Puerto Morelos - El Cid Marina

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MI Diver

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Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Location
Lake Orion, Michigan USA - Near Detroit
# of dives
25 - 49
I will be diving in Pureto Morelos in November. I have seen many post about some other operations which looked very good, however, my family will be staying at the El Cid resort which advertises a dive operation at the new marina. I and my three kids ages 13 (twins) and 16 will be diving we are very much novice divers. I am considering signing up for a AOW class for all of us which would give us more education (always good) and put a dive master in the water with us. I was wondering what the more advanced divers thought of this situation.

Also is the Dan or other agency issurance a good idea?

Thanks for any help here and the help I have recieved from the forum to date.

Bob
 
MI Diver:
I will be diving in Pureto Morelos in November. I have seen many post about some other operations which looked very good, however, my family will be staying at the El Cid resort which advertises a dive operation at the new marina. I and my three kids ages 13 (twins) and 16 will be diving we are very much novice divers. I am considering signing up for a AOW class for all of us which would give us more education (always good) and put a dive master in the water with us. I was wondering what the more advanced divers thought of this situation.
Hi Bob:

Dive Puerto Morelos is a pretty good operation, and is based right out of Puerto Morelos (which is a pretty small town). I used them in October 2004, and will use them again next time I'm in the area. Check out their web page, send them some email and investigate prices and options as compared to the onsite operation at El Cid. My limited experience was that onsite operations are typically about twice the price of other local dive shops. The DiveMaster I had (Bret) was excellent and I would recommend him for beginners as well as more advanced divers.

MI Diver:
Also is the Dan or other agency issurance a good idea?

Thanks for any help here and the help I have recieved from the forum to date.
Medical Insurance for SCUBA is a good idea... I've had DAN insurance for 3 years now. I have not had to use it, but it is relatively cheap (under $100/year), and provides a good magazine and lots of reference material. Going to the compression chamber is apparently incredibly expensive, and your DAN insurance can really help (along with all the other services included). Overall reports on ScubaBoard is that those that have used DAN insurance have been pretty happy with it. The other popular choice is one purchased through PADI. It also has its advocates.

Other types of insurance (like equipment or trip) are extra costs, and I normally don't carry that. My home owners provides some protection, but YMMV.

Jerry
 
Well I just got back from Puerto Morelos and to answer my own question the El Cid Marina Dive center was excellent. It is not in town ($6 cab ride from town) but one advantage I could see is that they leave from a dock at a marina and not from the beach like I think the others may do. I do not have much to campare them to as this was my first open ocean dive experience. My son and I did take the advance open water class from Daniel at the center and he was a excellent teacher and a lot of fun to dive with. The town itself is still recovering from the hurricane but all in all we had a great first ocean dive experienc.
 
Hi Bob:

Glad you had a good time and experience. How was the diving itself? Were most of your dives fairly local to the reefs off of Puerto Morelos or did you motor South to the Playa Del Carmen area? Did you see a lot of sand on the reefs left over from the huricane?

Jerry
 
Jerry: This was my kid first time in the ocean and it has been along time (20 years) for me but I thought it was great. We stayed very local the furthest dive was the wreck (c53 I think it is called) the other dives where within a few minutes and the aquatic life and coral looked pretty good to me, although like I said I really do not have a good frame of referenc. The operator I was with wanted to take me to dive out of his playa de carmen shop but with others in our party not diving we decided to stay close. We are actually going back in March. Pureto Morelos is working on the damage done by the juricane although they still have some work to do we found a few nice resturants and shops although it is not as big a tourist town as Playa del carmen, more like playa was about 6-8 years ago.

Bob
 
I finished my OW cert with Dive Peurto Morelos in Feb 2005. I was a great shop and I completely agree that Bret was a great instructor. It is a small op the ran whaleboats (roll-back entry) with small groups. The most I ever had was six total divers including the DM and I. On two of the dives it was only Bret and myself. The rest of the staff was great and I fondly remember taking turns grabing 6 packs from the shop across the street after diving.

The owner, Cat, has since sold the shop so I cannot say what it is like now. I remember that Bret was looking to start up a dive resort with his wife and was negotiating the Mexican legal curves to make it happen. If he bought Dive Puerto Morelos, go with them. Otherwise you may want to check out the new shop as it could have been the one he set up.

Don
 
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