Trip Review Cozumel/Scub Club Cozumel July 2014

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an13743

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As most of you, I only get to go on 1-2 dive trips a year and therefore thoroughly research my options before deciding where to spend my limited dollars and time. This was the same approach I took when choosing to go to Scuba Club Cozumel and therefore would like to help the next person who researches SCC with my input. Again, just my opinion and take on the place. (shielding from rocks being thrown :) )

I know this is a contentious topic with a lot of opinions. I know SCC has a lot of fans and we met plenty of them when we were there who had been to SCC 5, 10, 20 and more times than they can count. We also met several people who were in agreement with us that this trip was their first and last time there. I will also say with Cozumel being relatively cheap and easy to get to, we really wanted to become avid fans.

First, a little about me so you know my perspective. My partner and I have been certified for 3 years with over 175 dives logged each in 6 different Caribbean locations. We typically dive Nitrox and stay above 100’. We like fairly easy dives with lots of life to see with long bottom times. We don’t generally go for wreck dives or dive places just to check it off a list

I am also going to separate out the dive operations from the hotel itself as I don’t think it’s fair to review them together.

Hotel

Rooms

Despite other reviews, we actually thought the hotel was fine. No, it’s not a 5* resort, but it was clean, big enough for 2 people, had good A/C, hot water, plentiful drinking water, decent WI-FI and was comfortable enough. Our room (I assume all rooms) had a mini-fridge which was great for cold beverages. The bed and pillows were a bit lumpy, but if you are tired enough from diving, you won’t care. It also accommodated divers with large patios to dry your gear with a rack and hangers. It’s always difficult when you stay somewhere and don’t dive on property to store and dry your gear. We also appreciated the lockers outside to store less valuable gear.

Food

Based on other reviews we saw, we decided not to do the dinner package, but only do breakfast and lunch. So we can’t comment on dinner.

The food was fine. It was a good mix of basic Mexican and American. Which was good for me as I don’t like Mexican food. I didn’t go hungry, but it was far from gourmet. There were hit and misses. If you don’t like the dessert, be sure to ask for ice cream. If you are a vegetarian you might have a hard time. I think there was a veggie burger and that’s about it. There was plenty to eat and lots of fresh fruit. It was fine. I wasn’t blown away, but like I said, I didn’t starve either.

Location

The hotel was a little south of town. About a 5 minute walk from a big grocery store and 15 minutes from town center. We walked to dinner and sometimes walked back or took a cab. A cab one way was about $5 USD. We tried to find more “local” places for dinner where we were the only Gringos. We recommend El Pique. Always felt safe and never had any problems. I know some people complained about the proprietor harassment. Compared to other touristy areas I have been too, I really didn’t find it that bad. We were also never in town while a cruise ship was in, so maybe it’s worse during that time. If you said “No Gracias” you were left alone.

Service
Again, this wasn’t a 5* hotel. The service was adequate. It ranged from indifference to very nice and friendly. Our room was always very clean and had plenty of towels.

Overall, the hotel facilities were fine. Nothing to complain about.

What I didn’t like was the emphasis on tipping. I know this is customary and I feel the same everywhere I go when tipping is so stressed. I would rather see them charge more and pay their employees a wage that didn’t rely so heavily on tips and let me tip extraordinary service at my discretion rather than feeling if I don’t tip someone they won’t be able to pay their rent.

Dive Operations/Shop

Unfortunately, we were less impressed with the dive operations. We spoke to several people that had visited SCC over and over we heard about professionalism and safety and we just didn’t see it. We did 16 dives over 6 days.

Land operations

Nothing special. We just were not blown away. I will say they wouldn’t let me analyze my partner’s tanks without him present. I know $10 a tank for Nitrox is a standard for smaller dive shops, but I think a bulk operation like this, the price per tank is high.

They only change the rinse tank 1x day. (eww, after 40 people rinse their stuff) and I asked for an tank to be refilled and although they did it, it was with a bit of annoyance.

The sign up process for extra dives is a little wacky. Understandably, they have minimums for special and extra dives like afternoon and night dives, but you can’t sign up until the day of and then you don’t know if enough people sign up until after lunch some times. So it makes it hard to plan. Also, it made it hard if you knew which day you wanted to have a special dive, you couldn’t sign up in advance and try to get enough people. We were lucky we found other people that wanted to do our schedule, but we could have easily not.

There was one land op guy that was really nice and helpful, but everyone else was okay… one guy downright grumpy.

