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Reviews (4)

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Andaman Islands, India- Havelock island

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Dive India + Island Vinnie resort+ Havelock island review:

I went to dive in Andaman’s ( Havelock island specifically in India) in November 2012. Overall, diving in Havelock at Dive India was a pleasant experience. However many reefs around Havelock were bleached.The dive masters were very well-trained and gave great briefings. Best part of the dives was we got hot samosas, chai and bananas after every dive!! I emailed with Vinnie( the owner), and he was very responsive to all my emails.

Getting to Havelock:Unfortunately, this was the worst part of the trip- but fixed appropriately by Dive India- the dive resort. The journey can be divided as follow: Two airports have planes to Port blair from mainland India- Chennai, and Kolkatta. After you get to Port blair, you need to take a cab ride to the ferry station, and then a ferry to Havelock. At the Havelock ferry station you need to take another cab to get to the diver center. I would strongly recommend arranging the travel from Port blair to the dive center through the dive center. They will send people for pick up at airport, and the ferry stations.

Getting to the Havelock island from Port blair can be a night mare. Our flight arrived at Port blair at 9 am. Dive India had arranged for a jeep to pick us up from port Blair airport and drop us to the ferry station. The ferry from Port blair to Havelock leaves at 1 pm. Our cab driver offered us to give a "tour of the island" and said it would cost us Rs 2000. We agreed thinking there was not too much to do anyways. however this tour lasted 30 mins, and we hardly drove around for 8 miles around Port blair. This was a rip off, and I told the driver I would pay only after I spoke to Dive India. At Dive India, the person in charge told us that the cab driver was operating on his own, and definitely should not charge us that much amount for his services. The guy at Dive India spoke to the cab driver, and fixed the situation for us. So I was satisfied.

Accommodation: Accommodation was available in standard hut, upgraded hut, or cabanas. The difference between them was basically the room size. Standard huts had common toilets/ showers. I did not saty in them, but did check them out. They were tiled, clean and had hot water showers. They also had Mosquito nets or electronic repellants in all rooms. The cabanas had fans, and were larger compared to the tents- also more luxurious looking. We choose a upgraded hut which had a bed, restroom, hot shower. This was enough for me, and I didn’t need the extra frills. Price for upgraded hut was Rs 900/night + approx 5% tax. For a booking they needed payment for rooms + Rs 1000 deposit for the diving. Overall we had to pay 3 days/6 dives: Rs 13,000 with all gear.

Food: The cafe at the dive resort served excellent Indian food and had with some western entrees, drinks as well. Hanging out at the cafe at the end of the day was one of the best experiences. They had great trance music.

Diving: Although many reefs were bleached, we saw quite a few colorful fish. Visibility was great. 80+ feet on most dives. IT rained a lot on a couple of dives, but the dive crew was very helpful in getting everyone in water safely. Visbility under the ocean was good, and we didnt have any problems with currents on those dives. The Wall, and pilot reef were my favorite dive sites. The wall, as the name suggests is a giant wall. There was a ton of life here, but most coral was bleached. Pilots reef had some good opportunity for macro. Nudibrachs here were huge! On all the other dive sites there were a ton of starfish, butterfly fish, banner fish, blue angelfish, red headed and blue headed groupers, white lined rock cod on most dives. This was the most color we saw. Some cool sea life we saw: couple of manta rays on one of the dives, a banded sea-snake, some eels, barracudas, a cuttlefish on separate dives. Dive boats are quite small- about 6 people per boat.

Things to do on land:
Getting around: We rented a scooter for Rs 100 per day ( really cheap) to explore the island. The island felt largely unexplored, had a very tropical look- I will call it a greener version of Kauai. The beaches were splendid. Specifically the Radhanagar beach, and beach number 7.
Market: The market opens in the evening, and has fresh fruit and some eateries. I would recommend staying away from the food-carts, as the food look quite questionable. But you can definitely get really cheap fruits at the market.

Visited on 11/2012 - Submitted on 03/03/2014

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Deep Blue Cozumel

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Guides

Boats

I went to Cozumel from December 25-30th. Mentioning the dates because I believe the life could be different at different times of the year. I have to say that Cozumel is one of my favorite dive destinations because of the ease of getting there, and no language problems. I was traveling on a very tight budget, and was looking for budget deals - yet something that won’t compromise on the quality of diving. I dived with deep blue operator, and stayed at the Amigos hostel.

Here are reviews for the dive operator Deep Blue

I choose to dive with Deep blue operator for several reasons:

• Small number of people in each boat, as opposed to some of the other operators on island. For example, deep blue boats carry 8 people at the most. They have roughly 1 dive master for a group of 4 people. Also I had about 30 dives under my belt, and still felt like a novice. So I wanted to ensure, I got personal attention- which I did. All the dive masters were really knowledgeable of the life. Dive briefings were short, but informative. Most Dive masters took great effort to ensure we saw the best life. One dive master even swam against the current to come get me and show me a seahorse!

• Small boat size ensures that people get in the water safely and quickly. It also ensures fast travel to the dive site. Compare this with dive operators like Dive paradise. They have really big boats, with lots of people on them- which slows them down quite a bit. I did not actually dive with dive paradise, so cannot comment on the actual experience. However, anytime I saw a Dive paradise boat, it was going much slower.

• Gear: They had all types/ kinds of gear, and 90% of times ensured that all gear was on the boat. There was one time when we picked up a couple at another part of the island, and their gear wasn’t on the boat. However, they were very speedy in getting a car deliver the gear to them.

• Cost: Dives cost me $30 per dive, because I took a package deal of 10 dives. I added $5-$10 tip per dive, resulting in $35-$40 per dive, which I thought was very cheap for the quality of service and the entire dive experience.

