Advice for New Diver on Cozumel

[Christi]

My first concern would be getting an Operator to do a refresher session with at least your buddy (it never hurts to join in, either) as he has been out of the water for two + years. That is too long to be out of the water without brushing up on skills and knowledge, imnsho. That should be the first thing he does and then head out for the dives.

hijack - christi...get through that cold stuff now, I need WARM weather for our visit - end hijack

to the OP, I didn't cach the fact that your buddy has been out of the water for 2 or 3 years, so I have to agree with Alcina. I would hire a private divemaster and/or take refresher course before going on a regularly scheduled boat dive.

Jijackk: Alcina...trust me...I am PRAYING! This is killing us! Did you get my e-mail?

 

[adran]

Thanks alot folks. You guys are really helping me feel good about diving and divers. The names above , particularily Blue XT SEa and Aldora have come up more than once in my asking around. My buddy is being kinda cheap and seems to favor Scuba Safari. Ive read the BXTC and Aldora web pages and they both sound good and have good reasons for why they are not the cheapest. Anyone care ( or dare..ooo) to compare them or give an opinion on Scuba Safari.I understand some of you live or spend a lot of time down there and and its certainly good to be civil with ones neighbors on small island but anything you might ad would be greatly apriciated.I hope im not being to needy or greedy here. Im actually starting to relax a little but it does seem wise to try and reserve something. Thanks Again. Its really cool that people take the time to give advice to strangers.

 

[genreviam]

Adran, I can't comment on Aldora since my first and only trip to Coz was a couple of weeks ago with Blue XT Sea. My son and I are new divers, new to drift diving, new to boat diving, new to warm water diving, etc etc! I picked Blue XT Sea for a lot of reasons, but primarily I wanted personalized service. Small groups, lots of advice so we could learn and enjoy all the new experiences in diving Coz. We got some one on one time with the DM's since we did our AOW certification.

I can second Jjach's comment. Pedro always seemed to be aware of us and both DM's did a great job making us feel comfortable.

Drift diving: not a bit stressful, in fact, what a blast!!!!
Diving on the boat? We had a fun crew and had a great time.
Deep dives? 60 feet in a local lake is stressful. 90 feet in Coz and I could still see the sun above us! I will say that our DM's were VERY aware of us (newbies) on the deeper dives until they were comfortable we were diving safe and not stressed.

Bottom line is that I got everything I was hoping for with Blue XT Sea, and more. Lot's of great advice in the previous threads, but I wanted to give my 2 cents as a fellow new diver!

Randy

 

[adran]

Hey Folks, Wow thanks for all the good advice. Ive just asked around a little bit an Im impressed with how people are will to take their time to answer questions from others they've never met.A couple of ops names have come up several times. I've been anxious about who to go with considering all the choices and the fact that so many seem to want reservations. Does anyone care to compare BluXTSEa with Aldora?. We've read their websites but my buddy is being a bit cheap and wants to go with Scuba Safari.Would it be wierd to try several out? ts seems people are pretty loyal to their favorite ops. Im going to write the first two and see what they have available but any last comments before I click the pay pal would be appriciated. I realize Im probably being a bit needy here but Im generally not too whiny or fussy in person..lol. Thanks again

 

[daniel f aleman]

"Downright cold"?

Cozumel for the week:

Monday Night: Chance of Rain. Scattered Clouds. Low: 69° F. / 21° C. Wind NNW 11 mph. / 18 km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%.

Tuesday; Partly Cloudy. High: 71° F. / 22° C. Wind NNW 11 mph. / 18 km/h. Tuesday Night: Overcast. Low: 64° F. / 18° C. Wind NNW 11 mph. / 18 km/h.

Wednesday: Chance of Rain. Partly Cloudy. High: 71° F. / 22° C. Wind WNW 8 mph. / 14 km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wednesday Night: Chance of Rain. Overcast. Low: 66° F. / 19° C. Wind NNW 6 mph. / 10 km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%.

Thursday: Scattered Clouds. High: 73° F. / 23° C. Wind WNW 6 mph. / 10 km/h. Thursday Night: Chance of Rain. Scattered Clouds. Low: 68° F. / 20° C. Wind NNW 6 mph. / 10 km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%.

