Dive Review of Julio Kin Scuba in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel

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Julio Kin Scuba: "Good warm Cozumel", Feb, 2024, by Henry O Ziller, CO, US ( Top Contributor 40 reports with 21 Helpful votes). Report 12884 has 1 Helpful vote.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was our 8th dive trip to Cozumel, and once again we are staying at an all-inclusive resort. Grand Park Royal (parkroyalcozumel.com) is located on the east side of Rafael E. Melgar Avenue near the cruise ship docks and as such makes it a very busy area. But since we don’t have to leave the resort, we don’t have to put up with the masses of cruisers. Access to the very small beach as well as two pools and one restaurant is provided with an underpass for Rafael E. Melgar Avenue. Construction is said to have started in 1978, but we saw the construction was not even close to being 25% constructed in 2000. The last renovation was in 2013 and I believe that is when it first opened. There are three nine story buildings. Our room on the 5th floor had a great view of the entire grounds of lush vegetation and pool area as well as the sea. The room had two double beds, a dresser, nightstand, closet, and a mini bar. A safe was in the closet. There were only three 110 volt electrical outlets including the one in the bathroom. The bathroom had liquid soap, shampoo and conditioner mounted in the shower and soap and lotion at the end of the sink. There was a balcony with two chairs and a small table. Purified water tap was located near the stairs and two large plastic water bottles were provided in the room. They were yours to keep when you checked out. Getting around the resort on the coral rock walkways would not be easy for people in wheelchairs or otherwise had issues walking although people seemed to manage with both issues. There are three sit down restaurants (Italian, Mexican, and Seafood), a buffet, a deli with pre-made sandwiches, and a burger bar. The deli also has a coffee bar with a good americano or espresso. The food was fairly good, but even with all the choices, after a month it all gets a little boring. All three pools had a swim up bar and there were a couple more bars on the grounds. There is a spa and a workout room, but the spa was not very nice. We like the excellent spa at the Sunscape Sabor Resort, a $10 cab ride south. Located adjacent to the north of the resort on the sea side of the street is Julio Kin Scuba (juliokinscuba.com). There are others located just north of Julio Kin such as Scuba Shack, and Scuba Life. Julio gives a discount for multiple days of diving. I paid 7,980 pesos ($465 USD) for 5 days of 2 tank boat dives, plus the 100 pesos ($5.84 USD) per day for the marine preserve. Nitrox is 200 pesos (11.67) per tank. Once you drop off your dive gear you only need to show up for the diving. They will wash and store all your gear and have it set up on the boat the next day. Julio is very easy to work with. Since we were going to be here for a month I set it up to dive every other day. We had several days during the month I was here that rough weather closed the area for boats. Julio has 3 boats all identical. They are big enough for 8 divers a dive master and captain. All the safety equipment is provided including a Dan oxygen kit. There is only one 225 hp outboard for power. I prefer two motors in the open ocean, but since there are so many boats around I am ok with just one. I takes about one hour to reach the good dive sites at the south end of the island like Palancar Caves or Columbia. A good boat briefing is given before leaving the dock and a good dive briefing is given before diving. Entry is by back roll and exit is via a ladder with round rungs. You can choose to take off your bc in the water and hand it up after pulling weights and taking off fins, or climb up with your gear on. Surface interval is on the boat and water and fruit and cake is provided. Diving in Cozumel is all about drift diving. Sometimes very calm and sometimes really ripping. The water temperature was always 80 degrees F. (27 C). The visibility did not seem to be as good as it has been in the past trips, but still 60 to 70 feet on most of the dives at the south end. We saw an eagle ray on 10 dives, and my last dive. There were large southern rays on most dives. All the typical reef fish, angels, grunts, chubs, parrot fish, and lots of smaller reef fish. There were nurse sharks on most dives and turtles and large and small eels, some swimming. We also saw some crabs, lobsters, and octopus. There were some small nudis, fire worm, spendid toadfish, pipehorse, and my first seahorses in Cozumel. Best of all, only one small lionfish.
Websites	Julio Kin Scuba [same]Grand Park Royal
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Throughout the Caribbean and Central America, Hawaii, Micronesia, Indonesia, Philippines, Maldives, Tanzania/Zanzibar, Australia, and Fiji.
Closest Airport	Cozumel International Airport	Getting There	Denver to Dallas, Dallas to Cozumel. Reverse going home.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp	80-80°F / 27-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	40-70 Ft/ 12-21 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Depth and time. Time was only limited to one hour anfter some divers with gills stayed down way past an hour on an 80 ft. dive.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	A 5 gallon bucket was provided on the boat and most of the many different divers on this trip only had small cameras such as go pro's so a larger bucket was not an issue.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By Garth Peterson in OH, US at Feb 08, 2024 10:30 EST

AVOID COZUMEL WORLD DIVE SHOP as one the WORST ever in 40 yrs. of diving of all types. Many Unsafe practices and No nitrox for days. Unsafe Dive Equipment there and boat issues. A full report is coming. Nice report about your places by the way. Cozumel is world class as I’ve been all over the world. 1200 dives(including Galapagos, Red Sea, Truk, Palau, Central America). Cozumel 4 different dive shops/resorts so I have a lot of experience and am a Safety professional

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Dive Review of Julio Kin Scuba in Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel

Julio Kin Scuba: "Good warm Cozumel", Feb, 2024,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Julio Kin Scuba in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel