Trip Report - Scuba Club Cozumel

[Willar]

Group trip with our local dive shop - Adventure Dive & Travel, Springfield, IL - to Scuba Club Cozumel, November 4-11, 2006.

Scuba Club Cozumel was excellent. The diving was awesome and the fish were plentiful and big. However, the reefs still have some sand coverage from the hurricane. Some shallow areas with less current still look like a snow storm hit. My favorite dive was Columbia Deep, it was a little better than Santa Rosa Wall but not by much.

Food was good, cooked and served to order for lunch and dinner. Dinner menu was 3 different items each night but all were very good. The resort was dedicated to diving, the service was excellent and the place was very clean. The boat crew (Dive Cat) was excellent and very helpful.

We had rain the first half of the week and second half was better. There was no night life except our group drinking wine togther under the cabana discussing the daily dives.

Our scheduled for each day, all week:
7:00a Rise & shine
7:30a Breakfast
8:00a At dock with scuba gear
8:15a Boat (Dive Cat) departs for dive site, 1 hour ride
9:15a Boat arrives at dive site, splash in.
10:00a Surface from dive to 100 ft., boat heads to next site.
11:00a Splash in second dive after 1 hour surface time.
Noon Surface from dive to 50-70 ft, head towards resort
1:00p Lunch at resort
1:30p Relax for on hammocks near waterfront
3:00p Afternoon dive at resort or taxi up the coast to dive site.
6:00-8:00p Dinner at resort
5:00p or 8:00p Night diving at resort or taxi up the coast and navigate back
9:00p Group analysis of days' dives (with wine & drinks)
10:00p Bed time

I received two specialty certifications: Night Diving and Underwater Naturalist (not nudist, that is fish and creature I.D.!!).

Overall a great trip but I missed the wife and the kids at the end of the week and was ready to come home. I will definitely return!

Dean

 

[jlyle]

Welcome home. Now, call your travel agent and make reservations for your return trip! It helps with the withdrawal.

 

[DiverBeth]

I was in Coz Nov 8 thru 12. I stayed a little down the road from you at Casa Del Mar. I agree with you about the diving and the condition of the reefs. I did Columbia Deep and Santa Rosa too but I must say my favorite was the Devil's Throat.

 

[jo8243]

One question..... why is the ride to the dive site an hour? I've never been to Cozumel. Are all the sites real far away from land or something?

 

[georoc01]

One question..... why is the ride to the dive site an hour? I've never been to Cozumel. Are all the sites real far away from land or something?

The resort above is close to town on the north end of the island and the dive sites are on the southern end. And depending on the speed of the boats, it can take that long to get from one end to the other.

That's why you see many people recommend dive ops with small fast boats. It reduces that time. Or why some of us sacrifice being close to town for the advantage of staying at one of the resorts on the southern end of the island where the rides can be as fast as 5-10 minutes and they do SIs back at the resort.

 

[diver 85]

The resort above is close to town on the north end of the island and the dive sites are on the southern end. And depending on the speed of the boats, it can take that long to get from one end to the other.

That's why you see many people recommend dive ops with small fast boats. It reduces that time. Or why some of us sacrifice being close to town for the advantage of staying at one of the resorts on the southern end of the island where the rides can be as fast as 5-10 minutes and they do SIs back at the resort.

We just got back yesterday, 5 days of diving & stayed @ the Villa Dora(sort of the north end)......boat rides to Punta Sur South were about 25 minutes.....depends on the operation you're with---sometimes you get what you pay for...........GEAUX TIGERS.........

 

[diver 85]

I was in Coz Nov 8 thru 12. I stayed a little down the road from you at Casa Del Mar. I agree with you about the diving and the condition of the reefs. I did Columbia Deep and Santa Rosa too but I must say my favorite was the Devil's Throat.

the very north end of Santa Rosa looks wise appears to be in bad shape---lots of sand covering the shallow end of the reef---looks like a desert on top of the shallow reef system......

 

[jo8243]

The resort above is close to town on the north end of the island and the dive sites are on the southern end. And depending on the speed of the boats, it can take that long to get from one end to the other.

That's why you see many people recommend dive ops with small fast boats. It reduces that time. Or why some of us sacrifice being close to town for the advantage of staying at one of the resorts on the southern end of the island where the rides can be as fast as 5-10 minutes and they do SIs back at the resort.

What are the names of some of the resorts on the southern end?

 

[georoc01]

Iberostar, and Hotel Allegro are two. But there are others all the way down the coastline.

 

[BrewingDiver]

Been to SCC twice and loved it. The only drawback is they have probably the slowest boats on the island, so the trip can be over an hour each way. I remember eating lunch well after 2 PM some or most days. Still, the employees there are very accomodating, and we met some great people (other customers) that we dove with all week, and then booked a second time with them a few months later.

Next time we may try another place just to not go the AI route, but plan to return to SCC at some point. The included tanks for diving off the pier, especially at night, are nice, too.