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Diving with Dreamtime in Costa Maya

chadbeck

By chadbeck,
in Scuba and Snorkeling

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chadbeck

chadbeck

Posted
Posted

I was just wondering if anyone has done any diving with them? I haven't had any luck finding anyone else who can fit me in seeing as are ship gets in and kind of late and leaves earlier. When I contacted dreamtime they said they are contracted through the ship. They said they have groups that are no more then 12 people, which I guess isn't as bad as 30. Thanks for the help.

-Chad

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budaman

budaman

Posted
Posted

Dove with them last Feb. while on the Grand. Nice operation and yes, the boats will hold a max of 12. We had 14 off the ship & they split us in 2 groups of 7 on 2 boats. Had wanted to book independantly, but they were contracted with Princess even then. Have a great dive!

 

Mike

 

http://www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

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scubasw

scubasw

Posted
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I dove with them through RCL back in Sept. They did a fair job, No more than 12 on the boat (All it would hold) with 2 DM's and 2 video girls. They split us into 2 groups and took slightly different routes down the reef. Drift Diving. The dives were 40-45 minutes long and I was satisfied. After the dive they pushed the video pretty hard (I still didn't buy, as I shoot my own pictures). I think the video was about $50-60US on DVD, $40 for VHS. The price for the excursion was a little steep, $110 for 2 dives w/o gear. I did it with them only because this was my first time from a cruise and the boat will wait for a scheduled excursions return, but will not wait if you book it on your own somewhere and I didn't want to take the chance. Costa Maya is a long way from an airport. Other than that I enjoyed the dives and would likely do them again. They do have a "resort" right next door, but I'm not sure I would want to stay there for a week.

Dreamtime Dive

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henrywl

henrywl

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The first time I dove with them was really off season. I was the only one diving so we went out in a dingy. There was the one crew, the video/divemaster and me. So of course I did the video and I think your pricing was about right.

 

I have yet to book through a cruise line and have booked direct with them because at the time they were not under contract with Carnival.

 

I would get off the ship and get a cab to the shop, do my diving, and get back via cab. The total for the cab (both ways) was about $10. The diving was a lot less than the $110 I read in the post. Obviously the cruise lines are taxing the dive operation.

 

My last trip I also did outside of the cruise line as there was no contract with Carnival. We did take the bigger boat and oddly enough there was me, two local gringos, and the rest were Carnival crew. We had a blast!

 

Dreamtime is fun but better yet the reefs are less traveled than many other dive locations.

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  • 2 months later...
debkobe

debkobe

Posted
Posted

We were on NCL and did diving with them. Maybe we got them and the area on a really bad day but it was our worst dive ever. There was no sea life but I guess within the last few days they had dolphins join them on the dive which would have been cool.

 

The video is $70 and it seemed like it would just be a bunch of waving divers and a sea cucumber so we declined it. The guy divemaster didn't seem happy to be there either. The women and boat crew were cool though.

 

We went diving in Cozumel a few days later and what a difference!!! The dive was gorgeous, the people seemed happy to have you there and the boat crew took good care of you - setting you up on each dive and were some of the nicest people ever. The divemaster was awesome and the video Deborah Wilson did was simpy amazing - more than I had hoped for. She got things we were bummed we missed, took shots of the divers but it was subtle and is perfect with her bouyancy which really made for a great shots!!

 

We heard Belize was very nice but we decided on a different excursion.

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ardie42

ardie42

Posted
Posted
They had the smallest boat at Dreamtime. You couldn't help but kick the person across from you when you put on your fins. We had a full boat and it really sucked - way too crowded for any bags or stuff.

 

We must have been on the same dive!!! It was terrible. So many people!!! But we did meet the nicest couple from the Neatherlands. The dive itself was okay but Belize has a MUCH BETTER reef. Save your money. Now in Cozumel the dive company was terrific!!

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techdiver

techdiver

Posted
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I found Costa Maya kind of a bummer, diving in front of a fishing village didn't find too many fish. Dive was off the Veendam and sad to say it was my only dives of the trip since the Belize dives were cancelled since I was the only one who signed up for them.

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  • 1 month later...
From_Arizona

From_Arizona

Posted
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What a NIGHTMARE with Dreamtime Diving in Costa Maya. I would NOT recommend them to anyone. We booked through Princess since we were unsure of operators in the area, staying on the beach would have been better for this port day!

It should have been warning indicator #1 when the small boat got stuck on the sand bar trying to get away from shore. I would imagine the captain of their boat should be experienced enough to know the best route away from shore, not so with this outfit. After the captain had his crew jump in the water to push our high centered boat off the sand bar we were off to the dive area on a very rough ride for fairly calm seas. Most people who know how to pilot a boat understand it is better to cross a wave by quartering it and not dead-on, my 2nd warning on how inexperienced the outfit was. Shame on me for not recognizing the last RED FLAG when the divemaster did not provide a detailed safety briefing, but rather a detailed briefing on how to read his hand signals for the sea-life in the area.

I am not an expert diver and was very forthright with the fact that I, along with others in the boat, had never done the back-roll entry into the water once at the dive site. On the second dive, I was given the all clear to backroll into the water for the after side entry area. I came up as the boat rolled over me, then backed over me and I popped up at the bow of the boat. I was hurting and I though my head was bleeding as I was holding it in the water. The divemaster came over and said it wasn’t bleeding and wondered if I was ok to dive. I do not think I was in the best state of mind to make this decision since my head was hurting, but I went ahead with the dive anyways. During the dive my head was throbbing, but I completed the dive and enjoyed seeing a sea turtle.

After the dive each Dreamtime staff person had a different excuse, the main one was that the water was rough and the boat was drifting towards the other divers, so the captain had to back the boat up….I just happened to be in the way –sorry. I am certainly happy that I am still able to tell the story since the captain could have easily moved the boat forward and hit me with the props instead. We notified Princess of the facts of the incident, of course Dreamtime denied any wrongdoing and the story they provided to Princess differed completely.

I am not an expert diver, but have many hours of experience navigating the ocean and this was not even close to rough out on the water and I have never heard of the captain running over a diver just after giving the all clear to enter the water.

I do not recommend this dive outfit and have highly recommended to Princess that they find another local company in Costa Maya that places diver safety at the top of their list of priorities.

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