Reef Club Cozumel / Sand Dollar Sports Trip Report

[Spike_Digger]

The Reef Club
We stayed at the Reef Club the week of Thanksgiving, and dove with their on-site dive shop, Sand Dollar Sports. I posted a review of the Reef Club on TripAdvisor. You can read it, and many other reviews of the Reef Club by going to TripAdvisor.com and doing a search on Reef Club Cozumel. In short, we liked the Reef Club and would probably stay there again. We went to Coz for the diving, and the Reef Club location could hardly be better. The reefs are just a short boat trip away, which is really nice when the seas are rough, as they were on this trip. Pros: close to the southern reefs, newly remodeled rooms, attractive grounds, decent buffet, ocean-front rooms right on the water! Cons: construction noise, uneven water pressure, horrible on-site dive shop.

The Island
We were a bit anxious about coming to Cozumel just one year after Wilma. I'm happy to say that the Island as a whole has recovered nicely. The downtown area looks completely renovated. The only signs of a hurricane having passed through are the juvenile palm trees, and some piles of rubble in the medians. The shops, restaurants, etc., all look great! The reefs were affected by the hurricanes, but the diving is still excellent, IMO.

The Diving
Here is a run-down of the dives that we did:

Palancar Gardens: This dive was my favorite when I first came to Coz 5 years ago, but sadly, this dive was in terrible shape. The reef was wiped clean by Wilma, and there was very little to look at, in the way of coral or fish life. This was the only dive that I saw that I would label as "devastated". I found this surprising, because based on the depth (50'-80') and the comments from others about the deep dives being unaffected, I would have expected this one to be in better shape. It's also surprising, because Palancar Bricks which is close by and at the same depth was in great condition!

San Francisco Wall: A shallow (40'-55') very fast drift dive. Wow, we really flew on this one! We saw a huge crab, big schools of grunts, and good coral life.

Palancar Bricks: Big, house-sized blocks with swim-throughs in between. The coral was in very good shape, with lots of fish. (60'-80')

Dalila: A nice, shallow dive (46' max) with lots of lobster, crabs, good fish and coral life. We had very little current, which is a nice change of pace in Cozumel.

Santa Rosa Wall: A deep dive (80') in very good condition. Multiple swim-throughs. Saw a turtle.

El Paso del Cedral: Another nice shallow dive, with a long, convoluted swim through starting on the E side. Cool!

Yocab/Tormentos link-up: Great combination of two nice, shallow dives. The crossing between the two reefs was fun. We hugged the bottom and swam diagonally across the current for what felt like several minutes, but probably wasn't that long. We saw a HUGE moray hiding under the reef on Yocab, and a very large grouper and some splendid toadfish on Tormentos.

Punta Tunich: Yet another nice shallow dive. We saw 2 giant sleeping nurse sharks on this one.

All of the shallow dives were in good condition, and were teeming with fish.

Before going, we had read a variety of reviews, ranging from locals who said "you'd never notice the difference" to dismayed divers who spoke of "complete devastation". In my experience, the diving was still amazing, but you definitely will notice a difference. A large percentage of the soft stuff - sea fans, tube sponges, elephant ear sponges, etc., got swept away by Wilma. But there still is a lot of the soft stuff in protected nooks on the reefs, the hard corals looked very healthy, and the reefs are teeming with fish. The only dive site that looked devasted to me was Palancar Caves, which was pretty much swept bare. And it's a relatively deep site, so I disagree with the comments about only the shallow sites being affected.

Sand Dollar Sports
This is the worst outfit that I've ever dived with. I find the name of the shop to be appropriate, because their emphasis is certainly on taking your dollars, not on customer service.

The first surprise came when we arrived, and went to check-in. Even though we made reservations months in advance, and had prepaid with a credit card, they didn't have us scheduled to dive. After getting the reservations all sorted out, we got in one day of diving in rough seas, on Sunday.

My girlfriend was there to do her referral dives, and needed to do 4 dives to complete her certification. One of the divers on her boat, fell on the boat and cut her lip after the first dive. So they cancelled the second dive for that day. That was frustrating for us, because it would mean an extra day before she could get certified.

On Monday, the winds came up, and no boats could go out. We spent the next 2 days constantly checking in with SDS to get updates on the port closure. Wed at noon, I got the report from SDS that the harbor master still had the port closed. I asked specifically, is there any chance that the harbor master could open the port later today, or should we stop checking in? I was told no, the decision was final and there was no chance that any boats would be going out that day (the first of many blatant lies to come.)

2 hours later, we were surprised to see dive boats going by. The port had been reopened! We ran over to the dive shop to see what was going on, and they said that they couldn't round up their crew in time, and they wouldn't be going out that day. They also said that they wouldn't have any boats going out until the following afternoon (another blatant lie, which we would later discover.) They advised us to go try and book a spot with another dive shop for the following morning. So we did just that, spending the rest of the afternoon on the phone and running around in a taxi to reserve a spot with another shop (The Dive House, as it turned out.)

