Sabor in Dec - a few quick questions

[Ross Overstreet]

Hi Gang,

I'm going to find myself at the Sunscape Sabor on Dec 16-24 and I have a few dive questions. I'm an experienced cold water tech diver and I'll be diving with my bro who is experienced warm water diver. We chose Sabor because we're traveling with a few families and a handful of kids and needed somewhere easy for the families.

1. What is the current water temperature and recommended exposure protection for Dec? I've only been to Coz once before and it was mid-summer and I didn't use a suit at all. Would a 3 mil shorty be advisable for Dec diving?

2. I would prefer the smaller boats and less rushed dives. I've seen lots of good reviews for Aldora. Are they the best bet or are there others I should consider?

3. I have a 8 y/o daughter that absolutely loves snorkeling. We do a fair amount of cold water kelp snorkeling off the coast of SoCal and I'm excited to get her in warm clear water. How's the reef out in front of the Sabor? Are there any must-see snorkeling spots nearby?

Thanks for the help!
Ross Overstreet
Torrance, CA

 

[ggunn]

There's not a lot to look at, snorkeling-wise, close to shore out in front of any of the hotels; Hurricane Wilma made a mess of the close in reefs and they will take hundreds of years to fully recover.

But staying far south as you are, it should be fairly easy to arrange a snorkeling trip to Colombia Shallows. I highly recommend it.

 

[imoto]

I just got back this Tuesday from Cozumel and stayed at the Iberostar. Water temps were showing 83 and 84 on my dive computer. I wear a dive skin under a 3mm shorty. I forgot to put on the shorty one day and decided that I was warm enough. I liked that I lost 4 lbs off the weight belt by not wearing the shorty. The wind was a little chilly when it was raining so I'd bring something to wear for the surface interval.

Snorkeling at the Sabor provides a good bit of entertainment. Your daughter will find quite a variety if fish if she heads toward the "Shark" sticking out of the water. Tell her to go north beyond the shark toward the dock and look for slabs of concrete, the fish gather around those pieces also. If she wants to see a lot of fish, she can find a lot of Sergeant Majors around the Secret's dock. Water shoes make beach entries easier. Have her explore the area and report back to you.

The beach at the Sabor is rather nice. Wish I could say the same for the food, though.

As far as Dive Ops, I used Dive House from the resort for one two tank dive and they weren't the most safety conscious. Limited bottom times to around 50 minutes. We did Palancar Bricks followed by Columbia Shallows. I think I had over half a tank left at Columbia but the dive was over in 55 minutes. If I stayed at the Sabor again, I'd certainly prefer trying another dive op.

 

[DjDiverDan]

My experience the last several years diving in the first or second weeks of December was that water temps varied from a low of 78 to a high of 83, with the norm being 80-82 degrees. I was always comfortable in just a "skins-plus", a fleece lined Henderson with only 0.5 mil of neoprene. I do recommend a full body suit, but really more for protection from small sea critters, sea wasps, hydroids and such, than from the cold. A 3-mil shorty over skins should be plenty, and you probably won't really need the shorty. I don't know anything about the Sabor, or any of the southern AI resorts for that matter, but I definitely recommend Columbia Shallows, both for diving and snorkeling. You might try to find an Op that would let your daughter come aboard the dive boat for a day, and let her snorkel above you while you dive Columbia Shallows.

Your question about Dive Ops is likely to bring out the cheerleaders - they'll all tell you that their personal Dive Op, or favorite DM, is "the best in Cozumel", but too few will tell you WHY. Personally, I love Aldora. Big HP Steel tanks, like a Steel 120, are standard. This means not only the extra air that makes incredibly long dives possible, it also means the much better (IMHO) buoyancy characteristics of steel tanks, which don't go positive when nearing 500 psi, making you fight to stay down on a safety stop. AND at Aldora, I can get Nitrox in any size tank. At most Dive Ops, the AL 80 is the standard sized tank; they'll let you upsize to an AL 100 (for an extra charge, usually $10 per tank), but if you want Nitrox, its AL 80 or nothing. Also, Aldora does long SIs at a beach club - relaxing and extra time to outgas means a longer second dive. Small groups, divers grouped by experience, very experienced and very capable DMs. But there are a lot of very good independent Dive Ops in addition to Aldora, like Blue XTSea, Living Underwater, Tres Pelicanos, Dive with Allison, etc., all having their own group of dedicated followers, all for very good reasons. Figure out what you want and shop around.

