who to dive with

[gianster]

I need to find a new dive op that caters to experienced divers. Small 6 pack. Does Maracaibo, Columbia Deep, Punta Sur Sur, Baracuda and San Juan up north on a regular basis that uses aluminum tanks. Any recommendations? I have been diving Cozumel for about ten years twice a year. Love Christies Blue XTsea Pedro and Mago but the last two times I dove with them, the divers on the boat never wanted to do any of the mentioned dive sites (not the operators fault). I then switched to Aldora which went to all of my favorite dive sites every day but they use steel tanks that are way too heavy for me (even steel 100 with no weight). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Gianster

 

[rebelrph]

I thought I had a solution until you got to the AL tank part. I use Aldora and am also overweighted with the steel tanks with no weights. BUT I deal with that so I can do all the other stuff you mentioned...

TC

 

[scubawife]

If you dive with any of the "boutique" shops who have one or two boats, you always have a chance of getting a group of divers with mixed experience who might not all want to dive the deeper or more advanced sites.

You might want to consider on of the bigger shops who has more boats and can group their divers by experience level. Either that, or, get together 4-6 of your own diving friends and charter your own boat.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Dear Glanster,

We can easily give you tiny steel 80s that are much smaller and lighter than aluminum 80s, or aluminum 80s if you wish. That is just normal procedure for us, 120s for the men, 100s for the ladies. But all you had to do was ask and we aim to please and you'd still get all the great dive sites.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[DandyDon]

I was wondering if they had asked about smaller tanks.

 

[redacted]

I need to find a new dive op that caters to experienced divers. Small 6 pack. Does Maracaibo, Columbia Deep, Punta Sur Sur, Baracuda and San Juan up north on a regular basis that uses aluminum tanks. Any recommendations? I have been diving Cozumel for about ten years twice a year. Love Christies Blue XTsea Pedro and Mago but the last two times I dove with them, the divers on the boat never wanted to do any of the mentioned dive sites (not the operators fault). I then switched to Aldora which went to all of my favorite dive sites every day but they use steel tanks that are way too heavy for me (even steel 100 with no weight). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Gianster

I am not really clear on what you mean by "not the operators fault" which makes it somewhat difficult to make any alternative recommendation. If seas are not favorable for making the trip off the south of the island, then that is pretty much going to be true for any of the smaller boats. If the problem was that the other divers on the boat were the limitation then that may just be a problem with any of the small operations. I have never really had any trouble getting to Marichibo or the other southern sites with Blue XT or with Bottomtime divers (Cozumel Scuba Diving | Go diving in Cozumel with BottomTimeDivers dive operator). They are very similar ops. But I also understand that the dive sites need to accommodate all on the boat which may occasionally limit site selection.

 

[Christi]

Gianster,

I am really sorry to read this. Of course dive sites are divers choice while also taking conditions, etc. into consideration. We do hit these sites very regularly - but we also need to be aware of your wish list so that we can make it happen since not everyone has the same desires. Grouping divers is not only about skill level, but the kind of dives each diver likes to do - so it is not an exact science and we do our best to accommodate requests when we are aware of them.

I welcome you to come back to us - I know everyone will be happy to see you! I look forward to hearing from you!

 

[Jackie]

Good point on the weight of tanks... I do not see it as an advantage to carry NO ditchable weight.

 

[Zman96]

I have dove with BlueXt numerous times and have done these sites regularly as Christi said. You just need to make your desires known to Pedro and he will do what he can to make sure that you get there on your trip. I have not had a time where I had asked to do a dive on a trip where I wasn't accommodated at some point.

 

[gt68]

Bottomtime divers took us to all those sites the last week in sept.Affordable,personal,service that meets all your qualifications.We could not have ask for a better trip.