Dive Review of Dive Palancar/Allegro Cozumel in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel southern reefs

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Dive Palancar/Allegro Cozumel: "Cozumel--ain't what it use-ta be", May, 2018, by Shawn McDermott, FL, US ( Contributor 16 reports with 12 Helpful votes). Report 10327 has 3 Helpful votes.
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	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Allegro Cozumel is not great since Barcelo took over. I have a time share there and Barcelo does not support the First Club as much as they do the other side of the hotel. They do have the "Ultimate Dive" thingy there but additional dives are $75 plus. I have never dived with their on-site operation because I am a loyal customer of Dive Palancar for something like 10 years now and 750+ dives. New divers might like it--after that many dives it is only ho-hum for me. I'm told that 150 dive boats now have Marine Park licences. Even if you get out early, by the end of the dive there are 100+ divers in the water, mostly bouncing off the bottom and running into the reef and pointing their dumb-ass go-pro toys at--what the heck are they shooting anyway? I've been shooting hi-def video there since August 2011 with mostly a Nauticam housing and Sony NEX cameras. I've always made it a point NOT to include divers in my shots, this is NOT possible any more. I did 28 tanks this last trip, and only put a camera in the water on 3 of those dives. Not much to shoot anymore. Columbia Shallow, which used to have like a million fish--now has maybe about 50 or so. Of course there never used to be many fish on the deeper dives--now there are none. Also not many turtles or nurse sharks on the shallow dives anymore. Dive Palancar has gone seriously downhill, Jorge and Alberto are the best divemasters, with Alberto being the toadfish king. Gustavo is a serious jerk, no dive briefing, no pointing out sealife, pokes the reef with his SS stick, never checks divers' air--this guy thinks he's God's gift to diving. Lobo not much better, mostly tip-oriented and lets his divers do whatever they please, as long as they tip him heavily. Lobo has been a DM for. what, about 8 years now? This guy also needs to get over himself. Then they complain about me, OWSD/MSDT (retired) with nearly 40 years of diving experience? I saw handling of turtles, bad buoyancy, picking up of shells, diving back down to 40 ft during hang time after the second dive...this was not good. I was mostly very very bored. Maybe it's because I have done so many dives there? Maybe because of the lack of fish, turtles, and sharks? Maybe because of the hundreds of mostly inexperienced divers there these days? I can't be there for 4 weeks anymore....
Websites	Dive Palancar
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Jamaica 300+, San Salvador, Grand Bahama, Abaco, 2000+ South Florida, Florida Keys, Florida Gulfside, Costa Rica, Turks and Caicos (Provo), St. Vincent, Belize, Cayman, Dominican Republic, Bonaire, Curacao, 750+ in Cozumel
Closest Airport	San Miguel	Getting There	Never easy from central Florida
Dive Conditions
Weather	rainy, cloudy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	80-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	80 ft, 45 mins max
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 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	[None]

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Dive Palancar/Allegro Cozumel in Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel southern reefs

Dive Palancar/Allegro Cozumel: "Cozumel--ain't what it use-ta be", May, 2018,

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 Dive Palancar/Allegro Cozumel in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Cozumel southern reefs