Dive op with great rental equipment, small boats, gear storage?

[FT]

Looking for advice to narrow down our choice of a Cozumel dive op for March 2014. Need to rent BCDs, regs/gauges and fins (preferably open-backed), do not want to schlep everything back to our room daily. One of us is an air hog; we'd love a larger tank for him but don't want to force the rest of the group to come up early, so ideally the DM would be OK with us surfacing first (with our own SMB).

Will be aiming to stay in or very close to town, not sure where yet. In my dreams it's a place with snorkelling right out front and private sunbathing balcony.

New to Cozumel, have done drift diving elsewhere. Very much looking forward to trying out the place so many of you rave about!

 

[cvchief]

Open back fins might be a challenge. Everyone has gear. Many valet ops take your gear and keep it for the trip. It would be set up on the boat for you everyday. Most don't take wetsuits though. (There is a thread or 7 on that subject....)

Every OP can get you 100CF air. about three ops have big steel tanks. Aldora, Living Under Water and Liquid Blue? I think?

The better boutique ops will let you dive your tank. Our op, Scuba with Alison, will deliver you to the surface with her SMB and make the boat is getting you. I imagine most that let you dive the tank are that way to guarantee the boat gets you.

 

[Mossman]

Open back fins might be a challenge. Everyone has gear. Many valet ops take your gear and keep it for the trip. It would be set up on the boat for you everyday. Most don't take wetsuits though. (There is a thread or 7 on that subject....)

Every OP can get you 100CF air. about three ops have big steel tanks. Aldora, Living Under Water and Liquid Blue? I think?

The better boutique ops will let you dive your tank. Our op, Scuba with Alison, will deliver you to the surface with her SMB and make the boat is getting you. I imagine most that let you dive the tank are that way to guarantee the boat gets you.

Of the three listed about that have big steel tanks, only one handles wetsuits as well. Also, at least one of the above shops requires that everyone surface as a group.

 

[cicopo]

You might try Scuba Tony. He can get 100's plus if needed has the policy to share air with some air hogs just to help them stay with the dive & he will work on teaching them better air usage.

 

[gopbroek]

Was diving with Tres Pelicanos last week (and I am heading back again in 2 weeks), they will handle all of your gear, including wetsuits. Small very fast boat. They had some 100 CF bottles and they do not make you surface as a group (like the post about SWA they do a SMB handoff to the boat). They will let you dive your tank and our typical times (with 80’s) were between 60 & 90 minutes. I use my own gear but the rental gear I have seen is basically new and I have never seen anyone have a problem with it over the last 5 trips I have dove with them since December

 

[Dave Dillehay]

For the record:

It should be noted by someone that the aluminum 100 tanks are only 100 cft when filled to 3300 psi and as far as we know, none of them ever are. At a max fill of 3000 psi they are about 91 cf. That is not a lot more than the alum 80 but worst of all, when near empty they are extremely buoyant. With a Steel 120 cft tank at a true 3500 psi--you get a true 50% more air than an aluminum 80 and the steel tank is NEVER positively buoyant.

dave dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[Midge907]

Another vote for Scuba Diving Cozumel -Dive Packages-Top Rated Cozumel Dive Shop . Very nice boat, and cater to smaller groups, you won't be disappointed.

 

[Growing Older Not Up]

In my opinion you can't beat Aldora based on your needs. They are the only operator I have found on the island that uses steel HP 120s. A few other ops have steel LP 120s. The LP 120s are bigger, heavier tanks than the HP 120s. They rent top notch equipment and take care of your equipment whether you rent or bring your own. If you are staying in town, their shop (and their pier) will be a short walk away. Great DMs who emphasize safety and small fast boats. My family and I have been diving with them for four years and will be back 27 Oct - 9 Nov. Can't wait!

 

[smichels]

In my opinion you can't beat Aldora based on your needs. They are the only operator I have found on the island that uses steel HP 120s. A few other ops have steel LP 120s. The LP 120s are bigger, heavier tanks than the HP 120s. They rent top notch equipment and take care of your equipment whether you rent or bring your own. If you are staying in town, their shop (and their pier) will be a short walk away. Great DMs who emphasize safety and small fast boats. My family and I have been diving with them for four years and will be back 27 Oct - 9 Nov. Can't wait!

I'm sorry, but Liquid Blue Divers has both HP 100 CF steel tanks AND HP 120 CF steel tanks for both air and nitrox.

 

[Mossman]

In my opinion you can't beat Aldora based on your needs. They are the only operator I have found on the island that uses steel HP 120s. A few other ops have steel LP 120s. The LP 120s are bigger, heavier tanks than the HP 120s. They rent top notch equipment and take care of your equipment whether you rent or bring your own. If you are staying in town, their shop (and their pier) will be a short walk away. Great DMs who emphasize safety and small fast boats. My family and I have been diving with them for four years and will be back 27 Oct - 9 Nov. Can't wait!

LP 120s are heavier on the surface, but more negatively buoyant underwater (meaning less weight on the belt) and more likely to have a complete fill. My preferred dive op handles all my gear, including wetsuit, and pulls the tank out of the water so I don't have to feel how heavy it is. To me, therefore, there's absolutely no difference between LP and HP, except of course that I can use less weight and I'm more certain I actually have 120 cf in the tank. Less wear and tear on the yoke fitting too.

AFAIK, Aldora does not take care of all your equipment. You still have to schlep your wetsuit back and forth. Now the OP said he didn't want to "schlep everything", so it's possible he'll be overjoyed at just schlepping the messiest, drippiest piece of equipment back to his hotel, but I disagree with your opinion that you can't beat Aldora based on his needs if he doesn't want to schlep his wetsuit back and forth.

I choose my dive op based on the quality of the DM, the size of the camera rinse tank, steel 120s, and overall service including wetsuit storage. I know my preferred dive op can't be beat on any of those scores.