Scuba Club Cozumel

Scuba Club is that rare thing that does exactly what it says it will do: gives you a great diving holiday. This Cozumel dive resort is not fancy- but it's also not expensive.The accommodation is simple and plain- but very comfortable, with plenty of space, good hot showers, and a place for hanging things to dry.The food is also simple and plain, but tasty and ample (the daily specials are highly recommended, as are the beef tacos). Note that at the moment they only serve breakfast and lunch- you can order dinner but really there are so many good places just down the way that it's more fun (& better/more interesting food) to go out. Drinks are reasonably priced and very good.The location of the Club is great: just past the main drag, so it is easy to get to an amazing array of really good restaurants / ferry / etc., but it feels peaceful and separate from the hard core madness of the strip. The resort itself is organized so that everything is right there: food, dive shop, boat, water...The staff are friendly and helpful (if sometimes a little persistent about making sure that the billing is being done correctly- but I would rather that they were a little over careful than have to sort out billing mistakes at the end). They get to know you and your preferences really quickly.And then there's the diving in Cozumel, which is the main point of the exercise. Having all the shore diving you want is super. We were a group of 8, and had the same boat, crew and DiveMaster for almost every outing, which is brilliant. We chose Cozumel because we had 2 brand-new divers in the group, a bunch of intermediates and a couple of experts. Everybody enjoyed the dive outings. The drift diving is great and the wreck dive was fun for everybody. We saw the biggest seahorse any of us had ever seen, several Splendid Toadfish, and all the usual suspects (turtles, barracuda, moray, some *huge* spotted eagle rays, several varieties of puffers, etc).On a practical note, if you are renting a regulator you are issued a numbered one at the beginning of your stay and you keep it (& the BCD if renting) for the duration. Also, bring a padlock & a flashlight!

This is somewhat a budget resort. You should book it with food as the onsite restaurant is good as well as the food. The diving is good and be sure and take the twilight dives. The local shore diving is ok and this is about the only resort that had shore diving. There are lockers near the beach and you can dive day or night. The rooms are ok just be careful if there is a rain storm as the patio drains may not be working and flood your room.

We typically try to go to dive resorts pretty far off the beaten path, but there is an associated cost. When I saw the $542 deal I jumped on it for a budget friendly getaway. The deal was for the month of Oct, and our trip extended pact 10/31, so we got charged full price for the second half of our trip. A short while after booking the sale was extended into Nov however we got no such refund/comp. Frustrating, but understandable, those were the terms of the sale.Everything is reasonably well organized in terms of the hotel, nothing special here The rooms are typical Mexico, nothing luxurious but nothing you can complain about. Our room was against the road and the restaurant, which is very loud, I suggest pushing for a room closer to the water away from the kitchen.The food was very good, we ate there every meal and had no complaints at all. The wait staff was generally friendly and eager to help. The management, however, was extremely rude. Despite staying there for 7 nights, the owner(?) or manager grilled me on my room number several times rather unpleasantly. They have a strict no outsiders policy. If you are not staying at the hotel, you do not eat there, even if you dove with them that morning. This, combined with a very poorly handled incident where another tourist who dove but did not stay at the hotel ate at the restaurant and got called out very publicly by the manager, got openly charged for things he didnt eat, then the manager demanded that another guest this guy didnt even know pay for his bill. This left a sour taste. This is where my 2 star for accommodations comes from, so I dont negatively review the food, which was very good.The diving was great, warm water (skipped the wet suit on most dives), good visibility, surprisingly healthy coral despite the daily hoards diving and pretty lively fish live. I was surprised how healthy the reefs are given the 17+ weekly cruise ships and fleet of dive boats migrating every morning. This is not a place of solitude.The dive center is a separate business who shares ground with the hotel. This is a no frills zero hand holding dive op. They run like a machine pushing out loads of divers on 5+ boats every morning. The boats are full, but not overly and dive guide to guest ratio never exceeded 1:7.A few notes:-bring a pad lock, they dont sell them and you need one for your locker, this wasnt drilled into me enough before we got there-dont expect the dive master to get to know you and take you on the type of dive you'd like. They go where they've chosen for the day. We asked about wall diving a couple times and got ignored-Nitrox is $10/tank. This is pretty steep as far as Im concerned so we skipped it. Dives were mostly shallow and had a hard limit of 60 min regardless of ability or air leftOverall:diving was great, resort was ok, the staff generally were nice except the management. I felt we were being price gouged on an extra meal our departure day ($23/plate for lunch is absurd for what it was and no prices posted). The location is close to the airport but an hour from the dive sites, however the proximity to the road was bothersome.I do not think we will be returning to Scuba Club due to my complaints listed. I wish we had taken a trip to the cenotes.

Prior to my trip to Scuba Club Cozumel I had heard rave reviews from several buddies who had made multiple trips to SCC. They descriptions had set the bar pretty high so I was expecting an amazing experience and I wasn't disappointed.Our room was spacious and lovely and with more than adequate space for two photographers to lay out and prepare their equipment and charge batteries. Food at Scuba Club was very good. Mornings were a buffet affair with enough diversity and quantity to satisfy most any taste and the served to order dinners were quite excellent.But food was not the reason we came to SCC - it was for the diving and again we were not disappointed. Like most dive facilities in the area the reefs at Palancar and the drop-offs to the north are the usual dive locations and they are just amazing with a diversity of critters to keep an UW photog very happy. For nearly all of our dives we enjoyed minimum visibility of 50+ feet, often very much more and water temp of 82°. Palancar Caves and Palancar Bricks were favorites as was Punta Tunich, the wreck of the C-53 and Paradise Reef. Sea horses, morays, eagle rays, barracuda, turtles, grouper and more made every dive something to savor.We had weather one day that kept the dive boats at the dock and we spent the day very happily diving the House Reef in the rain. Primarily for the macro shooter, the House Reef is amazing enough to be a first choice and not just a fallback dive. Take the time to cruise the warm, shallow waters and discover the myriad creatures willing to have their pictures taken.So, to sum up, Scuba Club Cozumel is a quality diver's resort. I stress the diver part of that. Though there is a pool and non-divers can certainly find enough to stay entertained, SCC is primarily a resort for divers and many hold the view that is is THE best dive resort in Cozumel and with the experience we had, I certainly wouldn't argue with that point of view.

Scuba Club Cozumel is a quiet little hotel on the sea just south of the main town area so it's an easy walk to town & you don't need to spend money on a taxi. The rooms are nice & clean but probably could do with an update. The hotel staff are all very nice & helpful. The food is good but nothing exceptional-- get the breakfast & lunch plan & go into town for dinner. Most of the rooms have nice ocean views. The balcony in our room was rather small & the AC unit dripped condensation on you if you weren't watching or didn't turn it off soon enough before you decided to sit on the balcony. There was a small refrigerator & the room was spacious & clean. The dive staff are very professional & skilled & watch their divers, unlike other places I've been. They have several larger boats so minor choppy seas are not an issue as they can be at a smaller operation with only a small boat. There are lockers to store your gear by the dive shop & shore diving is available from the beach area. I spent 1 week there with a friend (2010) at the hotel & then came back there on another trip as a solo diver (2012) when the tiny boat/choppy seas problem resulted in no diving at another shop at a different hotel.