New Waves/Cozumel Certified Scuba

[drewlane]

Has anyone booked this specific scuba tour in Cozumel through the ship?

 

Would you recommend it?

 

I will be aboard the Grand next month out of Galveston.

 

Here is the info from the Princess website:

 

Cozumel is one of the world’s premier destinations. Explore its translucent, fish-filled waters on a two-tank reef dive.

 

Board your scuba boat for the trip to the first of your two dive sites. The first drift dive is usually along one of the spectacular walls where you will reach a maximum depth of 70 feet. The diverse corals, sponges and fish population is unsurpassed in all the Caribbean. The second drift dive will be on one of the local, shallow reefs where schooling angelfish and the occasional curious grouper are seen. Burgundy Gorgonians and orange, purple, red and yellow sponges dot the reef. Scuba equipment, professional supervision, transportation and complimentary beverages included.

 

If you have done this and could provide some general thoughts on it, that would be great. (ie. how was the equipment, boat, divemaster, dive location, etc.)

 

Thanks!

 

Drew

 

p.s. Maybe I shouldn't have watched the movie "Open Water" so close to our trip. ;)

[SandDollar Laura]

Drew,

 

 

I work for the company that is the New Waves operator for Certified Scuba. If you've got questions, PM or email me and I'll be happy to answer and and all!

[bruce-r]

Drew, If you've got questions, PM or email me and I'll be happy to answer and and all!

 

Laura, just so you know, the "send email to member" link in everyone's profile does not work. That feature has been turned off by cruisecritic. That means Drew probably can't contact you, unless you put your email address in a post or on some other part of your profile.

[lbhafen]

I just got off the Grand Princess. I had booked this dive with Princess in Cozumel, but decided to change to "Scuba with Alison" (www.scubawithalison.com). I am glad that I did.

 

There is plenty of time in port to book with another operator. Alison had 6 divers that day, 2 were very new and 4 of us more experienced. She took us to Palancar Reef for our first dive, because she could hang out at 40-50 feet with the newer divers, and still keep an eye on the rest of us that may have gone deeper. The four more experienced divers paired up 2-2, but stayed together for the whole dive. It turned out the newer divers had problems equalizing, and so ended their dive early. After that Alison stayed with the 4 of us, for the rest of the dive. A sea turtle wondered by, which was the highlight of the dive. Alison let us all do our dive profiles, I was low on air first, so she hung out with me at my safety stop, keeping an eye on the others below us. After I surfaced and was in the boat, she continued the dive with the others for 10-15 minutes or so.

 

The second dive was just the four advanced divers with Alison, and we went to Paso Del Cedral reef. It was a great drift dive. On this dive we all ended together, probably because the current would have made it hard to try and split the group.

 

Since I was the only diver using Air (the other experienced divers used nitrox), Alison looked at my computer several times to make sure I was within nodeco limits.

 

Maybe someone will post who has been on the Princess tour in Cozumel. If I had it to do over I would definitely book with Alison again.

 

Keith

[girasol]

I just got off the Grand Princess. I had booked this dive with Princess in Cozumel, but decided to change to "Scuba with Alison" (www.scubawithalison.com). I am glad that I did.

 

There is plenty of time in port to book with another operator. Alison had 6 divers that day, 2 were very new and 4 of us more experienced. She took us to Palancar Reef for our first dive, because she could hang out at 40-50 feet with the newer divers, and still keep an eye on the rest of us that may have gone deeper. The four more experienced divers paired up 2-2, but stayed together for the whole dive. It turned out the newer divers had problems equalizing, and so ended their dive early. After that Alison stayed with the 4 of us, for the rest of the dive. A sea turtle wondered by, which was the highlight of the dive. Alison let us all do our dive profiles, I was low on air first, so she hung out with me at my safety stop, keeping an eye on the others below us. After I surfaced and was in the boat, she continued the dive with the others for 10-15 minutes or so.

 

The second dive was just the four advanced divers with Alison, and we went to Paso Del Cedral reef. It was a great drift dive. On this dive we all ended together, probably because the current would have made it hard to try and split the group.

 

Since I was the only diver using Air (the other experienced divers used nitrox), Alison looked at my computer several times to make sure I was within nodeco limits.

 

Maybe someone will post who has been on the Princess tour in Cozumel. If I had it to do over I would definitely book with Alison again.

 

Keith

 

Just curious, what were your bottom times for those dives? What was your max depth? You said she hung with the beginners while the "advanced" divers went deeper. How much deeper did you go?

 

Sounds like there was quite a mixed bag of divers on the boat. I'm not sure that truly advanced divers would have been happy with that set-up nor would they need the DM to constantly check their computers to make sure they were within NDL's. Experienced divers should be quite capable of this themselves. Just curious, how many dives have you logged, where have you dove, and when were you certified? Everyone's perception of "advanced" is diffferent.

[SandDollar Laura]

thanks bruce, for the info. i was begining to think i was not popular!

[lbhafen]

I would consider myself an advanced beginner, I have 50 dives mostly in California. I feel quite comfortable in keeping track of my own air and computer, but didn't mind in the least the DM's attention to this. The first dive I logged 80 feet and dive time for me was 42 minutes. The second drift dive was at 60 feet for 65 minutes.

 

Yes, there was a mixed bag of divers on the boat, and that could have led to being disappointed with the dive, however my point was that the choice of dive locations was in my mind perfect, giving something for the beginners, as well as the rest of us. The dives were not difficult but they were memorable, and enjoyable.

 

Keith