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Dive Review of Dive Palancar/Sunscape Sabor in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

Dive Palancar/Sunscape Sabor: "Losing Their Luster", Jan, 2020,

by David Hollabaugh, MO, US (Reviewer Reviewer 3 reports). Report 11408.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity 3 stars
Dive Operation 3 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 3 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments I have 481 dives logged, 15th trip to Cozumel since 1984. Typical Cozumel diving. We dove with Dive Palancar for for three days. This was our fifth trip using them. We booked our diving at the Dive Palancar water sports hut on the beach at Secrets, which is immediately south of Sunscape Sabor. Luis and Juan have been there for years and are easy to work with. The boat picks you up at the Secret's pier. Two-tank morning or afternoon dives were $85, or you could buy a 10-tank package for $375. Park fee is $2/pp/day. My wife and I prefer afternoon dives, which depart at 1:00pm. Dive Palancar requires a minimum of three divers to go out, so we ended up diving one day with another operation that will go out with just one diver. I went out on the small boat, "Dive Express", the first day. It was fine for the three divers on board, but very rough conditions when exiting. Don't let go of the ladder once you grab hold! The other days we dove off of "Oyster", which is roomy and comfortable with a head. They have a water jug on the boats, nothing else. DMs Gustavo and Jorge have been with them for years. Pre-dive briefs were non-existent. Suit up and jump in. I'm not sure if it was because they knew us and our abilities from previous years, or they are getting burned out. There was no attention from the DMs in the water, other than an infrequent air check. Novice divers would have required more care and feeding. The Captains and deck hands were good. Profiles were Day 1 77'/50 min, 56'/48 min, Day 2 79'/45 min, 58'/51 min, and Day 3 73'/48 min and 58'/43 min. Like clockwork, the DMs sent up the surface marker buoy at 40 minutes, regardless of air/time remaining. We typically surfaced with half a tank of air remaining. Surface intervals were shorter than I prefer. Reefs from Palancar south that had been closed in late 2019 were reopened. I'll post a separate review of Sunscape Sabor on [cheapcaribbean.com link] and [sunscaperesorts.com link]
Websites Dive Palancar   Sunscape Sabor

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Florida, Hawaii, Bahamas, Caymans, Turks and Caicos, Honduras, Belize, St. Vincent/Grenadines, BVIs, St. Kitts, Statia, Saba
Closest Airport CZM Getting There AA STL-DFW-CZM

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry Seas choppy
Water Temp -°F / -°C Wetsuit Thickness 5
Water Visibility 60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions Stay within sight and preferably upcurrent of the DM.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

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

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

Subject Matter 3 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars 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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