Dive Review of Manta Divers in Cancun, Scuba Staff Divers in Coz in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cancun and Cozumel

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Manta Divers in Cancun, Scuba Staff Divers in Coz, Nov, 2002, by K Reis, Ohio, US . Report 270.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	After fighting off a last minute cold, my wife, 2 kids (4&5) and mother (the reason we were able to dive) were off to a week of fun in the sun at Cancun, Mexico November 9-16th. we stayed at the Westin Regina at the southern end of the hotel zone. It is a wonderful place, great beach and plenty for the the youngster to do. Being a family vacation the diving time was rather limited, but I did manage 5 dives during the course of the week. Cancun Monday: We chose to dive with Manta divers during our stay. They took us out on a 2 tank dive on Monday and took us to Cozumel on Wednesday. Dive #1:Horseshoe Reef, 62Ft, 40 minutes. Horseshoe reef had a ripping current, the kind that keeps you vertical on the descent line. After settling on the bottom I notice that my dive computer has flooded ( stilll can't figure out why) . Fortunately it is not air integrated so I am able to do the dive. Nice healthy reef, huge schools of Snappers and Grunts. Many oversized Angels and a very nice mix of large Damsels and various other reef fish. The fish life in Cancun is amazing. Visibility was 60-70 feet. Water temp. 82 degrees. Dive #2: Grampin Reef, 58ft, 42 minutes. Less current on Grampin Reef, nice fish life once again on the patchy reefs. Spotted 2 very large Nurse Sharks. Wednesday, Cozumel finally! We are picked up and on the way to Playa De Carmen and the ferry. Everyone in my family went along for the day to shop and check out the island. Our guide was the dive master from Monday, Marcella. She was a terrific DM, always finding the things on the reefs that I would easily miss. We are shooting for the 10:00 ferry. We arrive at 9:55, jump out of the van and make a run for it dive gear and children in tow. Of course the ferry leaves without us.. (This day is not starting out well). We have an appointment with a dive boat at 11:00 and cannot get another ferry until 11:00. Marcella call the Cozumel dive shop and they fortunately agree to wait for us. Pretty cool of them. We finally arrived at the dive shop, ( Scuba Staff Divers, website ) nice folks who really went out of their way to wait for us. My wife and family went off to shop and I was rushed out to the boat. Finally going to experience Coz!!! The seas were rough that day, the port authority was only allow boats 40' and and larger out. Several people were hanging over the side on the way out, chumming for pelagics I guess. Due to the conditions we were unable to go out to any of the deeper walls (bummer), so we dove on 2 different shallow reefs. Dive #3: Yucab Reef, Cozumel, Mx., 65ft, 43 minutes. I took my first giant stride in Cozumel on Yucab reef. I could not believe the visibility and the beauty of the reefs. You can read about Coz for years and still not have a clue how wonderful the diving is there. Gigantic coral heads and huge reef fish. Tons of Lobster large enough to feed a family of 4 . One of my goals was to find a Spotted Morey Eel, and we found 3!! Did several swim throughs and just drifted along with the current enjoying paradise. Dive #4: Paradise Reef, Cozumel, Mx, 38ft, 46 minutes. The second dive of the day was on Paradise Reef. This is a shallow area of the reef very close to where the cruise ships are parked. We could not have been more that 500 yards from them. IMHO a disaster waiting to happen for the reef. The dive itself was very nice, little current with 100ft + visibility. Patchy corral heads to start out, but became more dense as the dive progressed. Once again many large angels and other reef fish. Of note the dive master found an elusive Splendid Toadfish. Friday Spent all day Thursday and Friday morning hanging out by the pool and doing the beach thing. Aqua World had a small booth set up by our pool and I found that they had a 1 tank afternoon dive. 1 more dive for the road! After some negotiations with the family, I was off to Aqua World. I knew it was going to be a cattle boat with 20 divers going out. What I didn't know was that there were only 2 certified divers on the boat. Everyone else was doing a resort dive. The other certified diver was with his wife doing here first dive, so I was on my own. They split us up into 4 groups, each with 1 dive master and I was in group 4. The DM let me go in before group 1 was even geared up. He just asked that I stay near the anchor line and join up once my group descended. This worked out well, it took my group 25 minutes to get in the water so this gave me a 60 minute dive. Dive#5: Manchones Reef, Cancun Mx., 30 ft, 60 minutes The dive itself was a shallow dive, very large schools of fish and patchy corral head. This visibility was down a bit from previous dives, probably due the close proximity of the site to Isla Mujeres.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Florida Keys, NE Ohio quarries, Lake Erie, Niagra River, Mt Storm Lake, WVA
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Manta Divers in Cancun, Scuba Staff Divers in Coz in Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cancun and Cozumel

Manta Divers in Cancun, Scuba Staff Divers in Coz, Nov, 2002,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Manta Divers in Cancun, Scuba Staff Divers in Coz in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cancun and Cozumel