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Dive Review of Scuba Club Cozumel in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

Scuba Club Cozumel, Apr, 2007,

by L. Austin, VA, USA (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 9 reports). Report 3280.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 3 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments Cozumel is reasonably-priced and very accessible for the American diver. It's easy to get to and easy to leave. No problems with flights, connections, luggage, etc. Beware the "travel advisory" aka time-share salesmen when you disembark. They are everywhere.

We only walked into town one afternoon and it was awful. Every day there are numerous cruise ships in port--one day we counted six! Hordes of tourists and cheap shops and overly-aggressive shop employees: just how many Hard Rock Cafes does one place need? Ugh.

We stayed at Scuba Cozumel for a week (all-inclusive with 6 days diving, 2 morning dives). We ate all our meals except one at the hotel. The food is adequate. Breakfast and lunch were fine, but dinner was invariably somewhat disappointing. The restaurant (and hotel) staff is very helpful. Service was great. The beach party was kind of a bust, although the authentic Mexican buffet was good. Most divers seem too tired to stay up past ten, although there were a few serious drinkers/partiers at the hotel.

We very much enjoyed the Mexican architecture at Scuba Cozumel. Lots of tile and white stucco. The rooms are comfy, large, clean, and nobody minds if you hang your wet stuff on the balcony. Yes, the beds are a bit hard, but the showers--ahh!--plenty of hot water. They do not supply you with beach towels, so bring your own. Not that there is a beach, of course, and the pool is barely bigger than a bathtub. I swam laps over the hotel iron shore reef; I also snorkeled there on several occasions and saw a needlefish, scorpion fish, flamingo tongue, juvenile Angel, arrow crab, and other species.

We were there during a busy week (Easter) so they frequently changed our boat and our DM. The DMs go from wonderful (Geiser!) to good and competent. The boats at Scuba Cozumel are slow. It takes about an hour to get to Palancar, for example. But there is a head on every boat, as well as a cooler filled with water and juice. No food is provided. Good crews.

This was my first time as a diver in Cozumel, so I don't know what Cozumel was like before the hurricane. It's obvious, however, that the reefs have sustained some lasting damage. In addition, there are many areas still covered with sand. We also found many of the reefs to have a noticeable paucity of fish. (I specifically noticed this at the famous Palancar sites.) OTOH, we saw nurse sharks, a reef shark, dolphins, moray eels, monster parrots, lobsters, several splendid toadfish and seahorses. We saw turtles on nearly every dive, and I don't believe there can be another island in the Caribbean with as many gorgeous Queen Angelfish. So, while the diving might not be as good as it was before, it's still pretty awesome, IMHO.

The afternoon dive at Scuba Cozumel (extra) is for the wreck of the Felipe X. You can dive all three levels of the ship (with DM) but, unfortunately, most everything inside has been stripped except for the toilets. There is also a night dive and a combination dusk/night dive; we chose the latter and found it very worthwhile. The hotel holds dinner for the divers returning late, which I call very accommodating--although we were so tired we would have been happy with a bowl of cereal!

This was our first experience with drift diving, so obviously it takes some adjustment. Current went from negligble to ripping--or so it seemed to me. Lots of fun, unless you want to take a photo or swim back to see something you missed!

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 51-100 dives
Where else diving Bonaire, Cayman Brac, Roatan, Florida Keys
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, currents
Water Temp 0-83°F / -18-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 0-80 Ft/ 0-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions we were diving nitrox a lot of the time, so were limited to 107'. I don't believe anybody went much past 100'.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins 1 or 2 Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments There is one rinse tub on boat; we mostly rinsed off the camera in the shower.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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