Flexibility: I found a couple of freinds who wanted to do some specific dives. ie night dives. Even though the dive operator had not planned on night dives on those days, they were super-flexible, and took us on a couple night dives....They were open to suggestions on where we wanted to dive

Visited on 12/2013 - Submitted on 03/02/2014

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Amigos Hostel

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Food

Amigos Hostel review

I went to Cozumel from December 25-30th 2013. I have to say that Cozumel is one of my favorite dive destinations because of the ease of getting there, and no language problems. I was traveling on a very tight budget, and was looking for budget deals - yet something that won’t compromise on the quality of diving. I was ok with compromising on the accommodation. I dived with deep blue operator, and stayed at the Amigos hostel. I will provide separate reviews for the operator, the actual diving destination, and the hostel.

Amigos hostel review:

This was my first time staying at a hostel. SO I wanted something that was not ridiculously huge. My room had 5 other people. They also recommended me to a dive operator (Deep blue) who then gave me a discount because I said I was referred through the hostel.

• Getting there: You can get to Cozumel either straight by flight or you can take a flight to Cancun, and then a ferry to Cozumel from playa Del Carmen (PDC). I had taken a flight to Cancun because I was on a “land- vacation” with my siblings in Cancun, and then proceeded on to going to Cozumel. Traveling in Cancun can be easy. They have a ton of ADO ( name of the company) buses and bus stops. I got from my resort in Cancun to the PDC in an ADO bus. You can even get one from the Cancun airport straight to PDC. It costs around $45. From PDC you can get on a ferry. Don’t buy a two way ticket, because then you are limited to the ferry operator you can use when getting back. Two way ticket is not cheaper or anything – its just twice the cost of one ticket- so you are not even saving money. The ferry tickets were approx $11 one way.

PDC terminal: This has a bunch of cool eating places, and also a ton of currency exchange places.

Advantages of staying in a hostel:
• Meeting people of similar interests: If you are a single traveler, this is the BEST way to meet people. Most people at this hostel were diving. We all went diving in the day, and partied at night! I met so many new people, and I am still in touch with some of them. It is the best way to even do things around in town. I would say that this was the best benefit of staying at the hostel. After staying here, I willl always stay at hostels when traveling alone.
• Cost: The total cost per night was $12.00 I KNOW! So cheap! Also since I was diving most of the day, I didnt see the need to spend on a resort!
• Room size: Even the dorm rooms were just 6 -8 people total. Everyone was very polite and I got a good nights sleep every night that I was there. I also had to stay in another dorm called Hostelito for one night, because all rooms at Amigos hostel were gone. The dorm size there was 30 people, and I couldn’t sleep to save my life! I kept waking up every hour! So I really liked the Amigos hostel dorm size.

Restrooms: each dorm room had one rest room. Since the number of people in each dorm was really small, we did not face any inconvenience with this size of restroom
• Breakfast: They had a common kitchen where we could cook our own breakfast. People were very freindly and shared breakfast too!
• Owner: The owner of this hostel was extremely nice. She gave me a map of the island as soon as I arrived. She also gave me tips on what to do around the island, where to rent scooters etc. I was communicating with her over email before I got there to make sure I am doing everything right, She was quite responsive.
• Location: This hostel is a little bit inward i.e. not on the coast. So it was about a 10 min walk to get to the “downtown” Cozumel and to the harbor. But it didn’t feel too long. I did meet some creeps on the way back one night, but just kept my head up and kept walking. However since Cozumel is primarily a tourist destination, and since tourists are the primary source of income here, I think it’s mostly safe.

Food review is for Cozumel in general, not the hostel. There are all kinds of restaurants in Cozumel. Fancy, not so fancy,food stands. Pick your choice. I went to all kinds. We went to Senor frogs- super cheap margaritas and tequila. Also checked out some local food stalls.

Visited on 12/2013 - Submitted on 03/02/2014

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Cozumel Diving

Overall Value

Conditions

Marine Life

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Destination review for Cozumel:

• Overall there was great visibility on all sites. The reef was healthy on most sites. Incredible visibility on all sites. like 100+ feet. The current wasn’t too bad either. There was drift diving at many sites. Here is a list of some of my favorite dive sites:

o Columbia reef: Saw a ton of turtles, parrot fish, puffer fish, eagle rays, torpedo rays, and wide variety of fish in the beginning. Saw a nurse shark here towards the end of this dive. The coral and reef is amazing and colorful! The reef was huge- almost looked like a mountain underwater.

o Palancar reefs, gardens: saw some Morey eels here, ton of turtles, seahorse. Went through some beautiful swim throughs.

o Punta Sur: Saw multiple eagle rays as soon as we descended. These are the most beautiful and graceful creatures in the ocean. The coral was good too. But could not compete with the initial sitings of eagle rays :)

o Santa Rosa Wall: This was Mostly a drift dive. Again amazingly beautiful coral. We actually saw a group of 7 small sharks towards the end ( dont know what kind). But they were about 3 feet long. Saw a couple of turtles. Also saw a couple of sea horses later on !

Night diving: I was not a big fan of night diving here. There was very little life; at least compared to night diving in Catalina (Ca), there was pretty much nothing. But that may have to do with time of the year.

What to do when you are not diving or at night:

Shows: Downtown Cozumel has a number of street shows that are put up in the evening ( I believe they are sponsored by the government). We saw the one with the fire eater, and were very impressed.

Shopping: There are a ton of little shops around here. Feel free to bargain. The shopkeeper are pretty open to haggling, and I got stuff for half the price they had mentioned

Visited on 12/2013 - Submitted on 02/27/2014

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