I had read on trip advisor about Octavio and Nautilus Diving. I stayed at the the Hyatt Regency and bumped into two ladies at the excursion desk. We both discussed how we wondered if the trip advisor rating was real or not. They assured me that they had just gone out with Octavio a few days earlier and how it was a wonderful experience for them. My buddy and I walked over to HOTEL BEST WESTERN CANCUN CLIPPER CLUB and left a note for Octavio to call us about going out. He called us back at our room and setup time for us to go out and dive. I won't go into all the details, but let's just say that it surpassed my expectations. I had never dived before and felt completely safe during the whole experience. I had taken an under water camera with me but never used it (1st dive, taking pictures was the last thing on my mind). Octavio took pictures(70+) with a digital camera and burned them to a CD, delivered to my hotel(see attached pictures). Buy his pictures and enjoy the dive, it is well worth it. I hope to go back to Cancun sometime in the future and have my wife take the dive training with Octavio.

P.S. - Octavio, if you read this, thank you again!!!

The folks that work here, especially Octavio, are friendly & knowledgeable. My gripe is that I specifically asked about rough seas & was told that it would not be a problem. Our party was dropped into very rough water & 4 out of 7 divers were sea sick.

If you are susceptible to motion sickness, be forewarned....

My friend and I have never been on an actual dive and went to this place specifically because of the TripAdvisor reviews ignoring all other offerings. Very lucky we did and thanks to all the other reviews that were submitted. I'll talk about that later. One thing to mention first, IF YOU GET MOTION SICKNESS, TAKE SOMETHING FOR IT BEFORE THE DIVE!!! The underwater swells at this time of year are large and that constant large rocking motion can make you motion sick, Also, the 25 minute ride to the reef in choppy seas won't help. I probably made it worse by constantly making movies with my camera and focusing constantly through the viewfinder doesn't help. Anyways, she was a little squeamish about the dive and developed some other issues along the way. Fred takes you through the basics in the pool. Octavio and Clemente took us out on the dive like all beginners I think. Octavio has a calm, friendly demeanour with gives lots of personal attention to the situation (he practically held here arm the entire time and periodically stopped to help relax her). Clemente's comical relief and friendly smile helped her relax a lot too. She may not have gotten out of the boat without the help of the captain. As it was, she actually got to the bottom before me! I had unexpected problems equalizing pressure but Clemente helped me all the way through that difficult initial period. Once I equalized to the bottom the first time, I had no problem equalizing thereafter and Clemente took care to reminded me all the time too. I was taking pictures and movies from all kind of angles. I didn't start dry heaving until almost the very end of the 1st dive (2 are scheduled in 2 different spots on the reef) I unfortunately was too sick to make the second dive where a large sea turtle showed up for the event right on queue. The place is small and there is not too much to it but the beginner dive instructors, Octavio and Clemente are excellent. My friend is going to write them a personal letter of thanks. As for other places, make your own judgement but during my trip, I was talking directly with another hotel guest and although he was not negative about failing to complete a dive, I heard him mention bad things that I read happening on beginner dives elsewhere like beginners popping up out of the water all over the place and swimming to the boat on their own BUT I wasn't there. I just know that every possible thing was done to make our dive as successful and pleasant as possible where the one story from the other beginner dive did not sound like fun at all.

What a fabulous group of people. My experience could not have been better. I stayed at the Cancun Clipper Club for 10 nights and the primary purpose for the trip was to get in as much diving as possible. The dock is literally at the hotel. You walk from your room to the palapa where you get your gear and another 100 feet or so to the boat.

The boat crew is great; they really helped me with my motion sickness. I get worse when the boat is stopped so between dives they gladly motored around rather than just stopping at the next reef. They also change your tank for you between dives. George is the boat captain and he really knows the currents. He puts you right on the dive site every time. They also really appreciate tips. I asked Fred (the owner) what was appropriate and he said 10% or more was fine. I over did it a bit since they were so good about not getting me sick and it was very much appreciated. I tipped them 200 pesos for every trip (2 dives.) That's around $15.oo and it was well worth it to me.

I didn't get a chance to dive with Octavio very much but I heard nothing but good things about him. I did most of my diving with Clemente and he is fabulous. He also does a great job with professional quality photos and videos.

Another dive master I dove with a couple of times was Marin. I nicknamed him Yoda because he is a master in the water. He doesn't use any air and he makes everything look super easy. I think the nickname might have stuck with him...

If it isn't painfully obvious, I had a fantastic vacation. They really do their best to make your experience a memorable one.

Give them a chance, you'll be glad you did!

Chris