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Dive Review of Blue XT~Sea Diving/Hotel Suites Colonial in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

Blue XT~Sea Diving/Hotel Suites Colonial: "Outstanding Holiday Dive Trip to Cozumel", Dec, 2017,

by Gregory Bruce, CA, US (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 23 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 10090 has 3 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments I spent 10 days diving with Blue XT Sea from December 21-31, 2017. All communication leading up to the trip and during the trip was accurate and timely. I love that Blue XT Sea boats depart and return to a downtown pier (known as the Aldora Pier). I will always stay downtown when in Cozumel in order to take advantage of all of the great restaurants and nightlife. Blue XT Sea is a true concierge/valet dive service. They will pick up your dive gear upon arrival to the island and will take care of it for you during the entire duration of your diving. No schlepping it around each day. You are only responsible for your wetsuit. Everything else will be rinsed, ready and waiting for you on the boat each dive day. The boats (Bandida and Shamu) are comfortable and fast 6 pack boats. Entry is via back-roll. Typically, there will be 2-6 divers + 1 Divemaster leading the diving and one boat captain who always remains on the boat and is "Johnny on the spot" to pick up divers after ascending. Pedro Pablo and Martin are the staff divemasters and do an outstanding job. They have 22 and 24 years of experience leading dives in Cozumel. Fresh towels are provided on the boat between dives and on the way back to the pier and there are also nice windbreakers available should you need them. Water is plentiful for hydration purposes and fruit and other snacks are provided between dives. Two tank morning dives depart at 8am and return between 12:30pm and 1pm, typically. Afternoon dives depart at 2pm and get back around 6pm. Nice long surface intervals between dives. 100 CF aluminum tanks can be requested for a $5 upcharge, which we found handy for the deeper first wall dives of the day. Nitrox in 32% or 36% are also available for an additional charge (typical of most Cozumel dive ops). Billing and invoicing were impeccable and accurate with many different payment options. You can't go wrong diving with Christi and her top-notch dive operation and team.

We stayed at Hotel Suites Colonial in the heart of downtown and a 1 block walk to the downtown Aldora Pier for boarding our boat each morning or afternoon. We booked a “suite” vs a “studio” room. The suite afforded a lot of additional square footage due to a separate living/dining room and a kitchenette enclave that had a sink, large mini-fridge, 2 burner electric stove and lots of cupboards full of eating and cooking utensils. The beds are very comfortable, the sheets and comforters are very nice quality for this price point and the AC and WIFI worked flawlessly. AC was also nice and quiet. The hotel is very quiet and impeccably clean, even though it is in the heart of downtown- this is due to the fact that the entrance has a long beautiful, bougainvillea lined corridor that leads from the street back to the main entrance. Also, no vehicle traffic is allowed on this street (foot traffic only). It is 1.5 blocks to the main plaza. Suites Colonial is a sister hotel to the Casa Mexicana and the Suites Bahia. Breakfast is included in the room rate and the breakfast is provided at Casa Mexicana each day from 7am-11am. It is an outstanding full buffet breakfast with just about anything you could think of. It is a leisurely 4 block walk to breakfast and then 2 blocks back to the boat pier. As mentioned, just 1 block from the hotel to the pier. I don’t think you can beat the value of this hotel. During the non-peak period of Christmas and New Year, the cost for the larger suite is in the $54 a night range and again, that includes a breakfast that would set you back $10-$12 if you were to purchase it separately.

The diving was outstanding. Spotted Eagle Rays on nearly every dive. Free swimming green morays, crabs, lobster, turtles, nurse sharks and octopus galore on our night dive, black tip reef sharks. Water temp was a consistent 80 degrees and air temps in the high 70’s and low 80’s with no humidity and gentle breezes. We had a great 10 days of weather with sunshine and no rain. It is possible this time of year to lose a day or so of diving to strong El Norte winds like they are experiencing today and the week before we arrived. However, we couldn’t have had better conditions. Currents were negligible. Maybe 2 dives out of 28 with moderate current. One dive with strong current, but we chose to dive up north at an advanced spot knowing what we were getting into.

Here is a link to a video of the trip: [youtube.com link]

Websites Blue XT~Sea Diving   Hotel Suites Colonial

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Cozumel, Thailand, Vietnam, Channel Islands, So Cal Coast, Pacific NW, Monterey, CA, Grand Cayman, Bonaire
Closest Airport CZM or CUN Getting There Direct to Cozumel or via Cancun with various carriers

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, rainy, dry Seas
Water Temp 79-81°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 60-70 minute dive times. Surface with 500psi; surface with the DM or prearrange to surface on your own if you can demonstrate a competence to shoot a delayed surface marker buoy from a reel/spool from depth.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

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

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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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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