wnissen
Contributor
I had signed up for the Invasion but had to cancel due to family and work commitments that would have kept me away from home all but 8 days in June. As luck would have it, my local dive shop (Dive 'N Trips) booked a very similar trip August 6-13! So I strapped on my mask and hopped on the redeye through Houston. Flights to Cozumel from the West Coast, at least in summer, are unusually bad. Basically you can leave at 5 a.m. or 11 p.m., nothing in between. I had heard a lot about flights being delayed and didn't want to miss the last flight of the day, but everything was running smoothly so I had 4 hours to kill in Houston. The onsite Marriott has some smokers' benches outside, so I practiced my Spanish and took in the humid air.
Arriving at noon, it took about an hour to get through immigration in an un-airconditioned room. Masks were technically required but not enforced. Exit was easier than expected, not as bad as Cancún. There were no taxis picking up at the airport, just dropping off, a situation that wasn't really made clear. Sometimes airports have the ******** where only airport taxis can pick up, this was a new and different type of ********. At least the fare was reasonable.
The Hotel Cozumel / Wyndham is a nice looking resort, we were welcomed warmly, checkin was efficient, though as early as I was my room wasn't ready until the official checkin time of 3, which is fine. There is a full time security guard looking after the bags, though the entry is not fenced as in some Mexican resorts. I took the opportunity to check in at the onsite dive operation Dive Paradise. I filled out their "paperwork" using the provided tablet, which worked pretty well. I wanted to set up my new transmitter after my hunk of junk Aqualung i550 bit the dust a week before my trip. The extremely friendly and bilingual staff lent me a tank at no charge to test assemble my gear and got me fitted for fins ("atletas"). Unfortunately they only rent smaller closed-heel snorkel fins, and don't sell fins, or much of anything except dive art, t-shirts and a handful of save-a-dive items like mouthpieces. It's not a dive shop, it's a dive excursion organization, which is a fine thing to be, but they shouldn't pretend. There is a real dive shop next door, but the gear is pretty pricey. I elected to keep the rentals, which were serviceable.
Unfortunately, you can't open a tab, so even though they ask for your room number with every transaction, there's a paper receipt to sign and credit card transaction generated for every tank, additional excursion, etc. Just seemed unnecessarily rigid. No exchange rate BS, though, everything was in MXN pesos. There's a row of very helpful dive lockers right by the dock, but the dive shop doesn't control the keys, the front desk does. So I went back, got a key on a handy lanyard, put stuff in the locker, and my room was ready. I made the mistake of leaving my nylon dive bag in the wet locker with my neoprene boots, it was rank by the end of the second day. This was my first trip to the tropics to do boat diving, and I didn't realize that I really needed a mesh bag and nothing else. Doing mostly shore diving with no DM teaches you certain things which are mostly very helpful but not always.
The food was good to excellent, depending on the closeness to actual Mexican food. The pizza was recognizably pizza but nothing special. But the pollo adobado and cochinita pibil were excellent. It took me a few minutes to discover that you have to ask for corn or flour tortillas at the griddle, and they are heated to order. Service was friendly and attentive. Unfortunately, the rigidity of the staff at Los Arcos popped up again. There is nowhere to eat in the evening except ordering from a very limited room service menu at additional, though reasonable, cost. I just wanted to take my plate and eat by the pool, same tables they serve snack, but I was informed in no uncertain terms that it would not be permitted. Ditto on swimsuits, we saw some folks getting refused service because they had bikini tops instead of shirts/blouses. Having a nice restaurant (and it is, food, service, and decor) is great, but when there's literally no other place to eat except in your room, it's unreasonable. Even the outdoor restaurant (Los Girasoles) won't seat you if you're wet, have to change into dry swimsuit. The bartender wouldn't even let us hook up our video camera to the TV to show our group's videos. It wasn't mean, just, like, nope, not happening. Other times the staff were great, going out of their way to help out and make our time there special.
Having never been to Cozumel and only having a handful of tropical dives in Puerto Rico and Hawai'i, I didn't know what to expect, but the diving was stunning. I'm so accustomed to the 8mm wetsuit and hood that diving in a skin was a revelation. The degree to which it is so much easier to manipulate everything underwater is amazing. I had brought a shorty and 4mm full suit and like my canvas and nylon bags, they sat unused all week. The boat Paradise Diver is older, pretty clearly not getting another coat of paint, but entirely serviceable. It has a marine head, about 50% shade cover, multiple entries, and good underseat storage. The camera area is fairly small, not having kept up with the increase in setups. The captain was excellent, drops were on target, he would keep repositioning until we got to the right spot in the right direction. Crew were very friendly, I especially liked Memo, he was safety-focused but funny. Carlos was also an asset. Gener was very helpful topside but again pretty rigid. We would be nowhere close to NDL and still with well over the 700 psi / 48 bar requested for starting our ascent and he would be deploying his SMB to end the dive. One time we splashed after the first group but were brought up first. So our median dive time was 53 minutes, always on aluminum 80s. I couldn't have stayed out there another hour, but I don't understand the point of going to a whole other country to dive and not using all your time. All were excellent at spotting.
