Cozumel...what to take?

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Jayfarmlaw

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We are a newly certified diving family and will be cruising to cozumel for a one day dive over fall break. This will be our first ocean dive. I have been putting together our own dive equipment including regs, tanks, computers, wetsuits, etc.

im a little worried about rental regs and will be diving with my 13 year old daughter. My wife will be with our 22 year old daughter. Should we take our own regs and computers, or just wrist computers and be done with it? Or notHing at all and rent everything there? My computer is air integrated....would they attach it to their rental 1st stage and remove it after the second dive?

Carnival uses Sand Dollar Sports for their dive excursions. If anyone has dove with them before, what did you think of their equipment? We have cruised several times and the only reason im going with the carnival excursion is incase there is a problem....we don't get left.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Jay
 
You might want to repost this in the Cozumel forum or a moderator may move it for you. Rental gear varies by operator and what they would do with your computer. I bring all my own gear. Many of the dive ops will take cruise ship divers. There is something to the time guarantee but my dive op has taken cruise ship divers (not alot tho) and they are accutely aware of the return times. Sand Dollar caters to cruise ship divers more so. I don't know your local dive op situation but you could rent there and bring it with you so gear fit and operation is more familiar if you can't sort out the rental gear situation. My dive op has rental gear and I have not heard any real complaints other than unfamiliarity/comfort with it.
 
1st of all-I'd check with Aldora..........I'd bring my masks/snorkels/wrist computers/fins/ booties etc & rent BCs/regs/& wetsuit(if space/weight is a problem for traveling---are you driving to boat---or flying????)........In general, if you're flying to boat, I'd travel 'lite as possible'--if driving you can carry(take) it all??.....
 
These are new divers. Check with the boutique dive op Aldora? What, so they can get steel 120's?

Not saying anything bad about Aldora, I just don't think they cater to the new diver coming off a cruise ship.
 
Me myself personally, if I were me, I'd take my own gear. That's pretty much the point of having one's own. If you have an air-integrated computer, at least take your own regs. You'll certainly want your own masks, fins, and snorkels for snorkeling at other ports and because they'll fit better than the best rental gear.

If you don't want to take BCD's for one day of diving, most of the rental gear I've seen isn't terrible.
 
These are new divers. Check with the boutique dive op Aldora? What, so they can get steel 120's?

Not saying anything bad about Aldora, I just don't think they cater to the new diver coming off a cruise ship.
.................They're grown people---& cert. divers(hopefully)-------& you can dive 100's if you want to.................You got any other bright ideas???.......So what dive op would you recommend??.......psst,--I've dived with brand new divers while diving with Aldora before---& from what I remember, they did quite well.......They'll cater to them just like they were 2k dive divers--it doesn't matter to Aldora............
 
.................They're grown people---& cert. divers(hopefully)-------& you can dive 100's if you want to.................You got any other bright ideas???.......So what dive op would you recommend??.......psst,--I've dived with brand new divers while diving with Aldora before---& from what I remember, they did quite well.......They'll cater to them just like they were 2k dive divers--it doesn't matter to Aldora............

First ocean dives, one 13 year old...

I think the OP that the cruise ship "recommends" might be a better fit.

As I said, it is not a knock on Aldora, but it is probably a better fit.
 
i took a carnival cruise this summer and dove at every port the ship offered diving. If I was only going to dive at Coz then I would bring a regulator computer mask fins wet suit and use a rental BCD if you dive at another port of call as well then bring it all. I was really not impressed with the equipment offered to the others on the boat but no one had any equipment malfunctions. I was the only one in my group that brought everything except weights and tank and i prefer to have my own gear. If you can Dive at any of the other ports I would . Personally I enjoyed the coz dives however they were far from my favorite of the vacation
 
Thank you. We are driving but even though a vw passat has a trunk big enough for at least 3 bodies...2 will fit with no problem, (but that's another story) I am traveling with 3 women taking 5 days with of clothing so space will be an issue. Just their shoes will take up half the trunk at least. I'm thinking take our own bc's and regs plus personal gear...masks, fins, snorkels, boots. Rent wetsuits there.

If anyone has a dive operator that they absolutely love with newer equipment, weight integrated bc's, computers etc....I'd love to hear it. If I can arrange a trip with them and they will get us back to boat in time, I'm in.

Anyone else going to cozumel October 16-20 on Carnival out of Galveston?

jay
 
First, since you are on a cruise ship, weight doesn't seem to be an issue (unless you are flying to your Departure port), so what is the downside of bringing all your own gear, other than eating up storage space in your cabin? If you really want to minimize what you bring, I would at a minimum bring my own Regulator, Computer and Mask (I'd probably bring my own fins as well, but that's optional).

Second, going with the Cruise Ship excursion guaranties that you will be grossly overpaying for the dive, but that's up to you. I believe that Carnival comes in at the International Pier. If that is so, Dive with Martin has its office and dock right at the end of the pier, and can handle divers off the cruise ships very well. I've never dove with Sand Dollar before, but I have been diving with Dive with Martin several times, and I trust them. Also, their pricing is pretty good - excellent for those that need equipment, as rental gear is included. I highly recommend that you cancel the Cruise Ship excursion and book direct with Dive with Martin.

P.S. Regarding wetsuits - I have been diving Cozumel for years, in December the last 4 years, and I've never needed anything more than the "Skins Plus" - a Fleece lined Henderson with only .5 mil neoprene. And that is for multi-day diving. Water temps have always been about 80-82 F. If I was only going to dive one day, I might go with just a swim suit and T-shirt. You might be a lot more sensitive to the cold than I am (I do carry a lot of my own insulation with me), but even so, full wetsuits should not be necessary for a single day of diving.
 
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