On Scuba Club Cozumel

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Hatul

Contributor
Messages
4,377
Reaction score
715
Location
Tustin, California, United States
# of dives
500 - 999
Just got back from a week at Scuba Club, my fourth visit there and probably my last. I've had good experiences there previously but I must say this time was a disappointment. I'll summarize my experiences in the three areas: accommodation, diving and food.

Accommodation:
The rooms are definitely showing their age and are extremely variable -- some good and some uninhabitable. I had to change rooms twice as the first two had old air conditioners blowing hurricane cold air directed at the head of the bed. Maybe some can sleep like that but not me. I finally got room 31 which had a good AC, but was otherwise uncomfortable. The room had no table or desk to set your laptop or do some reading or study. To their credit the Wi-Fi internet access had improved since my last visit.

Another issue I had not experienced there before was loud music every evening into the night coming from some nearby resort north of there.

Food:
This was never a forte of Scuba Club but this time it was much worse. Breakfast and lunch were fine, but supper saw huge plate of food loaded with tasteless, fat creamy meal. Now I'm no chef but even I can cook much better than that. To makes things worse the upstairs dining room was kept frigid cold and dark. I ate there once and then stayed away.

Diving: This used to be the forte area of the resort but not anymore according to my experience there. Overall I found the diving mediocre. As a surrogate marker in the 13 dives I did the deepest was 88 ft max. I asked for a wall dive but it was not to be. There were always divers on the boat who had just arrived to the resort and they insisted on easy dives, even though I signed in as an advanced diver.

I used three boats. The Reef Star was a comfortable single hull boat with good tank rack, but had the exhaust directed at the dive ladder, so as you ascended you got some good lung fulls of engine exhaust. You need to keep the mask on and breathe from your reg to avoid that. The Dive Cat was their best boat though no windscreen for rain protection. The Observer was the worst of the three. It was extremely noisy to the extent that I feared hearing damage, the tank rack was poorly designed and could not accommodate the double band BC, and you had to back roll to dive.

Shore diving is limited in Cozumel because of the current so you're stuck with the dive operator. Overall I would avoid Scuba Club in my future travel and will likely also go to a different destination.

Adam
 
Thanks for the review. I never did like the rooms, either.
Sorry to hear that the diving was so dissapointing Given that you were there for a week, it seems wrong that you did not get to do a wall. Was the place very quiet when you were there?
 
Thanks for the review. I never did like the rooms, either.
Sorry to hear that the diving was so dissapointing Given that you were there for a week, it seems wrong that you did not get to do a wall. Was the place very quiet when you were there?

Yes, I arrived Sunday just at the end of the storm Rina, so initially it was light, but next day things picked up and were back to normal.

There was one other thing that disturbed me. I did see a few lionfish there, not many and as far as I could see there was no significant effect on the native fish. Nevertheless one dive guide came with some shears and he would spear the lionfish and then proceed to cut off it's spines. I'm not even sure the fish was dead. There was just no need to do that.
 
Sorry to hear about a bad experience. I like the uniqueness of the ocean view rooms but usually don't spend much time there, and have found the mattresses to be pretty hard. I've found the shore diving there however to be just splendid if you plan your dive on the current and go slow and see. Perhaps a more "accomodating" local like Little Cayman, not AIs, or a live aboard might be better for you. Then you can dial in your prefs, though usually more expensive. Bonaire or Cocoview would give you great shore diving when ever you want it.
 
Just got back from a week at Scuba Club, my fourth visit there and probably my last. I've had good experiences there previously but I must say this time was a disappointment. I'll summarize my experiences in the three areas: accommodation, diving and food.

Accommodation:
The rooms are definitely showing their age and are extremely variable -- some good and some uninhabitable. I had to change rooms twice as the first two had old air conditioners blowing hurricane cold air directed at the head of the bed. Maybe some can sleep like that but not me. I finally got room 31 which had a good AC, but was otherwise uncomfortable. The room had no table or desk to set your laptop or do some reading or study. To their credit the Wi-Fi internet access had improved since my last visit.

Another issue I had not experienced there before was loud music every evening into the night coming from some nearby resort north of there.

Food:
This was never a forte of Scuba Club but this time it was much worse. Breakfast and lunch were fine, but supper saw huge plate of food loaded with tasteless, fat creamy meal. Now I'm no chef but even I can cook much better than that. To makes things worse the upstairs dining room was kept frigid cold and dark. I ate there once and then stayed away.

Diving: This used to be the forte area of the resort but not anymore according to my experience there. Overall I found the diving mediocre. As a surrogate marker in the 13 dives I did the deepest was 88 ft max. I asked for a wall dive but it was not to be. There were always divers on the boat who had just arrived to the resort and they insisted on easy dives, even though I signed in as an advanced diver.

I used three boats. The Reef Star was a comfortable single hull boat with good tank rack, but had the exhaust directed at the dive ladder, so as you ascended you got some good lung fulls of engine exhaust. You need to keep the mask on and breathe from your reg to avoid that. The Dive Cat was their best boat though no windscreen for rain protection. The Observer was the worst of the three. It was extremely noisy to the extent that I feared hearing damage, the tank rack was poorly designed and could not accommodate the double band BC, and you had to back roll to dive.

Shore diving is limited in Cozumel because of the current so you're stuck with the dive operator. Overall I would avoid Scuba Club in my future travel and will likely also go to a different destination.

Adam

Holy Crap!

Either somebody finally told the truth about the place, or what's going on?

I could swear I've read and seen countless, endless, bottomless, glowing reports about SSC forever here. I got the impression they invented scuba diving from all the people who swear by them.
scratch.gif
 
Yes, I arrived Sunday just at the end of the storm Rina, so initially it was light, but next day things picked up and were back to normal.

There was one other thing that disturbed me. I did see a few lionfish there, not many and as far as I could see there was no significant effect on the native fish. Nevertheless one dive guide came with some shears and he would spear the lionfish and then proceed to cut off it's spines. I'm not even sure the fish was dead. There was just no need to do that.

Well in fairness they are struggling to KEEP the effect on the native fish minimal. Absent the thinning of the LF on the reefs, assuredly it would be worse.
 
Yes, I arrived Sunday just at the end of the storm Rina, so initially it was light, but next day things picked up and were back to normal.

There was one other thing that disturbed me. I did see a few lionfish there, not many and as far as I could see there was no significant effect on the native fish. Nevertheless one dive guide came with some shears and he would spear the lionfish and then proceed to cut off it's spines. I'm not even sure the fish was dead. There was just no need to do that.

The main reason you didn't notice the decimation of the native fish population is because they kill the tasty little buggers. If you want to see the (admittedly beautiful) Lionfish in an environment where it's not killed on sight, I sugges the indo-pacific. Or anyplace that's willing to allow their native populations to be decimated.
 
The Observer was the worst of the three. It was extremely noisy to the extent that I feared hearing damage, the tank rack was poorly designed and could not accommodate the double band BC, and you had to back roll to dive.

What's wrong with doing a back roll?
 
Interesting. My first trip to Cozumel was with a dive shop and we stayed at the Galapago Inn. The diving was fine for my novice stage at that time. The food was so so and soured me on all inclusives. But many people there at the time were repeat customers so my view then was probably in the minority.

As long as you do not mind back rolls, consider a dive op like Aldora. Pick a hotel you like and Cozumel is just fine.
 

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