Cozumel Choices -- help me!

[chuck86]

First of all let me say that Christi is my Angel on the island. Without a single doubt if not for her going beyond the call of duty, if you will, I would have probably either died or been severly disabled a year ago last February.

That being said, I can also say that I have probably 100 dives with Christie and I have no intention of changing. She and her crew have always been the most professional and saftey concerned group I have ever been out with. The personal touches are great and I really apriceiate them but the diving and the crew are beyond reproach.

I almost take offense at anyone who is not the most happy with her operation.

I used to work in the public a lot, running a campground, and if there is one thing that I learned it is that you can not make everyone happy. The second thing I learned is that there are people that just flat don't want to be happy, and this is nothing you can do about that.

As for your experience I am sorry that you seem to have had a bad one but let me tell you this, for each bad one you had there are 200 that had good ones.

So long and happy diving, I'll wave at you from Christi's boat as we pass you by.

 

[Code Monkey]

Blue XT Sea / Casa Mexicana

We just did that this weekend and I don't know how it could have been better. If Christi has the openings, that's the way to go, imo.

I've only dived Cozumel once but I went with Blue XT Sea / Casa Mexicana and this was a fantastic combination. I intend to go back to Coz many times and I plan to go always with Christi at Blue XTSea and I plan to stay always at Casa Mexicana.

I can't say enough good about either operation.

 

[Martha]

Have used Christi at Blue XT Sea on two occasions. The first time we found her abrasive, but DM's were good. The second time we returned to her (should have used Dive Martin!) for several days of diving. New DM's this time who were over controlling on shallow/novice dives and then followed dangerous dive profiles and gave insufficient pre-dive briefs on such dives as Devil's Throat. Didn't make any sense whatsoever.

Christi is unprofessional in nature and dealings with customers. We will never use her operation again as she adds stress to our holidays! :shakehead

Wow, I find that hard to believe, but I guess we all have our opinions. Personally, I have nothing but good things to say about Christi and her crew. They have always gone above and beyond to make our dives the most enjoyable they could possibly be. Blue XT~Sea will always be our first choice when in Cozumel.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

First of all let me say that Christi is my Angel on the island. Without a single doubt if not for her going beyond the call of duty, if you will, I would have probably either died or been severly disabled a year ago last February.

That being said, I can also say that I have probably 100 dives with Christie and I have no intention of changing. She and her crew have always been the most professional and saftey concerned group I have ever been out with. The personal touches are great and I really apriceiate them but the diving and the crew are beyond reproach.

I almost take offense at anyone who is not the most happy with her operation.

I used to work in the public a lot, running a campground, and if there is one thing that I learned it is that you can not make everyone happy. The second thing I learned is that there are people that just flat don't want to be happy, and this is nothing you can do about that.

As for your experience I am sorry that you seem to have had a bad one but let me tell you this, for each bad one you had there are 200 that had good ones.

So long and happy diving, I'll wave at you from Christi's boat as we pass you by.

Chuck, if I remember the story correctly....you had used another op because Christi was booked solid....and she just stopped by your hotel to visit and say hello when she found out that you were having a problem and went in to action....yes she does go way beyond what is expected from a dive op.....when everyone else has closed up shop and gone home she is still at work.....she is indeed an Angel on the island...and you are a lucky man to be here to tell your story.....see ya in May

 

[cowboyneal]

My copy/paste pat rsponse (plus some extra)....

Personally, I stay at Casa Mexicana (the last 4 trips, love it) and have been diving with Dive Paradise since its inception (I am talking for almost 20 years now): Apple always goes out of her way to make sure you'll (well, at least I will...ha) be happy, and they also have so many different available trips and boats it's hard to go wrong there. I have also dove (dived, diven?) with a few other ops on island just for a change of pace or because I felt like it (or someone wasn't making me pay most likely...ha), and all were excellent...

I don't have a lot of needs; just get me out to a good site in a decent, seaworthy boat and get me back safely and I'll take care of everything else in between...some people need something just south of a cruise ship on which to go diving...

