Del Mar Aquatics

Posted on 01/13/04
Name: JimAndTom
State: Texas

Traveled: January, 2004
Stayed: Cozumel
Weather: Excellent
Highly Recommended
Value: Excellent Value

Promptness: 9
Policy: 9
Friendliness: 8

Comments: My brother and I just got back from a weeks worth of diving with these guys. Everything was great. Anyone can provide good customer service when everything is going smoothly. The real test is when things go wrong. Our hotel had a snafu with our dive voucher. It was unavailable upon our Saturday arrival. Del Mar allowed us to dive on Saturday and Sunday before the problem was cleared up on Monday.

The boats were in good shape and comfortable. The smaller boats were a little cramped but no big deal. They provided unlimited bottled water for the duration of each days diving. The crews on the boats were friendly and helpful. Tanks were promptly changed between dives and help was always provided getting in and out of the boat for each dive.

As always, there were divers of varying skill levels each day. We are beginners, yet never felt we held up the rest of the group or were ever pressured to push beyond our capabilities. While we were usually the first ones up, the more experienced drivers always completed the full dive profile.

Our Dive Master was Renee. He was great. He was no non-sense about setting us straight on the rules but never made us feel like we were being baby-sat. We progressed each day to more challenging dives culminating in a wreck dive on our last day. Fantastic!!!

All and all a great experience and a great company.

Posted by DalTexDiver on 07/15/01

Dove with DelMar Cinco de Mayo. They are about average for larger dive operations. They are concerned about getting you into the water and getting you out.

Posted by achu on 07/05/01

I went diving with Del Mar Aquatics and Wetcaver. Wetcaver is an awesome diver and this is his dive shop of choice. He has been with them for years!

I enjoyed diving with them. They are organized and have good divemasters. They do a nice relaxed surface interval at Nachi Cocum beach club.

Hopefully Wetcaver can answer your questions, as i�ve only gone diving with them once. (and would most definately use them again)

achu

Posted by Dee on 02/20/01

Re: Del Mar Aquatics

that may have been true a few years ago but the new management in the last 2 years has totally changed the whole operation. I last dived with them in October with Tom in our photo class. The boat was large but I wouldn't call it a cattle boat. We used our dive computers, had very thorough briefings and the one problem we had was dealt with swiftly my the manager. I don't hestiate to recommend them to anyone!

Dee

Posted by tom on 02/17/01

Dove with them last Oct.. It was part of an uw photo class. There was one incident but that was handeled swiftly by the manager. We had a boat to ourselves. The DMs were good and we dove our computers. They had a bad rap for awhile but the change in management has them in the right direction.
tom

Posted by Tim on 02/09/01

I did my first ocean dives with Del Mar Aquatics and had the absolute best vacation ever. I came with my Open Water cert. but had never had any "real" dives under my belt. I went to Del Mar for an Advanced Open Water refferal and my dive instructor was Laura, an American ex-pat from Conn. I had a great time with her on my dives and just in general as she is a very good and genuine person. She helped me fine tune my bouyancy, breathing, kicks, and general dive skills. All of the other DM's were very good and from what I learned from the repeat divers there that they cater to both beginners and advanced divers equally well. Del Mar Aquatics left me with a very, very favorable impression!

Posted by Tim Knight on 02/02/01

For the most part I would have to agree with what has been posted about Del Mar in the past. Since Mr. Gustavo has taken over the operation, we have seen several really nice changes. For example,
the dive staff is now very polite and seem to understand that not everyone has the experience of a divemaster. They take will take request to choice dive sites and often to dive profiles that are within the limits. If you will notice, the bigger boats are usually only used for large groups, Del Mar has several smaller boats that you can request and have great dive. In short, Del Mar has come along way in service and are worth giving another chance.

Posted by Pearl on 12/08/00

Go to Del Mar Aquatics - manager Gustavo is the president elect of the Dive Shop Association on the island - I assure you you won't get better care and attention to detail than with him
Best Regards
Pearl

Posted by N2Deep on October 25, 1999

Del Mar caters to Dive Shop packages. You will be diving with LARGE groups of relatively new and inexperienced divers. In order to handle this type of clientele they run large boats and impose very strict 'herding'. They also have a tendency to overbook. I often stay at Casa Del Mar and have witnessed several really pissed off people who had their mornings dives moved to the afternoon, or who only got 20-25 minute dives. I always use Dive with Martin. His shop is next to La Ceiba and the International Pier, another very good choice seldom mentioned is Scuba Shack. Both are within walking distance and will provide you with personal service and treat you very well.
If you're staying at Casa Del Mar insist on a room from x11 and up. Rooms x00 through x10 do not have back patio which is very handy for hanging wet gear. Both Martin and Susan at Scuba Shack will have a place for you store your gear by their dock. No humping gear back and forth. If you need anything Martin rents for free (loans) you anything you'll need from his very well maintained Mares stuff. If you take a substantial donation of good childrens clothes Martin will comp you something. Free dive day, free video, or a nice golf shirt.
If you're staying at La Ceiba try for a ground floor room in the 'old' section. A tip at check in usually will get you one of these.

Posted by Thorsten on October 23, 1999

cattleboat.
If you dont mind cutting your dives short, because somebody tries to swim against the current all the times and runs out of air after 20 minutes. ( thats just one example )

I do not not of any safety concerns, but SERVICE is very important.

so many dive ops on the island , would be a waste not to go first class.

go to my website and check Isidro out, as well as my trip report .

"Say you saw it on TravelNotes.cc!"