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Dive Review of Scuba Club Cozumel in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel

Scuba Club Cozumel: "A success week in Cozumel", Nov, 2015,

by John, CA, US ( 2 reports). Report 8627.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 4 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Very quickly after arriving at Scuba Club Cozumel, we discovered that many, perhaps most, of the people in the hotel were divers who had been there before. Most, I suspect, on the basis of our experience, would be willing to come yet again. That may be all you need to know.

The check-in was friendly and moderately quick. Our room appeared to have been recently refurbished. It was clean and odor free and everything worked (A/C, refrigerator, roof-fan, Wi-fi). It was designed with divers in mind – spacious shower, good drainage in the bathroom floor and a generous balcony with lots of hanging space. The property appeared very secure.

The dive operation was very good from our vantage. It appears that the hotel does not own its own boats, but rather hires from the local fleet to meet demand. It works. We were on the same boat with the same group of divers each of our five days of diving. They did not “stuff” the boat. Our dive master, captain and deck hand (Sergio, Victor, Ivan) were friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. There is a hook. The hotel is easy walking distance to town (San Miguel), but that means that it is a one hour chug (at 12-15 knots – Oh, for one of those boats with the twin Yamaha 150’s) from the hotel to the principal dive sites on the Palancar reef. A two tank dive was always five plus hours dock to dock. There are rinse tanks, showers and ample locker space (bring a padlock) dock side. There is a National Park fee of $2.50/day/diver that must be paid in cash on day one.

One hears too often about such and such a dive destination not being what it used to be. To our eye, that does not apply to the Palancar reef. The reef is as healthy and vibrant as it was ten years ago. We filled our critter quota easily – spotted eagle rays, sting rays, nurse sharks, eels, lobsters, crabs, splendid toad fish, pipe sea horse, sea horse (one we encountered should have been a called a sea-Clydesdale), turtles, flounder. In the course of ten tanks, we saw only three lion fish. The temperature at depth (second week of November) were 82-84 F.

We were on the three meal a day plan. Mario was the “Maître D” of the dining areas. He runs a good ship and his entire crew was quick and friendly. There was a generous, extensive breakfast buffet, numerous a la carte choices at lunch including a daily luncheon special (always a good bet in our experience), and a very slightly formal dinner with three varying entrée choices. We were generally very pleased, though we found a few dishes to be excessively salted. Remove tight rings at the beginning of the week. All the portions were generous. Another time, we might omit the dinner, as good as it was, from the package and go into town, largely for the sake of “getting off the island” once in a while. (As I type, I am unsure if there is a pay as you go restaurant option at the hotel.)

This seems a good point to mention that there is a small exercise room, with a treadmill, an upright exercise bike and dumbell-type weights up to 50 pounds. (A Nordic style ski machine and a stair-stepper were not functional.) This is not the gym you go to in your home town. There is no bench or universal machine, but it is more than we expected to find.

When you check in you will be handed a “Tipping Guide”. It reads as follows:

Restaurant/Kitchen staff: $ 8-10 per day per guest
Chambermaids: $ 4-5 per day per guest
Divemasters: $ 6-8 per day per guest
Boat crew: $ 6-8 per day per guest

Tips must be in cash.
Websites Scuba Club Cozumel   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Pelau, Fiji, Cocos, ABCs, T&C, other Caribbean
Closest Airport CZM Getting There Via Houston (easy)

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, currents
Water Temp 82-85°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions Begin ascent at 800
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

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 I am not a UWP. I heard no complaints
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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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