Instant Reader Report
on Manta Divers in Cancun, Scuba Staff Divers in Coz / [same] in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan / Cancun and Cozumel on
2002/11
by
K Reis , Ohio, US
Report Number 021128000601997

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 Florida Keys, NE Ohio quarries, Lake Erie, Niagra River, Mt Storm Lake,WVA 

Dive Conditions

[Unspecified]  

[None]  

Overall Rating

 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. 
  



 

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