rmssetc
Contributor
Cozumel trip report, Dec 23/Jan 4
Here's Yet-another-Cozumel-trip-report, from my Dec/Jan trip. Since there are so many reports, and this was my 9th (8th? 10th?) visit, I'm going to emphasize differences and new discoveries and skip a lot of basics.
Logistics:
Phildelphia to PDC, then the bag drag. Door-to-door (home to checked into the hotel), about 8 hrs. That's about 2 (3?) hrs longer than PHL with a connection somewhere (ATL, DFW) to CZM, but it avoids leaving before 5AM and the stress of a flight connection (and hoping luggage will make it too)
I'd do it again.
Lodging:
Stayed in Hotel B for 6 nights. North hotel zone.
Quiet, great service, nice pool and access to the water. Nice breakfast, but just barely early enough to get a cab down to marina by 8AM. Quite variable charges from cabdrivers to get to the marina, including one who demanded about 70P more than the rate card, which he refused to show me...
Getting into town for meals is an added complication, but not overwhelming.
We've stayed there before (June), and would do it again.
Stayed at Tamarindo B&B for 8 nights. Calle 4 & Ave 20.
Wonderful -- the nicest small hotel/air B&B we've stayed at. Clean, great breakfast (vegetarian), early enough to make it easy to go diving. Tamarindo has a full kitchen for guests, nice public spaces, a hot tub, a real swimming pool (heated, 10' deep, enough for confined-water lessons), and the nicest yoga studio on the island (clean, good floor, good mats & blocks).
Very much looking forward to staying there again.
Meals:
Beyond the usual suspects that we've enjoyed before (Guidos, La Conchita del Caribe, La Cucina Italina, El Chino Marinaro, Miss Deleites, El Morro, K'ooben Laab) which were as good as usual, we went to a few new restaurants:
Vegan Barrio (with the restuarant 'pop-up' stalls on 10 Avenida Sur, betweeen 3 & 5). Vegan takes on typical cuisine, but different from the vegan menu at Coral (Ave 10 between Benito Juarez and Ave 2, at the Hostelito Cozumel). Good food, generous portions, Would go again.
Tentaciones, 15th between 2nd & 4th. A nice place for breakfast/lunch, very similar vibe to Cozumelenos (another of our favorites). Would go again.
Diving/Marine Life:
Dove with Liquid Blue. Contact me for more details.
This was the Winter of the Seahorse. I've seen one (two?) in Cozumel before, but they were distant, indistinct, and camouflaged. This winter, we saw seahorses on almost every dive on Yucab and Cedral. Other critters of note were a baby shark, a few [distant] eagle-rays, a small turtle (dinner-plate sized), an extended/close swim-by from a reef shark, and a lettuce-leaf nudibranch, plus the typical species.
Lots of pictures here:
Cozumel Dec 2023
The coral bleaching was really noticeable, and it feels like there were fewer turtles, fewer eels (none seen swimming), fewer eagle-rays, and drum fish (none), than 3~5 years earlier.
Here's Yet-another-Cozumel-trip-report, from my Dec/Jan trip. Since there are so many reports, and this was my 9th (8th? 10th?) visit, I'm going to emphasize differences and new discoveries and skip a lot of basics.
Logistics:
Phildelphia to PDC, then the bag drag. Door-to-door (home to checked into the hotel), about 8 hrs. That's about 2 (3?) hrs longer than PHL with a connection somewhere (ATL, DFW) to CZM, but it avoids leaving before 5AM and the stress of a flight connection (and hoping luggage will make it too)
I'd do it again.
Lodging:
Stayed in Hotel B for 6 nights. North hotel zone.
Quiet, great service, nice pool and access to the water. Nice breakfast, but just barely early enough to get a cab down to marina by 8AM. Quite variable charges from cabdrivers to get to the marina, including one who demanded about 70P more than the rate card, which he refused to show me...
Getting into town for meals is an added complication, but not overwhelming.
We've stayed there before (June), and would do it again.
Stayed at Tamarindo B&B for 8 nights. Calle 4 & Ave 20.
Wonderful -- the nicest small hotel/air B&B we've stayed at. Clean, great breakfast (vegetarian), early enough to make it easy to go diving. Tamarindo has a full kitchen for guests, nice public spaces, a hot tub, a real swimming pool (heated, 10' deep, enough for confined-water lessons), and the nicest yoga studio on the island (clean, good floor, good mats & blocks).
Very much looking forward to staying there again.
Meals:
Beyond the usual suspects that we've enjoyed before (Guidos, La Conchita del Caribe, La Cucina Italina, El Chino Marinaro, Miss Deleites, El Morro, K'ooben Laab) which were as good as usual, we went to a few new restaurants:
Vegan Barrio (with the restuarant 'pop-up' stalls on 10 Avenida Sur, betweeen 3 & 5). Vegan takes on typical cuisine, but different from the vegan menu at Coral (Ave 10 between Benito Juarez and Ave 2, at the Hostelito Cozumel). Good food, generous portions, Would go again.
Tentaciones, 15th between 2nd & 4th. A nice place for breakfast/lunch, very similar vibe to Cozumelenos (another of our favorites). Would go again.
Diving/Marine Life:
Dove with Liquid Blue. Contact me for more details.
This was the Winter of the Seahorse. I've seen one (two?) in Cozumel before, but they were distant, indistinct, and camouflaged. This winter, we saw seahorses on almost every dive on Yucab and Cedral. Other critters of note were a baby shark, a few [distant] eagle-rays, a small turtle (dinner-plate sized), an extended/close swim-by from a reef shark, and a lettuce-leaf nudibranch, plus the typical species.
Lots of pictures here:
Cozumel Dec 2023
The coral bleaching was really noticeable, and it feels like there were fewer turtles, fewer eels (none seen swimming), fewer eagle-rays, and drum fish (none), than 3~5 years earlier.
