palancar divers

[ouachita]

I am going to Coz on the 16th and Palancar Divers is the resort op. Does anyone here have any experience with them? I read some good reviews from a travel website but as you can imagine, when you do a search with their name you get a thousand posts about palancar reef.

Any help would be appreciated. (p.s. I would prefer to use them because they are at the resort)

 

[ouachita]

sorry, the name is dive palancar

 

[element]

I have dove with them for a few dive trips to Coz. They provide great friendly service and are convenient especially if you’re staying at the Occidental resorts Grand or Allegro. If you’re staying at one of the Occidental resorts then when you first get to the shop at which ever resort you’re staying ask for dive locker to store your wet gear so you don’t have to lug your stuff back to the room everyday. If this is your first trip to Coz they should provide everything you could ask for. You can always dive some of the shops on the island and they will pick you from the resorts pier but I think you won’t get much better service. Only issue I ever had was trying to get to the devils throat which is further south and is a little advanced. I finally got to dive it and it was neat but I doubt I would do it again as it wasn’t that great. Remember its not allways the Shop but the DM's that can make a dive trip. Dive Panancar has some very good DM's.

 

[MikeGT]

I started diving with Dive Palancar in 1994, when I retired. I have gone every year since then to the Allegro, and in February 2006 to the Grand, since the Allegro was still closed because of Wilma.

I agree that dive masters make the difference. My first instructor/dive master was Allison Dennis, and this year William, Joshua, and Gustavo, Jr. (with dive shop mentor, Carlos for every year since 1994).

As a senior citizen (I just had my 70th birthday), I intend to go back to the Allegro and/or the Grand dive as long as I can.

I have particularly enjoyed watching my dive masters grow up, starting as helpers and progressing to certification as dive masters who are caring, professional, and speak fluent English to answer any questions that I might have.

There have been great dives, some strong currents...some reversed, rough water. and the boat captains and all of the dive masters followed strict PADI protocol, and I never was concerned about my welfare, since everyone really cared and knew what they were doing.

In February 2006 we divers surfaced after a great dive at Dalila. The weather was rough when we started the dive, but we not prepared for what we saw when we surfaced. The weather had become so bad that it was difficult to see the boat, but not impossible. The surf was much worse than when we had started, and we knew that it would be difficult to board the boat.

Things went as expected with no difficulty. The boat came to us, backed up, threw out a line, and we waited our turn to board. It was very difficult to grab the line because of the pitch of the boat, about six feet, maybe more. I was second from last to get on. Gustavo, Jr. was last of course, and I think there were three pairs of hands to help me get onto the boat.

Once on board, there were no dive boats in view (a first in my experience as a diver on Cozumel), and we heard later that the port was closed.The surf had become so rough that we had to get off the boat at the Allegro pier since the newer pier at the Grand offered no relief from the surf because of the pilings. The pier at the Allegro, as you know, is made of concrete, and it was possible to disembark on the side opposite the direction of the surf.

I hope this helps you.

Mike

 

[bnajdrovsky]

Any help would be appreciated. (p.s. I would prefer to use them because they are at the resort)

I used Dive Palancar on number of previous occasions when I stayed at the southern resorts, however I've since switched to Blue XT Sea, since my diving skills have somewhat outgrown Dive Palancar. I'd say they are a very good operator for beginner to intermediate level divers, and their service is usually pretty good. My main reason for switching to a different operator on recent trips is the fact that D.P. started setting hard bottom times. On my last trip with them, the divemasters set 35 minutes for deep dives and 40-45 minutes for shallow dives. I found myself getting back to the boat with over a 1000 psi still in the tank, so that's when I knew that I should start looking for a different op. One other small issue is that since they return to the resort for the surface interval between tanks, they tend not to go very far away from their base, so don't expect to see sites such as Punta Sur.

Other than that, they run a fine operation, and the convenience of getting to the reefs in 5 minutes is a big plus as well. As I said, I'd recommend them wholeheartedly to a beginner to intermediate diver, but would suggest to more advanced divers to consider one of the in-town shops.

 

[ouachita]

thank you all for the replies. We are staying at the grand and are beginner/intermediate so it sounds like Dive Palancar it is.

Thanks again

 

[MikeGT]

Say Hello to Carlos, Dino, Gustavo, Jr. AND Sr. , Joshua, et al from Me.

Mike Teicher From Wisconsin

Have a GREAT vacation!