Boat and boat Crew

This is where things were less than stellar. I will say they were eager to be helpful, but obviously not divers nor have been diving. Over our 16 dives, on 3 occasions the air was not turned on before getting off the boat (I caught mine right before getting off and 2 other people after in the water). That is simply not okay and inexcusable to me. This is the first time I have ever been on the boat where someone didn’t check the air right before you leapt off. There were also several occasions that my equipment wasn’t set up correctly. I prefer to set up my own gear, but the crew would try to stop you if they saw you setting up your gear and then I had to redo it because it wasn’t right. There were no safety briefing of the boat, if you needed to abort a dive, the boat needed to abort the dive or where the emergency equipment was kept. Heck, I didn’t even know there was a bathroom on the boat until someone told me. I will say they were very helpful in getting you out of the water and helping you get your BC off.

We were provided plenty of juice and water, but considering we left at 8:30 and don’t return until 1 at the earliest, it was surprising fruit or snacks weren’t also provided.

The boats themselves seemed fine and in working order. No complaints about the boats.

Divemasters

We dove with 3 different masters. One dive master was terrible and unsafe, one was middle of the road and one was really good.

I won’t really go into the ones that were fine, but the one that was terrible, here are my proof points: Again, a lackluster safety briefing. Our first dive, although we had done drift diving before, we were really not prepared for the currents and he kept stopping and zipping around making it really hard to keep up. He knew it was our first dive there. He also didn’t let us know what to do if we needed to abort. At that point I wanted to change DMs, but my partner convinced me to stick it out with him. We also later learned since there are so many dive boats, if another picks you up, what channel to use to get the SCC boat, this DM with our several dives with him, never mentioned that.

We then went on a dive where he told everyone to get in and descend because of the current. We were the last ones off the boat by maybe 60 seconds and when we got down there was no one there with at least 100-150 ft of visibility. Again a lackluster briefing was “if the current is one way, we will follow it or we may follow it the other way” We follow the current for a bit, shake our noise makers and nothing. So after a few minutes we aborted the dive. The dive crew was good at seeing us and picking us up, but there was no reason for us to get down there and not find anyone. If the current is that strong, then they should throw a drag line for everyone to hang on and descend together. Before that dive, we had earlier agreed to go to Devil’s Throat (100-130&#8217:wink: swim through, but after getting left behind, we decided we would not feel safe going with this DM. When those who went returned, they said the same DM lost 2 people on each of the dives that morning, including the deep swim through.

Overall, I think the biggest difference was the attitude of the DMs. Most places we have been to, the DMs are there because they LOVE diving and are really passionate about it. It was apparent at SCC, that this was just their job and how they make a living. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it was just an attitudinal adjustment from what we have seen in other DMs.

The Dives

The dives themselves were nice. Good visibility, lots of critters. We saw a good bit of turtles and rays. The current was tough. There were places it was fine and others it felt like you couldn’t stop if you wanted to. I really like taking pictures underwater, so the current made it difficult and therefore my dives less enjoyable, but I can see how some people like to just ride the current and go. Also, it’s a pretty long boat ride out and back every day. Usually an hour out and 30-45 minutes back depending where the second dive is.

The house reef is actually pretty nice. We only did it once, but I wish I had done it as a night dive as well. Not much coral, but lots of critters. Great for taking pictures. During just one house reef dive, we saw a flounder, a few rays, star fish, several eels, several lobsters and lots of anemones and urchins.

If even after this review, you still want to go to SCC are some tips:

1. Get the lockers away from the dive shop. There is a nice shaded table and a fresh shower there. There does not seem to be a fresh water source at the other lockers. The other lockers may be a little closer to the boat, but we liked this area better.

2. If you know what “extra” dives you want, try to recruit other people to meet the minimum requirements before the day of

3. I can’t say if you shouldn’t get the dinner plan, but we enjoyed going out for dinner and it was significantly less expensive.

4. Use pesos. Everywhere takes dollars, but most places didn’t have the best exchange rate.

5. Don't forget to bring padlocks.

6. BTW, if you do the Cenotes, we LOVED Cenotes Experience.

I hope this review helps you. Happy diving.
 
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Thanks for this review. We are trying to plan our next trip and our wavering depending on dates and airfare, etc. We need to eventually make it to Coz and SCC and Blue Angel always come up as good choices. This review was very helpful for me as a newer diver.

Would you let me know where else you have been diving?

We have done Bonaire twice and BVI as a side trip once. We are thinking about Bonaire again as the front runner, but also considering Coz as a cheaper option, Roatan as a similar option to Bonaire and Little Cayman for a shorter amount of time and slightly more $$$ than Bonaire. Belize also looks good but prices out higher for us. We love nitrox and shallow too. Hubby loves taking on pictures. Fun to think about it. Once again thanks for the candid review!
 
I think your review is very fair and spot on. I have stayed there twice and will again this winter. The hotel is quaint and well located. The shore dive is very nice by Cozumel standards and your experience with the dive op completely depends on who you get as a DM. Most I have had were fine but I have met others there that are in the wrong line of business.

