Cozumel

Handy Andy · June 21, 2007, 11:05:06 PM

Guess I could tell about my trip. Went with a dive shop from Wichita. We drove to Dallas and caught a flight with Worry free vacations. 6 nites at Casa del mar hotel on Coz. Got 12 dives in. 2 were shore dives, 10 boat dives. The dive masters were great, instead of coming up as a group, they just sent us up when we got down to 700 psi. I worked at conserving air, and a couple times got 60 minute dives in. The last day it rained and we saw 3 dolphins, our 2nd dive we started out at 58' and ended at about 45, and I was the last one down and got a full 60 minutes in. Some of the guys had to wait a while on the boat. Jim

semologger · June 26, 2007, 08:40:10 PM

i just got back from cancun we was there 7 nights from 3rd to 11th. had a great time. ive never been to the ocean so when we sent snorkeling the first time i was hooked for life. we went to cozumel and took a jeep tour of the island. on the tour we stoped and snorkled for a while that instuctor set a pace hard to keep up with for a lot of people. me and my friend just stayed up with him. they said i was under the water more than i was on top. so my next thing will be learning how to scuba.

thanks a country river rat.

TexasTimbers · June 26, 2007, 09:07:50 PM

semologger,

If I might suggest a few pointers on learning scuba. Before you invest in a class make sure you can valsalva well (if you do so in flight you will be able to usually below), and if you haven't had a full physical in a lot of years do that and tell the doc your plans. There are a few specific things he might want to check.

Then, after you get the clear, picking your dive agency. The endless debate in the dive community is who is the best, or worst, dive instruction outfit. Some of the major recreational diving ones are PADI (worst overall IMO), NAUI, YMCA (best overall IMHO), SSI (still in biz?).

When it all boils down, you will only be as well trained and prepared as your Instructor trains and prepares you. You can get a great PADI instructor and a terrible YMCA instructor (theoretically). but overall i believe there is alot of truth in the often shared view of many divers that PADI is a money machine and churns out ill-prepared divers overall. Diver deaths in places like Cozumel where inexperienced divers should not be diving (strong currents) are all too frequent, and if you look at the C-Card of the dead diver that is arguably a big factor IMHO.

I already said more than I should this could be a 5000 word treatise. Let me just suggest you try and find a YMCA insturctor for several reasons. YMCA is the only certification that CMAS (Confederation Mondiale Des Activities Subaquatiques) will recognize and issue the diver a CMAS dive card. CMAS is the only worldwide and by far the largest dive training orginaization. They are the European (and everywhere elkse) equivilant of PADI except their standards are still quite high. If you get certified through YMCA you can get a CMAS card and there are still places on this planet that will not rent you gear without a CMAS card. I have never dove the Maldives but I heard that there for instance, are a couple dive outfits that will not take PADI divers with less than 100 dives. Dunno if that is myth but would not doubt it.
I got my Open Water and Advanced, and SLAM Rescue Diver through YMCA and I have a CMAS card so I can dive anywhere in the world with no questions. Got my NITROX through NAUI but I knew the instructor. I was well schooled when it came time to breathe NITROX.

that's my two coppers. i would not have wrote this on a Dive Board it would cause a firestorm of hatemail from PADI people. I should be safe here ???

Bottom line: Go with YMCA unless you know you have a good instrucotr with one of the other agencies, becauseYMCA instructors as a general rule are not going to run you through the course to collect your money to get the next herd of cattle in.

semologger · June 27, 2007, 10:27:37 PM

thanks kevjay. thanks for the pointers. you can always learn alot from someonr that has been there and done that. sound like you have had alot of hours under the water. i will learn how some time water is my favorite thing dont like hights. my dad is ceritfied but he needs a refresher course. be nice to go with him but any more he dont like getting in water unless its like a warm bath.

again thanks

Fla._Deadheader · June 28, 2007, 08:11:25 AM

Which is the one based in Pa. ?? Might be NAUI ??? That was the one Ed and I got certified under, but, local shops wouldn't fill our tanks. >:( >:( Instructor got us Padi cert cards, and the next time we had steel tanks filled, at the PADI Shop, the stupid managers Son overfilled the tanks and blew the safety plug. "I don't know what happened " :

:

Dumba$$ was reading a book, and put 3250 in a 2200 tank. I made them bleed off the other and replace both safety plugs.

Hard to trust the tanks after that, then we started filling our own, but, had Aluminum 70's by then.

Shop Lynda was certified by, the Owner blew his head off filling tanks ???

YUP, PADI is FULLY accredited, EH ??? :

:

TexasTimbers · June 28, 2007, 11:17:44 AM

I had a dive buddy who would not use Aluminum and even threatened not to go out on a boat that had "live bombs" aboard. Of course he might as well quit diving. One of my dive buddies in Houston we call "Da Beast" is 6'8" and all muscle. He won't use steel because he says they are "just too heavy". :D Go figure. He and his wife are PADI Instructors and DanG good ones. But they aren't in it for the money. That NAUI instructor I got my NITROX through is a Proffessor at the U of Miami. His ability to teach is fairly beyond question, ;D