Scuba Club Cozumel

[richhagelin]

I'm looking for information on Scuba Club Cozumel. I have stayed at Occidental Grand and Casa Mexicana so anyone who can compare SCC to either of these would be most helpful.

How is the beach? Food? On-site dive op? Where is it located (from Presidente and/or Fiesta Americana?

Thanks,

Rich Hagelin

 

[redacted]

I've stayed at the Grand once and SCC 6 times. If price were the same, I'd probably go to the Grand and make it a dive VACATION rather than go the SCC for a DIVE vacation. The Grand is great rooms, food, sailing, and grounds. Dive op (palancar) is OK but on the conservative side. SCC is very clean and adequate rooms with fridge(no phone, no tv, no clock(?)), very good food, dive op, and shore dive (for cozumel). Where else in Coxumel can you do a night dive at midnight or 5 am?

It is located about 1 mile south of town between PLG and Hotel Cozumel. Iron shore with manmade beach. Not suitable for children or non-swimmers.

 

[latidail]

I'm looking for information on Scuba Club Cozumel. I have stayed at Occidental Grand and Casa Mexicana so anyone who can compare SCC to either of these would be most helpful.

How is the beach? Food? On-site dive op? Where is it located (from Presidente and/or Fiesta Americana?

Thanks,

Rich Hagelin

 

[latidail]

Gosh, it has been so long since I posted on this board. I've missed it.
Scuba Club has been my diving destination for several years in Cozumel. I love the staff, dive masters, gate opener, etc. I feel like I'm more family than guest.

I have been going to Cozumel really only to hard core dive. The first year I went to Scuba Club I was shocked. I had never stayed at a place like that. There were ants crawling in the door. Now I just buy bug spray the first day. There were no phones, TV's, safes in the room, etc. I've just never stayed in a place like that. I went with some girlfriends who were on a tight budget. I was thinking, "What have they gotten me into?"

The first of my two tank dive I came up smiling from ear to ear. I totally forgot about the room. The swim throughs, the colors, fish, sponge, coral, etc was the best I had seen. I've been diving all over the Carribean.

Francisco is my favorite dive master by far.

The reason I'm telling this as I'm sure you already know the virtues of Cozumel diving is because my husband decided to come down for part of my 10 day dive trip. He is not much of a diver. I knew he would hate the accomodations. He also needed high speed Internet access.

We rented this incredible villa called Villa Dos. I can't tell you how beautiful and big it was. Five bedrooms, sattelite TV's, beautiful patio overlooking a pool that was like a waterfall off the side. It was right on the ocean. Now these were the accomodations I was used to.

I decided to keep my room at SCC because it was so cheap and convenient. I really love the dive staff. I packed up all my things and went it seemed like forever to this beautiful villa which is near the Reef Club.

The first morning I knew I made a mistake. I was rushing around trying to get my stuff together. We had to rent a car because there was no way I could find a cab where we were, and be at Scuba Club by 7:45 AM. It was horrible and stressing rushing to get there.

On top of all that I had already signed up and started on the NITROX course which took more time than I thought it would. Here I am doing the two tank dive, not eating lunch, rushing for a shower, then heading to the classroom. All the while I'm worried that my husband came all the way to Mexico to be with me.

Finally I asked him if he could just come to the Scuba Club around 5:30 PM every night so we could go out and spend time together and let me stay the nights at the Scuba Club. He was so understanding about it. I still felt stressed.

To take a cab to the villa was $13, about the same as the Reef Club. There was nothing on that side of the island that I wanted to do. I love how San Miguel is in walking distance from SCC. The grocery store, what is it called? Chedraulis (sp) was about a block.

Everything about SCC is just so convenient. Yeah the rooms are not as luxurious as I would like, but the dive staff, location, convenience, and the fact that everyone knows my name when I come back is so awesome.

I'll always stay there when in Cozumel because I'm there for the diving. That is just once a year. The other vacation of the year I'm with my husband or husband and family and we choose luxury. Diving is secondary.

Last year we stayed at the all-inclusive Beaches in Turks and Caicos. The resort was breathtaking. The diving sucked. I guess because it was a family place the bottom time for every da#mn time was 30 minutes. Because it was so boring, I paid for a private dive company to pick me up and take my on fun dives with experienced divers. After that I decided to go for my Advanced Open Water just so I could be with an instructor by myself and we could stay down as long as we wanted without the group or its restrictions.

Sorry this post was so long. I got carried away after not visiting here for so long.

