It has been a long time since I did any Technical Diving in Cozumel. My last experience was in 2003 and the logistics and dealing with the “technical” dive shop on the island made doing it there more effort than it was worth.
Recently I was introduced to Don Labruzzo, owner of Dive Extreme who like any good salesman pursued our business and invited us to dive with him. He came with good references, Wayne Cooper, a recent Optima rebreather student spoke highly of him. Wade Sparks, one of our Assistant Instructors, agreed to try him out while he was on a vacation with his wife in Playa del Carmen. Wade too brought back good reports of Don’s operation.
In talking with my current Trimix students, Madison and Jerry, I proposed the idea of completing our open water session in Cozumel. Looking at the costs of going to Florida and the quality of the deep diving in comparison to the walls in Cozumel, it made good sense to go to Cozumel (cost wise it was about $200.00 more). Two other of our technical diving clients, Kelly and Geoff, also agreed that a weekend of diving in Cozumel sounded like fun, They joined us.
The plan was to do one dive on Thursday, two on Friday, two on Saturday and return on Sunday. Maximum depth, 240 feet. We arrived in Cozumel with a strong north wind which made the diving a little rough. The first dive was on Villa Blanca Wall, not too far out by boat so we could get a long dive in and be done before dark. Don’s boat is a 40’ modified sport fisher with lots of room and a good crew.
The next day the winds were still up but had shifted so the waves abated a little. Dives onto Yucaab wall and Paradise. Not the most picturesque walls in the area but a reasonable run with the weather the way it was and the drills I needed to do with the students. In-between dives, Don and his crew treated us to a lunch of fresh baked bread (from that morning), cheese, cold cuts, fresh made salsa, tortillas and guacamole.
Our plan for Saturday included a run down to Palancar for some truly spectacular wall diving. Unfortunately, the winds shifted again and the port was closed to all baot traffic. That meant no diving offshore. Don offered to take us all to a local Cenote but I was not comfortable taking everyone into one of the small openings found in Cozumel with their current skills.
However, Kelly and Geoff jumped at the offer. According to them, they had an adventure that involved a local army/police unit, a stalled truck, no change of clothes and a fantastic dive. I think they are truly hooked on Yucatan diving.
Unfortunately the storm did not abate so we returned to Houston, still in need of some extra dives.
I did find diving with Don’s operation a pleasant surprise when compared to my previous experiences. He is runs a good operation, with a great group of men and woman who understand customer service and want to build a relationship with their clients. We will be back.
