Tuff-N-Nuff/Coco Beach Resort, Jul, 2009,by Stephanie Ferris, TX, USA ( 1 report). Report 4980. |
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No photos available at this time | |||
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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Accommodations | Food | ||
Service and Attitude | Environmental Sensitivity | ||
Dive Operation | Shore Diving | N/A | |
Snorkeling | |||
Overall Rating |
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Value for $$ | |||
Beginners | |||
Advanced | |||
Comments |
Coco Beach Resort is a beautiful, midsize resort with more buildings scheduled to be built. The suites have large rooms, and the kitchen has granite countertops, appliances and a refrigerator with filtered water and ice dispenser. There is no dishwasher. The baths are lovely, with granite and carved wood appointments, but be sure and bring a hair dryer. Belizean Shores, the sister resort, a short walk down the beach, has a restaurant servicing both facilities and the dive shop/dock. We had breakfast delivered to our room each morning, so as not to spend an hour in an unairconditioned room waiting on our eggs. We ate dinner out a few times (fresh seafood did not disappoint)and bought groceries and fixed simple meals in our condo the rest. Eliminating the "island time" waits gave the family more ocean/pool time. We utilized both golf cart rental and water taxi to travel to San Pedro for our in town activities. We wish we had known to bring more cash. We had to travel to the bank in town for a credit card advance. The hotel was limited in amount of traveller's checks it would cash. Tuff-N-Nuff is a small but efficient dive operation. The divemasters are knowledgable and skilled. We spent the most time with Felicito and Billy. The boats are uncovered, but not much leisure time is spent on them, as the divesites we traveled to are but a short distance outside the cuts in the barrier reef. Tanks are fitted with BCs and checked on the dock, then loaded by the staff onto the back of the boats. Divers sit on benches at the sides of the boat. The waves were tall going through the cuts, so the routine is to be briefed and dressed before going through the cuts. Briefs were informative and ecologically oriented. The divemasters gear up a diver on each side of the boat, one at a time, and hand down cameras, etc. after a back roll into the water. The groups meet up at the mooring line. After descending below 5 feet, the chop was gone, and not much current was noticeable. The corals appeared healthy, in spur and groove formations with a few canyons and swimthroughs. There were no huge schools of fish noticeable, but all the usual tropicals were there, including angels, scrawled filefish and spadefish, as well as small stuff like sharpnose puffers, nudibranchs, and a seahorse or two in the shallows. Green morays were abundant and nurse sharks too numerous to count. There were many large groupers. There were stingrays, eagle rays and turtles, including the most enormous loggerhead turtle ripping apart a queen conch like it was cardboard. The night dive was memorable, with all the list of "to sees" checked off by the end of it, incuding two octopi. We also had a good dive/snorkel trip to Hol Chan Marine Park and Shark Ray Alley. A quick snorkel under the dock revealed lobsters, rays and needle fish. Two lionfish were caught around the dock and put into an aquarium in the shop during our stay! All four diving members of our family had a good time, from my husband and me, twenty year divers, to our 16 year old daughter in her fourth year and our 13 year old son newly certified. There are perhaps more spectacular dives to be made in the Caribbean, but given the overall trip, including our inland day-trip to Mayan ruins and cave-tubing and hike through the jungle, which the dive shop arranged, I think it was a first class trip overall. |
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Reporter and Travel |
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Dive Experience | 251-500 dives | ||
Where else diving | Crystal River, Florida, all three Cayman Islands, Florida Keys, Grand Turk, Bonaire, Aruba, Curacao, Cozumel, Clear Springs Scuba Park in Terrell, Texas | ||
Closest Airport | Getting There | ||
Dive Conditions |
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Weather | sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy | Seas | choppy |
Water Temp | 80-84°F / 27-29°C | Wetsuit Thickness | 1 |
Water Visibility | 500-75 Ft/ 152-23 M | ||
Dive Policy |
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Dive own profile | no | ||
Enforced diving restrictions | divemaster guided dives; dictated by ability of the group; once limited to 60 feet depth because of number of kids; return to boat dictated by diver first low on air | ||
Liveaboard? | no | Nitrox Available? | N/A |
What I Saw |
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Sharks | Lots | Mantas | None |
Dolphins | None | Whale Sharks | None |
Turtles | > 2 | Whales | None |
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best): |
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Corals | Tropical Fish | ||
Small Critters | Large Fish | ||
Large Pelagics | N/A | ||
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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Subject Matter | Boat Facilities | ||
Overall rating for UWP's | Shore Facilities | N/A | |
UW Photo Comments | There was an ice chest filled with fresh water placed in the middle of the boat for cameras. Divers were told not to place any other type of equipment in it. |
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