I'd Rather Be Diving!!!!
latidail

 

[HammerNoMore]

How is the beach?

There isn't one, there is a patch or two of sand but they don't actually come in contact with the water.

Food?

In a weeks stay I only ate dinner there once. It was chicken with canned cream of mushroom soup poured on top. After that we paid to eat good food in town. For lunch, I didn't care for their buffet so I just ordered chips and guac, for which I had to pay, so much for food inclusive. Wait staff was not friendly.

On-site dive op?

We got the cattle boat which is slow slow slow. Were never given any options on where we wanted to dive. Had to pay extra to do the wreck, where as Blue Angel did it as a second dive for us. If you get a smaller boat, it might be better

Where is it located (from Presidente and/or Fiesta Americana?

It's about a mile south of the square.

Some other observations:

1. As someone mentioned, rooms are not the cleanest. I don't need frills in Coz, but clean is a must.
2. Bed is an overstuffed futon matress on a slab of concrete. Most uncomfortable thing I've ever slept on, camping included.
3. Room layouts are random. Ours was 2 stories. Small room below barely big enough for the "bed" and a compact fridge. Bathroom and closet upstairs along with a lot of wasted space. Stairs were tiled with no safty rail and completly open on one side. Kind of dangerous for slogging up to the restroom in the middle of the night.
4. Hotel staff never smiled. Dive staff was better.

James

 

[Scuba_Steve]

I'm suprised to hear you say that James!

I was there only once. It was 2 years ago.

I liked the food, and I'm what you would call "picky".

The rooms were pretty clean too! (Do I live in a pig pen at home???)
hehehehe

The staff was polite, and we did dive-dive-dive. Boat, shore, whatever. I really liked being able to shore dive for free.

The downside AFAIK:

It's not "cheap" from our angle. They'd do better by us if even non-alcoholic beverages were included (it really adds up), and if you go at off-season times, you may not get a chance to do additional (paid) dives, as they won't go out for 2-3 people. Kinda a bummer when you think everyone there are obviously divers, and you can't snag even 2 people for a third dive of the day (Boat dive).

It's a small world, but when we were there, Casey was running the dive shop. The next year, a cavern guide we met on the Island, as it turns out is his friend. Casey had gone back to the states by then. We got in touch by e-mail after that. Someday we'll all meet up and maybe do some diving back in Coz.

I can dream, can't I?

Steve

 

[HammerNoMore]

The staff was polite

The staff was never rude or anything like that. They just weren't friendly and personable. To be fair, I wen't with a large group from an LDS. I've learned a lot about the owner and his personality and he'd been doing this trip for years. The staff's coolness might have been a reflection on him. I also think the lunch situation might have been different if there hadn't been 24 of us eating at the same time.

I really liked being able to shore dive for free.

That was the biggest feature of SCC. However there are better places that offer the same thing.

James

 

[jlyle]

We've stayed at SCC twenty times in the past thirteen years, usually for two-weeks at a time. I wouldn't go anywhere else.

Good things:
1. NO phone, NO TV (they do have clock radios, hair dryers, small refrigerators)
2. Clean and well maintained.
3. Rooms and grounds with ambience, lots of tile. NOT your cookie-cutter Holiday Inn.
4. Great food.
-Breakfast buffet with Mexican and egg/bacon/fruit/cereal choices.
-Informal sit-down lunch, either divers' lunch special (great Yucatecan food) or order off the menu (included) plus a salad bar.
-Formal dinner with two choices, seafood or meat (also vegetarian or special diet on request) .
5. Friendly staff...always smiling and pleasant.
6. Lots of clean towels. LOTS of them.
7. Unlimited shore diving. Just take a tank and go.
8. Within walking distance of town and Chedraui (aka Mexican KMart).
9. Freshwater pool (never used it, but it's there).
10. Everything runs on-time, not island-time.
11. PADI 5-star facility. Often individual training at group prices.
12. Safe and secure, you can leave your gear out, in a locker, or hanging outside your room.
13. A variety of dive boats, all reasonably fast; all with shade, heads, O2 kits, radios.
14. Experienced DM's willing to take you where you want to go.
15. Nitrox available for extra charge.
16. Additional night, twilight, and wreck boat dives available for extra charge.
17. AI (I never have to leave the grounds except to go diving.)
18. A DIVE resort for divers, not party-animals.
19. Located on the shore. (Sand on top of the iron-shore, but no beach).
did I mention the unlimited shore diving?

