On Scuba Club Cozumel

[Jax]

Typical methodology used for shore diving with currents that run parallel to shore, is you start your dive swimming against the current, reach turn around point and return to exit with current. This is typical anywhere, not just Cozumel.

Good Lord, you can't do much swimming into the current at Coz! You'll exhaust yourself.

The association is with the DM (or whomever is feeding them) not the lionfish.

I can vouch for that!!!! Danged funny to watch a fish puppy-dog a DM.

I'd personally just like to see DM spear them and stick then in the heads with a knife and leave the dead bodies and move on without the ego/tourist show of feeding them to other fish on the reef.

Whether we like it or not, this is the current practice.

However, some dive ops do not kill the lionfish around clients. They do not know how the people will take it, but they did say they hunted the heck out of them other times.

 

[DandyDon]

Good Lord, you can't do much swimming into the current at Coz! You'll exhaust yourself.

Shore dive currents are usually easy ones. They are eddies of the channel current actually and may go either way. We had one turn 180 on us once.

 

[kixy1]

"I'd personally just like to see DM spear them and stick then in the heads with a knife and leave the dead bodies and move on without the ego/tourist show of feeding them to other fish on the reef."

I'm with you on this one Mike, hate it when my zen dive turns into a Seahunt/Seaworld show. After day 2 last June I made a deal with my boat (full of guys mesmerized by those shiny sticks of death ) and the DM's. 1st dive we'd go up north and hunt, everyone could bring a stick, 2nd dive we'd head south and play with the pretty fish, no one could bring a stick. I threw my son in as the bag holder, but made them promise to cook and feed me the catch in the afternoon. It was a most excellent week of diving AND eating, and they taught my son to be a pretty good spearman.

I'm sure this was a somewhat unique situation, but I think it shows we need to compromise and work with the facts that A) lionfish are here to stay B) the only control measure we have at this time is killing them B) tourists like to kill and/or watch lionfish being killed and fed to other fish, and B) the DM's livelihood depends on both B and C. Personally, if the killing gets to be too much, or takes up too much time on the dive, I’ll have a talk with the DM. Time and place for everything.

Just to stop speculation about what happened on days 1 and 2, the DM had a spear, and used it appropriately to kill and mostly leave dead lionfish. It was my fellow divers who I noticed becoming obsessed with finding more lionfish for him to kill. He’s pointing at a turtle and they've got their faces glued to the reef looking for spines. I’m laughing as I write this and remember it…Anyway, for our boat, we were able to work out a solution that made everyone happy and fat. Great group, I miss them all.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

delete ooops posted to wrong thread

 

[jlevine]

Wow...I reread the original post. What I got out of it was that there were things about the room, food, and diving that he didn't like. This reply seems more like a personal attack. His post by itself would not dissuade me from going to SCC any more than your post would persuade me to go there.

Adam, I was there at the same time as you and my group even extended invites to you to join dinner, etc, since you were on the same flight as some of our arriving group. Let me preface my remarks by saying that I'm not trying to be mean, but rather realistic.

We were on the same Reef Star boat and dove the same dives with different dive masters. We had dives of over 100', 90' and 80' for the first four days of diving and beyond. The group you were assigned to dive with got very frustrated with you and your diving technique. The dive master even talked to you about your diving for which you asked to be assigned to another boat and that request was granted. Also, when you're with other underwater photographers you have to be polite and wait your turn, of which most of the time you did not. On the night dive you constantly bounced on top of me for which I was about ready to punt you for screwing with my buoyancy.

I can't speak to your room(s), but everyone in our group and the other groups we befriended were in great rooms, as were my rooms of past. The food was just fine, true maybe not the food of the past, but still very good. As well, you have the right to choose off the lunch menu if you didn't like the dinner menu. If you don't like the full food menu, you could have chosen a light plan which would have allowed you to go out and enjoy Cozumel flavor. I've been to SCC as a single without dive partners or travel partners and I certainly enjoyed Cozumel outside of SCC.

When, at dinner, you spoke about "have you ever wondered what it would be like to shoot a canon at a ship" (as we were at dinner looking out over the cruise ships and party boats that passed), we all felt very uncomfortable around you. The night dive just sealed the deal for two or three groups at the club.

If you choose not to come back to SCC, that is probably a good thing, but don't lambaste SCC because you didn't listen to the dive masters or because the other divers complained about you, and you didn't get your way. This is why you were likely placed on so many boats and didn't get your wish of diving past 100'.

SCC does everything possible to make divers experiences exactly what they hope for. Obviously yours was not ideal and that is a loss for you. Enjoy your trips elsewhere and I truly hope you find a location that serves your needs and desires.

 

[Hatul]

You can shore dive in Cozumel as long as you stay shallow and close to shore. If you go too far and too deep it's just not safe as you'll be carried by the current. Sure the current reverses sometimes and weakens but you just can't count on it. Around Scuba Club the shore dive is good to about 30 ft and is fine for checkout or as a night dive.

Some people take a taxi and do a drift shore dive, but again you have to stay shallow and be able to recognize landmarks to come up at the right time.

Adam

 

[DandyDon]

Really, I seldom mess with shore diving in Coz. I like morning boat dives, afternoon siestas, relaxing evenings - and when I want more, I do more boat dives.

 

[robint]

well... I will give my 2 cents on the SCC issues.

I have been to Cozumel 8 times over last 11 years.

The first several times we were on a tight budget, so we stayed at the cheapest place we could find, rented a car, did meals separate, dive op separate. It became very exhausting and time consuming to do the meals downtown each night and still get in 3 dives per day. It also didn't work out as cheap as we thought it would be.

Our last 2 times to Cozumel we stayed at Scuba Club, as our friend Jlyle recommended.
Our first trip was far from perfect, we ran into some glitches due to several large groups staying at the resort at the same time. Meals ranged from excellent to just ok. Shore diving was fantastic, boat diving was a bit crowded due to the resort being full.
Our second trip to SCC went flawlessly. Boat diving was excellent, shore diving excellent, and meals much better. The resort was only half full.

Now - discussing the boats. Yes, the boats are bigger, 2 groups of divers sometimes on each one. My husband and I BOTH have large expensive camera rigs (mine is video) and therefore we LOVE these boats. The reason - big camera tables and they always hand down the cameras to us. Always. And coming back up they take it from you at the ladder, and rinse it for you before putting it in the rinse tank or (as we always requested) handing it back to us once we sat down. The boats also have restrooms.
Yes, they are loud, but we found that to be true for many dive ops and we have been all over the world.
We like being able to stand up on trip out to dive site if we want.
The DMs are not as friendly as other places we have been but they are very competent. They are safe, and point out cool stuff for those who need it. There is not a single one I would not dive with again.

So... there is another opinion on SCC. Would I go there again??? Heck yes. When we go back to Cozumel, that is where we will stay again. It fits our needs perfectly. We don't want fancy, or gourmet meals. We want to dive dive dive, and be treated like adults.

robin

 

[redacted]

You can shore dive in Cozumel as long as you stay shallow and close to shore. If you go too far and too deep it's just not safe as you'll be carried by the current. Sure the current reverses sometimes and weakens but you just can't count on it. Around Scuba Club the shore dive is good to about 30 ft and is fine for checkout or as a night dive.

Any diving can be unsafe if the diver is not able to handle the conditions of that dive.

 

[Mike]

You can shore dive in Cozumel as long as you stay shallow and close to shore. If you go too far and too deep it's just not safe as you'll be carried by the current. Sure the current reverses sometimes and weakens but you just can't count on it. Around Scuba Club the shore dive is good to about 30 ft and is fine for checkout or as a night dive.

Some people take a taxi and do a drift shore dive, but again you have to stay shallow and be able to recognize landmarks to come up at the right time.

Adam

Not safe is a strange description and I'd have to say inaccurate for the vast diving population diving Cozumel.

The conditions you are describing describe most of the diving in Bonaire which is considered the shore diving capital of the world.

But I'll agree that if you can't safely dive a site, it's good to recognize your personal limitations and gain experience until you have the skills to dive safely.