The next day (Thurs morning), we went down to the pier in front of SDS to get picked up by the Dive House boat. We were very surprised to see that SDS's boats were in fact there, and they were full of divers getting ready to go out! It turns out that SDS had given our spots away to a group of (what appeared to be) cruise ship divers, as we didn't recognize any of their faces from the resort. The reason why is obvious. They already had our money, so giving up our spots to the cruise ship earned them extra money! I was furious. The shop manager saw me coming, and lowered his head, trying to avoid eye contact. Our conversation was short, and all he could say was that he was glad we got on another boat.

Thurs afternoon, we finally got to go out with SDS. Remember my girlfriend who was trying to get certified? After doing a drift dive in 6' of water on one of the windy days, she still needed 2 more dives to complete her certification. You would assume that they would put her and an instructor on the boat going out, after she waited patiently all week? But no, once again they said "Sorry, we have no boats and no instructors. Maybe try again tomorrow." Absolutely ridiculous. My girlfriend was in tears. I can't remember ever being so frustrated while on vacation. After a lot of raised voices, and much argument, we finally got them to take her by car to the other side of the island and do a couple of shore dives to complete her certification.

Phew. Now we're to Friday. The last day of our vacation. The weather is finally starting to warm up, and the wind is dying down. My g/f can finally go diving with us, and we shouldn't have any more drama from SDS, right? Her first dive as an open water diver was Santa Rosa wall at 80'. A bit deep IMO, but after what we've been through, who is complaining? The dive master saw that she was having some issues with buoyancy control, so he pulled her aside and led her on a long swim through "to calm her down". It was fairly tight, maybe 100? feet long, at 80' depth. Not an appropriate dive plan for her first dive, IMO. I got in an underwater argument with my dive buddy who is much more experienced than I am. He thought it was ok, BTW. (I'd be curious what other SB members think of this DM's decision?) It frustrated me, and left me rattled.

Later in the day on another dive, my g/f was descending slowly, working on clearing her ears. The DM on this dive saw that she had trouble getting down earlier, requiring more wieght to be added to her BC, so he swam over, grabbed her by the shoulder strap, and DRAGGED HER DOWN WITH HIM!! The problem with Cozumel is that they don't allow you to dive with spear guns, because I would have liked to have shot that guy. This caused my girlfriend intense pain, because she couldn't equalize fast enough. Fortunately, she didn't pop her eardrums.

Oh, one other thing to add to the list. On our first day of diving, our dive master went to the bottom and stuffed his BC full of conch shells, which he carried back to the boat with him. I guess the motto "take only pictures, leave only bubbles" doesn't apply to locals.

Do not plan on doing any check-out dives or shore dives with SDS. They will not rent you any tanks. When we stayed at the Fiesta Americana, the Dive House gave us tanks, and even let us keep them after the shop closed.

It's very clear that SDS's primary goal is making money. During one of the times when we were complaining about how they were treating us, and how we were wasting our vacation dollars sitting around on shore, the shop manager just told us about how much money they lost following Wilma. At least he was being honest with us at that point. If you dive with SDS, you will be a credit card number to them, and little more.

If you stay at the Reef Club, which I would recommend, you still have the choice of who you dive with. I would call one of the other operators on the Island, and get them to pick you up at the Reef Club. I've had good experiences with Caribbean Divers and The Dive House, and good friends of mine like Blue XT Sea.

 

[Christi]

Sorry to hear you had a terrible vacation Spike. It sounds like there were alot of issues there.

However, please do not think that because one divemaster filled his BC with shells that it's "ok" for locals to break the rules...it is not. The only explanation would be if he needed to weigh himself down, but then I would be asking why he didn't have enough weight to begin with. A DM should always carry extra weight in case any divers need it for whatever reason (underweighted, lose a weight pocket during the dive, etc.) I hope that you reported this DM to the manager at least.

I must also say that your divemaster did you a disservice on Palancar Caves if you saw only the damaged parts...this is actually a beautiful dive and I actually have divers requesting to repeat it! Same with Palancar Gardens. I had a group here for 10 days in December, and by request, they did Gardens 4 times (as a 2nd dive) and Caves 3 times!

 

[pilot fish]

Stayed at the Reef Club, now a member, and also had some issues with Sand Dollar. Nothing major but it seems the staff run the place and run the place as they see fit. One of the owners,[ an American lady, who's name I can't recall ], shows up in the morning, barks a few orders and leaves right after morning boats leave. I think it's then that things get changed? It seems a lot of heavy BS is slung at the dive shop and the sign up list for dives the next day is subject to change for various reasons.

One day we were shut out of diving because the port was closed. They told us check back to see if it would open. We did, several times. We noticed boats out but were told no San Dollar boats were going out. We went back and saw a large group leaving on one of their boats and was told that was a large dive group. Can't recall the BS reaon but we just knew it would do no good to argue the point and made sure we were listed for next days dive. We were.

