Dive with martin, why so inexpensive?

[DandyDon]

I don't think Chief or anyone was blaming Christy for anything. I think the two are friends and he was attempting to prevent her from misunderstood. My take anyway...

I could care less if my gear gets rinsed as long as it's ready for me on the boat the next day. After all, when I dive on multi-day local (SoCal) boats or on liveaboards, the gear never gets rinsed until my last day of diving. Why should day boat diving be any different?

Don't most liveaboard spray the gear some each night with freshwater? I use a mask box to catch some and soak my mask, computers, second stages, etc.

 

[cvchief]

If that is me in your crosshairs, I wasn't calling her anti-competitive, I just thought it wasn't a good idea for ops to seem 'pick' at each other, true or not. There are plenty of divers to do that and cheerlead for their favorite. The OPs who post seem to try to stay above the fray usually, Christi included.

---------- Post added December 2nd, 2013 at 10:52 PM ----------

I don't think Chief or anyone was blaming Christy for anything. I think the two are friends and he was attempting to prevent her from misunderstood. My take anyway...

Exactly. I would like to think we are. (even if she keeps saying she might make a scubaboard dinner and then bails on me... *sniffle*)

 

[Skittl1321]

if confusing choice.

That's for sure! Selecting an op was HARD- so many seem to offer wonderful service at a huge variety of prices.

 

[PhilaDallas]

We have dove with several dive ops,in Cozumel and elsewhere. I do not want to do any wall dives yet. I email DWM and inform them of that, I also request Roberto for our entire dive package( my requests' has always been honored),Chris is an air hog and they supply him with 100cf tanks at no additional cost. As for the gear they provide ,It looks to be in good shape, They also have extra gear in case you have a problem with your personal gear. In closing I would say they do an excellent job and we continue to be repeat customers. I also like being on the reefs early and most times before anybody else.

Terri

My wife and I dove with DWM and were very pleased, both with the DM and the rental gear. The spare masks that they have fit better than the one I bought, and I dove their mask all week. Have fun!

 

[SailNaked]

I have only been with DWM on more than 10 trips, they do a great job, they dive in great places and rinse and store my gear between dives, the DMs rock and I have never tried any other place because they do such a great job.

I would use them if they were not the cheapest as the differential cost is negligible.

 

[Mossman]

Don't most liveaboard spray the gear some each night with freshwater? I use a mask box to catch some and soak my mask, computers, second stages, etc.

Not that I ever recall, unless the night watch secretly does it in the middle of the night. I'm usually sitting outside until most everyone has gone to bed and I've never seen gear get rinsed with fresh water unless it happens to be raining. On the last day, they get out hoses and/or use the camera tanks for gear rinse, but the gear otherwise sits salty for the duration of the trip whether it's a weekend in Catalina or 11 days in Indonesia.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Well Christi, I am hurt!! JK

The reason I thought you may have recalled is because I'd rallied to Mossman's side in earlier threads with regard to having my gear stored by the dive op. Figured the guilt by association would have pinged a little something.

Dave, I don't know why you are the most expensive but assume there must be some reason that people are willing to pay.

I'm often one of those, particularly in my choice of op in Belize (one of the most expensive). Their service, boats, convenience, etc. are just what I like. AND they also rinse and store all my gear. After my last dives in the series, they give better rinses and hang all to dry before I come back the next day to settle my bill and pick up my gear to be packed away for the long flight/schlep back home.

If you are offering that in Coz, then there's a chance I'd be one of your customers. But if DWM is the op providing me with the services I care about and at a lower price, it's no question which I'll be diving with.

 

[Mike]

If you are offering that in Coz, then there's a chance I'd be one of your customers. But if DWM is the op providing me with the services I care about and at a lower price, it's no question which I'll be diving with.

Everybody has different hot buttons, so no question you should dive with the dive op that hits yours.

For me I don't care about the whole gear thing, it's so far on the bottom of my list it isn't even visible.

