Dive ops who spend their surface interval at a beach club.

[Ron Lee]

Of the many attributes/services of a dive op, stopping at a beach club between dives is one of my requirements. This thread will document those dive ops who do so. Years ago I was with a dive op who stopped at a pier and we had to walk north to use a restroom...possibly Playa Palancar. Unless otherwise noted, dive ops listed stop at a beach club with typical beach club facilities. I will update this initial post with other dive ops as provided.

Aldora http://www.aldora.com/
Blue XTSea http://http://www.bluextseadiving.com/
Liquid Blue http://www.liquidbluedivers.com/
Living Underwater http://www.living-underwater.com/
Opal's Dream

 

[Brules]

Just pee in your wetsuit.

 

[Mossman]

Exactly Brules!

Honestly, I get bored during those long surface intervals. As one of those who stay at an AI, I don't want to pay for lunch because I've already paid for lunch.

But it's occasionally nice to have a real bathroom at hand and walking up and down the beach isn't the worst thing in the world.

So add Liquid Blue and Living Underwater to your list too.

 

[halocline]

I far prefer the quiet undeveloped beach areas to the crowded, bad-music-blaring-jetski-renting beach clubs. To each his own.

 

[clownfish60]

I far prefer the quiet undeveloped beach areas to the crowded, bad-music-blaring-jetski-renting beach clubs. To each his own.

As do I! That is one reason I dive.. to get some real peace and quiet! (And having Jetskiers use my dive flag for a slalom marker never makes me happy either! Seems to happen more in the Beach Club areas!)

 

[lionfish-eater]

Crowded Beach Clubs? We hit the club just as they are opening. Never seen a crowd at Mr Sanchos. Sometimes the kitchen hasn't even opened for the day. Jet skis are still parked on the beach waiting for the cruise shippers to arrive. As we are leaving for our second dive the people are starting to show up. Fresh water showers are a nice feature, as well as chairs and sun umbrellas. You have a choice to order something or not. Some of the more stingy divers bring a ziplock of food from the breakfast buffet and a bottle of water from the dive boat. As for undeveloped pristine beaches, dream on.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

What type of dives are you guys doing that you have that long a S/I on all of my 2 tank dives the S/I was spent getting to the next site and gearing up. Just curious for future reference.

 

[MMM]

Living Underwater most often stops at Playa Palancar. No loud music there. ScubaSteve, in answer to your question, the first, deep dive is usually to a depth of about 90 feet and can run 70-80 minutes, depending on the divers on board. The second dive can run for up to 90 minutes, on average, sometimes longer. So we usually have a surface interval of about 2 hours, with about 1.5 of that on the beach. The long SI means we can have a nice long second dive. Also, since I usually eat a light breakfast on the mornings of a dive, I like to grab a sandwich mid-morning. Also gives me time to warm up a bit, making like an iguana in the sun. There is another beach club where we sometimes stop a bit further north...I never get off the boat there as I detest the place. It's the one with the long pier that lots of ops stop at. We used to go to the Money Bar now and again but I understand the management has begun to charge dive ops to stop there and so LU has stopped going there.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

What type of dives are you guys doing that you have that long a S/I on all of my 2 tank dives the S/I was spent getting to the next site and gearing up. Just curious for future reference.

Long ones, of course.

Since the subject is Cozumel, try some place like Aldora Divers, with their HP120s. Stay down longer, enjoy a long SI, then stay down longer on your second dive.

 

[Woodiver]

Aldora, Liquid Blue and Living Underwater are steel tank operators so bottom times are usually 60 to 90 minutes and sometimes longer. With the longer bottom times, most dives will put you at or a little over deco limits. The long SI is needed to off gas before the second dive or you need to dive nitrox on the second dive.