Dive Review of XTC Dive Center/Casa Cara Cola in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Xcalak

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XTC Dive Center/Casa Cara Cola: "XTC/Southern Yucatan/Xcalak", Aug, 2017, by Michael O'Reilly, GA, United States ( Reviewer 5 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 9684.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	XTC is a 5 Star PADI facility and the staff are as capable and experienced as one could hope for in this type of location. Courses here - from open water to dive master - are going to be taught at a very high level. It's tough to get to this location. We rented a car at the Cancun airport and drove. Make sure that you fill up at the Pemex 60km from Xcalak if you go this route as there are no reliable fuel sources closer to Xcalak. We were unable to secure a trip to the Chincuro Banks during our week long stay, due to weather issues and the lack of other guests interested in making the trip. This may be a bigger problem in the summer - their offseason. I thought the staff was very good at XTC, but the local (i.e. non-Chinchuro) diving was characterized by a low fish density and, other than some arrow crabs, a moderate amount of lobster, and a couple of species of shrimp, the crustaceans and other macro were limited. The signature dive in Xcalak is a Tarpon dive, which can include encountering 250-300 Tarpon close up. It's a nice dive. The corals are healthy here and the diversity of reef fish is good for the Caribbean, so the low fish density actually surprised me. My younger daughter did her rescue course here and I thought it was extremely well done.
Websites	XTC Dive Center
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Bunaken, Lembeh, Wakatobi, Sippadan, Indonesian Borneo, GBR, South Australia, PNG, Tanzania, Philippines many locations, Little Caymen, Belize, Turks and Caicos, other
Closest Airport	Tulum	Getting There	6 hr drive from Cancun airport Mexico City airport security staff gave us a hard time generally about regs and camera and took away our tiny screw driver and set of allen wrenches. They claimed this was not allowed in carry-ons.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	28-29°F / -2--2°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Dives limited to 60 minutes or air limits of other divers. I twice came up with 1/2 tank at the safety stop, though most dives were with family members
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	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	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Boats have no space dedicated to cameras. One guest was told that the best place to rinse her camera was the pool.

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Dive Review of XTC Dive Center/Casa Cara Cola in Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Xcalak

XTC Dive Center/Casa Cara Cola: "XTC/Southern Yucatan/Xcalak", Aug, 2017,

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 XTC Dive Center/Casa Cara Cola in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Xcalak