AOW tips for Cozumel

[cabio]

Hi

I will be going to Cozumel from the 27th dec to the 3rd Jan
with my wife and kids. We will be staying at Casa Martillo.
My son (18) and I have done about 40 dives,
my daughter (15) about 10 since her OW certification in june 06.
My wife and youngest son do not dive, but like to snorkel.

To make the most of our Cozumel experience I want us
to be comfortable with drift diving and going to greater depth.
So we are looking to complete our AOW certification in Cozumel.

Any tips, personal experiences, specific to Cozumel,
would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you

 

[5615mike]

No real tips needed. Drift diving is something that most are comfortable with rather quickly. Have a great time.

 

[judydivescoz]

We have stayed at Casa Martillo many times, nice clean and great location. David Hammer is a pleasure to work with and he has a great staff. Even though it is close to town we have always rented a car. We have rented from Smart, Less Pay and Rentadora Isis. All of them were good, just make sure that you get a total cost including the insurances that you should have. In September Rentadoris Isis was 210us for the week including all insurances for a VW sedan. We like being free to just hop in the car and go for a ride to the other side of the island or to go out to dinner whenever we chose to without worring about a taxi. Lunch at Coconuts is a must. You will get lots of advice on were to eat on this board. We like La Lobsteria, ElPique and Jorges the best for dinner. We pick up chicken at the roticeries on 30th for lunch by the pool. There is lots of great food on the island. We chose to dive with Albatros Charters who are right next door. Rita and Burak are just great. We either hitch a ride with them or follow them down to the marina. Give them a call www.albtroscharters.com and expain your situation. It might be possible to charter their boat for trips where divers can dive and snorkelers can snorkel. Last year we had friends come with us, one who needed to complete her open water dives to be certified. She was very pleased with the attention and the confidence Rita and Burak were able to give her. If Albatros is not the OP for you, you can see from this board that there are plenty of great choices on the island. Have a great trip to Cozumel!

 

[cabio]

Thanks for the advice. My family and I are counting the days.

 

[echo5506]

Hi,

I just completed my AOW and Nitrox certification with Christi at Blue XT Sea Diving. You can see that she has quite a following here on ScubaBoard. It was a great experience and very enjoyable, but the best part was that the AOW and Nitrox parts were very low stress. You can email her and see if she has space. She's very friendly and helpful, even if you don't end up diving with her. IMHO, do nitrox certification at the same time, you will not regret it.

Jim

 

[nyprrthd]

My wife and I did our AOW with Christi / Blue XT~Sea in June. It's a good course, and helped us to really dial in our buoyancy skills. The trickiest part of drift diving is remembering to just relax, and let the current do the work. When you surface, the boat is right there, because they follow the bubbles! Oh, and the compass work in a current (Navigation part of AOW) can only be described as "different." I loved the night dive, but my DW was not thrilled. Christi's operation made the course fun, but they were also thorough. Her divemasters are the best!

I'm Jones-ing to go back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[cabio]

Hi

Definitively will be contacting Blue XT-Sea after all the positive feedback.

Mario

 

[Jarrett]

My GF and I did AOW with Christi two weeks ago and I can't recommend it highly enough. I am planning to take my daughter to her for Jr. AOW next year.

 

[nyprrthd]

........... and Christi's restaurant list is my Cozumel bible!