G&G
Registered
My husband and I spent 8 nts/6 days diving at SCC in February 2016. Our first time with SCC (but not in Cozumel), and after having been diving at a number of dive resorts in various locales in the world, I can’t say that SCC would be a top pick of places to return to.
The Good:
- Dive op on site very helpful. Dive store just across street if anything needed.
- Grounds nicely kept
- Nice sunsets
- Walkable distance to the downtown area
Rooms:
- We had requested to be on the ground or 2nd floor as I have knee & back issues – we were given the 3rd floor. To be fair, after complaining we were given the option of a ground floor room but would have to wait ~5 hours before it would have been available. As we had planned to do our check-out shore dive that afternoon we opted to stick with the 3rd floor, figuring that once our dive gear was stored in a locker, we wouldn’t be hauling it up & down the stairs. Little did we realize at that time that the lockers are not big enough to hang a wetsuit, nor BCD – so after leaving our fins, weights, masks & snorkels in the lockers we ended up hauling our BCDs, regs & wetsuits up to our room each day.
- Rooms were very clean, although one day came back to our room after diving around 2 pm & our room hadn’t even been made up so we had to go looking for fresh towels.
- The towels are large, some toiletries are provided, water pressure was great (although if you were the last boat in like we usually were, the hot water was barely lukewarm).
- Mattress was comfortable, in-room safe, mini fridge, potable water available in various places throughout the complex, plenty of closet & counter space in the rooms, balcony with 2 chairs & small low table (a regular table height one would have been nice – to work on dive logs, laptop, or whatever), metal bar on the balcony for hanging wetsuits & BCDs (bring your own hangers for this as the ones in the room are thin plastic ones that bend under the weight of even a shirt).
- Internet overall was good.
Restaurant:
- We were told upon check-in that both restaurants would be open for lunch – the lower one at noon, and the upper one at 1 pm. This was not the case as I believe the upper one was only open for dinner. The lower restaurant is more casual with white PVC tables & chairs and was where we had both breakfast & lunch. We had opted to not include dinners with our package as there is a good variety of restaurants in San Miguel to choose from. Our first night they were offering their Mexican Party for $26US/pp – so we opted to stay in. It was buffet style set up on the ‘beach’ area in front of the restaurant with the usual Mexican fare offered. We found the food edible but not great, and rather over priced for what it was. Can’t say it was much of a ‘party’ – there was a piñata about an hour later (for which we didn’t stick around for).
- Breakfast was buffet style (where the staff dish it out – which creates a bit of a bottleneck in the line), and once again was okay but not great – it could have used a bit more variation and certainly could have been warmer. Lunch was a la carte along with a salad bar – but as our boat was usually the last to leave & last to arrive back, some things weren’t always available. Many choices of ice cream (yummy coconut!) and banana splits (when they had bananas available).
Diving:
- Dive boats: we were on 4 different boats over 6 days of diving – mostly on one of the catamarans. I think they tend to accommodate groups more with the same boat & crew and were usually one of the first boats to leave in the morning. We did at least have the same DM during our stay. All boats have heads, and some shade, but the cats didn’t really have anywhere to get out of the wind. Both the Reef Cat & Dive Cat have the tanks & your gear set up at floor level in the middle of the boat, with bench seating along the outer edge. Because of this, you need to wait until the boat staff bring your gear to you when getting ready to dive. Upon return to the boat at the end of a dive, the boat staff will help with your exit from the water, but then quite often we were left on our own trying to get our tanks/gear off & back into their slots in the middle. Over the course of 6 days diving, we (along with other divers) found the boat staff (not the DMs) to be somewhat lacking in their assistance. Someone must have said something as our last day they seemed to have a change in attitude & were very helpful. Boat captain & crew were never introduced, so we never did learn any of their names. Between dives, other than the DMs, we found they didn’t interact much with the divers.
- Bottled water & juice were available, but bring your own snacks as none are provided.
- Number of divers per boat varied (up to 18 at times, but in a couple of groups) – with 5-8 divers per DM. The boats did not seem crowded even when there were 18 of us.
