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
