Cozumel trip report March 29- April 6, 2009

[gee]

I have often visited this forum to research destinations however, I have not posted my own trip report so I thought it was time I repaid.

I wanted an easy, relaxing and, more importantly these days, budget friendly dive vacation. Cozumel, seemed to be a good choice. I Departed from Huntsville, Alabama airport at 6:15 am and changed planes in Dallas. Touch down was in Cozumel, Mexico on an AA flight that was on time at 12:30 pm, and even better, all of my luggage made it too. I cleared Customs & Immigration at the airport with no problems and by 1:45 pm I was on the way to Villablanca. Thanks again for the ride Johnathan. I Checked in at the front desk, rented a safe in the lobby ($5 for the week) to store passport and currency, but didn't get the beach towel (refundable $15 deposit). The hotel provided a complementary bottle of water at checkin. Free wifi was available but my room was apparantly not close enough to the wireless router to get a connection. I could connect around the pool. I unpacked then walked next door to complete the paperwork at Scubamau. Then I started diving. I wanted to check my equipment and weight before getting on the boat the next day so I tried the shore dive from the boat dock across the street from the shop. Mau watched me set up and gave a briefing & Opal brought the tank over for me. started with the 5 mm wetsuit and beanie and it was comfortable for me all week. I packed a shorty and a dive skin but didn't wear them. I recorded a consistant 79 deg F all week. It was great to be back in the relatively warm Caribbean, and to see fthe continuing recovery that the reef is experiencing after it was severely damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. During the next eight days I made 1 shore dive, 10 boat dives with Scubamau and 4 boat dives with Aldora. Please note: I have no intention to compare the two dive ops in this post. I wanted to take advantage of the free unlimited shore diving at Villablanca but I seemed to lose steam after just two morning dives, a shower, gear rinse and lunch.

This was the First time I've used Scubamau, a relatively new dive OP on the island. A couple of emails to Opal arranged room for eight days and diving for five. The price quoted was very reasonable and there were no hidden taxes, fees or other surprizes at checkout. Some ops require payment up front but, except for $70 cc charge (done on Villablanca's website) to hold the room reservation, I didn't pay for anything until I checked out. They use two small fast covered boats with 150 hp outboards for the morning dives. I'm not sure about the afternoon as I only did the two morning dives. DM provides a briefing. Entry is by backroll. Group of 4 to 6 are led by DM. Usually the first dive of the day is made at one of the deep sites 75 - 110 feet. A surface interval at a beach sometimes with bathroom facilities sometimes not. Once, we came back to VB. The second dive is usually made on one of the shallower reefs (30 to 70 feet). The length of the first dive is 35 - 45 minutes, and the second dive is 50 - 60 minutes. It is not necessary that all divers end their dive at the same time. Fruit and bottled water are served on the boat, but towels are not provided. .

Weather throughout my stay was very pleasant. It varied from sunny to partly cloudy. Air temperature during the day was in the mid 80s. Water temperatures 79 deg F. Seas were 1- 2 feet maximum. The wind picked up on a few days and made the boat rides a little wet and choppy. Viz varied from 75 to over 100'.

Critter roll call: Spotted Eagle Rays, Nurse sharks, Tile fish, Toadfish, Turtles, moray & spotted eels, trunkfish, hogfish, trumpet fish, juvenile spotted drums, baracuda, stingrays, lobsters, jawfish, angelfish, triggerfish. The big thrill for me was seeing a sailfish zip by while waiting for the boat pickup. I carried a camera on the boat but didn't dive with it every time. I would leave it on board if the current was ripping or if the boat didn't have a fresh water rinse. Of course, that was when I would see most of those critters! I managed to take a few snapshots of fish butts.

