Best Dive shop for courses?

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smartcar8

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I have seen a lot of posts regarding dive shops but was wondering if there are recommendations for shops that are more geared for instruction and for courses such as Open Water & Advanced?

Thanks for any info.
 
There is no best, but Blue Angel is very good.

+1 for BA. I took Peak Performance Buoyancy & Nitrox with them last year & will be taking the Deep Diver specialty this year. I couldn't believe how much the buoyancy course improved my diving.
 
I agree there is no best.

Aldora is also very good.

(Cue disparagement of the Aldocult)




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If we do advanced open water, we would go with the dive shops we dive with already; we know and trust the DMs. Scuba with Alison would be my first choice, Tres Pelicanos if she is booked.

I would be surprised if anyone went with someone other than who they dive with if they were to go down and take a course; so this decision is about the same as finding a dive shop normally.
 
Are you already certified to some level? I suspect not as you've mentioned the OW and AOW courses. If not, it might be pertinent to know if you intend to get certified at home, do a "referral" in Cozumel, or if you intend to do the entire course while you're in Cozumel. For instance, if you're doing the entire course on island, whether or not the confined water dives are conducted in the ocean or in a swimming pool could factor into your decision. Another factor could be the number of people doing certifications. Is it just you? Is it a group of people?

There are many great instructors on the island. The details of your plans and expectations would help narrow down the list. Where are you staying or what kind of place would you like to stay? If you are doing the OW cert, does it matter to you if all 4 open water dives are shore dives? With some operations, that is the case, with others, 2 are shore dives and 2 are boat dives. (This factored into my decision when choosing the op that did my ow dives.)

Sandro and Allen at Deep Blue, are both excellent instructors, but if your heart is set on staying at Villa Aldora, it would make more sense for you to do your instruction with them. Same with Blue Angel, Scuba Club, etc.
 
Are you already certified to some level? I suspect not as you've mentioned the OW and AOW courses. If not, it might be pertinent to know if you intend to get certified at home, do a "referral" in Cozumel, or if you intend to do the entire course while you're in Cozumel.

FWIW, the course of action I would recommend the least is to do the whole cert on Cozumel unless you will be on the island for two or three weeks. I sure would not want to burn expensive vacation time sitting in a classroom.

In fact, if you have the time and available facilities to complete your OW cert before you go to Cozumel, that's what I would recommend. Cozumel diving is in warm water with outstanding visibility, which is great of course, but if you want your cert to be more portable, it's better (IMO of course) to get your checkout dives done in conditions which are a little more challenging.
 
My wife and I are planning our trip. I'll be doing the Advanced Open Water and my wife will be doing her Open Water Referral. We are planning to go in early December and will be staying in an all inclusive (probably the Fiesta Americana) as we can't beat the price of a package versus building customized trip. Most of the dive shops say that for the referral course you need to come to the shop for the initial dives - so the distance to the shop will be a factor.
 
There are exceptions, of course, but many of the dive shops are "in town" such that it's all the same if you're not using the in-house op. (FA doesn't have one yet as I understand.) A taxi to town from the FA is 205 pesos. North of FA, at Casa del Mar/El Cid la Ceiba/Park Royal area, a taxi to town is 80 pesos.

I've done my cheerleading as have others. You'll find good instruction at most shops. If the shop you choose only does 2 shore dives, you'll only have to do the trip to the dive shop/shore once, and from there they'll pick you up at your dock. This, of course, is providing the shop will do the navigation dive for your AOW at the same time your wife does the first two referral dives from the shore, or that the shop will do your navigation dive from the boat. Likely, if your wife is doing her 3rd and 4th referral dives from the boat, you would be able to do two of your adventure dives on the same trip via the same instructor.
 
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