My hot button is bottom time. Since everybody basically dives the same real estate, I just want to maximize my stay underwater seeing it. By Aldora having steel 120s and having the amount of boats it has and being able to separate divers by experience and skills, they set me up being with divers of like ability and allow us to maximize our dives. If you divide the cost of diving with them by your combined bottom time on a dive trip, I suspect they are going to be the cheapest dive outfit on the island.

I did two dives with DWM back about 10 years ago and it was the single worst experience I've ever had. Hopefully the divemaster is long gone by now.

 

[tracydr]

Cool, without rental gear the shops are priced a lot closer but DVM's great 5 day rate and free rentals makes it a no brainer for us. Glad to hear the isn't a "catch" with the lower price. Only thing is they don't rent dive computers but with the money we save we could easily buy two zoops and then we'd own them. Thanks!

I have a very slightly used Aeris X3 if you're interested.

---------- Post added December 3rd, 2013 at 01:27 PM ----------

Christi is right, they don't take your gear out of the bag. They just dunk the whole bag in the rinse tank and then store on floor of dive shop. Shop is very small so there is not much room. I have always been able to dive my computer and air limits, have never had a dive under 60 minutes. I didn't dive a 100 but a couple of divers on board did and they said they were not charged extra for them. They also gave all the divers a video of one of their dives for no charge. The only time I had cruise ship divers on board was during an afternoon dive. If you need to rent gear, they are the op to go with to save money. I usually stay at the Park Royal and walk over to their shop. I have to be there ready to leave by 7:00 so that they have time to pick up divers at other resorts. They are a very good dive op. I had to book with them online or by phone before I arrived. They said they didn't take cash or payment at the dive shop. This was a couple of years ago though, some there may be some changes.

Wow! Last time I got a video of a dive I think I paid $50-$75 with Jack's Dive Locker, Kona.That's a great deal!

---------- Post added December 3rd, 2013 at 01:40 PM ----------

I don't think Chief or anyone was blaming Christy for anything. I think the two are friends and he was attempting to prevent her from misunderstood. My take anyway...


Don't most liveaboard spray the gear some each night with freshwater? I use a mask box to catch some and soak my mask, computers, second stages, etc.

Not in CA. Mine didn't get rinsed in Africa or Galpegos, either. And, if I stay in a hotel on Catalina or a condo elsewhere, I keep my gear in a bag to stay damp and rinse very well the day before we fly home.

 

[Ms. Ann Thrope]

It's been a long time since we used DWM (our story is much like Sharky's--we moved hotels, and the dive op switch just kind of went with it), but we were usually pretty happy with them. The late Martin himself was great to dive with, and I remember several others I liked quite a bit as well. We've also used two different "valet" operations on the island and a couple of others ranging from terrible cattle boats to mid-tier ops over the years. There are differences in services and amenities, and everyone's market basket is a little different when it comes to what people want/want to pay for. The thing I like about the big-tank ops is that they plan for long dives--which is not to say that you can't get some pretty generous ones with other operations at times. On the other hand, I value fruit on board more highly than I value getting my gear rinsed by someone other than me. Another way some operators differ is where they take their surface intervals, and for how long.

DWM has been around a long, long time, early '90s at least, when services like gear care were rare. Also, I don't remember being asked to come up as a group, as someone else has suggested. People went up as buddy pairs, sometimes re-buddying so lighter breathers could stay down longer. Things may have changed--if you have specific questions/concerns, it's always best to ask them.

Also, I once visited Coba and Chichen Itza in a day. The only thing good about it was that we got to CI so late, almost all the other tourists were gone and we had it nearly to ourselves (I had already been to Coba a couple of times so didn't mind seeing it at a run). And then we stumbled onto a big festival in pretty Valladolid. The Tulum/Coba and Chichen Itza/Ek Balaam combos make more logistical sense. We've been to Isla Mujeres, too. It's a nice place, but given your time and ambitions, probably skippable.