Friday: Chance of Rain. Scattered Clouds. High: 78° F. / 26° C. Wind NNE 6 mph. / 10 km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%. Friday Night: Scattered Clouds. Low: 71° F. / 22° C. Wind NNE 8 mph. / 14 km/h.

Saturday: Scattered Clouds. High: 80° F. / 27° C. Wind light. Saturday Night: Scattered Clouds. Low: 71° F. / 22° C. Wind light.

 

[harpua]

Hi Divers, I am a week away froam a 5 or six days of diving in Cozumel. I dont have a dive op chosen yet and I am feeling both positively excited and a little anxious. Anyway Im looking for dive shop recs and maybe some notes on the possible dangers of Cozumel. All but one dive I went on in LCI seemed pretty easy so Im wondering what the challenges will be.
Will we be stuck diving shalower reefs and will that be a drag?I sort of feel like this trip will really seal it for me as far as how much diving will part of my life in the future so I want it to go well. Thanks in advance for any recs or advice.

Sorry for paraphrasing your post! I just wanted to add my 2 coppers and give you a "semi-virgin" quick review of my Coz trip earlier this year. Both my wife and I visited Coz for the first time in Feb of 2005 as a nice winter getaway. We had a blast snorkeling and spending relaxing evenings in town, and quickly agreed to come back as divers the next year. We arrived fresh from our class/pool work, anxious to get in the water and move forward in our new sport. When I say anxious, I really mean that... we were nervous and frankly a bit unsure if were were cut out for the sport. I was particularly nervous about getting grouped with "pros" and "screwing-up" someone else's dive.

I feel like I am starting to write a novella here, so we shall cut to the chase...

We dove with Blue Angel and felt 100% comfortable with every aspect of the operation. We did in fact feel like part of the family by the end of the week. I am sure that Blue XTsea and Aldora will be at least as accommodating and professional. I read nearly every Cozumel post and there is nothing but 100% respect and positive reviews about these ops. I personally will continue to dive the Blue Angel, as they more than earned my lifelong business at this point. As new divers we were limited to "shallow" depths during our week. You don't need to be worried about that at all. Even considering the effects of Wilma, we were frankly amazed by the incredible variations of life we witnessed at 60 feet and above. In fact, while basking in our post-dive afterglow on more than one occasion our fellow divers raved about the beauty of Columbia Shallow, Paradise, ect. If you never get below 60 feet I am confidant you will be more that happy with what you see in Cozumel. It looks as though you might not be "stuck" with the shallower reefs in any case, being a bit more advanced than us. But don't worry about it one bit. Your DM's will evaluate, but if you have any issues with the depths, let them know. The fact that we were drift diving was also a concern for us, as we had only pool experience coming in. It is even more important to be aware of your buddy and not get too far apart. Distance in water so clear can be difficult to judge, so just be very conscious of your position relative to your buddy at all times. I think that more buoyancy control combined with a better understanding of diving in currents will increase my ability to control the proximity of my buddy (very important) and to protect marine life and the environment. Having said this, I must now say that I always felt safe and secure (while at the same time respecting the inherent dangers of the sport) and comfortable with the conditions in Cozumel. You will have a great time and no mistake. Do yourself a favor and take time to enjoy the great food and hospitality of San Miguel. "Go Native" as much as possible and you will not be disappointed.

OK. Sorry for the long post but I have very strong feelings about the folks from Cozumel as well as the folks that visit her. They have changed my life.

 

[micagreen]

Doh! I just posted this reply to your thread in the Mexico forum. I see you found the Cozumel sub-forum... Some of this may be redundant.

Cozumel is awesome. Best diving on this side of the globe IMHO.

I only dive with El Gran Azul. Victor is awesome! He gave me my open water cert about 19 years ago (was it really that long ago?? wow!) He's very friendly, has small boats (=small groups), has a tremendous amount of respect for the reefs and is a blast to dive with. There's lots of other operators out there (check the Cozumel sub-forum) and I'm sure most are good.

