Of course people are going to blame 'Coz.' (assuming we're talking about that segment of government that scheduled this mess leading to the problem).
As for planning dive trips around these future events, I doubt that's practical for most. Consider...
1.) Many of us don't hit the same place a dozen times & have intimate familiarity with what all goes on there. I was on Bonaire once & saw scads of sail boats. Something called a Regatta. Evidently an annual event. Now, out of all the places in the Caribbean, why Bonaire? I don't know, but they do. Can you imagine phoning to book a reservation & grilling the staff person as to whether they're having an iron man competition, regatta, visiting big shot, etc
that week?
2.) Many people book dive trips several months in advance. I figure many shop staff honestly don't know what's going down locally Wednesday 6 months from now. An excerpt from Christi's post (bold emphasis mine):
We (I can't speak for other shops) did in fact know in advance, in writing that there would be no access in or out of Caleta between 6:30am and 10:30 am yesterday and some different specified hours today. I am not even on the island right now and I received the notice on Thursday - so I am not sure why the notice was not widespread (well, I do- Caleta Administration is not the brightest) or why all other operators didn't get the memo - literally.
Doesn't sound like she got notice far in advance. Even on-island op.s I'm guessing didn't know several months in advance.
Excerpt from Gopbroek:
I spoke with my LDS in Cozumel and they were told yesterday that the port would be open only to find the access to it blocked this morning.
3.) If they did know, how many op.s are going to volunteer that if you book a 5 day dive package with them in 6 months, that one day is probably going to get cancelled? Many of us wouldn't book that week; that'd get us off the phone, and give us more time to consider competitors. Speaking of which, I hear Aldora can get divers out so they get to do all their dives. Well, now, guess our prospective customer will call Aldora
especially after a thread on Scuba Board alerts people about the problem & solution!
People plan dive trips taking into account seasonal weather patterns & water temp.s, and would consider major holidays such as Christmas, yes, but I don't think finding out about things like this in advance is so practical. And does Cozumel want divers doing this? For a lot of us, it'd be like posting a sign 'Attention Diver Tourists - Do Not Come Here That Week; go to Belize, Bonaire, the Bahamas, etc
.'
You can always go zip lining, hiking, relaxing, exploring or anything else for that day. Plans change and we have to also.
How many people, not knowing the island well, surprised by this situation, would know what excursion to book, who to book with & get it down 'day of?' I also wonder how many excursion providers got quickly booked up from tourists displaced from other activities? It's also not equivalent; wandering around a foreign town, hiking in tropical heat, zip lining
not for everyone.
Our backup plan if blown out in Coz is to jump to the ferry and dive Playa (either cenote's or bull sharks). So easy to do.
You said it perfectly above, jump off the island...to Playa.
I suspect a lot of Cozumel tourists aren't familiar with the ferry, or Playa, or dive op.s there, or the logistics involved in last minute planning. Don't a lot of dive op.s head out fairly early in the morning?
My point is, some of these Plan B options might fly for someone with substantial advance notice, particularly people with diverse interests broadly familiar with Cozumel & perhaps other regional offerings.
But people in the OP's shoes I imagine mostly kind'a get screwed. The ill will this generates won't do the dive op.s any good, either ('cept maybe one
). If this is a 'one off screwup' I imagine it will blow over and things will get back to normal. If not, Coz.'s reputation will suffer. Don't know how much impact that'll have, but it won't be good. Consider the ill will cruise ship divers will have when their one day of Coz. diving gets cancelled, & they find out it was for poor cause.
Richard.
