Dive company recommendation for Cozumel in August

[ggunn]

Does not seem condescending to me at all.

I was addressing his rather blatant implication that the reason I am satisfied with diving on AL80's is that I cannot "handle" longer bottom times and that if I could I would agree with his premise. Neither is the case.

Not to worry though; I will get over it.

 

[deepsea21]

C'mon now Mossman... I didn't mean to start a war here about the Palace and those who elect to stay there or other AI's on the island. A good friend of mine loves to stay at a southern AI and has been diving with Dive With Martin for decades. If didn't like staying in town I'd probably be diving with them based on his recomendations and their reviews. The best thing you said which leads me to believe you may reside in the 10% of Palace divers who I would enjoy diving with was "I've always blown my "free" diving on better wine instead" which means you know the difference and prefer to pay to dive with another type of diver and another type of dive op than use your resort credits/dollars diving with the Palace house op. The divers staying at the Palace who have made their way to town or to the marina to dive with our op have been great, were experienced, were divign multiple days during their stay and tipped the crew appropriately.

Hot tubs? I'm not much of a fan of any in-room jetted tub as I have a pretty good idea of what takes place in them and what I did in them when I was younger. They may look clean when you arrive but it is not as though housekeeping fills that tub with water and bleach and runs it to clean and sterilize the pipes from what the last guests left in there before the next guests arrive to fill it and eat breakfast in it.

Do I tend to watch what other divers I'm diving with are doing including whether or not they tip? Absolutely because if I'm diving with them they could become "my business". From setting up their gear if it hasn't been set up for them to how they enter, descend, their skills UW, respect for the reef, and (lastly) treatment of the staff. When I see someone putting a wetsuit on backwards, attaching a reg to the tank upside down, not knowing how much weight they need or where to put it, an inability to descend, equalize or maintain proper boyancy, a need to "hang" on the reef... it goes on and on and on. I dive my own dives with my wife and we generally go our own way but when I see someone has been having difficulties I do tend to watch them if they are within my view and away from the DM just as I watch my buddy. If something happens and no one but me sees it, I'm not going to sit back and say "It's not my business" in a life or death situation. That is why I prefer to dive with more experienced divers and dive ops that tend to cater to them.

As far as steaks are concerned, I grew up in the heartland where beef truly was "what's for dinner" and surrounding beef producers kept the best of the best Prime for family and friends. Mortons, Palms, Ruth's Chris, Capital Grille or Black Angus (never dined at Black Angus), not a single one dined at serves a better steak for $50 than I grew up eating almost every summer weekend at a party. I will say, while there was nothing to drink other than cheap beer in a big cooler with ice at those parties as the hard stuff was BYO for the adults. Fine wine growing up? Not where I grew up. Never saw it, never develped a taste for it, and to this day having tried to get into it, I could care less about it.

 

[MMM]

Do I tend to watch what other divers I'm diving with are doing including whether or not they tip? Absolutely because if I'm diving with them they could become "my business".

Curious how you know they don't tip? I tip after I have been diving for a while, when I pay the op. I'm probably not the only person who does this.

 

[cvchief]

I was addressing his rather blatant implication that the reason I am satisfied with diving on AL80's is that I cannot "handle" longer bottom times and that if I could I would agree with his premise. Neither is the case.

Not to worry though; I will get over it.

I'm with you. Darn bottom time mafia!

 

[Mossman]

Curious how you know they don't tip? I tip after I have been diving for a while, when I pay the op. I'm probably not the only person who does this.

It definitely depends on the op. If you prepay with some sort of package and you're on the boat following different DMs every day, it may be better to pay a daily cash tip so you know, or at least you hopefully assume, that your particular boat crew will get the money.

On the other hand, when diving with an op like the one we tend to frequent where you pay after the fact, it's much easier IMO to give a lump sum tip when settling the bill. With Jeremy, my practice is to pay for the diving with a credit card, but I tip in cash. That way he can easily forward whatever portion goes to the crew or substitute DMs without having to wait for the credit card payment to be processed.

 

[ggunn]

I don't try to hide it when I tip the DM, but I don't make a production about it, either. If you were watching me you may or may not see me pass the tip. It's none of your business, anyway.

 

[Prop Joe]

It has been a few years since we dove Cozumel. Looking for a dive outfit that caters to once a year divers, does not cater to Cruise ships. We would prefer to not dive with outfits scheduling dives around cruise ships. Its me and my 19 year old son. We have been diving for the last 6-7 years. Have dove Cozumel twice, Belize, Honduras, Panama, Tahiti, Red sea..... We have our Advance Certs as well..

We are there 8/14 - thru 8/19.

Thanks for the advice.

P.S. Any hotel recommendations welcomed too.

Aldora, Its a great, safe operation.Get your Nitrox cert on line and take it with you when you get there. Nine boats they have now, so you can dive with like skill divers. Steel tanks, great DM's, Express dives in the afternoon, night dives, Lionfish hunts, Northern sights and far southern sites daily if you're skill will allow it (they will check you out)... Did I mention the great DM's and steel tanks?
ALDORA DIVERS

You can stay at the fantastic Villa Alora, My favorite place on earth. They have bikes, shore dives, 25 minute walk along the wonderfully colorful water to El Centro/town
ALDORA VILLA

 

[djanni]

I was addressing his rather blatant implication that the reason I am satisfied with diving on AL80's is that I cannot "handle" longer bottom times and that if I could I would agree with his premise. Neither is the case.

Not to worry though; I will get over it.

Well... Actually you're right, yet it wasn't meant to be condescending. Some people like as much bottom time as they can get. Others get cold guickly or they breath faster. If you don't like long bottom times for some reason why would I care. Yet for those who do that's a different matter huh, and larger capacity tanks facilitate that

 

[fishi]

Some folks enjoy saving money. Others enjoy spending it. These two different approaches to a dive trip will never agree on a "best" dive op, or place to stay, or eat. But it is fun to watch them bicker. You can actually learn a lot from a thread like this.

 

[ggunn]

Well... Actually you're right, yet it wasn't meant to be condescending. Some people like as much bottom time as they can get. Others get cold guickly or they breath faster. If you don't like long bottom times for some reason why would I care. Yet for those who do that's a different matter huh, and larger capacity tanks facilitate that

If you had not implied that my not caring that much about about being able to have a longer safety stop (or whatever; my air consumption is pretty good and I nearly always come up to the safety stop in the yellow on an AL80) was due to some sort of shortcoming on my part it would not have come across as condescending and I would not have taken offense. The thing is, the math of $/minute of bottom time is not a universal measure of dive quality and in my case does not justify the expense, etc. of diving with an op that offers steel tanks. It's not that I cannot "handle" longer bottom times.

Peace,