My usual mantra: As an instructor, I tell anyone who asks and my students that when going to Coz, decide what kind of diving you want to do first - then you'll be able to find any one or more excellent Cozumel dive operators to cater to it by using generally available information, this board, specific experience of your instructor, his or her friends, whichever...

Beware of people saying this one or that one is "the best" or "better than all" or "the worst" because most people don't really have a clue at all (sorry, but really it's true), and unless they have dove (dived? diven?) with every operation at least once in every conceivable set of conditions and then with every single crew member and dive master of that operation, again in every single set of conditions, and have done it regularly enough to make a valid comparison (now we are talking about the impossible - thousands of permutations and combinations) then they can't really say.

I also wouldn't go with the actual recommendation of the tourist diver, because chances are they have only dove (dived, diven?) with one operator, so what do they know? (no offense intended)...

In the end, again, the type of diving you want to do and whether or not the op meets all of the rest of your needs will define what will be good for you.

Now, on this Christi/XT~Sea issue, I met Chriti and she was very nice to me (and many others say the same). Also, I dove (dived, whatever) on one of her trips one day and had a good set of dives, good time and she has a good op (as far as that one day showed me). As one of those people that some people think are arrogant, aloof, etc., you can't please everyone, and there's always going to be someone that thinks you're not "perfect." However, while we're making a list of negative traits with which to label people, can we agree that "judgmental" is also one of those? Also, everyone is sntitled to a bad day, so, much like what I say above about dive ops, spend a couple months with a peson every day under every conceivable set of circumstances before you "decide what they are."

CN

 

[Texas Diver]

Have used Christi at Blue XT Sea on two occasions. The first time we found her abrasive, but DM's were good. The second time we returned to her (should have used Dive Martin!) for several days of diving. New DM's this time who were over controlling on shallow/novice dives and then followed dangerous dive profiles and gave insufficient pre-dive briefs on such dives as Devil's Throat. Didn't make any sense whatsoever.

Christi is unprofessional in nature and dealings with customers. We will never use her operation again as she adds stress to our holidays! :shakehead

Sorry to hear you did not like Christi's operation. Here is our experieince with Christi:

My wife and I dove with Christi on six different vacations, going again in a couple weeks. Each time we found her very professional, personable and willing to go the extra mile. She only uses experienced dive masters. They were always very nice and never over controlling. The pre dive briefings were always very good. And the dive profiles were safe.

Christi is very professional in nature and in her dealings with us. Her crew is first rate. We will always use her operation as she offers exceptional service and good value.

Mario & Chris

 

[Jupiter31]

My copy/paste pat rsponse (plus some extra)....

Personally, I stay at Casa Mexicana (the last 4 trips, love it) and have been diving with Dive Paradise since its inception (I am talking for almost 20 years now): Apple always goes out of her way to make sure you'll (well, at least I will...ha) be happy, and they also have so many different available trips and boats it's hard to go wrong there. I have also dove (dived, diven?) with a few other ops on island just for a change of pace or because I felt like it (or someone wasn't making me pay most likely...ha), and all were excellent...

I don't have a lot of needs; just get me out to a good site in a decent, seaworthy boat and get me back safely and I'll take care of everything else in between...some people need something just south of a cruise ship on which to go diving...

My usual mantra: As an instructor, I tell anyone who asks and my students that when going to Coz, decide what kind of diving you want to do first - then you'll be able to find any one or more excellent Cozumel dive operators to cater to it by using generally available information, this board, specific experience of your instructor, his or her friends, whichever...

Beware of people saying this one or that one is "the best" or "better than all" or "the worst" because most people don't really have a clue at all (sorry, but really it's true), and unless they have dove (dived? diven?) with every operation at least once in every conceivable set of conditions and then with every single crew member and dive master of that operation, again in every single set of conditions, and have done it regularly enough to make a valid comparison (now we are talking about the impossible - thousands of permutations and combinations) then they can't really say.

