cozumel

"aaron" <aaron1127@qwest.net> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
in:
:Can anyone recomend a good dive shop in Cozumel?

It's harder to find a bad one than a good one. If there is one right
at your resort, that would be a good choice.

If you are staying downtown, think about what time of day you want to
go diving. Some boats leave at 8, some at 9, and some at 10. I
prefer the 10 am departures myself, which means Caballito des Caribes
and Seafaris are good choices.

I also received good service from Caribbean Divers and Papa Hogs, both
of which leave earlier.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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aaron wrote:
> Can anyone recomend a good dive shop in Cozumel?
>

Sorry, scuba diving in Cozumel is no longer possible. They've made
enough money from cruise pukes on t-shirts and trinkets to not need any
more tourism pesos. Everybody has retired, and within a month or two
the quaint island culture will be back to pre-Cousteau times. :)

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Dan Bracuk wrote:
> "aaron" <aaron1127@qwest.net> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
> in:
> :Can anyone recomend a good dive shop in Cozumel?
>
> It's harder to find a bad one than a good one. If there is one right
> at your resort, that would be a good choice.

Pretty good characterization and advice.

>
> If you are staying downtown, think about what time of day you want to
> go diving. Some boats leave at 8, some at 9, and some at 10. I
> prefer the 10 am departures myself, which means Caballito des Caribes
> and Seafaris are good choices.

http://www.seahorsecozumel.com/snorkel.html

Caballito del Caribe is my favorite. They depart from the downtown
pier PROMPTLY at 10 am. They also pick up divers from the ferry
and the near north hotels, and take them back there. But the
reason they are my favorite is that the don't baby sit me.
In fact, part of their regular briefing (if I am diving on the
boat) is, "Don't follow Miyagi".

They are good for newbies as well as experienced divers as long
as you KNOW and let them know (no BS), who you are.

Actually many of the smaller operators will take divers out at ANY
time, as long as there are several divers who want to go.

-- Bob.

"Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1122948142.394933.312110@g44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

> Caballito del Caribe is my favorite. They depart from the downtown
> pier PROMPTLY at 10 am.

What do you do for afternoon dives? Do they have later departures then as
well? I kind of like the idea of sleeping in and maybe eating or taking a
swim before heading off to the boat, but I wonder if the late morning
departure means you don't have access to 2 afternoon dives.

Ross Garrett wrote:
> "Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1122948142.394933.312110@g44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>
> > Caballito del Caribe is my favorite. They depart from the downtown
> > pier PROMPTLY at 10 am.
>
> What do you do for afternoon dives?

They have regularly scheduled afternoon dives at 1:30 pm, and
irregularly scheduled afternoon dives for those who return from
morning two-tanks and wanted two more.

> Do they have later departures then as well?

Yes. They are the flexible kind, always have captains of their
fleet on call. On occasions, they called up a captain and DM
just to take me out (and lose money in the process).

Owner Luis Perez and Manager Silvino are always around to
please and to negotiate.


> I kind of like the idea of sleeping in and maybe eating or taking a
> swim before heading off to the boat, but I wonder if the late morning
> departure means you don't have access to 2 afternoon dives.

Au contraire, mon frere. Their 10 am schedule has evolved over
the years because of their clientele from Cancun, who get off
the ferry shortly before 10 am. They pick up divers at the
Aldora Pier at 10 am before or after the ferry arrives.

They have dive "packages" bookable from Cancun (or Cozumel)
which INCLUDES a lunch and two afternoon/sunset dives afterwards.

They also stop on beaches for surface interval between the two
morning dives. Some of the beaches have restaurants that serve
food. Or you can bring your OWN food to the boat, and eat at
your leisure.

That's TROPICAL DIVING, the Mexican way.

BTW, unless there is a boatful of clueless newbies (extremely rare),
they NEVER have the "everyone goes up when the first divers runs
short on air" nonsense. The DM goes up with a newbie who needed
help and comes back down; or send an air hog (but otherwise
competent diver) up with his buddy for the boat to pick up.

OR, goes up with other divers near the end, and leave the
experienced to know how to fend for themselves until they are
ready, as told by Dan,

DB> Every once in awhile you hear a story about the entire
DB> group having to surface when one diver runs out of air.
DB> These guys do just the opposite. There was an occasion
FB> where a diver did get low on air, so the divemaster
DB> signalled to us that he was bringing the guy up, and
DB> waved goodby.

