Cozumel: Equalizers vs. Dive Paradise

Comment please? We are beginners, newly OW certified. Our dive shop really
recommends DP; otoh, we had a great experience last year with the folks at
Equalizers on a private custom snorkel trip**. Every person we met at the
Equalizers shop just raved about using them for years. We will be on the
island for about 8 days in May '04.

thanks

Penny S

** I do understand that a snorkel trip has no correlation to diving,
however, they treated us great and Sandra the DM went out of her way to make
sure we had a great day drift snokeling away from the cattle boats.

"Penny S" <pennysinvalid@cetinvalid.com> entertained us with:
:Comment please? We are beginners, newly OW certified. Our dive shop really
:recommends DP; otoh, we had a great experience last year with the folks at
:Equalizers on a private custom snorkel trip**. Every person we met at the
:Equalizers shop just raved about using them for years. We will be on the
:island for about 8 days in May '04.

Welcome to rec.scuba,..., Penny. Has anyone told you to look up the answer on
google yet?

It probably doesn't matter what shop you pick, you will have a good time with
either. Things you may want to consider before deciding are:
- proximity of boat launch from your hotel.
- what time do they leave?

Dan Bracuk
As Big Ben said to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I've got the time if you've got the inclination.
The Best of Rec.Scuba
http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/


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"Dan Bracuk" <bracuk@pathcom.com> wrote in message
news:1fb5pvcqug0e7j2j4jgp3ai7844oeq1m7e@4ax.com...

> It probably doesn't matter what shop you pick, you will have a good time
with
> either. Things you may want to consider before deciding are:
> - proximity of boat launch from your hotel.
> - what time do they leave?

And, unless you're getting some sort of package deal on multiple dives,
there's no reason why you can't try them both during the first couple days
and then make your decision for the remainder of your trip.

Used Equalizers for 10 days 2 yrs ago. The old DM was great but I heard that
the son is the DM now and not very good (secondhand info I never dove with
him). The boat was fair at best (no ice to cool the drinking water) 1/3 of
the tanks had o-rings leaks where the tank neck and the valve meet (the
tanks were marked for repair every day but were returned refilled and
unrepaired. They over charged my credit card by about 8% (didn't find it
till I got home) and refused to adjust the bill even when I sent them the
official exchange rate of the day that showed it was not what they claimed
it to have been
ATG.

"Penny S" <pennysinvalid@cetinvalid.com> wrote in message
news:vp59hteg042i54@corp.supernews.com...
> Comment please? We are beginners, newly OW certified. Our dive shop
really
> recommends DP; otoh, we had a great experience last year with the folks
at
> Equalizers on a private custom snorkel trip**. Every person we met at
the
> Equalizers shop just raved about using them for years. We will be on the
> island for about 8 days in May '04.
>
> thanks
>
> Penny S
>
> ** I do understand that a snorkel trip has no correlation to diving,
> however, they treated us great and Sandra the DM went out of her way to
make
> sure we had a great day drift snokeling away from the cattle boats.
>
>

I spend either three or four days about every other month down there diving.
I have tried most all of them and it has been my experience that the Blue
Angel shop at the Carib Blu works best for me. Ask for Ramon he has over
4000 dives down there and knows exactly what he is doing.


"Penny S" <pennysinvalid@cetinvalid.com> wrote in message
news:vp59hteg042i54@corp.supernews.com...
> Comment please? We are beginners, newly OW certified. Our dive shop
really
> recommends DP; otoh, we had a great experience last year with the folks
at
> Equalizers on a private custom snorkel trip**. Every person we met at
the
> Equalizers shop just raved about using them for years. We will be on the
> island for about 8 days in May '04.
>
> thanks
>
> Penny S
>
> ** I do understand that a snorkel trip has no correlation to diving,
> however, they treated us great and Sandra the DM went out of her way to
make
> sure we had a great day drift snokeling away from the cattle boats.
>
>

Penny S wrote:
>
> Comment please? We are beginners, newly OW certified. Our dive shop really
> recommends DP; otoh, we had a great experience last year with the folks at
> Equalizers on a private custom snorkel trip**. Every person we met at the
> Equalizers shop just raved about using them for years. We will be on the
> island for about 8 days in May '04.

I will be there for 10-12 days in May, as well, and diving with Darwin,
too. Maybe we will share a boat with you.

Gordon in Austin
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POPI Classification
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Spider Ginnetty wrote:
>
> Used Equalizers for 10 days 2 yrs ago. The old DM was great but I heard that
> the son is the DM now and not very good (secondhand info I never dove with
> him).

Henry (Darwin's son) is much better now. I dove with him in May 2001,
and he was not very communicative, was very hung over a couple of times,
and totally lost the reef on our night dive. In 2002, he wasn't working
there any more; the word I got was that Darwin had had to fire him due
to negative feedback from his customers (myself included). This past
May, he was back (and I was apprehensive), but he was very professional
and jovial, knew the reefs very well, and put us right where we wanted
to go without fail. We had no probs with him at all. He's pretty
young, and I guess he needed seasoning.

As of May, Henry was Darwin's "B" DM; his "A" guy, Aristeo, is one of
the best DM's I have ever dove (dived? diven?) with. Darwin himself
doesn't go out as DM much if at all any more.

Gordon in Austin

--
POPI Classification
[ ]General Business Information
[x]Motorola Internal Use
[ ]Motorola Confidential Proprietary

I'm leaving tomorrow for Cozumel and diving with Dive Paradise, for a week,
as part of a dive package I'll give you an update when I get back.