Although an all-inclusive, SCC does charge for drinks (both soft and alcoholic). A coke or beer costs ~$2 and hard drinks are ~$5 in the bar or restaurant. (You can stock your room with inexpensive cokes/beer/booze from Chedraui). SCC is not a party place, it's for divers who come to dive. Caffeine and alcohol are not good things when you are doing a lot of diving; further, the cost of staying at SCC is very reasonable, so an extra bar bill isn't unreasonable.

Less than good (depending on your viewpoint):
1. Not a good place for non-divers, unless they want to read and relax.
2. Not a good place for those who like to drink and party hard; please go somewhere else.

You will find some of my trip reports from SCC on the links below.

 

[latidail]

I'm suprised to hear you say that James!

I was there only once. It was 2 years ago.

I liked the food, and I'm what you would call "picky".

The rooms were pretty clean too! (Do I live in a pig pen at home???)
hehehehe

The staff was polite, and we did dive-dive-dive. Boat, shore, whatever. I really liked being able to shore dive for free.

The downside AFAIK:

It's not "cheap" from our angle. They'd do better by us if even non-alcoholic beverages were included (it really adds up), and if you go at off-season times, you may not get a chance to do additional (paid) dives, as they won't go out for 2-3 people. Kinda a bummer when you think everyone there are obviously divers, and you can't snag even 2 people for a third dive of the day (Boat dive).

It's a small world, but when we were there, Casey was running the dive shop. The next year, a cavern guide we met on the Island, as it turns out is his friend. Casey had gone back to the states by then. We got in touch by e-mail after that. Someday we'll all meet up and maybe do some diving back in Coz.

I can dream, can't I?

Steve

I agree with you Steve about the food at Scuba Club. I wished you could opt out on that. I never eat breakfast or lunch there. I dress up and go into town to eat mostly at Primas. I know its Italian, but it is my favorite food and my favorite restaurant there. The manager, Juan Carlos, gallantly sweeps me in, kisses my hand, and takes me to my table. I feel like a Princess. There is another Italian restaurant that is also very good, I just can't think of the name - it's not Tony Romas.

As far as cattle boats go, I have been on their really small boat with just my friends. I have also been on the larger boat with more people. I really don't mind either as long as Francisco is my dive master. They split us into groups. This May the first day I got there, because I insisted upon having Francisco, I was put with this big dive group out of Denver. The had requested him and he had been with them all week. They were on their second to the last dive of the week.

They were so much fun and readily included me in their group. We got to go to Punta Tunich, which was so cool to me since it was my first dive of the week. Subsequently, I got to go to Devil's Throat again about midweek with a smaller group of divers.

I did buy the can of ant spray this last trip of May '04. I never saw an ant. The rooms were really clean. The housekeepers made beautiful designs on my bed making all kinds of designs with flowers.

After the first year I have always goten a single facing the dive shop. It is very large. Ask for a single room facing the dive shop. It has a huge king-sized bed. The night away at that villa on a Temprupedic mattress that was so emphasized, I actually missed my Scuba Club bed. To me hearing those tanks clanking in the morning as the guys are taking them down to the boat is close to s#x!!

I got a private boat dive with just me the divemaster, one of the smaller boats and a crew. I had to pay for two people even though it was only me, but it was well worth it. They took me to my favorite swim throughs and let me spend as much time as I wanted taking pictures.

I do tip very well. I'm sure that makes a difference. Also I am female, that helps with the dive staff carrying all my gear. I don't even set up my own equipment. Except, now I am forced to test the NITROX level of the tank, write it down and initial it, and set it in my computer. When I get off, they get my stuff together and packed, as I'm usually laying out in the sun on top of the boat, and carry my stuff up to the big rinse tank.

Everyone, I mean everyone - including some guy that works in the compressor department - drop everything they are doing to carry my groceries to the room. This is an every other day event because I don't eat breakfast or lunch there.

Maybe I am the exception, but I love the place. One of my friends got a little angry thinking they paid too much attention to me. She and her group wouldn't even go with me on the rest of the dives. She said that she felt like a second class citizen. I never saw anyone treat her that way. I actually planned the vacation alone. They decided to go about a month before my trip. I didn't feel guilty. They knew I wanted to dive with Francisco everyday.

To me the place would not be the same without him. He is an excellent dive master. He has a ready smile, makes sure everyone is clear about the dive plan, and is very safety contious.

Again, tipping well doesn't hurt!!! They remember that, believe me.

latidail :dazzler1: