Beginners in Cozumel

We (family of 5) were certified last Summer (2013). I actually was certified in 96 but never dove so retook the class with my family. I was in college and did my open water at the Blue Hole in NM. My family did their open water last summer here in Colorado in a lake. Sooo, we are now going on a cruise in March 2015. We thought we'd go ahead and do a discovery dive in Cozumel as our refresher and then later in the week do a certified dive in Grand Cayman. Thoughts? Our kids will be 19, 16 and 15. I was hoping to do the discovery dive at Chankanaab because we will be with our extended family. Anyone know a dive shop there? Suggestions for Grand Cayman for beginner divers? Thanks

Check with Aqua Safari in Cozumel. My husband did a two tank dive with them last year and was very pleased. I've been emailing them because our DD (13) was just certified and did her open water dive in a lake in Missouri. They have a refresher course for those who are new or haven't dived in a while. I believe it is a one tank dive either in the morning or afternoon and I believe they dive to around 40 feet. Information is on their classes tab.

Refresher Course

$79.00 USD

* 4 hours

* Starts at 8:30 am or 12:30 pm

Recommended for rusty, nervous and new divers.

Includes:

•Equipment if needed.

Consisting of:

•Review of the theory

•Beach dive where the instructor will review water exercises and determine correct buoyancy.

•Join the one tank boat trip to shallow Paradise reef departing at 2:30 PM, returning about 4:30 PM.

I love Aqua Safari. I got my advanced certification through them during a b2b cruise.

I would recoment Blue Project. Blanca is very good with new and rusty divers. She certified my 11 year old daughter and helped her become a very good diver.

Thank you for the suggestions....I assume these are not at the park; correct?

I don't know anything about diving, but I can tell you that yes, Chankanaab does have a dive shop there and they also even do 1 day certifications there as well.

I wish I would have got an actual picture of the dive shop, but I liked the thing they had there and took a picture of my daughter beside it instead. LOL :D

We (family of 5) were certified last Summer (2013). I actually was certified in 96 but never dove so retook the class with my family. I was in college and did my open water at the Blue Hole in NM. My family did their open water last summer here in Colorado in a lake. Sooo, we are now going on a cruise in March 2015. We thought we'd go ahead and do a discovery dive in Cozumel as our refresher and then later in the week do a certified dive in Grand Cayman. Thoughts? Our kids will be 19, 16 and 15. I was hoping to do the discovery dive at Chankanaab because we will be with our extended family. Anyone know a dive shop there? Suggestions for Grand Cayman for beginner divers? Thanks

Steph,

Your idea sounds like a good one, although you'll likely feel like you're wasting some time with the Discover Scuba, since other participants will be starting at "zero". Since there are five of you, you may want to contact an operator in Cozumel directly, and explain that you're all newly certified. With five people, I'd bet several there would be happy to set up a group with a dive master and just your family. That way you could get two "real" dives, and yet have something where the operator takes your experience level into account.

I'm also in Denver, and an Instructor here. We've still got plenty of decent warm days. If you'd want we could put something together for your family locally too. Often getting some dives in, without the stress of the open water exercises, helps immensely in getting divers comfortable. If you'd like, click the link below, and you can email me.

Harris

Denver, CO

We were just in Cozumel last Friday on Freedom of the Seas. My DH and his friends used Dive with Martin (located right next to the Royal Caribbean pier) and went to Palancar for their two tank dive. I think it was about $90 pp. He said that some of the divers on that trip had been diving all over the world in places like Fiji and they said the Cozumel dive was one of the best. DH has gone with Martin several times and really likes their operation. Dive shops on other islands have told him Martin has a great reputation. And they have an excellent rating on tripadvisor. You can find them on the internet and they also have a US phone number if you want to call.

I do not know the name of the dive shop at chankanaab, however we have gone diving with Dive With Martin for the last several years for week long trips to Cozumel and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Their shop is on the international pier. They usually leave pretty early in the morning - picked us up at 7:30 am cst each day, but with 5 people you could probably just have a boat to yourselves. For the same price as a discover dive you could have 2 beautiful dives in Cozumel.

Thank you for all these recommendations! Now, our itinerary has changed to going to Roatan first and then Cozumel. So, now we'll be looking for some sort of refresher for Mahogony Bay.

If you take a look at this map below, in the green, it gives the names of the dive shops located at Chankanaab.

We did a dive at the park. You don't have to reserve in advance and there are a few places to choose from. All are shore dives which makes it very easy. There are a couple of swim throughs and I would, IMHO, tell the divemaster that you DO NOT want to do those. They are cavern dives and you need additional experience to do those.