Is there any downside to NOT using the house dive shop?

[MMM]

I don't see any downside to diving with a different op, and especially if you use one that keeps, stores and cares for your gear. Lots of great ops to choose from.

 

[jbjclj]

We are planning a trip to Coz in April and staying at an AI (Explorean). Looking at their dive shop (Dive House), reviews seem fine but the web page was sparse. The price list didn't say if it included taxes or marine fees. There was no mention of whether they do the surface interval on the water or at a beach club. There was a mention of tanks and freshwater hoses to rinse your gear, so I'm guessing they're not full service? Plus, I'm guessing a shop that services four AI resorts is going to have a revolving door of new divers, most of whom have six dives logged and someone will always be low on air after 20 minutes.

Anyway, looking on line, it looks like Aldora, Liquid Blue, and Salty Endeavors all offer what I'm looking for. I'm leaning towards Salty Endeavors because they start around 8 and we are flying from the Pacific time zone. Their price list is very transparent, and though I didn't book a package with them their write ups of the different hotels were really helpful.

All that being said, is there some kind of upside to going with the house shop that I'm not seeing? I have typically dove with the house shop everywhere else I've dove, but the beach club surface interval and full service aspect just makes Salty Endeavors so much more appealing than Dive House.

Also, if anyone has any comments on Salty Endeavors or any of the other shops mentioned here (good or bad), I'd love the input. Maybe I'm not giving Dive House enough credit? Maybe Salty runs a bunch of cattle boats? You can't trust online reviews because you don't know the expectation of the people posting them.

Thanks in advance. You guys have always come through for me!

 

[jbjclj]

My only caveat re Explorean is that is like being in a jungle with bugs. Much better to be in FA with ocean front rooms

 

[ReefHound]

Some of the AI places will charge a pier fee if you’re not using the house op. You might not be allowed to use their showers and rinse tanks. You’ll have to handle your own gear unless the outside op does that. Many of the valet ops will not handle wetsuits and since COVID not regulators. Plus you wouldn’t have access to your gear once they take it away until they pick you up next time. And there’s a convenience factor in being able to stroll 50 feet from the pool to the shop to ask questions or arrange an extra dive or something.

all that said, I’d probably not go with the house dive op with sometimes crowded cattle boats.

 

[sup]

My only caveat re Explorean is that is like being in a jungle with bugs. Much better to be in FA with ocean front rooms

Hmm, well they seem to get really good reviews regardless of the bugs.

Some of the AI places will charge a pier fee if you’re not using the house op. You might not be allowed to use their showers and rinse tanks. You’ll have to handle your own gear unless the outside op does that. Many of the valet ops will not handle wetsuits and since COVID not regulators. Plus you wouldn’t have access to your gear once they take it away until they pick you up next time. And there’s a convenience factor in being able to stroll 50 feet from the pool to the shop to ask questions or arrange an extra dive or something.

all that said, I’d probably not go with the house dive op with sometimes crowded cattle boats.

Yes good point, going for a shore dive isn't going to be possible is it? Of course idk if FA even has shore diving out front. Supposedly there is no pier fee, and for showers, if they don't want to let us use theirs they'll just be cleaning the sand and crap out of our room so...

 

[living4experiences]

I'm just wrapping up plans to go to Cozumel mid-March. I've done the cattle boat ops, but I don't remember if it was Dive House or Dive Paradise. Diving with a guide-to-diver ratio of 1 to 8 or 1 to 10 is a no-go for me. Also, bumping into other divers and surfacing as a group is no good either. Although I haven't used Salty Endeavors before, I've chosen their operation because their boats are 6-packs, valet diving, lots of glowing reviews here on SB, and Henry (the owner) has been very responsive to my e-mails. I'm staying at the Wyndham Hotel Cozumel with the all inclusive and there is no pier pick up fee.

 

[divingjd]

Hmm, well they seem to get really good reviews regardless of the bugs.



Yes good point, going for a shore dive isn't going to be possible is it? Of course idk if FA even has shore diving out front. Supposedly there is no pier fee, and for showers, if they don't want to let us use theirs they'll just be cleaning the sand and crap out of our room so...

I used to dive from shore at FA, but there was always a fairly stiff current. You need to start into the current or you’ll likely be walking back. I don’t know if you can get tanks fro Dive House if you are not diving with them otherwise. If I want to shore dive when I am diving with Aldora, I just tell them I am taking my gear off the boat that day.

 

[sharky60]

other than saving money, if they have a dive/hotel package. not really

 

[longhorndvr]

I go in Mid March, used house OP, Dive Paradise. One of the reasons is they offer 2 AM and 1 Afternoon, 14 dives plus the initial check out so 15 dives. Other ops were only offering 2 AM dives so for me its just more time in water and with Covid don't think they are running full boats. Plus, I am taking my sons and they will be doing their first blue water/boat dives, bigger boats are probably better for their first time. I do prefer fast boats, last time I used Living Underwater with Jeremy and it was great.

 

[scorpiofish]

Answer to the original question, not really. The only advantage I ever experienced was doing shore dives with same op that rented shore diving tanks. You only have to fill out paper work once. The disadvantages though are true deal breakers. Big, slow boats, with lots of divers. Even if you have 3 guides for 18 divers (1:6) it still takes forever to get to the site, gear up, dump, and pick up 18 divers.

Part II: Aldora, Liquid Blue, Salty Endeavors.

My wife has been diving Coz for over 30 years. I'm a newbie at 23 years. We have dived with many ops, both big and small. My wife would tell me stories of this great DM with Del Mar Aquatics who climb the tree, get and slice coconuts for the SI. His name was Martin. He later started his own operation, Dive With Martin. He brought another guy over from Del Mar, Dario Hernandez, who we dived with all the time, even after he left DWM. Talked to him a year or so ago while he was working for Aldora. Anyway, our experiences include Dive Paradise, Dive Paradise fast boat, Blue XTC and a few others. We now dive exclusively with Liquid Blue. Our preference is maximizing bottom time when the dive calls for it. Steel tanks are a huge plus. I would rather do two 80 minute dives at $110 than two 60 minute dives for $95, or whatever the math is. Reality is I wan't the most time I can get in 2 dives since I'm not interested in a 3rd dive. The rule of underwater photography is you see the best stuff when: 1) you back roll off the boat and your camera isn't ready to fire and 2) when you are 60 minutes into the dive. Extra time at the end of the dive can be incredibly productive. Liquid Blue also has 100 cu.ft. tanks if you don't need the 120.

As I always point out there are many excellent dive operators in Cozumel. I have many friends that are very loyal to other dive ops for good reason, e.g. Aldora, DWM, Papa Hogs. So one differentiation is steel tanks. There are three ops with steel tanks:

1) Aldora
2) Liquid Blue
3) Living Underwater

Aldora is a multi-boat operator. This means you may or may not get your favorite DM each and every day (same issue with DWM for example). That's the nature of the business. Aldora apparently follows the all-ascend-together procedure. For us this means ascending before we would have polished off an AL80 if you have a heavy breather in the group, so what was the point.

Liquid Blue provides towels, jackets, SI snacks, plenty of water, etc. which is great, but not totally unique. I haven't dived with Living Underwater, but have actually referred people to him, who had nothing but ecstatic praise. There is nothing bad to say about Jeremy and his operation.

This board has a huge fan base for a few operators, but there are so many good ones with little differentiation. You will likely find one you really like. I'm simply providing my point of view, which is avoid the cattle boat, and choose a single boat operator.

Edit: Sorry, forgot to state what may be obvious, I have no first hand knowledge Salty Endeavors, ergo, no comment.