Wow! Santa Rosa Wall for your first real open ocean dive to 85 feet with swim throughs. Reckless, but happy it worked out for you without an issue.
Would you dive with this op?
- Thread starter Lost Sailor
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Wow! Santa Rosa Wall for your first real open ocean dive to 85 feet with swim throughs. Reckless, but happy it worked out for you without an issue.
Skittl1321
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I think this statement pretty well says there is nothing that can really be done about it. You, and your buddy, accepted the dive even after being told the new location. (Now, if they hadn't told you that you were at Cedral Wall- WOW).
The thing that you can do is spread this news. Get on trip advisor for the op, and for the hotel and make sure new divers know that this op is not one that will cater to them.
I've heard many people on scuba board say that Cozumel is completely inappropriate for beginner divers, but my experience was that was not true. The op I dove with 100% made sure I felt safe and comfortable, and chose the sites we dove during the week as a progression to help me build skills (shallow low current sites, less shallow low current sites, site with a bit more current, then a wall). I booked with her really early and explained my needs. Maybe if I booked last minute she'd have said "nope, I already have someone booked asking for a deep, high current week", I don't know how they handle varying needs.
Thinking about it- I never did do a weight check. But I also was not overweighted, she guessed exactly right. When she saw after the first dive that I never put air in my BC during the dive, she added 2 pounds, but ended up taking it out after the next dive. Turns out when I'm nervous I hold air in my lungs, so by the end of the dive when I'm not nervous that counteracts the extra bouyancy of the tank
Dhboner
Contributor
The real concern I take from the OP's story is the number of divers who take their basic open water training, pass, get their C-card and then can't do something as basic as determining their own weighting requirements or having the good sense to SLOWLY vent their BC at the surface to control their rate of descent. I read so many stories here on Scubaboard and elsewhere where so-called certified divers seem to have absolutely no sense of self-reliance or confidence and assume that a DM, whose credentials are completely unknown (in a lot of cases although not all) will take complete care of them. What are we teaching in open-water classes? If you arrive at a dive site that rattles your confidence you thumb the dive....I don't care where you are or how much you paid to be there. You don't drop in hoping things will work out or the DM will come to the rescue. I am not sure that training agencies are to blame or that standards are too low but I have been on far too many boats with divers I wouldn't snorkel with much less dive a wall.
sharky60
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come back and find a decent op
Skittl1321
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Well, assuming they certified with the most common agency in the region, the certification doesn't encourage diving past 60 feet or in overhead environments- so that aspect is reckless, in that it isn't what they were trained for.
Of course, not sure how many Cozumel divers follow those recommendations, including me and I'm about as rule following as they come so maybe it isn't too reckless. But a wall that is known to be challenging for the first boat dive, and with only 4 dives in their log book (which contradicts the shore dive thing...so how many dives did they have?) is maybe a bit far reaching, if not reckless.
IIRC, a few cruisers have died at Santa Rosa wall over the years and the refrain always seems to have been "what were they doing there? They didn't have enough dives". So maybe it is a reckless site for a first ocean dive.
OP
Lost Sailor
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Thanks for the responses all - I went with Dive with Martin on my first trip down a few years ago and had a great trip.
As I noted in the initial post, I accept responsibility for being lazy (i.e., using the on-site op) and for going in on the first dive - my buddy was my responsibility and that is how the dive went; I don't expect the guide to babysit. My problem is that I went over our needs for two and a half days - even the guide thought we were going to the right spot since that is what he briefed and then no explanation the management. And again, the three other dives (was hoping for 8-10, but c'est la vie) would have been perfect for a beginning diver; I knew where we should have been and that is what the dive shop promised, but didn't deliver - and this isn't golf.
As I noted in the initial post, I accept responsibility for being lazy (i.e., using the on-site op) and for going in on the first dive - my buddy was my responsibility and that is how the dive went; I don't expect the guide to babysit. My problem is that I went over our needs for two and a half days - even the guide thought we were going to the right spot since that is what he briefed and then no explanation the management. And again, the three other dives (was hoping for 8-10, but c'est la vie) would have been perfect for a beginning diver; I knew where we should have been and that is what the dive shop promised, but didn't deliver - and this isn't golf.
