Cozumel Trip report 2/13/2009

[rayaa3]

Quick trip report

We traveled from OKC -> Cozumel 2/13 -> 2/16/09 (a 4 day weekend, 2 days diving).

Hotel: Hotel Cozumel and Resort - I'de give it 3 stars

This hotel get's a bad rap from alot of folks. It's not a 5 or even a 4 star resort, but for the money, it can be a bargain. It's about 50 yards down from scuba club cozumel. The hotel is clean, the rooms are not new, but they are clean. The bed's are a little hard - but they usually are in Mexico (it's a cultural thing, most of Central America doesn't have bed's as soft as North America, if they do, it's usually a 5 star resort). The bed's were softer here than in Fiesta Americana.

The hotel reminds me of an older holiday inn in the states, nice enough rooms, just not brand new for 20 years. I would stay here again.

I don't drink, but my wife said the mixed drinks are a little weak. She drank mostly beer, because you always know what you are getting in terms of strength. The hotel has a tunnel under the road to the peirs/diveshop..very convenient. There are rinse tanks, and hangers for gear. There are also lockers for hotel guests to store gear (keeps from lugging back and forth from room). I left my sunglasses and booties out to dry one night on accident, they were at the shop lost and found the next morning.

The food at the resort isn't as bad as what I read on the internet...I'de say it was good, the guacamole was AWESOME. I'de recommend breakfast and lunch at the resort, then after diving, get cleaned up and have dinner in town...this place is close to town.

The dive shop: Papa Hogs

Papa Hogs was awesome. The boats are small and fast. They have 2 main styles of boats, the long narrow "panga" style boats, and the wider, deeper V hulls. Both boats carry 6 divers, 1 divemaster, 1 captain. The panga are pretty tight, the deeper V hulls are more roomy. The groups are small, which I like...the dive masters are very good. Pay cash, it will save you 15% of taxes, I suspect if you pay cash (dollars) it's off the books to some degree.

The diving: absolutely beautiful, but chilly, with heavy current on the walls.

The temp was down to 74 on a couple of dives, those in shorties were chilly. I was in a half mm full suit and was chilly. Those in 3mm seemed comfortable. Currents on the walls were a bit heavier than usual. The more shallow reefs and gardens were much more managable.

diving pics:


[FONT='Tahoma','sans-serif']http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007670&id=1017085395&l=65a21[/font]

[FONT='Tahoma','sans-serif']http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007668&id=1017085395&l=83aaa[/font]

[SynCitizen]

You got a few nice pics in there. Thanks for sharing!

[rayaa3]

Thanks - we had a great time. I really liked the dive op. I will mention there was a very nice Canadian couple on the boat...Shawn, and Julia. Shawn had a hell of a first start for the week...

1st dive of the vacation, he was a little underweighted and shot up when his tank emptied...then he got seasick on the boat waiting for the rest of us to get there. He aborted the second dive, because he was seasick.

Next day - he lost his snorkel when he backrolled into the water. He decended after it (on the divemasters advice) and got seperated in the first 5 minutes of the dive. Finding himself alone, he aborted the dive after a couple of minutes of not finding us.

Shawn, if you ever see this, you seemed like a real nice guy - PROBOBALY THE UNLUCKIEST NICE GUY I'VE EVER SEEN. Hope your week got better!

[gthomas]

I'm glad you had a good time. We've always enjoyed are trips there. We are either going back there in May or we might try going to Isla Mujeres. Can't decide.

[whitetip]

Thanks for a report on Hotel Cozumel--my wife and I will be staying there (our 3rd time) in March. You did not mention the largest pool on the island--lol. I see that you dove with Papa Hogs--was DP booked up?

I remember when I lost my snorkel--not on the back roll but going thorough a small swim thorough.

Safe diving and take care of the enviroment

[rayaa3]

Yeah that pool business cracks me up, does anyone go to Cozumel just to sit at the pool?

Dp was not booked, they seem to run larger boats with bigger groups. Papahogs only puts 6 divers on a boat. Large groups tend to be harder to group into skill levels. Which means either we dive NDL or at least all hit 800 at the same time. You do give up certain creature comforts, like an onboard head. Also you tend to have to exit water/climb in with gear on. The larger boats usually pass off gear to the mate before exiting. I don't mind though, makes me feel studly