I also wouldn't go with the actual recommendation of the tourist diver, because chances are they have only dove (dived, diven?) with one operator, so what do they know? (no offense intended)...

In the end, again, the type of diving you want to do and whether or not the op meets all of the rest of your needs will define what will be good for you.

Now, on this Christi/XT~Sea issue, I met Chriti and she was very nice to me (and many others say the same). Also, I dove (dived, whatever) on one of her trips one day and had a good set of dives, good time and she has a good op (as far as that one day showed me). As one of those people that some people think are arrogant, aloof, etc., you can't please everyone, and there's always going to be someone that thinks you're not "perfect." However, while we're making a list of negative traits with which to label people, can we agree that "judgmental" is also one of those? Also, everyone is sntitled to a bad day, so, much like what I say above about dive ops, spend a couple months with a peson every day under every conceivable set of circumstances before you "decide what they are."

CN

Well written post -

"Problem" with Coz is so many divers and so many operators - my "10" could be your "4" - totally dependent on experience, expectation, etc.

I think its one of the best places to dive (my first trip was in 1986) and most of the operators are very good - divers should be talking (or e mailing) the operators to find out basic info - operator experience, boat size, speed, number of divers,sites visited, times, how many currently booked for the boat when you are diving, typical profile etc - before booking - in a short call/e mail you will know what you are dealing with.

I think Coz is the ultimate "YMMV"!

 

[chuck86]

Chuck, if I remember the story correctly....you had used another op because Christi was booked solid....and she just stopped by your hotel to visit and say hello when she found out that you were having a problem and went in to action....yes she does go way beyond what is expected from a dive op.....when everyone else has closed up shop and gone home she is still at work.....she is indeed an Angel on the island...and you are a lucky man to be here to tell your story.....see ya in May

You are exactly right, it was with another dive op and they still swear that I had food poisoning but the chamber usually is not prescribed for food poisoning. He he


I will be at San Marcos this comming week end. We are diving in the aquarena (sp) there at Texas unisversity. We are taking the scientific diving course then we will dive I hope. Kevin and I will both be there.

Maybe we should have a cup or something eh?

 

[Dive 'N' Dolphin]

I am sorry you had a bad experience but by the sounds of Christi's reply it seem's more like you just couldn’t be pleased and that she went way beyond what she needed to just to make you happy.
We dove with Christi for a week back in mid September. We were very pleased with her and found her very fair. My husband came down sick on the way down and he couldn’t dive for two days so she let us cancel two dives for him. I had some other concerns and she was right on it, to help resolve and make me feel alright with the dives. I was very happy with the DM, he was very good with the pre-dive and made sure no one had any questions. Just before we got in, he again asked if anyone had any questions. We did a night dive and the current got really strong and he scrubbed the dive because he was worried for our safety.
Yes we have only dove with BlueXT so maybe we don’t have the right to say one good one from another. During our dives we saw some stupid stuff other dive ops were doing. I am sure there are a lot of good ones out there too. I am not trying to say that BlueXT is better or worse then any of the others just that I think she is being slammed with out just cause. We will definitely dive with her next time just because we were so happy with her op. They will pick you up at your hotel; Christi will help you set up hotel when booking a package just to make it easier on you. She treats everyone like they are a friend. By the sounds of it your group didn’t feel the same way as you. We dove for a week so in total we dove with about 8 different couples and everyone was always talking about how great Christi's op is. I agree with Christi, before you slammed her in this public forum you should have tried to address your concerns with her privately. That was very rude.

Now come on Jake you know you want to say something


My 2c
Stacy

 

[parrotheaddiver]

You are exactly right, it was with another dive op and they still swear that I had food poisoning but the chamber usually is not prescribed for food poisoning. He he


I will be at San Marcos this comming week end. We are diving in the aquarena (sp) there at Texas unisversity. We are taking the scientific diving course then we will dive I hope. Kevin and I will both be there.

Maybe we should have a cup or something eh?

Chuck just sent you a PM
Ann