Dive Review of Aqua Safari/Cozumel Palace in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel

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Aqua Safari/Cozumel Palace: "Great to Get Back to Diving", Jul, 2021, by Jeanette Hartshorn, MO, US ( Contributor 19 reports with 17 Helpful votes). Report 11732.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	With so many countries still closed to foreigners due to COVID, returning to Mexico for diving was pretty simple. We were fully vaccinated before traveling. NO COVID test required to enter the country, but once you're in Cozumel, the mask mandate was enforced. Locals and most tourists wore masks while walking down the street in fact. Masks were required in public areas of the resort, when not eating or drinking; masks were required when in dining areas entering the buffet; lots of hand sanitizer located in many places around the restaurants. Temp checks were taken upon check-in to the resort; daily temp checks were taken before getting on dive boats, and face masks required around dive operation and on boats until we were under way. Our room, a Superior Ocean Front Suite, was large enough and comfortable with a nice balcony. The people staying in the rooms next to us however were very loud and slammed doors, even in the middle of the night. We asked the front desk to address it but I guess it made no difference. The noise definitely detracted from having a pleasant experience. Because of COVID, the resort and boats were only at 50% capacity, which was great, otherwise the boats would have been crowded. Dive staff did not handle any of our gear, other than loading the tanks on the boat. No valet service. Every day we had to put weights on our belt and then remove them from the belts and leave them on the boat when we were getting off. That was a real annoyance! They inventoried every single weight. They charged us $16 for one of the 4#er's that slipped off of my husbands belt when he was handing the belt up to the staff when exiting a dive. Pretty pricey we thought. Over the course of a week, we had 3 divemasters. One (Mariano) was really our favorite - he loved showing us some little critters that we otherwise would have missed (like the conch laying eggs in the sand, or the juvenile jack knife). Typically 4 of us held to the back of the pack with Mariano, diving slow and taking photos, and he seemed to really enjoy finding little critters for us. A few years ago when I heard about how bad the stony coral disease was in Cozumel, I didn't think that I would ever be returning to dive there, instead finding dive locations with healthy reefs. So I was pleasantly surprised to see the corals and all in pretty decent shape. Since COVID, with cruise ships stopped, and even before that they started closing off certain dive sites to allow them to "rest", it seems to really be making a positive impact! Some of my favorite sitings include: toadfish, lots of turtles including a giant loggerhead turtle, an enormous black grouper, a couple of large rainblow parrotfish, pike blennies, and a permit working over the sand. Unfortunately no spotted eagle ray which I love. Also good- not many lionfish. Saw plenty of grunts, chromis, snappers, triggerfish, angels, trunkfish, filefish, etc. Favorite dive sites include Cedro Wall, which had a ripping current that day; also beautiful Palancar Caves, Santa Rosa Wall, Palancar Horse Shoe, San Francisco. All-in-all, I felt that the resorts attention to COVID safety measures were solid. The way the dive operation handled the weights and weight belts was truly annoying. Diving was better than expected. And it sure was great to get back underwater.
Websites	Aqua Safari Cozumel Palace
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Bahamas, Florida, Atlantic, Dominica, Saba, St Maarten, St Kitts, Grand Turk, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Indonesia, Maldives, Hawaii, Cocos Island, Galapagos, Belize, Roatan
Closest Airport	CZM	Getting There	direct flight from DFW is nice
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	currents, no currents
Water Temp	83-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	stay around divemaster; do not dive deeper than divemaster
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	a cooler sized container filled with water on board for cameras - not really equipped for bigger systems. No extra rinse tank at the dock for cameras- you'll have to do it in your tub back in your room.

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Dive Review of Aqua Safari/Cozumel Palace in Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel

Aqua Safari/Cozumel Palace: "Great to Get Back to Diving", Jul, 2021,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Aqua Safari/Cozumel Palace in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel