Diving in Cozumel

[bigd332]

Anybody know of a good dive shop in Cozumel to book a couple of dives with. I think it would be alot cheaper to book it personally and not from Carnival.

[cruisinqt]

I would go to the ports of call section on these message boards and click on Cozumel. I don't dive a lot, but there's lots of info. there about Cozumel beaches, restaurants, shops, equipment, and other stuff. You might also want to go to http://www.cozumel-beach.com. It's got lots of info. there that might help you find what you're looking for.

[Lou33]

I had a good experience with Dzul-Ha. They have small boats, you may dive with 2 or 3 other people, or it might just be you and the dive master. The reef is less than one mile from the shop. From the outside, it looks like a rinky-dink operation, but they were very concerned for my safety, and they had me do a quick check in the shallow water before we went out.

 

Dzul-Ha also has great snorkeling right at their dock. They will let you snorkel there for free.

[dtchem1]

We used Blue Angel Dive shop last summer. They really accomodated us, since we had certified divers, resort course divers and snorkelers. We had a private boat and they took care of everyone and gave the others equipment to play while the resort course was going on. They have a web site, not sure what it is, but I'm sure a search would find them.

[zonemasconi]

I have snorkeled with Eagle ray divers and they were great, some friends have used them for diving and they say the same thing.

[changinlat]

I have to highly recommend Alison Dennis (www.scubawithAlison.com) if you're looking for a top notch dive operator. My fiance and I dove with her in May when we stopped in Cozumel and I cannot say enough good things about her. She is the fourth dive operator we have used in Mexico, and by far, the best!

 

There were 4 other people on the boat with us that day - 2 single ladies (mid-twenties) and a married couple (early 60's). Just to give you a couple of points on why we liked her:

 

1) We felt completely safe with her. She let everyone take their time gearing up before the dive - no rush to get ready and jump in. (We once had an operator in Cancun that tried to send my fiance in without her air turned on, so we are very weary of people who rush. Rushing leads to mistakes.) Her instructions were very clear and concise so everyone knew what was expected of them. She has lived in Mexico for almost 10 years, but she is originally from California - so English is her first language. A little easier to understand than some of the dive masters we have had in the past.

 

2) She was aware of the abilities of the divers and what we wanted to see. For example, 5 of the 6 divers wanted to do a wall dive (the 6th was indifferent). One diver had previously suffered nitrogen narcosis at 80 ft., so Alison took us to the Santa Rosa wall - a beautiful dive and we stayed above 80 ft. My fiance and I were using new Suunto computers - our second day to dive with them. Alison was aware of our computers and kept us well within our no-deco limits. I'm getting too wordy here, so if you want to know more on that, email me and let me know.

 

3) Long bottom times. Our first dive was 58 minutes, our second dive was 71 minutes - all done well within the no deco limits of our dive computers. In short, she let us dive our tanks. Some of our group ran out of air before that time, so Alison would return 1 or 2 to the boat while the rest of us stayed directly below her. Again, email me (email changinlat) if you want more details, but we felt completely safe the entire time.

 

4) No money due up front. She takes your reservation with no deposit and only asks that you have the courtesy to cancel as far in advance as possible if your plans change. She won't take credit cards from cruise ship passengers - cash only. That didn't bother us because the Mexican banking system charges a 9% tax on credit card transactions, so we were planning to pay with cash anyway.

 

Like I said, I can't say enough good things about Alison. Hope you have a good time with whomever you choose.

[Yellowjacket1]

I can also highly recommend Eagle Ray Dive Shop in Cozumel. Very professional and easy to get along with (as well as safety-conscious). My son and I had a GREAT time with them last July and had selected them based on the recommendations from others on these and other cruise boards. Have elaborated on the quality dive we experienced in some of my older, previous postings.

 

Steve