I read your good report and found it to be what I felt as well. Sand Dollar is not the worst but they are not a good dive op. If you are a new diver I would avoid them.

I'm going back late April early May and will give them another chance. The convenience of them onsite, plus 20% reduction in price for memebers, is why I'm even giving them another try. If it's bad this time out I will do as I've seen other divers at the Reef Club do, wade out to the boat in front of the Reef Club.

Thanks for your report, Spike.

 

[pilot fish]

Oh, forgot to mention, I got a refund for that missed days dive. I could have scheduled another dive day but I did not do that because I like the last day of my stay off from diving. The man gave me $45 back. I went back the next day and said I think I paid more in my package for two dives. I said I'd call the owner to ask. He said, here is another $10. I said OK. Later I checked and found I paid $64. I let it slide because it was less tha n$10 difference. I don't know what other dive shops do in a case like that- schedule another dive day or give you the cash back? I like having the option.

 

[scubawife]

Oh, forgot to mention, I got a refund for that missed days dive. I could have scheduled another dive day but I did not do that because I like the last day of my stay off from diving. The man gave me $45 back. I went back the next day and said I think I paid more in my package for two dives. I said I'd call the owner to ask. He said, here is another $10. I said OK. Later I checked and found I paid $64. I let it slide because it was less tha n$10 difference. I don't know what other dive shops do in a case like that- schedule another dive day or give you the cash back? I like having the option.

I've never used one of the big hotel based dive shops in Cozume. The two small shops that I have used charge a deposit when you make your reservations, and then you settle the balance at the end of your trip. If dives are cancelled because the harbor is closed or the dive op has to cancel for some unforseen reason, then you're not charged for those dives. If you cancel then you may have to pay at least a portion of the cost of the dives (that usually depends on when you cancel, the owner's policy, etc.)

I have only had one dive trip where we paid a package price for hotel and on-site dive op. It was in Puerto Rico. The resort was lovely and the staff were great. The dive shop was another story. Out of 5 days, 10 dives, we only got in FIVE dives... the shop manager would do nothing to correct their screw ups. The trip was booked through Maduro Dive and they did refund the unused diving and gave me a credit for a future trip. I've never used the credit since that was the first and last package dive trip we've done.

 

[pilot fish]

Scubawife, that is why I dont like the credit option for future dives _ I might not want to go back and don't like being forced back to receive my refund.

 

[diveborg]

One thing to know about Sanddollar is that they are a contract dive operator for several of the cruise lines. That would explain the large boats of large groups of divers.

 

[pilot fish]

I don't like having to deal with onsite, substandard, Dive Ops because of the many impediments that you have to deal with when you use the Dive Op of your choice that is not part of the Resort and doesn't have dock privleges.

 

[Spike_Digger]

I must also say that your divemaster did you a disservice on Palancar Caves if you saw only the damaged parts...this is actually a beautiful dive and I actually have divers requesting to repeat it! Same with Palancar Gardens. I had a group here for 10 days in December, and by request, they did Gardens 4 times (as a 2nd dive) and Caves 3 times!

Oops... I just realized that I typed "Palancar Gardens" in my trip report, where I meant to say "Palancar Caves". It was Palancar Caves that we dived, and where I observed most of the storm damage. It's very possible that my DM on that dive didn't show us the best parts. Palancar Caves is a large dive site with a lot of different ways to dive it, and we may not have taken the most beautiful path. On a positive note, I will say that Palancar Caves has great swim-throughs and a lot of cool vertical relief.

However, please do not think that because one divemaster filled his BC with shells that it's "ok" for locals to break the rules...it is not. The only explanation would be if he needed to weigh himself down, but then I would be asking why he didn't have enough weight to begin with. A DM should always carry extra weight in case any divers need it for whatever reason (underweighted, lose a weight pocket during the dive, etc.) I hope that you reported this DM to the manager at least.

Sorry, Christi. My comment about it being "ok" for locals was intended as a tongue-in-cheek jab at a crew that frustrated us. I don't remember whether the DM actually got on the boat with the shells, so it's possible that he just used them to stay down for his safety stop, as you suggested.

On one of the dives that we did (can't remember which one), there were piles of conch shells, maybe 3 ft high, every 50-100 yards or so. These were on a sandy bottom, close to the edge of the reef. Do you know what these shell piles are for? I assumed that somebody was harvesting the shells.

 

[lawofgravity]

Yocab/Tormentos link-up: Great combination of two nice, shallow dives. The crossing between the two reefs was fun. We hugged the bottom and swam diagonally across the current for what felt like several minutes, but probably wasn't that long. We saw a HUGE moray hiding under the reef on Yocab, and a very large grouper and some splendid toadfish on Tormentos.

You and I must have seen the same moray at Yucab. That monster was HUGE!! Am I exaggerating in saying it was at least 10 feet long, 1.5 feet high?