Just got back from Cozumel. What a great trip! Beautiful weather and spectacular diving.
I didn't get any replies back to this post so after some considerations and a call to
www.diveheart.org we decided to go with
Aqua Safari for all of our first day of diving in Cozumel. They were fantastic! We had planned only one day of diving with them at first to test out how they would interact act with me...a T5-6 paraplegic. Unfortunately the Monday that we planned to dive turned out to be a bit windy which chopped up the waters considerably. As we were getting ready to dive in the morning we got a call from the dive shop with concerns for my safety. They weren't concerned about me diving; just that from experience they knew it would be difficult to get me on the boat safely. So...I missed the first day of diving. Very dissapointing but relieved in the fact that they took my safety into consideration.
The group decided to dive on Wednesday which turned out to be a good day. We were on
Ocean 1 which they said was one of the easier boats to get on as the opening was a bit wider than their other boats. Getting onto the boat was fairly easy for me as they just picked me up in my chair and placed me in the boat. Seemed very effortless for them. I sat in the back of the boat on a liefe vest on the floor. They helped rig my BC because it was a bit too high for me to reach. Now we were ready for diving!
To get in the water I hopped onto the dive platform with my mask on my head. They brought me my BC which I then donned sitting on the platform but only put the shoulder straps on and the top buckle. The rest I configured once I was in the water. Made it much easier. I also found out the putting on my equipment without gloives was easier so I put those in a pocket until I got my BC totally on then I put on my gloves (webbed gloves).
As it turns out they had a dive master (his name was Polo) that had a lot of experience with divers with disabilities. He took me under his wing and gave me a lot of pointers on what may work well for my situation. He was very attentive and full of advice not only for me but for my wife as well (gave her advice on how to be my dive buddy). I cannot say enough about how we were treated. We liked them so much we booked another dive with them on Thursday since the weather wasn't suppossed to hold out all week. We had the same crew the each day and even though the boat could hold up to 12 divers we never had more than eight divers.
I highly recommend
Aqua Safari in Cozumel for all of your diving. Make sure that they know of your disability ahead of time so that they can prepare for you.