In my two visits once was as part of a group, the other was with just my family. The difference in service and attention was obvious. If you go there with a group you will be happy and have more control over the chosen sites and the ability of the divers in your party. As a small party you get blended in with the other few non-group people and you get what you get. I am going back with a group this winter and really looking forward to it. If I go again as a small party it will be with a different dive op.
 
Hi Diverjen,

If my post helps one person make a decision, it makes me glad I spent the time to write it.

You have been on this board long enough to know that only you know what's best for you. I will say, we kept saying to ourselves "we wish we went to Bonaire" But Bonaire is really only worth it if you take advantage of the shore diving and want to do 3-4, maybe 5 dives a day. If you take advantage of it, you really can't beat the cost per dive in Bonaire. We aren't the "sit on the beach and chill all afternoon" type. If we are going to schlep our dive gear somewhere, we want to dive. But if you only do 2 dives a day, I can see Bonaire seeming expensive. It also depends what you want out of your vacation. If you only want to dive, that is completely different than going somewhere with a variety of sites and activities.

We have been to to Cocoview in Roatan, which was okay. Again, a place with legions of fans, but not really us. One thing we really didn't like was once you got on property there was no leaving it. Also, we were told it was 4 boat dives, but it was really 2 boat dives and then getting dropped off at the house reef. The house reef was nice, but over 6 days, we did it more than a dozen times. We also went to Utila which we liked, we had the best dive master ever, but he is no longer there. In general though, I didn't find the Bay Islands as nice as other areas, but they are cheap. A lot of people also like Anthony's Key Roatan, but I haven't been there. We dove on Curacao, which was nice and if you want to do other things than dive, there is quite a bit to do there, but you really need to rent a car. We didn't stay at a dive resort so dealing with our gear was annoying. But we loved the shop we used, the Dive Bus. St Martaan same thing, the diving is nice and is a good island if you want to do other things, but would be difficult to have a pure dive trip there. We also went to Statia, which was fine, but really nothing to do on the island. We also went to Saba, but couldn't dive due to weather.

We haven't been to BVI, we have hard people say it's really nice, but I thought it was expensive, no?

The Cayman's were also on my list. It was cheap to get there, but crazy expensive once you were there.

In general I had a hard time finding a place that had a package for 3 or more dives a day or even offered 3 dives a day even if it was more. That is why we went with SCC, they had a special with 2 additional afternoon dives, free shore diving and additional dives that weren't very expensive. We originally wanted to do the Agressor live aboard, but they were sold out to give you an idea of how much diving we wanted to do. Other than Bonaire, we haven't found any where that can come close to doing that many dives.

Here's my other post from when I was starting my research a few months ago: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ge...co-central-america-carribean.html#post7047510



---------- Post added July 7th, 2014 at 10:21 PM ----------

Thanks Darook. It's unfortunate that it's such a different experience if you are with a group. Perhaps the legions of fans had the group experience. I am pretty sure they would have taken us wherever we requested, but where we went was really dependent on the current.
 
Thnx for posting
 
Thanks for taking the time to post/share your trip report.
Although I have quite a few friends who stay at SCC, I have not.
I have stayed at the Blue angel quite a few times, and really enjoy it there, but my wife likes it better downtown, so that's where we stay now.
 
Enjoyed your review; very practical description of the hotel, location walking distance from a grocery store, basic description of food for 2 meals/day, and the diving. If memory serves, you can stay there with a non-diver package; I assume one could book with a separate dive op. Wonder how that works?

I especially like reviews that lay out the 'dive trip workflow' - your room is home base, how near is it to essentials like a grocery store & restaurants, how many dives per day, how are they, is shore diving an option, anything else to know or that you need?

Richard.

P.S.: My 8th trip to Bonaire, I went alone, solo certified, in the past had seen the donkeys and drove through the park so didn't feel the need to do that stuff yet again, used the house reef for several dives, particularly night dives, as though a mid. 40's chubby out of shape white collar worker has his limits, jammed 28 dives into the 6 days diving. Typically 2 morning, 2 afternoon, one night. Total of 19 different dive sites; 2 boat dives, 1 guided east coast shore dive (BasDiving.com rocks), and 25 solo shore dives. Otherwise ate, sleep and sent some e-mails. If you want to eat, sleep and dive, and will drive yourself to dive heavily, a Bonaire trip can be hard to beat. I hear live-aboards offer some similar benefits; haven't done that yet.
 
I think you might be a very hard person to please.

I never felt that tipping was stressed anywhere near what you imply. Other than a sheet that gave ideas for what a reasonable rate would be, it never came up.

If you would prefer to set up your own equipment, then do it! I know I would never even think of jumping in without checking the air. I always take a couple of breaths while looking at my spg.