 

[ColoDale]

As of the end of our trip Nov 11 the water temps on my computer were 82-84 F and my wife's showed around 82 F. Very warm and higher than other Novembers as I recall. However there were haloclines due to recent rains then and the temp difference was dramatic. We mostly noticed these mostly on the Palancar and Colombia sites. I always dive in a 3 mm jacket and surf shorts. I like being a bit colder. My wife however who is always cold and doesn't like it but she dropped down to a 3mm full wetsuit and no hoodie. All our other friends on this trip dove 3mm shorties with no complaints. Dec could be a few degrees cooler - you never know.

Aldora has a good reputation and I have friends who use them exclusively. For steel 120's I have used Living Underwater. I really like Jeremy's boat. It had a side entrance for reboarding. Long bottom times obviously. The DM/owner of the dive op I use is friends with Allison and she has a good reputation. Her boat is bigger than my dive ops six pack. I have dived with Blue XtSea in the past and like diving with Pedro. He and Raul (my dive op), used to work at the same dive ops in the past.
I use Bottom Time Divers but he does not offer steel 120's. I dive AL 100's at $6 per tank for air and offers Nitrox for AL 80s and 100's for more. It is valet diving, and Raul will wash and store gear, has water and snacks onboard and offers divers choice of dive sites and his is boat is a six pack style. He is a very good spotter for all manner of sealife which I appreciate as a photographer. All the dives are slow so we can move around and get a good look at things. Let him know how you want to do it. I have been diving with Raul for about 16 years and am happy with him. This last trip and for slow season there were a lot of divers so some days we just said to go to any site with no or few boats. Do some research on the sites so you can ask for specific sites and have a list of things you are interested in seeing. Most ops, at least many mentioned in this forum, will try to accommodate you if you ask. I averaged around 70 minutes per dive this last trip so you can get good bottom time and dive your air and computer. Many of the ops mentioned on this board do the same.
So basically I recommend those ops mentioned on this board as you shouldn't be rushed, can dive your air and computer and have could have divers choice of sites. Many seem happy with the house dive op and I have not used them. Their boats are bigger. I don't want to say cattle boat but... You might get a discount with the house op since you are staying there.

We stay in the same properties as Sabor and my op and others will pick up divers at the wooden pier in front of Secrets (old Aura) resort next to Sabor. We meant to see if he could pick up at the northern concrete pier but didn't get a chance to investigate. It looks like the path is closed with only street access but from Sabor the wooden one is nearby.

I am not a snorkeler but while there this month we heard quite few people say there was plenty to see. I can't say anything about their expectations though. There isn't really a reef and swimming out very far to the first reef (at least coral structures), which I think is San Clemente, is a bad idea. Towards the "shark" and the concrete pier by report is where the best snorkeling is located on the North end of the property. If there is current I would not go around the conrete pier as only ironshore exists and could make for a painful exit and a long walk back. I would also stay away from the end of the wooden pier as there is alot of boat traffic. Going to far out from the shore (quite a ways) puts you in boat and jetski traffic.

Colombia shallows and Chankanaab park which is not too far to the North are good spots for snorkelers. If my dive op has only snorkelers and enough of them then he will go out. Otherwise maybe the large catamaran boats are an option. I don't remember who runs those. There are beach clubs at intervals going south and you can snorkel there but during the SI at some, I didn't see much from the piers but there are some fish. I don't think there were many hardcore snorkelers there, mostly cruise ship day trippers. The beach club would likely charge an entrance fee though all beaches are public but then you can't use their facilities.