- As the boats are larger & not the swiftest – it took usually about an hour to get to most the dive sites (you’ll see many other boats passing you enroute).
- Marine Park fees are collected by the dive shop at $2.50US/day (Wristbands are 30 pesos – a rather terrible exchange rate of 12:1. At the time we were in Cozumel you could easily get 16-18 pesos per US$). You are given a wristband for this each day while diving.
- By the dive shop there is one rinse tank, and then another area towards the north end of the complex has two rinse tanks & an outdoor shower. Both areas have lockers (bring your own lock) but these are only about 30”h x 20”w x 24”d. Pick an upper locker if available as when the area gets hosed down, the lower lockers tend to get wet inside. The rinse tanks could use more frequent water changes, as when there are 70+ divers (over 4 boats) as we had one day, and you are last ones to use it – the water is rather murky.
- As to the dive sites – we didn’t repeat many over our 6 days (they had planned to on day 4, but when we found this out & requested another dive site they were able to accommodate us). Most dives we saw a good variety of aquatic life: the huge angelfish that I always remember Cozumel for, turtles, spotted eagle rays, Splended toadfish, scrawled filefish, barracuda, variety of parrotfish, pipefish, grouper, stingrays including a yellow stingray that put on a bit of a show for us, lobster, peacock flounders, scorpionfish, eels, and much more.
Tipping:
- This tends to be a debated subject, but the SCC gives a tipping guide of 15-20% with a breakdown as follows:
Waiter & restaurant staff (including kitchen staff) $8-$10US per day/per guest
Chambermaids $4-$5US per day/per guest
Divemasters $6-$8US per day/per guest
Boat crew $6-$8US per day/per guest
Some of these figures I would agree with, but others I feel are rather generous & should be per room (based on 2 ppl) and not per guest. But then these are just suggestions…
Other info:
- Taxi to downtown area including the ferry dock is 60 pesos (or $6US or 10:1 rate – use pesos if you can), or walking takes about 15-30 minutes depending on where you are going.
The Good:
- Dive op on site very helpful. Dive store just across street if anything needed.
- Grounds nicely kept
- Nice sunsets
- Walkable distance to the downtown area
Rooms:
- We had requested to be on the ground or 2nd floor as I have knee & back issues – we were given the 3rd floor. To be fair, after complaining we were given the option of a ground floor room but would have to wait ~5 hours before it would have been available. As we had planned to do our check-out shore dive that afternoon we opted to stick with the 3rd floor, figuring that once our dive gear was stored in a locker, we wouldn’t be hauling it up & down the stairs. Little did we realize at that time that the lockers are not big enough to hang a wetsuit, nor BCD – so after leaving our fins, weights, masks & snorkels in the lockers we ended up hauling our BCDs, regs & wetsuits up to our room each day.
- Rooms were very clean, although one day came back to our room after diving around 2 pm & our room hadn’t even been made up so we had to go looking for fresh towels.
- The towels are large, some toiletries are provided, water pressure was great (although if you were the last boat in like we usually were, the hot water was barely lukewarm).
- Mattress was comfortable, in-room safe, mini fridge, potable water available in various places throughout the complex, plenty of closet & counter space in the rooms, balcony with 2 chairs & small low table (a regular table height one would have been nice – to work on dive logs, laptop, or whatever), metal bar on the balcony for hanging wetsuits & BCDs (bring your own hangers for this as the ones in the room are thin plastic ones that bend under the weight of even a shirt).
- Internet overall was good.
Restaurant:
- We were told upon check-in that both restaurants would be open for lunch – the lower one at noon, and the upper one at 1 pm. This was not the case as I believe the upper one was only open for dinner. The lower restaurant is more casual with white PVC tables & chairs and was where we had both breakfast & lunch. We had opted to not include dinners with our package as there is a good variety of restaurants in San Miguel to choose from. Our first night they were offering their Mexican Party for $26US/pp – so we opted to stay in. It was buffet style set up on the ‘beach’ area in front of the restaurant with the usual Mexican fare offered. We found the food edible but not great, and rather over priced for what it was. Can’t say it was much of a ‘party’ – there was a piñata about an hour later (for which we didn’t stick around for).
