Thinking of October Trip

[Jackie Treehorn]

I'd first decide if you want to dive 4 - 5 times a day or dive in morning and enjoy evenings in town.

If your decision is 4-5 dives a day.... Dressel does 4 dives a day (a fifth at night on Mon/Wed/Fri). Dressel is on the all inclusive resort Iberostar and the hotel appears to be opening up in November.

Boat rides are super short. So short in that you come back to the pier to surface interval after every dive.

You should be able to do better than that price just by booking direct with hotel and Dressel. There is a prepayment discount with Dressel.

 

[nodakdive]

This is just ballpark and not really an apples to apples comparison. I'm not sure if CDM is open right now and I used Salty Endeavors who advertise $80 for a two tank trip and as I understand, would pick you up at Casa del Mar as they leave from downtown. Others know their afternoon trip policy, but I seem to recall that they were pretty good about going out with low numbers on board.

Casa del Mar - $700
Salty Endeavors - 10 dives, Nitrox on 2nds - $450
5 shore dives - $50
7 roundtrip taxis to town - $105
Total for one - $1,305
Total with a roommate - $1805 ($902.50 pp)

That would leave $495 for food based on the $1800 Sunscape single price. I assume the $1500 at Sunscape is $1500 per person, so, you'd have $597.50, each, for food/drink for the week. Food seems to be about the same cost as the US. An entree at night is going to be around $15, beers are about the same as the US, etc.

I'm guessing roundtrip to town from Sunscape would be in the $30-$40 range? CDM is about $15 roundtrip. The 15 dives you'd do with Dressel would all be reef dives. Sunscape doesn't have shore diving as I understand, CDM does. None of the shore diving compares to the reef diving. Salty E does 2 tank afternoon trips, not 1 tank trips, so you'd get 20 dives instead of 15, but you'd have to add another $450 per person to do at least 15 reef dives as Sunscape is offering.

Sunscape is probably "nicer" than Casa del Mar when it comes to the rooms. CDM has a pool and a restaurant and very nice grounds but a much smaller footprint. I think CDM has an all inclusive package around $45/day per person.

As I stated, I don't know if CDM is open right now, but there are other places that would have shore diving and are in about the same price range, for instance, Blue Angel. They have shore diving and a house dive op. Hotel Coz, with the link above has shore diving as I understand but their package is 15 dives already. You can shore dive at the Barracuda and I think they're hooked up with Dive Paradise? The Barracuda is basically down town, so you wouldn't need a taxi. Villa Blanca also comes to mind as they have shore diving. The places I've mentioned are between downtown and the south cruise pier. Any of the shops that leave from downtown should be able to pick you up at your dock, though some places may charge a small pick-up fee. So, Blue XTC, Deep Blue, Salty Endeavors, Aldora and others could pick you up in that area. If you stay south of the cruise pier, any shop can pick you up at your dock, but there isn't much shore diving south of the cruise pier.

The upsides to Sunscape are the group, 15 *reef* dives, close to the reefs and laid back atmosphere as it's more isolated from the hustle and bustle of "town". I think it's a little more expensive and the food sounds like somewhat of an issue. There's a lot of good eating in "town".

Hope this helps.

 

[FLturtle]

I stay at Sunscape at least once a year & it works well for me. I enjoy the short boat rides for diving, having a decent beach, the all inclusive package, & the staff are great. I would rate it about 3 star. The food had improved when I was there in July except for breakfast (It was very lacking from normal). As others have mentioned not all of the restaurants were open but they were only operating at max. 30% at the time. It is far from town but easy to do a day trip by taxi. I rarely leave the resort anymore except by dive boat LOL. They had just remodeled at least 1/2 of the hotel rooms when I was there but some of the rooms are a bit run down although they have made a lot of improvements in the last few years. Wherever you stay, have a great trip & enjoy Cozumel.

 

[ReefHound]

CDM is open. We've been at Village Tan Kah, located next to CDM, for past few weeks. We've had dinner at CDM. You're prices are a bit high. Taxi from CDM to town is 90 pesos or a bit over $4 and that's with a 20 peso taxi stand surcharge. You can find $15 entrees but something at the popular Los Otates (now Tacotales) is more like $8-10 and a visit to the famous El Pique will leave you satisfied and stuffed for $5. A $6 burrito at Crazy King makes for a meal. Get off the waterfront and meals will be $15 WITH several beers.

 

[living4experiences]

I am a single traveler and pre-COVID it was cost prohibitive to stay at an AI because of the single penalty being almost double the cost. Plus, the AI resorts are usually quite a ways from the downtown area and I like to explore local cuisine. Times have changed. Since the food choices are temporarily (or permanently) curtailed downtown, an AI seems to be a good alternative. To my pleasant surprise, the AI option is doable now during COVID for a single traveler, so I'm taking advantage of that. I have booked at Sunscape November 8-15 with a deluxe double ocean view room with the AI, excluding breakfast, for $930 USD, 7 nights, including the 19% tax, not including diving. I don't eat a big meal before the a.m. dive, so the breakfast exclusion is fine for me. I bring instant oatmeal for morning diving. Although I'm not a fan of third-party booking engines, I booked through Agoda.com because their pricing was so much lower than a direct booking, and I can cancel up to 1 day before arrival and no deposit required...again, COVID times.

The onsite dive op is Dive House, so I will book independently with them ($95, 2-tanks) and not through the resort ($116, 2-tanks), and I can dive as much or as little as I want. Nitrox is $12 per tank, a ripoff because I don't think we should pay extra for Nitrox in the first place. I love night diving and hopefully the restrictions will loosen by then. They do night dives Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

To the OP, since you're a first-timer to Mexico, here's a few travel tips.
(1) Don't be lured into free stuff with a time share presentation. It's like being married...you'll have a noose around your neck for the rest of your life.
(2) A polite "No, gracias," is your favorite response to the street vendors/hecklers if you're not interested.
(3) The taxi mafia (as I call it) or the taxi union have set rates by zone, but the taxi drivers WILL try to overcharge you. It happens to me at least 50% of the time, but I know my zone prices before I go, and once you challenge them on it, they accept it. I call it the taxi mafia because transportation is run by the government and that's why hotels aren't allowed to offer shuttle services and there's no Uber or Lyft in Mexico. The dive shops aren't allowed to offer transport on land, only by sea. Also, stay away from the taxi stands because you pay extra for that. Walk a few feet down the street, put your arm out to flag a taxi like you're in New York, and a taxi will pull over right away and whisk you away. Tipping is not customary for taxi drivers and pay in Pesos, not USD, because you definitely overpay in USD.
(5) Most everything in town is closed on Sunday (at least Pre-COVID). Sunday was the only day cruise ships were not in Cozumel, so that was the day off for most of the island workers. Diving, though, still runs on Sunday. The cruise ships used to bring 10,000+ people to the island every day, six days a week.

 

[ggunn]

(5) Most everything in town is closed on Sunday (at least Pre-COVID). Sunday was the only day cruise ships were not in Cozumel, so that was the day off for most of the island workers.

It may be a bit quieter in town on Sundays, but I wouldn't say that most everything is/was closed. The restaurants are/were all open on Sundays, likewise most of the bars and trinket shops. There was always a big party with live music in the square on Sunday nights that was mostly attended by the Cozumelenos. You have to buy alcohol in stores before 3PM on Sundays, though; that's never made sense to me, but when in Rome...

 

[P-Dog]

I did not want to further hijack the COVID update thread, so figured I would start new.

Looking to sneak off to Coz solo sometime in October or November.

There is a group trip I could join staying at Sunscape all inclusive October 10-17 (originally scheduled for Scuba Club, but they switched locations) . 5 days 3 tank diving with Dressel Divers, and they keep our gear to wash and return for the next day. Single diver on this trip would be $1800 for the week, $1500 if I found a room mate. Free nitrox, and transfers. Reviews I have read says Sunscape is nice, but food is lacking. Would also like to be closer to town, as this will be my first trip and I want to explore a little as opposed to being at the resort.

Thoughts?


I would really like to try and find somewhere I could do 4 dives/day, is that unrealistic? That is why I liked the look of Scuba Club. Also like the thought of traveling in a group, but that was really to find buddies for shore diving.

Any suggestions or input appreciated, I have done a lot of research, but just can't make a decision!

I'm due to be at ScubaClub October 23-November 1.

I was just in Cozumel last week and Blue Angel. Had a great time and found it was very easy to meet people on the boat, at the on site restaurant, in the pool...going solo was not an obstacle.

I was able to do four dives a day with shore diving. I wanted to do more boat diving, but couldn't convince people to sign up for more boat dives. I'm hoping for better luck in October.

 

[Redfoot]

Awesome, thanks. I am not doing the group trip at Sunscape- now looking at Blue Angel or Scuba Club for late October or early November.

 

[living4experiences]

Awesome, thanks. I am not doing the group trip at Sunscape- now looking at Blue Angel or Scuba Club for late October or early November.

Be cautious about booking with Blue Angel or Scuba Club. Read the thread "Cancellation Policy Change at Blue Angel". The last couple of posts from P-Dog are interesting.

 

[donhealy]

I'm there with a group 10-10 to 10-17. Here are my costs.

Here is your pricing:
$825 pp (Land Package Vacation, DLX Oceanview Room, All Inclusive Group Package) Sunscape Sabor
x 2 guests
$1650 Total Land Group Package
$319.98 Total Travel Protection Plus
$1969.98 Total Paid to Apple Vacations 8/28.20

Diving $375 2 tanks/5days Dive Palancar
Nitrox $80 for the week