Dive Palancar — Attraction in Isla Cozumel

We have been hundreds of trips with Dive Palancar since September of 2007 when they were the in-house operators at Occidental Grand and Allegro. We followed them to Secrets Aura, and go out with them from their current location on the pier they own. There are plenty of other operators, but we are loyal to Dive Palancar, having tried a few others and talked to many other divers.

We have seen a few dive masters have off days like anyone can have, but they have never compromised our safety. There are some we like better than others, maybe a couple don’t have bubbly personalities, but any truly bad dive masters aren’t going to last long with this family-owned operation.

They aren’t flashy. Their rental gear is generally safe and well-maintained, but as a diver, you need to check everything out and make sure you are comfortable with it and can use it properly, and ask your questions or for different gear before you leave the pier. Also, there is no fresh fruit buffet, sandwiches, sodas, beer, and so on included (which you would pay for if they did, whether you partook or not), but you are welcome to carry on your own. No towels, pillows, fluffy cushions but there are secure and dry or mostly dry places to stow the ones you bring along. They keep their prices reasonable, like WalMart, so don’t expect the Nordstrom experience.

I have seen some comments in negative reviews about not getting enough attention from the dive masters. Dive Palancar does group dives, meaning you will likely be one of several unrelated people on your dives. It’s not fair to the dive master or the other divers to take up time for your equipment problems, personal issues, inability to achieve or maintain buoyancy, running out of air, going deeper than you wanted or are comfortable, etc. It’s up to you as a trained diver to determine that you are ready and capable to get in the water. For those that are new divers or haven’t been out for a while, Dive Palancar gives you the option to pay for a private dive master who will go at your speed to help get you comfortable and oriented. My wife and I do this frequently when we get back in after a several month break or if the boats are going out really full; it’s not that expensive and we also don’t have others on the boat hating us for ending their dives after 25 minutes (not caused by us but we’ve had happen to us several times by people that had no business on an advanced dive).

Same thing for those of you who are visiting on a cruise ship stop, which we’ve also done. It’s your responsibility to be on time according to the Dive Palancar departure schedule (check that you’re on Cozumel time and not Miami time!) and to make arrangements to get to their pier and especially back to the ship - taxis don’t regularly hang out or pass by in this area. It’s not Dive Palancar’s responsibility to find you a taxi or make sure you’re back to the ship on time though they will try to help if they can. Tip: if there are going to be four or more of you, reach out to see if you can get your own boat, that way you can better control your timing and not be unfair to the other divers.

Paola is very warm and welcoming and will happily take the time to answer your questions and concerns via...

Visited in December with my wife and another couple. I am a Divemaster, and have been diving for over 25 years. Dove from Secrets Aura location, and on the second day during the first morning guided dive with a group of eight divers I asked for a briefing. The divemaster said the "briefing is let's go diving" (strange). After 20 minutes into the dive without telling anyone, the divemaster started for the surface. I went over to him and signaled what's wrong? he then gave me the finger. Two novice divers were at 85 feet below, I went back down to them and signaled them to show me how much air they had left. They both had less than 500 PSI. I took over and signaled them to do a safety stop and surface. They both returned to the surface with less than 100 PSI. It's conceivable that if I wasn't there they might of drowned. I reported him to the office, two days later I saw him working on another boat. I received no apology, from the owner, and we had to fight to have that dive credited. I also reported him to PADI. Unless you are a very experienced diver DO NOT DIVE WITH THEM. Like most dive operations on Cozumel most boats are overcrowded. On a positive note, I should also mention that the dive sites...

We were in cozumel for a few days and decided to go on a snorkel excursion. Dive Palacar has a place at the resort, Secrets Aura Cozumel, so I booked a 3 hour snorkel trip. The boat picked us up at the resort's pier and took us to 3 different areas for snorkeling. I've never been snorkeling before, other than right in front of the resort, which was very cool by itself, so I didn't have much to compare it to, but will say, I thought the trip was very awesome! We stopped at one reef and saw a lot of fish and a sea turtle. At the 2nd stop, there were tons of different fish, and we saw at least 7 sea turtles. Then they took us to a beautiful sandy area with starfish everywhere. We saw a couple of rays as well. Our guides cut up some fresh fruit for us and had drinks available. Overall a fantastic first snorkeling excursion and I would happily do it over and over. The cost was $57 per person which included the national park entrance fee. I've included a few captures from videos...