually the fastest of any of the southwestern sites.

Have fun, but dive safe.

Gordon, I had the exact same thoughts....INTRUDERDIVER, will you and your wife be newly certified divers or are you doing your advanced open water before going to Coz? If you are new open water divers, especially since your certification dives won't be in the ocean, Santa Rosa and Tunich are probably not the best choices for your very first ocean dives. Have you talked with Sand Dollar about your level of experience? Perhaps they plan on just keeping you guys in the shallow areas, but currents on these 2 particular reefs can be unpredictable. It's best to do a more "beginner" level dive first so you can get your sea legs, so to speak.

If Sand Dollar won't change the schedule to accommodate your level of experience, then I would suggest hiring a private DM, at least for the first day. I don't think it costs that much more ($30-40??) and would be totally worth it for your first ocean dives to ensure that you are comfortable and don't get into something you're not ready for.

I did my open water referral dives with Sand Dollar and enjoyed my experience. My instructor was very patient and attentive and allowed us to have fun on the dive after doing our skills. I do know that they're catering more to cruise ship crowds these days, so they're more likely to follow a rush/rush/hurry/hurry schedule rather than paying attention to individual divers. So speak up, be honest about your experience, don't do something the others do if it makes you uncomfortable and hire a private DM at least for a day or 2.

Oh yeah, and have a great time!

 

[dnhill]

"Also AI's in Coz are "all you can order" not "all you can drink".

I am not sure exactly what this means, but at my experiences at both Reef Club and Iberostar, it was indeed all you could drink.

I won't go into detail about my stay at Reef Club except that "all you can eat" is an indication of quantity, not quality. What I choose to eat was not much.

dnhill

 

[BradJ]

I won't go into detail about my stay at Reef Club except that "all you can eat" is an indication of quantity, not quality. What I choose to eat was not much.

dnhill

Have to agree with you there. I don't mind the accommodations at the Reef Club, but the food was/is pretty bad. My wife pretty much refuses to go back.
The Iberostar on the other hand had/has pretty good food with the same or better rooms.

 

[HammerNoMore]

"Also AI's in Coz are "all you can order" not "all you can drink".

I am not sure exactly what this means, but at my experiences at both Reef Club and Iberostar, it was indeed all you could drink.

At the Paradisus in Coz you had to wait at least 15 minutes at the bar to get a watered down drink. The "nice" restraunt was advertised as having and extensive wine list, in reality the list had 2 wines: red and white, both served out of a caraf (to hid the box I guess).