I'm sorry your trip was ruined - but we all have choices every day - and one of those choices it to move on and make the best of whatever situation we're in.
Many points i would like to address, but I'll just stick with this one.
I hate to break it to you - but if she is allowing ONE dive from ONE dive op at ONE resort to paint all of Cozumel and all of the dive shops here with the same brush, after you yourself have had 3 previous SUCCESSFUL trips here - then you probably have much bigger issues to deal with than this one messed up day that you made the choice to be angry over and allow to ruin your trip.
I will go ahead and add - that unless you were chartering a private boat - the crew on the boat has to take everyone into consideration - just because YOU wanted to stay shallow doesn't mean they should hold the whole group back. If your needs to stay shallow were that important, and your friend is that new of a diver and nervous to begin with - YOU should have hired a private dive master for her at minimum. I'm sorry, but with less than 100 dives yourself, you are still considered a novice diver as well by most standards.
I am not making excuses for the dive op - BUT - You were diving with a large resort op, not a small boutique shop that offers more personalized level of service. No, I would not dive with that op before or after your report - but if I did find myself diving with a large run of the mill resort op catering to all levels desires, etc. I would keep my expectations and personal responsibility in line with that. I think your expectations were too high - you wanted caviar and paid for anchovies - and that's what you got!
Good luck, best wishes and I hope that you will both be back to Cozumel with an open mind and willingness to give the island and another op and resort a chance to show you some excellent and safe diving.
And I do mean this with the best of intentions and simple honesty so you can maybe make more informed choices in dive ops next time
Many points i would like to address, but I'll just stick with this one.
I hate to break it to you - but if she is allowing ONE dive from ONE dive op at ONE resort to paint all of Cozumel and all of the dive shops here with the same brush, after you yourself have had 3 previous SUCCESSFUL trips here - then you probably have much bigger issues to deal with than this one messed up day that you made the choice to be angry over and allow to ruin your trip.
I will go ahead and add - that unless you were chartering a private boat - the crew on the boat has to take everyone into consideration - just because YOU wanted to stay shallow doesn't mean they should hold the whole group back. If your needs to stay shallow were that important, and your friend is that new of a diver and nervous to begin with - YOU should have hired a private dive master for her at minimum. I'm sorry, but with less than 100 dives yourself, you are still considered a novice diver as well by most standards.
I am not making excuses for the dive op - BUT - You were diving with a large resort op, not a small boutique shop that offers more personalized level of service. No, I would not dive with that op before or after your report - but if I did find myself diving with a large run of the mill resort op catering to all levels desires, etc. I would keep my expectations and personal responsibility in line with that. I think your expectations were too high - you wanted caviar and paid for anchovies - and that's what you got!
Good luck, best wishes and I hope that you will both be back to Cozumel with an open mind and willingness to give the island and another op and resort a chance to show you some excellent and safe diving.
And I do mean this with the best of intentions and simple honesty so you can maybe make more informed choices in dive ops next time
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I dived with ProDive (from Allegro) a few years ago and they were an average resort dive operator. High volume, fixed schedule, mixed loads, short bottom times, well-trained and personable European staff (rather than local), good deals on dive packages, free/reduced nitrox, decent boats, catering to guests of the resort.
If everyone on the boat wanted to go to a particular site except you, no doubt they went to that site. I have had that happen with other operators in Cozumel, elsewhere in Mexico, in Asia, and even here in California, where nobody holds your hand.
So they didn't go to the site you wanted to go to and you dove anyway? With your inexperienced buddy? And now you are never coming back to Cozumel? Oh yeah, another diver appeared to be overweighted and the guide snuck some bait down.
Sorry about your experience and your buddy's injury, but IMO this is mild stuff, and as mentioned upthread, how about some personal responsibility?
If everyone on the boat wanted to go to a particular site except you, no doubt they went to that site. I have had that happen with other operators in Cozumel, elsewhere in Mexico, in Asia, and even here in California, where nobody holds your hand.
So they didn't go to the site you wanted to go to and you dove anyway? With your inexperienced buddy? And now you are never coming back to Cozumel? Oh yeah, another diver appeared to be overweighted and the guide snuck some bait down.
Sorry about your experience and your buddy's injury, but IMO this is mild stuff, and as mentioned upthread, how about some personal responsibility?
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