Dive with Martin or Dive Paradise?

[lespaulsf]

Hi

my family is booking a trip to Coz and staying at Hotel Cozumel. Needing some advise of which dive operation to use. Dive with Martin has been recommended and has good reviews but Dive Paradise is Hotel Cozumel's in house dive shop. The prices seem to be both responsible.

 

[boomer68]

lespaulsf, there are many great dive operations in Cozumel. It kind of depends on what you are looking for. Valet Service? Reef Selection? Profiles? Fast/Slow Boat? Advanced Dives? etc. Many of the dive operations may offer pickup at Hotel Cozumel. I will defer to folks that have actually used the above mentioned dive ops in your post for opinions. Have a great trip.

 

[Rand]

Just did my first trip to Cozumel back in October. We stayed at Hotel Cozumel and dived with Dive Paradise.

I liked Dive Paradise and would go with them again. Our boats had about 12-16 divers on them, but they split us into two groups and staggered our entries so we never felt crowded.

The DMs were great and you could choose to set up your own gear or have them do it. Underwater, they allowed the group to go at it's own pace, as much as the current would let us do that. One person on our boat on vacation by herself chose to higher a personal DM as a guide and she appeared happy with his services.

We did loose two days of diving out of our previously paid for week-long package due to winds, and, per Dive Paradise policy, we were given a coupon for those dives on a return trip. We would have preferred a cash refund, but it is clearly stated in their policy and I believe this is a pretty standard policy, and not just on Cozumel.

We found a taxi manager in town who told us about Dive Shop Mexico on the mainland and we ended up diving the cenotes one of the days we were blown out. Definitely recommended! You just take the ferry to Playa del Carmen and they pick you up and drive you to the cenotes. They even provided lunch. Great shop and awesome experience.

If you choose to go with an operation other than Dive Paradise, that is fine too, as we saw at least one other op pick up divers from the pier at Hotel Cozumel.

I don't want to deviate too much from your original question. I can't comment on Dive with Martin, but if you have any specific questions about Dive Paradise or Hotel Cozumel, ask here or feel free to PM me.

 

[lespaulsf]

Hi Rand

what was the service like with Dive Paradise? Did you have your own gear or rent from them?

 

[idocsteve]

I used Dive Paradise for a week, about 3 years ago during a group trip hosted by my local dive shop.

They were great and they hit all the main dive sites.

They're literally right across the street from Hotel Cozumel, you go under a tunnel under the road and there you are. Right next to the dive shop is a great restaurant that I think is affiliated with the hotel. Why go anywhere else that would require a long walk or cab ride?

 

[BTravlin]

I stayed there and used Dive Paradise last year. They did a good job overall and I would use them again. One thing I would do is try to avoid their boat named Calypso as it is very slow. We had our own gear so no experience with their rental gear. Have not dived with DWM so can't help you there either.

 

[Becca_007]

We went to Cozumel in April of 2009, stayed at Hotel Cozumel, and dove with Aqua Safari. 'We' was a group of 46 with probably 40 divers split between 2 boats. Had an excellent time and would definitely stay at Hotel Cozumel and use Aqua Safari again. This was the first dive trip we ever took so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but we were completely satisfied.

 

[georoc01]

I've had very good experiences with Dive Paradise, and my LDS dives with them at least twice a year. They are a large dive operation and have quite a variety of dive options from fast boats, to slower bigger boats. They also offer an afternoon dive virtually every day I have been there.

I'd dive with them again..

 

[sharky60]

Can't speak for Dive Paradise other than they have been around a long time.

I would highly recommend DWM, very good DM's and captains, one of my top 4 recommendations.

 

[billindenver]

I've dove with martin, and everyday of the 45 days on coz last year we were in the dock while dive paradise loaded up....and I would go with Martin before climbing on q boat with that many divers on it. Don't get me wrong, the dive paradise guys are friendly and seem knowledgable and any dive in coz is going to be a good one.....but the level of service delivered with 4 people on the boat just has to be better than one with 16. Faster boats, smaller groups and great prices, free video.....whats not to like about DWM?

The good news is, you really can't make a bad choice. You will love it either way.