Buena Ventura

[DCDivenut]

Has anyone heard/had any experiences with BUena Ventura Diving? My group was planning on diving with Aldora or Living Underwater to give you an idea of what I am lookign for, but the villa we are renting has deals with Buena Ventura. Any thoughts?

 

[ggunn]

One thing in general I'll say - there is a lot of talk in here about dive operations, pros and cons about this one or that one, and I'll just point out that the reefs are the same no matter who you go out with. Some ops may get you there faster, some may be more crowded, and, yes, some offer bigger tanks if that makes a diff to you, but the reefs are the same, and the diving, once you get in the water, is up to the diver.

Can the dive op put you on the reef? They all can virtually 100% of the time. The rest of it is mostly small stuff.

I've known folks who agonize for weeks over which dive op on Coz to go with. A trip to Coz shouldn't be about agonizing over anything. Pick one and go; in the large scheme of things it won't make all that much of a diff. It's all great. Don' worry, be happy!

 

[cxg31s]

I have to add that some dive ops will allow you to get more bottom time than others, so that's probably a consideration when people are shopping around--I know it is for me. I've been with dive ops who take computer diving into consideration and I can get hour-long dives and others that make everyone dive in a group and ascend after 25 minutes to do the safety stop.

I've never dove with Buena Ventura, but I believe that's the one owned by Ventura Nah and if it is, I met him in June on the dock at Playa Corona during a surface interval. He seemed like a nice guy and from all the reports I've read (I think there are some on Rodale's) he's a great divemaster. He has a website if you do a search for Buena Ventura on Yahoo.

But if your group was wanting to dive with Aldora or Living Underwater because of the big tanks they use, then you might want to stick with that decision because I don't think Buena Ventura has the bigger tanks. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the only dive ops who use big tanks are Aldora, Living Underwater, Liquid Blue and I think Dive with Martin has bigger tanks available now. Maybe Blue Angel now? Not sure on that one but if I left any out, I'm sure someone will chime in.

But if tank size isn't an issue, then your group might do just fine with B.V. It never hurts to email a dive op and ask questions before you make your decision, but Gordon's right--don't over-think it, just choose one and go have FUN!

 

[DCDivenut]

I am a researching fool and the fact that I have to organize this trip for six people makes me even more ridiculous than ever =-)

I am actually taking a fairly low key approach (for me) to this one. I am basically looking at 2 dive ops which I know are both excellent, Aldora and Living Underwater, and I wasn't planning on going any further than that. Then when we started looking at villas, one of the companies that I was using has combo packages with Buena Ventura that are a pretty good deal. However, I had never heard of them and the last thing I wanted to do was get loaded on a cattle boat, or stuck with a bad dive op. I know everyone has ther most and least favorites, but if 10 people say good things and 1 says bad things (or vice versa) then that is a good indication of the quality of the op in terms of more than just getting people onto or off a reef.

Thanks for the advice though.. I was definitely starting to overheat from options...

 

[cxg31s]

My first few trips I researched like crazy and now I just book air and a place to stay then play it by ear once I get down there!

I do know this though--B.V.'s boat is not a cattle boat. He has one of the small fast boats and it has a sunshade and with a group of 6 you'd likely have the boat to yourselves. And I haven't read any negative reports about his op, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any.

If I were you, and if you already know L.U. and Aldora are good, then just go with what you know and be done with it. Then you'll have all kinds of time left to research all the bars you want to stop at on your "margarita tour" around the island! LOL

 

[ggunn]

Well, the competition being what it is on Cozumel, and the fact that the diving public is pretty well informed on the dive ops there, I will venture to say that there aren't really any bad dive ops on Cozumel. Any that were would not survive for long.

There are indeed features differences between some of them, sure, but there's lots of ways to skin a cat, as my (dearly departed, not always politically correct) dad used to say. Once you are in the water, most of those diffs go the way of the bubbles.

 

[Titletowndiver]

WELL SAID!!! I think you nailed it right on the head!

One thing in general I'll say - there is a lot of talk in here about dive operations, pros and cons about this one or that one, and I'll just point out that the reefs are the same no matter who you go out with. Some ops may get you there faster, some may be more crowded, and, yes, some offer bigger tanks if that makes a diff to you, but the reefs are the same, and the diving, once you get in the water, is up to the diver.

Can the dive op put you on the reef? They all can virtually 100% of the time. The rest of it is mostly small stuff.

 

[ronrosa]

quote:
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One thing in general I'll say - there is a lot of talk in here about dive operations, pros and cons about this one or that one, and I'll just point out that the reefs are the same no matter who you go out with.
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Agreed, BUT.... If you care about any of the following:

- Diving to your computer's limits.
- Diving with bottom times > 1 hr.
- Diving to 500 psi of your air.
- Diving advanced sites like Punta Sur, Barracuda, Maracaibo, etc.

Doing a little research on dive ops is worthwhile.

 

[Rooster1]

I have dove with Ventura Nah. I never used his business 'Buena ventura diving" but he filled in for our divemaster last year as a favor to the owner of the business we use. ( they are good friends). He is an excellent divemaster and a fun guy to be around. We use the smaller boats (6 packs) so to get the best service available. Buena Ventura also offers this type of service. He ran the dive and there were 4 of us diving with him the day he filled in and just like our operator we were with he also allowed us MAX bottom time and let us use our computers. There were no bad rules like when one diver is out of air we all go up. The divers would go up when they were running low on air. He would send a sausage up on a string for the diver going up to do his deco and then head up for the boat as the rest continued to dive. I would never dive with an operation that made divers go up if one diver was out of air after 20-30 mins. If you dive with Ventura Nah you will be happy you did!

 

[mediakzar]

Well to answer the original question:

I would agree with other posters that there are lots of good dive masters and dive ops in Cozumel. Over the past 15-years, I've probably been diving with about as many different dive ops in Cozumel as anyone posting on this board and Ventura is the best dive master I've ever been out with there (or anywhere else in the world.) He runs a 6-pack fast boat that usually departs from the Caletta Marina. Very good service including towels after dives and a nice fruit and local bakery snack between dives. Good briefings and an exceptional knowledge of the reefs. Frequently I've been out with Ventura and he has dropped us onto a spot that is no more than 100 yards from where other boats are dropping divers and we never see another group for the entire dive. If you can dive with him AND get a good deal, go for it.

Joel
http://www.mxtravel.com/cozumel/santa_fe.html