Picasa Web Albums - glenn

The dive sites included Yucab Wall, Yucab Reef, Villa Blanca Wall, Palancar, Eagle Ray, Columbia Deep, Tormentos, Santa Rosa Wall, San Francisco Reef, Punta Delila, san juan, barracuda

My standard room was large, spacious, cleaned daily and provided basic and affordable accommodations. The bedroom had a King sized bed, a single large wrought iron chair with a cushioned seat, a large closet, a built in dressing table, two night stands, a telephone, refrigerator, a wall mounted tv with good picture quality. Most of the 3 dozen or so channels were spanish speaking but a couple of the channels showed US made movies with spanish subtitles. Another channel had several hours of Fox programing in english.There were 3 single 2 prong electrical outlets in the bedroom and 1 single 2 prong outlet in the bathroom (bring an adaptor if your electronics have 3 prongs). The AC worked well but was not needed at night. The large sunken tub provided plenty of hot water at an adequate pressure. It was very good for rinsing gear, There was no hairdryer.

I'm not a food critic or gourmet so, sorry, I did not track precisely what and where I ate. I walked into town most afternoons and simply looked for eateries several blocks east of the waterfront that was full of locals. Some of the things I ordered included Seviche, tacos, chili rellenos, fajitas. potato soup, salad. Everything I ate was quite tasty and inexpensive. I also went to the Mega market and Chedraui for snacks and beverages several times.

I had a very relaxing and affordable dive vacation, made some new friends in the diving community and came away with diving memories that will last a lifetime.

[unclepooty]

Thanks for the report.

[weking4]

Great report and I well be down in 7 day staying at Hotel Cozumel and diving with Dive Paradise cant what to get down they.

[scubarobin]

We were down about the same time as you staying at ScubaClubCozumel. We were very disappointed with the reefs condition and lack of fish - this was our first trip since Wilma and we expected things to have recovered better than they have. The best Cozumel dives we did all week were the shore dives right at SCC. We saw just about every fish in the Caribbean there! Tons of little critters, eels, juvie fish and adult fish. Really good shallow dives and we got in at least one shore dive each day, one day we did a night dive there also. The best diving we did all week was over at a cenote on the mainland. We really enjoyed it and will do the cenotes again. I doubt we will return to Cozumel. We had 5 trips there Pre-Wilma and enjoyed the diving but it wasn't the best we ever did even then. It was okay diving this trip but not special. Yes, Cozumel is cheap but I would rather spend a few $$ more and go somewhere else. Just my 2 cents.

robin

[Travelnsj]

gee....thanks for the report. I've always found the diving to be as good in Coz as anywhere else I've been in the Caribbean. Glad you had a good time.

[gee]

scubarobin,
I looked at part of your website and really enjoyed your trip reports. Good work. Especially interesting was Palau. It is on my wish list.

Originally Posted by scubarobin

We were down about the same time as you staying at ScubaClubCozumel. We were very disappointed with the reefs condition and lack of fish - this was our first trip since Wilma and we expected things to have recovered better than they have. The best Cozumel dives we did all week were the shore dives right at SCC. We saw just about every fish in the Caribbean there! Tons of little critters, eels, juvie fish and adult fish. Really good shallow dives and we got in at least one shore dive each day, one day we did a night dive there also. The best diving we did all week was over at a cenote on the mainland. We really enjoyed it and will do the cenotes again. I doubt we will return to Cozumel. We had 5 trips there Pre-Wilma and enjoyed the diving but it wasn't the best we ever did even then. It was okay diving this trip but not special. Yes, Cozumel is cheap but I would rather spend a few $$ more and go somewhere else. Just my 2 cents.

robin

[scubarobin]

Originally Posted by gee

scubarobin,
I looked at part of your website and really enjoyed your trip reports. Good work. Especially interesting was Palau. It is on my wish list.

Thanks! Palau is definitely a trip of a lifetime but it isn't cheap. Start saving up now for it!!

[Tully Mars]

Nice trip report, thanks!

[cowgirldiver]

What did you think of Barracuda? Was the current ripping? We had to get special permission to dive there from the harbor master and once we got out there, the waves were pretty big so I skipped it (thinking about reentry into the boat in those waves was not appealing!!) After sitting on the boat waiting for the rest of the divers, I wished I'd done it.

[CompuDude]

Originally Posted by scubarobin

Thanks! Palau is definitely a trip of a lifetime but it isn't cheap. Start saving up now for it!!

If you plan things right, you can stay a week in Bali for the same price as a week in Coz.