The MUSA dive was essentially an overpriced cattle drive.
When we arrived in MUSA, we knew we wanted to dive MUSA but were worried about what to do with our luggage (we were switching hotels that next night). We figured a large dive shop like Aquaworld would be able to keep them, which technically did work out since the nice woman at the front desk allowed us to store them in the back office. The only other positive was that the uncertified diver in our group was allowed to take a class for a resort certification to dive with the three of us.
However, that was the end of the positives. During her class, the instructor only spoke Spanish so we attempted to translate the lessons for our friend (none of us were dive instructors, but the class was simple enough). On that note, the resort certifications are a joke. They don't teach anything about the BCD, gauges, etc. - our friend was using her BCD to ascend/descend, which completely isn't her fault since they didn't tell her not to do so, but it's extremely dangerous in the water!!
We soon learned why the certifications were so lax as we were loaded onto the dive boat with about 20 other people. After a 40 minute ride to MUSA, we were split up into 3 groups and given dive masters to follow. My two friends and I have our Advanced Open Water certifications, but the people on the boat still guided us off the boat and kept messing with our equipment. For example, we were told that certified divers (there were only 5 out of the 20 on the boat) would be allowed to do free descents, but as I was descending next to the line, one fo the guys grabbed my BCD and started inflating then deflating (still don't know what he was doing...) my vest. On the bottom, we waited about 5-10 minutes for the rest of the divers to descend and began the tour.
MUSA is a lot less impressive than what I expected. I understand it covers a huge amount of area, but there were large areas of space between the sculptures. (This isn't Aquaworld's fault, but it's worth mentioning if anyone's thinking about MUSA.) We also didn't see the chess sculpture that was on just about every MUSA catalogue. I had the biggest problem with the other divers touching the sculptures. On the boat, we were told that MUSA was meant to encourage the growth of algae, then a reef, and eventually bring marine life to the region, but the dive masters didn't do anything about the people touching the sculptures for their silly pictures!!
I also didn't like how the dive master would swim to a region, wait a few seconds, then move onto the next one. Most of the dive was spent swimming through stretches of empty space, and if I ever tried to look longer at an urchin or particular work of art, the dive master in the back would tap my tank and shuffle me to move on. We even had to ascend in a circle holding hands, and the entire dive only lasted about 40 minutes (it was so shallow that I came up with over 2000 psi!). Not to mention, it was a one-tank dive for almost $80 a person - what a rip off!
The only positives were that our uncertified friend was able to dive with us and the friendly staff at the front desk. Other than that, I would not recommend Aquaworld to anyone, and certified divers should stay far, far away!! read more