how much diving???

[thelawgoddess]

if there's already a thread about this somewhere, feel free to just direct me there - i tried to search for any but wasn't successful ...

so, my question is - how much diving is realistic to plan on doing while we're there? :huh:

the main point of our trip is to dive, and we want to dive our asses off while we're there. but we're "on a budget" and i'd like to try to figure out how much diving we want to do so i can try to price out a dive (or dive/hotel) package. i just don't want to overbook ourselves by being too eager for our own good. :14:

a little about our time there: we'll be there 8 nights, saturday-sunday. we won't dive on the last sunday, but our flight is late enough we could do a morning 2-tanker on the last saturday, and we get in early enough to do a 2-tanker on the first saturday. we'd like to do one or two days on the mainland for visiting ruins and diving cenotes* ... but other than that, we want to dive, dive, eat, sleep, and dive.

a little about us: we are NAUI certified divers, and by the time we get there we will be NAUI Advanced Divers - assuming we pass grateful diver's stringent course. :blinking: all of our dives have been cold water (50-55f) . we dive computers and nitrox, and my bf dives a 100cf so we can match air consumption ...

any suggestions/thoughts/experiences/opinions will be super-appreciated. :luxhello:

[*any suggestions for the mainland part of our trip - visiting ruins and cenote diving, would be great, too!]

 

[jlyle]

How much diving depends a lot on where you are staying.

Some hotels only offer boat diving, others have opportunity of shore diving.

If you are at Scuba Club Cozumel, you could do the two-tank boat dives every day plus one, two or three, long shore dives. Or, you could pay extra for one-tank boat night dives, two-tank boat twilight dives, or one-tank wreck dives, in addition to the included two-tank morning boat dives. Twenty or more dives a week is realistic.

 

[thelawgoddess]

How much diving depends a lot on where you are staying.

i am actually interested in booking a dive package first; the lodging is incidental. i have a few dive ops i am considering, but i can't really negotiate package pricing without knowing what i want it to include. (the standard packages listed on the web do not include nearly as many boat dives as we will want to do.)

 

[Jarrett]

My advice would be to reach out to Christi at Blue XT Sea Diving via email and give her this criteria from your post. In my (limited) experience, she is excellent about devising a complete plan for an enjoyable dive trip to Cozumel. That would give you one more option to work with.

 

[scubabum2]

My goal in Cozumel is the same is yours. Dive dive dive.

Ok, doing 2 morning dives a day is a certainty. Most shops will go out at least twice a week for a night boat dive.

Beyond that, it really depends on the shop and the number of divers they have wanting to do a dive. If there's enough people to do an afternoon dive and a night dive, they may schedule one or two. The rule of thumb for many shops, though, is if they don't have the head count, they don't do the afternoon or night dive.

We've used Aldora for that very reason. They guarantee us an afternoon dive if we get in in the AM and doing two afternoon dives or a late afternoon dive and a twilight dive isn't an issue.

Of course, as J Lyle said, you can shore dive too at Scuba Club. Del Mar Aquatics and Pap Hogs will rent you a tank if you shore dive across the street from them.

 

[Dive 'N' Dolphin]

We were there for 6 days and dove 5 of them. Two dives in the morning and one day did a night dive. We spent some time checking out town etc. We could have got more but it was nice just doing the 2 a day and having from 1pm on to do what ever. If you contact Christi at BlueXT she puts hotel/dive packages together. She has like 5 hotels she has deals with so that she can give you a break on a package deal. Plus they are a great op. I know I have heard of other good ops there also but we were very happy with her crew and it’s a small op (no more then 6 divers on a boat) so that makes it really nice.

(edited)Opps just noticed Jarrett pretty much just said the same thing

Good luck and have fun.
Stacy

 

[divingjd]

First, you can do as many as four or five dives a day. I 've done one-tank afternoon dives in Coz and I have also done two-tank afternoon dives. I did a morning two-tank and an afternoon two-tank with Dive House one day on my last trip to Coz. Throw in a few night dives, and you can get in almost as much diving as a live-aboard. Second, consider what jlyle is suggesting. If you really want to get in as much diving as possible, where you stay can be a significant concern. Shore diving is probably the best way to dive your brains out. You have total control of the timing and depth of your dives, plus it's easier and cheaper than boat diving. But I don't usually do much shore diving when I am there staying at the Fiesta Americana. You can do it, but it's not a great dive.

 

[thelawgoddess]

thanks for the clarification on jlyle's comment - now i get it. so, in terms of shore diving, what hotels have worthwhile sites? and/or what sites can you access if you're not staying at a particular hotel? (we're considering going b&b/rental.)

thanks for all of your comments so far. they are actually helpful.

and about blue xt sea, i've gotten a few other recommendations for christi's op and it's on our short list. i will definitely be contacting her soon to see what our options are through them.

 

[redacted]

thanks for the clarification on jlyle's comment - now i get it. so, in terms of shore diving, what hotels have worthwhile sites? and/or what sites can you access if you're not staying at a particular hotel? (we're considering going b&b/rental.)

thanks for all of your comments so far. they are actually helpful.

and about blue xt sea, i've gotten a few other recommendations for christi's op and it's on our short list. i will definitely be contacting her soon to see what our options are through them.

Blue XT is a great dive op and can probably keep you wet morning, afternoon, and night if you are up to it. But my guess is it would cost over $150 PP per day just for the diving. Add $10 per tank for nitrox and $5 per tank for tips and the budget may be sorely challenged. But it would be all quality diving.

Scuba Club is affordable but not a budget operation and if you stay there, you must dive with them. A 2-tank boat dive is included in the package. No other operators can pick you up at SCC but it is possible to go to another dock and do PM dives with another op if you want. Their shore dive is about as good as it is going to get in Cozumel and the package price includes all the shore tanks you can stand. You can hunt down lots of stuff in the back yard, taxi down the island 1/4 mile and drift back, or even swim out to Villa Blanc reef which used to have plentiful sponge and coral heads (not sure what the storms have left). That dive is a bit venturesome and not without hazards (boat traffic and getting lost). You can also put a couple tanks in your locker and get up at midnight or 4 am and be the only diver in the water on Cozumel.

If the budget is tight, I'd look at a package with Dive Paradise. They have some fairly economical deals for hotel and diving. Packages usually include the 2-tank morning dive and a "free" pm boat dives at one of the close in reefs (between Las Palmas and Villa Blanc).

 

[thelawgoddess]

Scuba Club is affordable but not a budget operation and if you stay there, you must dive with them. [...] If the budget is tight, I'd look at a package with Dive Paradise. [...].

thanks for those tips! good to know about scubaclub. i did look into diveparadise, but as far as i can tell their bargain-priced packages only include "caribbean" boats. we're willing to pay for good diving; i just want to make sure we have enough money to eat and shop and do other tourist-y things while we're there.:biggrinba
ps - jlyle, just checked out your link (I LOVE COZUMEL!) - great pics ... now i'm even more excited about going! :banana: