Miffy
Registered
Sue Sue, MMM, krbailey, DandyDon, Tunaman68 (do you like tuna?), and Ron Lee… thank you so much for your input… I was up until 4:20am Toronto time (until Scubaboard kicked me off due to maintenance (?)) reading posts and trying to edit my original post as I came across some more information and had a couple more questions
I have a lot of questions!
Dive Ops
I had narrowed it down to Aldora, Living Underwater, and Blue XTSea Diving. Tres Pelicanos has surfaced in some posts. Anyone else have experience with them? There are a lot of older posts on here tho… Very curious to hear of other people's stories / experiences with either one of these in terms of:
1. boat size
2. shade on boat
3. quality of PADI instruction (for my Rescue, and if I have time, my Nitrox --> if I'm in Cozumel for a week, do i have time to do my Rescue and a couple of speciality ie. Nitrox and Peak Performance Buoyancy or Deep Dive? )
4. bottom times: I hear Aldora allows you to dive your tank, but not many posts about Blue XTSea doing this or does Blue XTSea insist that everyone ascend together when the first diver runs out of air?
5. camera only rinse bins (I'm considering getting an underwater camera and want to be sure they have bins only for camera gear on the boat, unless I just have to wait until I get back to the hotel and rinse it in the sink?)
6. extras (ie. water, towels, snacks / fruit, SI on beach is preferred, I don't want to carry my own tank but I do want to check it before every dive <-- esp when the tanks are placed too high and I end up hitting the back of my head, and to check the tank o-ring is fine. I've had hissing when I checked my tank before one dive and found out that the o-ring was almost shot)
7. no need for dive ops to rinse my gear
8. outdoor shower! - Not a must but I loved this extra when I was living and diving in Asia… nothing beats a warm outdoor shower to help you peel your wetsuit off! Doubt I'll see anything like this in Coz
How does gear (rental & storage) work? I will have to rent my BCD, regulator, octopus, weights from the Dive Ops. Do I need to drop off my fins, booties, mask, etc off at the Dive Op the night before my first dive if I am not staying at their accommodations? I've only dived Asia so have only been exposed to liveaboards and diving with the resort Dive Op.
Dive Sites
1. A friend of mine who used to photograph underwater with National Geographic has mentioned diving Punta Sur, Chun Chakab & Maracaibo. Do all dive ops bring their guests here?
2. Apparently you can dive the cenotes? Has anyone done this before?
Accommodations
I've been reading a lot about Hotel Cozumel, and Villa Aldora. I'll have to look into Blue Angel. Any other recommendations?
I know not to go to Iberostar or Allegro even tho there's a Groupon going on with them.![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Isla Mujeres / Isla Holbox
According to what I've been reading, they've been seeing the plankton numbers decrease, therefore more whaleshark trips are coming out of Cancun as opposed to Holbox. So it looks like Mujeres is my choice now. Anyone else have any other experiences?
Getting there
DandyDon, wish there was a tour company that could help me with this. I've been spoiled with my previous dive trips (I'm a few dives shy of 100 right now), and have had a tour operator take care of my flights, transfers, pick-ups, etc for me. Is there not one that does that for Cozumel dive trips?
I will probably be flying from San Francisco (as I will be attending a conference there) and then returning to Toronto. Tried Kayak.com to find flights but no luck. I just don't know what my flight path would be. SFO -> Cozumel, dive 1 week, Cozumel -> Cancun, then ferry to Isla Mujeres? 1 week in Mujeres, then ferry back to Cancun ->YYZ?
Air Transat is a charter airline. I've never flown them but I'm assuming they're ok?
Is there a flight that gets me from SFO -->Cozumel (maybe with stopover in Cancun if I have to), and then have the dive op or hotel shuttle me to the hotel I decide to stay with? As I'm traveling alone as a female, I'd feel more comfortable if I didn't have to take taxi or bus or ferry on my own if I didn't have to. Maybe I'm being paranoid. I have lived in Asia for 8 years all on my own, but this is Mexico, not Asia![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Ok, I'll stop here. I'm still researching but I'm sure I'll have more questions I hope you all can help me with. Thank you again!