- Breakfast was buffet style (where the staff dish it out – which creates a bit of a bottleneck in the line), and once again was okay but not great – it could have used a bit more variation and certainly could have been warmer. Lunch was a la carte along with a salad bar – but as our boat was usually the last to leave & last to arrive back, some things weren’t always available. Many choices of ice cream (yummy coconut!) and banana splits (when they had bananas available).
Diving:
- Dive boats: we were on 4 different boats over 6 days of diving – mostly on one of the catamarans. I think they tend to accommodate groups more with the same boat & crew and were usually one of the first boats to leave in the morning. We did at least have the same DM during our stay. All boats have heads, and some shade, but the cats didn’t really have anywhere to get out of the wind. Both the Reef Cat & Dive Cat have the tanks & your gear set up at floor level in the middle of the boat, with bench seating along the outer edge. Because of this, you need to wait until the boat staff bring your gear to you when getting ready to dive. Upon return to the boat at the end of a dive, the boat staff will help with your exit from the water, but then quite often we were left on our own trying to get our tanks/gear off & back into their slots in the middle. Over the course of 6 days diving, we (along with other divers) found the boat staff (not the DMs) to be somewhat lacking in their assistance. Someone must have said something as our last day they seemed to have a change in attitude & were very helpful. Boat captain & crew were never introduced, so we never did learn any of their names. Between dives, other than the DMs, we found they didn’t interact much with the divers.
- Bottled water & juice were available, but bring your own snacks as none are provided.
- Number of divers per boat varied (up to 18 at times, but in a couple of groups) – with 5-8 divers per DM. The boats did not seem crowded even when there were 18 of us.
- As the boats are larger & not the swiftest – it took usually about an hour to get to most the dive sites (you’ll see many other boats passing you enroute).
- Marine Park fees are collected by the dive shop at $2.50US/day (Wristbands are 30 pesos – a rather terrible exchange rate of 12:1. At the time we were in Cozumel you could easily get 16-18 pesos per US$). You are given a wristband for this each day while diving.
- By the dive shop there is one rinse tank, and then another area towards the north end of the complex has two rinse tanks & an outdoor shower. Both areas have lockers (bring your own lock) but these are only about 30”h x 20”w x 24”d. Pick an upper locker if available as when the area gets hosed down, the lower lockers tend to get wet inside. The rinse tanks could use more frequent water changes, as when there are 70+ divers (over 4 boats) as we had one day, and you are last ones to use it – the water is rather murky.
- As to the dive sites – we didn’t repeat many over our 6 days (they had planned to on day 4, but when we found this out & requested another dive site they were able to accommodate us). Most dives we saw a good variety of aquatic life: the huge angelfish that I always remember Cozumel for, turtles, spotted eagle rays, Splended toadfish, scrawled filefish, barracuda, variety of parrotfish, pipefish, grouper, stingrays including a yellow stingray that put on a bit of a show for us, lobster, peacock flounders, scorpionfish, eels, and much more.
Tipping:
- This tends to be a debated subject, but the SCC gives a tipping guide of 15-20% with a breakdown as follows:
Waiter & restaurant staff (including kitchen staff) $8-$10US per day/per guest
Chambermaids $4-$5US per day/per guest
Divemasters $6-$8US per day/per guest
Boat crew $6-$8US per day/per guest
Some of these figures I would agree with, but others I feel are rather generous & should be per room (based on 2 ppl) and not per guest. But then these are just suggestions…
Other info:
- Taxi to downtown area including the ferry dock is 60 pesos (or $6US or 10:1 rate – use pesos if you can), or walking takes about 15-30 minutes depending on where you are going.
Do they not pay their maids? I argue with my daughter who does not believe in tipping maids at all, but a dollar or two per person always seemed enough to me. It is supposed to be a gratuity - like in gratitude for nice work, not base pay. Eh, this whole tipping thing has morphed out of control - no longer a gratuity...!! 
