Maple Leaf Scuba

Every dive here is led by an instructor. The shop guides at one instructor per six divers and puts a second instructor on board when the experience in the group is spread wide, with divers paired by level. Marine park rules set the ceiling higher across most of the park, at eight divers per guide by day, tightening to six in the restricted zone off the southern tip and six everywhere after dark.

The published figure is a ratio: one instructor per six divers, with a second instructor added when the group's experience is spread wide. Divers who have been out with the shop describe boats of four, on vessels rated for ten and twelve. Those two numbers measure different things. Eight divers with two instructors would still satisfy one to six, so read the ratio as the commitment and the four as what people have found.

A two tank reef trip runs 105 USD, a three tank day 160, and a two tank trip to the deep southern sites 140. Every diver and snorkeler pays a further 12 USD a day to enter the national marine park. A 50 percent deposit holds the booking, and paying it through PayPal adds 5 percent; cash in Cozumel does not.

Both boats, Alana and Neddie Peddie, berth at Asipona Marina, which is a separate location from the walk up shop 2.5 blocks from the ferry pier. Cruise ship passengers are sometimes met at Fonatur Marina instead.

To Divemaster, at 1595 USD plus the crewpack and PADI registration fees, run over four to six weeks depending on where a candidate starts. Master Scuba Diver sits alongside it at the top of the published ladder. The shop holds PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Center Resort status, which is the professional training tier.

The shop commits to a different reef each day and does not guarantee particular sites. Part of the reason sits outside any operator's control: the marine park rests three of its reef complexes at a time on a rotation, and the resting reefs change through the year. Ask which reefs are resting for your dates.

Neither one costs you the dive fee. The cancellation policy carries a cruise clause covering a ship that arrives late or not at all, with the diver carrying the risk of confusing ship time with local time. If the harbour master closes the port, missed dives are rescheduled where space allows or refunded in full, and when only the south is closed the boats work the remaining sites. Diver side reasons, illness, seasickness or trouble equalising, are not refundable.