Dan Bracuk and his lovely wife Patti were happy about the freedom
they got to dive their profiles, and that they got to use up
most of their air in the tanks before surfacing
at THEIR leisure -- the time they dived with me two years ago
during Cozumel's Mardi Gras (Carnivale). It seemed like such
a LONG time ago, until I found Dan's trip report:

http://tinyurl.com/eybau

-- Bob.

"Ross Garrett" <frederickrossgarrett@hotmail.com> pounded away at his
keyboard resulting in:
:What do you do for afternoon dives? Do they have later departures then as
:well? I kind of like the idea of sleeping in and maybe eating or taking a
:swim before heading off to the boat, but I wonder if the late morning
:departure means you don't have access to 2 afternoon dives.

When I dove with them, the late morning departure did in fact mean no
afternoon dives, at least none that I noticed. Mind you, I was quite
content to do my two dives, and then do a gear and diver rinse while
sipping a beer, so I wasn't actually looking for any afternoon dives.

If you are considering afternoon dives, start looking at how much
available daylight you have. Dusk is usually 7 or 8 pm or so. The
boat returns from the morning trip at 2-ish. I suppose it's possible,
but, I don't think the demand is high enough for a dive shop to start
two tanks dives at around 3 pm.

Having said that, no doubt someone will find a shop that does.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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Dan Bracuk wrote:
> "Ross Garrett" <frederickrossgarrett@hotmail.com> pounded away at his
> keyboard resulting in:
> :What do you do for afternoon dives? Do they have later departures then as
> :well? I kind of like the idea of sleeping in and maybe eating or taking a
> :swim before heading off to the boat, but I wonder if the late morning
> :departure means you don't have access to 2 afternoon dives.

I had responded to that separately.
>
> When I dove with them, the late morning departure did in fact mean no
> afternoon dives, at least none that I noticed. Mind you, I was quite
> content to do my two dives, and then do a gear and diver rinse while
> sipping a beer, so I wasn't actually looking for any afternoon dives.

Likewise. And Room 49 of Bahia is MY room (the same I always stayed
since 1995). It has a LARGE jacuzzi in the bathroom big enough for
my wife and I and ALL our gears to be in the same jacuzzi at the
same time.

Dan stayed in the Small Penthouse Suite (Room 48). Not sure if it
has a jacuzzi (I think it does), but does not have the living/dining
room that overlooks the Pro-dive and Aldora dive Pier.

>
> If you are considering afternoon dives, start looking at how much
> available daylight you have. Dusk is usually 7 or 8 pm or so.

Most of the months, it's long before that! Often it's dusk by 6 pm
and night by 8 pm.

The
> boat returns from the morning trip at 2-ish. I suppose it's possible,
> but, I don't think the demand is high enough for a dive shop to start
> two tanks dives at around 3 pm.
>
> Having said that, no doubt someone will find a shop that does.

Caballitos del Caribe does (special order) and two-tank just about
anytime after 3 pm.

-- Bob.

www.bottomtimedivers.net Raul is a real nice guy and is owner/operator so
you deal with the boss not an employee. He has a small fast boat 6 divers
max, with a canopy, towels, snacks, raincoats, and water. He likes to take
his time underwater and find the little cridders that others miss. Bottom
times are your air and computer, most over an hour His e-mail is
Raul_Platas@yahoo.com.

aaron wrote:
>Can anyone recomend a good dive shop in Cozumel?

Can anyone recomend a good dive shop in Cozumel?

Dan Bracuk wrote:
> "aaron" <aaron1127@qwest.net> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
> in:
> :Can anyone recomend a good dive shop in Cozumel?
>
> It's harder to find a bad one than a good one. If there is one right
> at your resort, that would be a good choice.

Pretty good characterization and advice.

>
> If you are staying downtown, think about what time of day you want to
> go diving. Some boats leave at 8, some at 9, and some at 10. I
> prefer the 10 am departures myself, which means Caballito des Caribes
> and Seafaris are good choices.

http://www.seahorsecozumel.com/snorkel.html

Caballito del Caribe is my favorite. They depart from the downtown
pier PROMPTLY at 10 am. They also pick up divers from the ferry
and the near north hotels, and take them back there. But the
reason they are my favorite is that the don't baby sit me.
In fact, part of their regular briefing (if I am diving on the
boat) is, "Don't follow Miyagi".

They are good for newbies as well as experienced divers as long
as you KNOW and let them know (no BS), who you are.

Actually many of the smaller operators will take divers out at ANY
time, as long as there are several divers who want to go.

-- Bob.