Blue Angel Concerns

[DandyDon]

VB: $885 - Superior room for 2, with "American" breakfast included: eggs, potatoes, toast, juice, coffee. Anything else off the menu (pancakes, etc.) you pay. This also included 5 days, 2 tank for ONE diver at Scuba Mau. Wife doesn't dive.

If you'd like help shopping for deals, I'm always happy to try. Depending on when you go, but using my usual August dates for a view...

2 plane tickets DEN-CZM @ $476 = $952

2 plane tickets & 7 nights VB superior room with Orbitz $200 discount = $1123 - $952 planes = $171 room + 5 dive trips for $300 = $471 taxes and fees included

On the other hand, I'll agree that Blue Angel is worth what it costs if you don't mind paying that rate.

 

[Tunaman68]

Bottom line: $415 more at BA, but it includes one more 5-day, 2-tank dive pkg, ANY breakfast you want every day, lunch for two with drinks on 5 diving days and dinner for two with drinks on night of choice. For me, that's a wash.

We got a great price for two at BA and I can't imagine anywhere else being much cheaper in the long run for all that was included in the 'value' of the BA experience. We got quotes at several other places that were a little less. I know Don has the actual numbers down, but for me there's more than just dollar to dollar when comparing any two properties. I'm gonna ask him to help quote our November trip this year!

Customer service is job #1 at the BA for sure!

 

[Sideways]

Awesome info, thanks to the OP for starting the thread. We're thinking about BA also for Nov-Dec. I've never stayed with them before, but have always come over from Playa for dives. I have a couple questions that maybe someone might have answers to.

1. On 3 occasions coming from playa, taking the 9am ferry over, I've gone with BA. On all 3 occasions I was told during the dive briefing on the boat that dive times were limited to 35 mins because of marine park regs (it could have been 45). I brought this up in a thread awhile back here, and folks were scratching their heads. One of the explanations offered was that coming over on that particular ferry, you catch the 10am BA boat, and that one might have different rules? My concern of course is bottom time. Thoughts??

2. Can you keep the bulk of your gear in the shop for the next day? Except Cams, regs and puters of course. I read a TR saying they don't let you??

3. Is it easy too catch cabs on the road? I'm one of those LAZY folks that were mentioned earlier We like to go into town, and after diving all day...we really would prefer cabbing it.


I'm sure more questions will pop up, but I'll search threads to see what I can find. Thanks!!:cool2:

 

[DandyDon]

I've never done the 10am boat but I suspect those rules had more to do with schedules. On the 8am boats, I have never been given a limit - partially because I am a air hog even on a 100 cf tank upgrade perhaps, but never heard one.

2. Can you keep the bulk of your gear in the shop for the next day? Except Cams, regs and puters of course. I read a TR saying they don't let you??

They have lockers you can use, and you can leave almost anything in them. I think you need to take your own lock but they lock up the building at night.

3. Is it easy too catch cabs on the road? I'm one of those LAZY folks that were mentioned earlier We like to go into town, and after diving all day...we really would prefer cabbing it.

Very easy.

 

[Sideways]

I've never done the 10am boat but I suspect those rules had more to do with schedules. On the 8am boats, I have never been given a limit - partially because I am a air hog even on a 100 cf tank upgrade perhaps, but never heard one.

They have lockers you can use, and you can leave almost anything in them. I think you need to take your own lock but they lock up the building at night.

Very easy.

Thank you kindly Sir!

 

[austinacoustic]

Sideways, great photos!!

 

[cicopo]

Sideways I recommend that you read my trip report re Blue Angel. From what I could tell the 10:30 trip has a schedule, which would explain timed dives. The 8:00 AM trip was a use all your air trip, and I'm pretty sure the 1:00 PM trip was too.

 

[Sideways]

Sideways I recommend that you read my trip report re Blue Angel. From what I could tell the 10:30 trip has a schedule, which would explain timed dives. The 8:00 AM trip was a use all your air trip, and I'm pretty sure the 1:00 PM trip was too.

AwesomeTR! Thanks That answered my next question about dive sites. The 3 times I dove on that 10:30 boat coming over from playa we hit Paradise reef 3x, Palancar gardens 2x and Santa Rosa wall once. Im hoping to hit mucho more sites. What are some of your favs?

Thanks Austin! That was a great trip too the Similans!:cool2:

 

[cicopo]

Over the years my tastes have changed re favorites because I used to be after big fish while now I'm more into the landscape & corals etc. I've always enjoyed Colombia Deep, and any section of Palancar but my real favorite is Colombia Shallows. This trip however has added some new special places I want to see again & one was Las Palmas (current ran opposite the norm so we saw a deep section that I'm sure I've never seen before) along with the 2 sites we did on the north end. I'd only been there once before but this time I really enjoyed the very different sponges & corals etc that make up the landscape / gardens.

 

[Ms. Ann Thrope]

I'm wondering if that 10 am boat is also the one that books cruise ship people onto it. If so, those people are often coming back to Blue Angel for a quick, prearranged lunch--that could explain some schedule limits. When we've done their 8 am boats, no one has ever told us when to get out of the water. We'd be looking for a different operator if they did. Mostly we did dives of about an hour and change by choice, even when we had plenty of air left, and the DMs were good at designing profiles that ended in the shallows. There was one Villablanca Wall night dive where a few of us stayed down for about an hour and a half because it was such a good night dive.

I'll echo the love for Columbia Shallows. Last trip (not BA), we did it after Marracaibo. Aside from looking at the deep ledge and thinking (for the few brief minutes of non-deco time allowed) that it was as pristine as I remember Santa Rosa in the early '90s, I didn't find Marracaibo as purely pleasurable as the colorful, easy, gorgeous diving of Columbia Shallows. I really like Francesca too, just because it's pretty and fishy. I'm not as big a big fan of the northern reefs as some here are, but they get points for being fast and deep, if that's what you like.

As for locks/lockers at the Blue Angel. Maybe someone can offer a sharper memory for this, but I seem to recall bringing a standard combination lock once and finding the bin hinges too small for it. Might be worth checking into if you're looking to lock your stuff up. We always carry our stuff to our rooms anyhow. I think the closest I've ever had to having a locker issue there was leaving a mask box or something in the gear-up area while doing a shore night dive, and someone conscientiously putting it in the lockup for the night to ensure its safekeeping--my glasses were in it.

It is very easy to catch a cab at BA. The only time it's ever even a bit hard is if it's right after a cruise ship has docked, and everything going into town is full.

But, Sideways, I'm thinking I'd rather one of my next dive trips be to the Similans, based in part on your pictures. Got a trip report up anywhere?