There's plenty of diving at or around 60' so that won't slow you down. My wife did her open water boat check dive at Palancar Gardens and that's some pretty nice diving (she did sneak down to 70' though... Ssshhh...)

Dangers? The water is sometime SO clear that you'll find yourself deeper than you think. At 90' at Santa Rosa wall, I could still clearly see the surface. Also the current can be quite strong. A lot of the diving is "drift diving", you motor out, go down, set your buyancy and watch the reef go by. You just have to be alert and stay near you buddy/group. It's easy to lose your buddy if you're not paying attention in that current.

Biggest danger? You will become a SCUBA addict. You will also be spoiled. Every place you go from now on you will try to compare to Cozumel.

As others have said, don't worry to omuch about the depth. As long as you and your DM are comfortable with it (and you probably will be after you see what the diving is like) you will probably adventure down to 90'.

Go have a blast! I know you will...

-Todd

 

[Christi]

"Downright cold"?

Cozumel for the week:

Monday Night: Chance of Rain. Scattered Clouds. Low: 69° F. / 21° C. Wind NNW 11 mph. / 18 km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%.

Tuesday; Partly Cloudy. High: 71° F. / 22° C. Wind NNW 11 mph. / 18 km/h. Tuesday Night: Overcast. Low: 64° F. / 18° C. Wind NNW 11 mph. / 18 km/h.

Wednesday: Chance of Rain. Partly Cloudy. High: 71° F. / 22° C. Wind WNW 8 mph. / 14 km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wednesday Night: Chance of Rain. Overcast. Low: 66° F. / 19° C. Wind NNW 6 mph. / 10 km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%.

Thursday: Scattered Clouds. High: 73° F. / 23° C. Wind WNW 6 mph. / 10 km/h. Thursday Night: Chance of Rain. Scattered Clouds. Low: 68° F. / 20° C. Wind NNW 6 mph. / 10 km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%.

Friday: Chance of Rain. Scattered Clouds. High: 78° F. / 26° C. Wind NNE 6 mph. / 10 km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%. Friday Night: Scattered Clouds. Low: 71° F. / 22° C. Wind NNE 8 mph. / 14 km/h.

Saturday: Scattered Clouds. High: 80° F. / 27° C. Wind light. Saturday Night: Scattered Clouds. Low: 71° F. / 22° C. Wind light.

Hasn't anyone learned yet that weather.com is NEVER accurate?

This morning, weather.com said the wind condition was "calm" when outside the wind was blowing directly from the north at 25 to 30mph with stronger gusts. Wave heights on the buoys were recorded at 11ft. Right now, the thermometer on my terrace reads 68, but withthe north winds it feels much colder. No, maybe not cold you to "northerners" but that is cold for Cozumel.

I wish it would go away...today was the 4th day of this norte and my divers are getting mighty restless...and so are we!

BTW: Here's a good site to check real life Coz conditions...http://www.buoyweather.com/wxnav6.j...atitude=20.5&longitude=-86.75&zone=-6&units=e

 

[hank harris]

adran, I think you are in for a great time! Two thoughts re your recommendation request:

First, I would second what Alcina said. That would be very wise for both of you to do.

Second, there are surely a number of dive ops there that would be perfect for you, just as there are some that would not be. Best to go with what you know and what others you respect recommend.

Re the two you specifically asked about (Blue XT Sea and Aldora), I have never went diving with either, but divers I know and trust have experience with both, and they speak highly of them. The closest I have been to Aldora is diving with 2 dive ops run by people who once worked at Aldora. Both (Living Underwater and Liquid Blue) are outstanding examples of quality dive ops. I did talk with the people from Aldora and Blue XT Sea prior to my trip to Coz this past summer. Both were extremely helpful and personable.

Christi could probably give you the best comparison between the 2, since she knows one of the operations intimately One difference (I think) is that Aldora uses steel tanks and Blue XT Sea uses aluminum. So depending on one's inclinations, that could be a factor. Other than that, I can't help much, except to say again that both are good dive ops. And maybe to suggest that you make arrangements for your diving as soon as possible.

Hope you have a fun and memorable trip!