You receive a dive briefing that you are going to get in and descend immediately and you are a minute behind the last of the group? Then after descending you make a bunch of noise and then abort your dive? Why did you abort? You had your partner there as your dive buddy. With your dive count, you should have had no problem having a nice leisurely dive with the two of you.
 
@Keith

I will have to disagree with you on the tipping. There are signs posted everywhere regarding tipping and on our last day, our DM came up to our group and reminded us to tip the boat crew for how hard they worked. The reception area also "reminded" us a few times. Again, to me, if they have to put that much pressure on tipping, the real issue is that they aren't paying their employees a reasonable wage.

As far as the dive we aborted. I don't think there should be any judgement on any one making the decision to abort a dive if they don't feel safe for whatever reason. This was a site that we were unfamiliar with late in the afternoon that had a strong current. We didn't know which direction the group went with and felt safer aborting the dive. As it turned out, the current we were "riding" was the opposite direction in which the group went so if we continued the dive, we could have ended up pretty far apart. Regardless of experience, the point was that this DM lost 3 sets of divers over 2 days.

I think you might be a very hard person to please.

I never felt that tipping was stressed anywhere near what you imply. Other than a sheet that gave ideas for what a reasonable rate would be, it never came up.

If you would prefer to set up your own equipment, then do it! I know I would never even think of jumping in without checking the air. I always take a couple of breaths while looking at my spg.

You receive a dive briefing that you are going to get in and descend immediately and you are a minute behind the last of the group? Then after descending you make a bunch of noise and then abort your dive? Why did you abort? You had your partner there as your dive buddy. With your dive count, you should have had no problem having a nice leisurely dive with the two of you.


---------- Post added July 8th, 2014 at 12:15 AM ----------

Thanks drrich. I am glad you enjoyed it. We really like Bonaire too. We really like the flexibility of the land and boat diving. It's essentially a land-based live aboard. I imagine you carry less tanks around on a live aboard for a lack of places to walk :)

I understand that not everyone wants to "eat, sleep, dive" especially if you are with kids, but it suits us rather well and I think trips with so many dives in a row really helps your form. I know I didn't really feel comfortable until after my first time in Bonaire.

Enjoyed your review; very practical description of the hotel, location walking distance from a grocery store, basic description of food for 2 meals/day, and the diving. If memory serves, you can stay there with a non-diver package; I assume one could book with a separate dive op. Wonder how that works?

I especially like reviews that lay out the 'dive trip workflow' - your room is home base, how near is it to essentials like a grocery store & restaurants, how many dives per day, how are they, is shore diving an option, anything else to know or that you need?

Richard.

P.S.: My 8th trip to Bonaire, I went alone, solo certified, in the past had seen the donkeys and drove through the park so didn't feel the need to do that stuff yet again, used the house reef for several dives, particularly night dives, as though a mid. 40's chubby out of shape white collar worker has his limits, jammed 28 dives into the 6 days diving. Typically 2 morning, 2 afternoon, one night. Total of 19 different dive sites; 2 boat dives, 1 guided east coast shore dive (BasDiving.com rocks), and 25 solo shore dives. Otherwise ate, sleep and sent some e-mails. If you want to eat, sleep and dive, and will drive yourself to dive heavily, a Bonaire trip can be hard to beat. I hear live-aboards offer some similar benefits; haven't done that yet.


---------- Post added July 8th, 2014 at 12:16 AM ----------

I was torn between SCC and Blue Angel. The proximity to town is what won us to SCC.

Thanks for taking the time to post/share your trip report.
Although I have quite a few friends who stay at SCC, I have not.
I have stayed at the Blue angel quite a few times, and really enjoy it there, but my wife likes it better downtown, so that's where we stay now.
 
@Keith

I will have to disagree with you on the tipping. There are signs posted everywhere regarding tipping and on our last day, our DM came up to our group and reminded us to tip the boat crew for how hard they worked. The reception area also "reminded" us a few times. Again, to me, if they have to put that much pressure on tipping, the real issue is that they aren't paying their employees a reasonable wage.

As far as the dive we aborted. I don't think there should be any judgement on any one making the decision to abort a dive if they don't feel safe for whatever reason. This was a site that we were unfamiliar with late in the afternoon that had a strong current. We didn't know which direction the group went with and felt safer aborting the dive. As it turned out, the current we were "riding" was the opposite direction in which the group went so if we continued the dive, we could have ended up pretty far apart. Regardless of experience, the point was that this DM lost 3 sets of divers over 2 days.

Not my experience at all but things could have changed. They do have the little box to put tip envelopes in by the entrance, but I don't remember any other sign that addressed tipping.

And of course, you can abort a dive at any time for any reason. I was just curious. But I don't see how there is even a possibility of a current going in the opposite direction.

The one thing you did not address though was being a minute behind the others on splashing. If you were not ready, you should have told the DM to hold up a second.
 
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