Scuba Club, Mar, 2009,by Dick Sziede, VA, USA (![]() |
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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 | N/A | Environmental Sensitivity | ![]() |
Dive Operation | ![]() |
Shore Diving | N/A |
Snorkeling | N/A | ||
Overall Rating |
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Value for $$ | ![]() |
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Beginners | ![]() |
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Advanced | ![]() |
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Comments |
Plans for Hawaii fell through. We needed to get wet, and to get away from winter. Lets go back to Cozumel! The Coz has urbanized and developed in the five years since last we visited. Scuba Club, being an all-inclusive insulated us from much. Hotel architecture is old Mexico. Many levels, around a gardened courtyard. Much more pleasant than the Soviet apartment-block horrors of the larger resorts. The grounds are gated and secured. "All-inclusive" conjures visions of bland, steam-table fare. Not so at Scuba Club. Meals are tasty and innovative, especially the Mayan recipes. Even lasagna had a flair, being spiced with cinnamon, Greek style. Only breakfast was steam-table. Still, the Huevos Motuleños were great! Lunch and supper are waiter-served, quickly and graciously. When we expressed delight, the manager said, "The plain fare may do for tourists, but scuba divers need nutrition!" Ah the diving! Hurricane Wilma is still very apparent. A lot of sand still clogs the reefs. Where the soft corals are recovering it looks as though they have a crew-cut. Fish were more plentiful on the shallow dives than on the deep, wall dives. Whisking through the coral heads in a 5-knot current still thrills. On my first visit to Coz many moons past, a DM told me the best time to visit was early spring. The best visibility (100+) and no crowds of spring-breakers braying at the bar. We chose the first week of March. He was right about the diving. Dismayed to find Dulles airport crowded with college louts. Fortunately, "I'm like," and "she goes" headed for Cancun, leaving Cozumel to the grown-ups. I hope to see their fuzzed-out naughty bits on MTV soon. The viz underwater was indeed as good as it gets. Alas, spring breakers to Cancun meant the vis at poolside was not so hot. My saggy 66-years was par for the bikini-watching course. Scuba Club's boats are tightly run. You dive all week with the same DM. Nestor certainly went the extra mile for me. Dives are led in groups of 7-9. The main attractions, Palancar, Columbia etc. are about an hour south by boat. The wind blows north to south. The homeward, upwind journey after your are chilled from diving can be a trial. I took and wore both a fleece and a Gore-tex windbreaker. Even the Minnesotans were cold going upwind. Money's worth? You bet! Especially since it snowed seven inches in Virginia while I was wearing shorts and sandals in Cozumel. |
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Reporter and Travel |
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Dive Experience | 251-500 dives | ||
Where else diving | Truk, and all over the Caribbean | ||
Closest Airport | Getting There | ||
Dive Conditions |
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Weather | sunny, windy, rainy | Seas | calm, choppy, currents |
Water Temp | 76-78°F / 24-26°C | Wetsuit Thickness | 3 |
Water Visibility | 100-150 Ft/ 30-46 M | ||
Dive Policy |
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Dive own profile | no | ||
Enforced diving restrictions | All dives led. | ||
Liveaboard? | no | Nitrox Available? | N/A |
What I Saw |
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Sharks | 1 or 2 | 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 | N/A |
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 | Dedicated camera rinse tanks. Plenty of work space but none reserved for cameras. |
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