Miffy
Dive Ops
I had narrowed it down to Aldora, Living Underwater, and Blue XTSea Diving. Tres Pelicanos has surfaced in some posts. Anyone else have experience with them? There are a lot of older posts on here tho… Very curious to hear of other people's stories / experiences with either one of these in terms of:
1. boat size
2. shade on boat
3. quality of PADI instruction (for my Rescue, and if I have time, my Nitrox --> if I'm in Cozumel for a week, do i have time to do my Rescue and a couple of speciality ie. Nitrox and Peak Performance Buoyancy or Deep Dive? )
4. bottom times: I hear Aldora allows you to dive your tank, but not many posts about Blue XTSea doing this or does Blue XTSea insist that everyone ascend together when the first diver runs out of air?
5. camera only rinse bins (I'm considering getting an underwater camera and want to be sure they have bins only for camera gear on the boat, unless I just have to wait until I get back to the hotel and rinse it in the sink?)
6. extras (ie. water, towels, snacks / fruit, SI on beach is preferred, I don't want to carry my own tank but I do want to check it before every dive <-- esp when the tanks are placed too high and I end up hitting the back of my head, and to check the tank o-ring is fine. I've had hissing when I checked my tank before one dive and found out that the o-ring was almost shot)
7. no need for dive ops to rinse my gear
8. outdoor shower! - Not a must but I loved this extra when I was living and diving in Asia… nothing beats a warm outdoor shower to help you peel your wetsuit off! Doubt I'll see anything like this in Coz
How does gear (rental & storage) work? I will have to rent my BCD, regulator, octopus, weights from the Dive Ops. Do I need to drop off my fins, booties, mask, etc off at the Dive Op the night before my first dive if I am not staying at their accommodations? I've only dived Asia so have only been exposed to liveaboards and diving with the resort Dive Op.
Dive Sites
1. A friend of mine who used to photograph underwater with National Geographic has mentioned diving Punta Sur, Chun Chakab & Maracaibo. Do all dive ops bring their guests here?
2. Apparently you can dive the cenotes? Has anyone done this before?
Accommodations
I've been reading a lot about Hotel Cozumel, and Villa Aldora. I'll have to look into Blue Angel. Any other recommendations?
I know not to go to Iberostar or Allegro even tho there's a Groupon going on with them.
Isla Mujeres / Isla Holbox
According to what I've been reading, they've been seeing the plankton numbers decrease, therefore more whaleshark trips are coming out of Cancun as opposed to Holbox. So it looks like Mujeres is my choice now. Anyone else have any other experiences?
Getting there
DandyDon, wish there was a tour company that could help me with this. I've been spoiled with my previous dive trips (I'm a few dives shy of 100 right now), and have had a tour operator take care of my flights, transfers, pick-ups, etc for me. Is there not one that does that for Cozumel dive trips?
I will probably be flying from San Francisco (as I will be attending a conference there) and then returning to Toronto. Tried Kayak.com to find flights but no luck. I just don't know what my flight path would be. SFO -> Cozumel, dive 1 week, Cozumel -> Cancun, then ferry to Isla Mujeres? 1 week in Mujeres, then ferry back to Cancun ->YYZ?
Air Transat is a charter airline. I've never flown them but I'm assuming they're ok?
Is there a flight that gets me from SFO -->Cozumel (maybe with stopover in Cancun if I have to), and then have the dive op or hotel shuttle me to the hotel I decide to stay with? As I'm traveling alone as a female, I'd feel more comfortable if I didn't have to take taxi or bus or ferry on my own if I didn't have to. Maybe I'm being paranoid. I have lived in Asia for 8 years all on my own, but this is Mexico, not Asia
Ok, I'll stop here. I'm still researching but I'm sure I'll have more questions I hope you all can help me with. Thank you again!
Miffy