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Dive Review of Scuba Du/Presidente Intercontinental Hotel in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel

Scuba Du/Presidente Intercontinental Hotel, Jul, 2004,

by Art Burke, TX, United States . Report 1181.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 4 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments This was our 5th trip to Cozumel but 1st with Scuba Du and staying at the Presidente Intercontinental Hotel. The hotel met expectations – beautiful beach view room, relaxing pool, wonderful beach and diving/swimming area. The food at the only restaurant (the second restaurant was under construction) was good – excellent buffets and al la Carte menus. The room was nice and large but the bed was rock hard. There was more than ample space to handle photography equipment in the room. The bath was a walk in shower. The AC worked fine and the up keep by the staff was excellent. If you like extra large (and heavy) towels the Presidente has them.

The scuba shop for Scuba Du was a covered hut. Adequate but not the typical dive shop you see at other resorts. The staff was very friendly and helpful. I was a little confused at first because your gear storage was on one side of the beach (by the dive hut) but the boats loaded out about 150 yards away on the other side of the beach near the restaurant. After the first day I figured out I could tip an “equipment handler” who rinsed my gear each night and brought it to and from the dock every day. Well worth the costs as you would have to lug your equipment back to the storage hut or to your room each day because all gear were removed after each dive outing. I requested a fast boat for the 2 of us but at the last minute Scuba Du changed this because a larger group booked all the small boats. This put us on the larger, slower boats. In the end it all worked out fine as we only had 7-11 divers each day and that was split into 2 groups for diving. It was quite comfortable, we had shade and a head with the only hectic part was getting everyone into the water at the site but that went well for all of the dives we were on. To exit the water they wanted everyone to take off weight belts, BCD and fins prior to climbing the ladder. The DM helped with this and it went smoothly for all. The dive briefings were short but precise and more time was given if it was your first day diving with Scuba Du. We had several DM’s over the course of 5 days and all were very good in leading, helping divers with gear problems and finding unique critters to look at. The only frustrating part was that they mixed experienced divers with beginners in the same group so you had to have patience but the DM’s were excellent in handling these issues (we all were beginners at one time in our diving experience). The DM’s were very safety conscious and kept tabs on all the divers and air consumption. At 700 psi they would begin the accent to the safety stop. All safety stops were open water (no boat line to hang on) so the DM was very watchful on times and depth control during the safety stop. We tipped the DM’s each day as we didn’t know who we would be with the next day, however you can put your request in for certain DM’s or boats each night and they would try to accommodate you. We would definitely return to the Presidente and dive with Scuba Du, as they were very professional and focused on making it a pleasant and enjoyable vacation.

The drift dives were excellent with lots of fish although taking pictures in a current is challenging. Water temperature was always in the 80-84 deg F range and divers wore swimsuits, 1-2mm shorties or full 3mm wetsuits depending on their own needs for comfort.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Caymans, Bonaire, Belize, Turks, Maldives, Seychelles, Persian Gulf,
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, cloudy Seas calm, currents
Water Temp 81-84°F / 27-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 2
Water Visibility 50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions All divermaster lead, small groups of 4-6 divers, return to boat with 500psi, max 35 mins 1st dive, 45 mins. 2nd dive
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

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

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

Subject Matter 3 stars Boat Facilities 5 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 3 stars
UW Photo Comments Boat has separate bucket for camera but no table. Divermasters/deck hands were cautious and helpful in handling camera pre and post dive. Had to go down below ot change out film. I had basic setup - camera with 1 strobe. A multi-strobe or multiple cameras would have been more difficult to handle on the boat.
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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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