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Not to fret, amigo.

There are about 65 dive ops on Coz at the moment. Most of them do a good job & will show you a fine time, especially if you are an inexperienced to average Coz diver who does not want to be taken to the most challenging dive sites, do advanced profiles or do 2 hour dives with oversized & overfilled tanks. There are few special ops that cater to the latter group of divers, and they are expensive.

I have been out with both Dive Paradise & Aqua-Safari several times. Unless you are interested in & qualify for Dive Paradise's EDP (Experienced Diver Program), which are six packs doing more advanced sites, I like Aqua-Safari better.

You're gonna have a blast.

DocVikingo
 
I have stayed at Plaza Las Glorias and used both Aqua Safari and Dive Paradise for diving. I have no complaints about either. Dive Paradise has great little fast six packs that get you out to the reef quickly and they are happy to pick up from the PLG dock.

May I suggest one thing to make your first boat dives more pleasant? It would be a good idea for you and your boyfriend to get tanks from AquaSafari and do a quick shore dive before you go out on any boat dives. That way you can do a bouyancy check and ensure that you are properly weighted when you get out on the reef. It's not the most exciting dive you will ever do but if you swim around a bit there will be some interesting things to see.

I'll be at PLG on November 27. I can't wait to get back to Cozumel! I don't think I will ever tire of diving there. I'm sure you two will have a great time.
 
Hi,

A little late, but here are my dos centavos.

Most of the dive shops associated with hotels tend to take out groups of 10-14 divers. They usually have more than one boat and make an effort to segregate divers into less experienced and more experienced groups. However, more often than not the system fails because couples or friends with varying experience level want to dive together. Or a group shows up and takes over a boat. Such is life!

Aqua Safari and Dive Paradise are both reputable outfits and will likely suit your needs. There is also a very good dive shop called the Dive House that is located at the Fiesta Americana Hotel, but I am not certain that they will pick you up.

Now, let me add that I dive with a "shop" that operates a single six-pack and caters to more advanced divers. They will take less advanced souls only if accompanied by a more advanced buddy. Why? Because they use the "loose buddy" system. I'll explain.

Most dives from Cozumel are live-boat drift dives. That is where the boat follows the divers' bubbles and meets them at the surface where they end their dive; that is in contrast to drift dives where you have to fin away from a moored boat and drift back to its location.

In the "loose buddy" system each buddy team comes to the surface independently when their computers or air gauges tell them to. The DM continues with those who still have air or bottom time to go. An inexperienced diver would be wise to avoid such dives until he/she has become an experienced diver.

In addition, there are sites on Coz where the current can be tricky. We happen to love those sites, but the larger boats wisely avoid them because they can be challenging for new divers.

When you get a few more dives under your weight belt, look around at the other boats heading out to the dive sites; there will be lots of them every morning! They usually have the name of the "dive shop" on them. If you see one that you like, look up the name in the phone book and give them a call. That's one way to hook up with a shop that runs a six-pack.

I guess I could be accused of being prejudiced, but I think the diving on Coz is the best in North America! My bet is that, no matter who you dive with, you will thoroughly enjoy the experience. We dive all over the world, but have been to Coz twice this year--and will return one more time before 2002 runs out of steam. It is just that good! And close!

The abudance of sea life there is astounding; the soft coral and gorgonians are there in such colors and varieties that you will run out of adjectives long before your trip is over. If you are lucky, during the day you might see a Splendid Toadfish peeking out at you from under the base of a coral head. If you do a night dive, you are nearly certain to see one. They are just amongst the most beautiful fish I have ever seen. and they are endemic to Coz; i.e., that is the only place they live. Ask your DM to try to "find" one for you. The sign for them is usually fingers under the chin pointing down and wiggling--sorta like a beard of fingers. That is because the Splendid Toadfish has white barbels on its chin. Oh yes, the Spanish name for Splendid Toadfish is Pez Sapo (just plain "toadfish").

Hope this helps.

Scorpionfish
 
Hi Sharkman:
We will be back at Plaza Las Glorias and using Dive Paradise in May of 2003 also. (It's the Singles Group Trip)
Hopefully we will see you then.
Why did I pick DP over AS, you ask?
After talking to both owners on the phone, DP was a lot more flexable, and able to say "yes" to everything I asked for.
We used them after that phone call, and I will now use them again and again.
Either way though, you can't go wrong.
 
We are in Coz right now. We dove today with Papa Hogs. They were great. We are beginning divers. Things are slow so they sent a boat and divemaster to take just the two of us out. They gave us lots of attention and really catered to whatever we wanted. They were great. I would highly recommend them.
 
Since you stayed at PLG before, I assume that you enjoyed it. Please tell me how Dive paradise went. I am deciding between dive paradise and aqua safari, and it seems that DP gets more positive comments though. At PLG do you go out to dinner every night?:guitar:
 
I stayed at PLG in June of this year and used Aqua Safari. Ask for a fast boat, we used the Belinda. We had 5 divers total the first day, 6 another day and 7 the other 3 days. Almost any dive op will pick you up at the PLG pier. It seems like they all go to the same places anyway. We surfaced several times after dives to find ourselves in the middle of a dozen boats, but we never ran into other groups underwater. The main advantage to using Aqua Safari was being able to pick up tanks from them for a few shore dives we did. When you check in you can do your bouyancy check out in front of the hotel. There's a nice little trash pile there with a surprising abundance of marine life, and a couple of cannon by the pier. In the evenings head down to La Ceiba and dive the plane out front, it makes a nice evening dive. If you go through the lobby w/o tanks, the staff doesn't seem to mind at all, if you go with tanks, they give you some scowls but don't say anything.
 

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