Dive Operators in Cozumel

[driftin' by]

Aw, the revival of an almost 1.5 year old thread.

Don, not sure that smiley was around way back then.

 

[DandyDon]

Aw, the revival of an almost 1.5 year old thread.

Don, not sure that smiley was around way back then.

Haha, I'm new to this one so didn't notice the original date but then - the posts I quoted are some of the best on this frequent subject. More common than Spare Air vs Pony.

 

[loudives]

While my favorite is www.bottomtimedivers.net -- 1 man owner/divemaster and is everything you asked for, I will also give you other OPS that fill your request.

Bluextsea
Scuba Alison
Scuba Tony
these use AL80's or for extra $5 AL100

Liquid Blue
Living Underwater
these use steel 100 and 120's

There are others but IMO these are the best.

 

[mamanan]

It would be great if there were indidivual threads for the different ops. I'm trying to find a Dive Op and am finding it difficult to find reviews of each Op. I am not interesrted in location so much, and the difference in price really isn't that great...so for me, being able ot look up the experiences people have at each of the Ops makes my decision that much easier.

Customer Service. No cattle boats. Allowance to dive your tank and not cut the dive short because the novice next to you blew through his tank. And of course the freedom to take pictures/video.

My top wants in a Dive Operator.

Here is an old post you can read about Raul at bottomtime.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/189707-another-great-trip.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/92785-glad-i-switched-dive-operator.html

 

[DandyDon]

Maybe we should keep

this thread to the top so people can see it, or we can link to it?

 

[Nevis Diver]

I may have missed it but one thing I haven't seen mentioned about a dive ops ability to satisfy the customer is this...

The good thing about smaller ops is the divemaster's ability to become friends with the divers and therefore be inclined to meet their needs, such as allowing them to dive their air. Diving on a six pack allows the divemaster to get to know the clients more quickly and better than being on a boat with 20 other people. However, if you have dove with the op that has 20+ divers on board for 10 or 15 years and have a relatively long relationship with a particular dive master you would proobably get the service you desire. I have seen this happen over more than one trip and several dives.

My guess is that most divers that dive Cozumel make repeat trips to the island so there is time to dive with different dive ops. Establish a relationship with one and if you are happy, keep using them and get to know their people and enjoy your diving.

 

[scubawife]

While my favorite is www.bottomtimedivers.net -- 1 man owner/divemaster and is everything you asked for, I will also give you other OPS that fill your request.

Bluextsea
Scuba Alison
Scuba Tony
these use AL80's or for extra $5 AL100

Liquid Blue
Living Underwater
these use steel 100 and 120's

There are others but IMO these are the best.

Living Underwater has LP steel 95's and 120's, no 100's
Liquid Blue has HP steel 100's and 120's

 

[DandyDon]

Living Underwater has LP steel 95's and 120's, no 100's
Liquid Blue has HP steel 100's and 120's

For Air Hogs like my regular bud and me, 120s sound appealing. We're in the habit of booking 100s for the first, deeper dive of a trip at $5 each. I see that both offer Nitrox upgrades; are those also on the larger tanks...?

Just thinking as I type here and doing a little comparing of those two to the one we are accustomed to diving - and these thoughts do not include adjustments for comparing apples to oranges to pomegranates - but just looking at trips prices and tanks only for 3 or 4 days of diving Coz reefs before we'd need to cut & return or want to move on to peninsula caves, etc. We like the Caribe Blu hotel, location, rates, huge rooms, all the amenities that we need for our simple tastes so we've been diving with their house shop, but it looks like those two would be glad to pick us up there.

• Liv-Und: 4 trips: $320 + 10% taxes = $352 plus $10 Nitrox options;
• Liq-Blu: 4 trips: $356 + 10% + $2/day park fees = $398-400 plus $12 Nitrox upgrades;
• Blu-Ang: 4 trips with 4-100s and 4-80s: $240 taxes & fees included* and free shore diving
• . . . . or 5-100s and 5-80s: $300 or 6 & 6 for $360, but then we want to start including a $10 Nitrox tank/day to offset N2 loading.

Of course the higher priced ones offer more services, but services I don't want. I've used Ops that stored and loaded our gear but I like to keep mine handy and don't care for pissy rinse tanks for my gear & suits. One of the Ops I used did not keep & rinse masks or wetsuits and I certainly didn't want those going into pissy rinse tanks. I shower my gear & suits personally. The extra air for each dive would be nice, but I could add $5/tank to the second dives for 100s with Blu-Ang but don't really want more time on second dives. The extra 20% air on the first dives would be nice, but for the money of Liv-Und I think I'd rather squeeze 12 dives in than 8 longer ones. I do like having my hotel, shop, dock, and all in one place. I guess it just boils down to a judgment call between fine Ops, but Liq-Blue prices just cannot include enough amenities to appeal to me.

* They don't advertise it, but never charge me taxes.

 

[scubawife]

Don, diving with a shop where everyone onboard is using the big steel tanks doesn't give an air hog any edge. They will still have a shorter dive then their fellow divers. Sure, they get longer dives then on a standard AL80, but they will still find themselves back on the boat before everyone else. Those with average and good air consumption can and do really benefit from the bigger tanks. That said, you do need to really watch your computer and usually have a little longer SI too so that you can get in a 2nd nice long dive too.

The air consumption challenged are best diving with a group where they can get a bigger tank then everyone else is using. Then they be able to stay with the group.

I don't dive with LU for the extra air. I do fine on an AL80 and use that in most places I dive. I just find the LP 95 more physically comfortably, and I really like the LU boat and service. To me it's a good value. Any place I dive, if I can find someone using that same type of tank I would opt to book with that shop. Just my personal preference.

 

[scubawife]

For Air Hogs like my regular bud and me, 120s sound appealing. We're in the habit of booking 100s for the first, deeper dive of a trip at $5 each. I see that both offer Nitrox upgrades; are those also on the larger tanks...?

Yes, the $10/tank extra for Nitrox is for whatever tanks the particular shop uses.

It's all personal preference. Based on what I've paid in other destinations for nothing more then a glorified taxi service with 2 AL80's, weights, maybe a bottle of water and an orange slice, I don't find $85 for a 2-tank trip with a quality operation to be outrageous. I always feel I get way more for my money paying that in Cozumel and having "valet diving" with all the extras.

Take about 80% of Cozumel dive ops and put them anywhere else in the Caribbean or the US and they could easily charge 30-50% more and still be considered better then what you get in most places for day charters. I don't need the extras, but sure is nice to have them. For us it really makes it a vacation. I'm fine schlepping my tank around, washing and hanging up my gear every day, etc. But heck, it's a vacation. Why not just enjoy the diving and relax a little if you can? I do the other routine everywhere else.

In Cozumel our big trip expenditure is the dive operator. That's why we're going there. Most of the time we don't stay anyplace expensive and just about any restaurant choices (with a few exceptions) are reasonable to us relative to our NYC area prices. All around, adding up air, hotel, diving, food, etc., Cozumel is still a great value for our dive vacation dollar even if we go with the high end "boutique" shops.