Twenty-five years ago, when my wife and I first learned to dive, I asked several been-there-done-that divers about where they would return to if they could only back one more time. Nearly all of them said "Cozumel". Since then, we, too, have become been-there-done-that divers. We’ve dived all over the world, Truk (twice), Palau (twice), Yap, Hawaii (twice),Florida, North Carolina, Coco (twice), Galapagos (twice), Turks & Caicos, Fernando de Noronha, Papua New Guinea, Borneo, Thailand, Myanmar, the Maldives, the Seychelles, Indonesia (multiple times), Southern California (where we live, many times), Baja, and Cozumel (more than thirty times!).

Yes, that's not a typo; we've made many, many trips to Cozumel and many of those trips were for two or three weeks. I've logged over 1000 dives on Cozumel's reefs. For those of you who share my affliction, you understand. For those of you who don't, it's not hard to explain. Yes, there are better places to see manta rays, hammerhead sharks, wreck dive, and find exotic creatures in the muck, but no other place is as convenient to get to; is as affordable; and has such consistently clear, warm water filled with a kaleidoscope of healthy marine life.

Each year we stay at Scuba Club Cozumel, an all-inclusive resort several blocks south of town. Scuba Club is a small, dedicated dive resort. There are many good things to say about this place: friendly staff, great food, ambience, charming rooms, no phones, no TV's, competent dive guides, fast boats, and unlimited shore diving in front of the hotel. I'm afraid to say too many good things about SCC for fear that it will become too popular; it's the best bargain in town. When we return and first walk through the front gate, Sofia greets us with "welcome home", and we truly feel like family.

Two-tank boat dives leave from the hotel's pier about 8:00am for a run to the famous southern reefs, Colombia, Palancar, Paso del Cedral, Santa Rosa, etc. The walls or low coral reefs are home to turtles, barracuda, nurse sharks, colorful tropical fish, and the occasional eagle ray.

The previous reviewers have done a great job of describing Scuba Club Cozumel. There isn't much I can add other than the shore diving in front of the hotel is wonderful. While not the coral/sponge reef found futher south and reached by boat, the pier and artificial reef in front is home to many small creatures. Easy in/out via stairs, the water is only twenty feet deep. Normally, the current runs south to north, so we begin our dive into the current, moving slowing, looking for things to photograph, and then turning for home and drifting back when the tank pressure is less than half. You can easily do a two-hour dive on a single Al-80 tank. Want to do another shore dive? Take another tank and repeat to your heart's content. Night shore dives are good opportunities to see octopus and other creatures of the dark out hunting.

I have posted many trip reports and scads of pictures on my web page; enjoy!

http://chemistry.csudh.edu/faculty/jim/Jim'sWeb_Page.htm

We are going back in August for three more, wonderful weeks at SCC.