Question Advice for group of new divers - seeking convenience

[Rob9876]

I'm a big fan of Scuba Club Cozumel. Like Blue Angel, SCC is for divers. No TVs in the rooms. Drinks are not included. People who like to party should look elsewhere. Close enough to walk into town. Click on my trip reports below for lots of pictures.

Are they slow boats or fast boats at SCC? When do the morning dives leave, and about when do they return? Also, do you dive your computer, or everyone up at the same time? Thanks.

 

[jlyle]

Are they slow boats or fast boats at SCC? When do the morning dives leave, and about when do they return? Also, do you dive your computer, or everyone up at the same time? Thanks.

Slow boats with lots of room, shade, and marine heads. Great time to talk to fellow divers, enjoy the ocean, and sunbathe. Boats leave at 8:00 AM and, depending on dive sites, return after 12:00 noon. Frankly, when I see the speed boats pounding through the waves with little or no shade, I have to smile on my slow boat.

SCC has a mixture of smaller boats and, what many people call, cattle boats - two groups with separate dive guides.

Scuba Club's dive guides normally determine how long the dives will last, based on depth, time, current, and length of the reef. When individual divers run low on air or time they are sent up as buddy pairs with a float. My wife and I have extremely low air consumption rates and always end our dives with the dive guide.

Nitrox is available on site (32%).

 

[flyboy08]

Look into the Grand Occidental…short hop to all sites. Nice resort….Aldora will pickup on the beach or use onsite ProDive.

 

[MMM]

Blue Angel checks all your boxes.

 

[mountainsean]

Awesome replies, thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[Matt B]

Blue Angel is awesome, Great Dive operation, Great Staff, Great Food and close in to town. Can't beat it for shore diving as well. Will be there Dec 24-31.

 

[lindenbruce]

I've stayed at the Villa four or five times and never had an issue. The walk into town is not very long at all and good exercise. Especially after a full dinner and margaritas. B.

 

[DandyDon]

The walk into town is not very long at all and good exercise.

I may have been that young once. I think Eisenhower was president. It's over a mile just to the ferry!

 

[mcohen1021]

Looking at Cozumel for the week after Christmas with a group of mostly new OW divers (two are brand new, two have a few dozen dives, etc.). I've been to Cozumel many times (last time was probably 5 years ago) and always stayed in non-dive hotels/condos (to accommodate my non-diving family) and always dove with Aldora. I always had a good dive experiences with Aldora, but it was a bit of a hassle to figure out the logistics of pickups and dropoffs given where we stayed. For this trip, since we're all divers, I'd like to prioritize the accommodations toward diving convenience. So something like the Aldora Villa (I haven't checked whether they have availability), or similar hotels/condos that have a good dive shop affiliation, will pick up/drop off on site, can cater to new divers, and ideally have a house reef or similar easy access to a shore dive or snorkeling. Any advice is welcome!

Also, are the reefs in reasonable shape at this point? I've seen some conflicting reports but hard to get a consensus.

Thanks!

Casa.Del.Mar.

End thread

 

[sefuchs]

Blue Angel is a pretty good "dive" resort with all the appropriate amenities (location, good restaurant/bar, dive shop, entertainment, etc.) but don't set expectation too high. We stayed there for a week in Oct and won't be staying again. We've always wanted to try BA b/c it looks like a perfect dive resort. Not that its a bad place at all, just not for us. The comfort features are lacking, admittedly we are a bit spoiled since we usually stay at El Cid or BnB's. If I was much younger and doing a 'guys' trip BA would be perfect. The location, grounds, staff are fantastic, here's what we didn't like. Very 'rustic' rooms, the beds are terrible, no chairs in the rooms, lots of mold (bathroom ceiling was nasty!), 'kitchen' chair on deck, only had hot water one day, no place to hang anything in the room and would have been nice to have a microwave in the room.

I'm not knocking BA, just want to caution you on setting expectations for your group. It's a nice spot, been around along time but showing it's age and in need of serious maintenance/updates.