Snack was the same every day, an excellent banana, decent apple, and some kind of snack bar. We took surface intervals on the boat since there is no anchoring or mooring. The crew was outstanding at fixing issues, no sooner did someone have a problem with an o-ring or BCD and they were at work. Tanks were set up for DIN as requested. The boat was slow, we didn't pass anybody. It took over an hour to get to Palancar Gardens, though splitting up the trip on the way back meant a relatively short return. I had a great time, there was so much to see. In California I'm really a fan of kelp and invertebrates, I didn't think I really liked fish! I booked a private DM the first day for US$50, and got Sergio. He was friendly but I would have been better off without him. I told him in advance that my ears are really bad and I need to descend slowly. At the surface, he told me, "We have to go down now," which is not what you say to someone with bad ears. He just dropped and didn't stay with me at all. Instead he was trying to convince my buddy to join the group. I had to come to the surface because it was just not working, and he didn't come up or send an SMB. Yes, I'm responsible for my own safety, and if I had to surface I should have put mine up, which I did later in the trip.
The last day we didn't have dives booked so I tried out Aldora. What a change! Yes, it was about 50% more expensive per dive. But they slapped a steel 120 on my back and we went to town. Basically everything was better. More shade on one of the fastest boats on the island, no time limits, correct nitrox mix for the shallower dive, really just a great experience all around. Surface interval was at the fine beach club Playa Palancar, where I had a bottle of water and a mango frozen drink (no alcohol) for MXN$200. Aldora were about 10 minutes late picking me up but called to let me know they'd be late. They didn't like me changing my own tank, but that's not a big deal, I think it's more that they want to provide valet service.
The room in the hotel was extremely functional, lots of space, plenty of outlets, good AC, Mexican standard toilet that you can't put toilet paper in, safe in the closet. Decent amount of deferred maintenance but pretty typical for dive resorts. The purified water in the hallways was kept topped up and the room was immaculate. The folks who do the laundry and cleaning are great. Why not leave MXN$2000 for them on your next trip? I really liked that all rooms had a pool view. It's not that big, but the pool is huge (I didn't get in, actually). It's a little awkward to take the passage under the road, especially the one day when it flooded. Overall an excellent layout, much better than the mega resorts where you need a golf cart. Only one elevator, so try to get a room in the front building unless you don't mind stairs (I don't).
Really wish I was there now. Would go back to Hotel Cozumel, but dive with Aldora.
Arriving at noon, it took about an hour to get through immigration in an un-airconditioned room. Masks were technically required but not enforced. Exit was easier than expected, not as bad as Cancún. There were no taxis picking up at the airport, just dropping off, a situation that wasn't really made clear. Sometimes airports have the ******** where only airport taxis can pick up, this was a new and different type of ********. At least the fare was reasonable.
The Hotel Cozumel / Wyndham is a nice looking resort, we were welcomed warmly, checkin was efficient, though as early as I was my room wasn't ready until the official checkin time of 3, which is fine. There is a full time security guard looking after the bags, though the entry is not fenced as in some Mexican resorts. I took the opportunity to check in at the onsite dive operation Dive Paradise. I filled out their "paperwork" using the provided tablet, which worked pretty well. I wanted to set up my new transmitter after my hunk of junk Aqualung i550 bit the dust a week before my trip. The extremely friendly and bilingual staff lent me a tank at no charge to test assemble my gear and got me fitted for fins ("atletas"). Unfortunately they only rent smaller closed-heel snorkel fins, and don't sell fins, or much of anything except dive art, t-shirts and a handful of save-a-dive items like mouthpieces. It's not a dive shop, it's a dive excursion organization, which is a fine thing to be, but they shouldn't pretend. There is a real dive shop next door, but the gear is pretty pricey. I elected to keep the rentals, which were serviceable.
Unfortunately, you can't open a tab, so even though they ask for your room number with every transaction, there's a paper receipt to sign and credit card transaction generated for every tank, additional excursion, etc. Just seemed unnecessarily rigid. No exchange rate BS, though, everything was in MXN pesos. There's a row of very helpful dive lockers right by the dock, but the dive shop doesn't control the keys, the front desk does. So I went back, got a key on a handy lanyard, put stuff in the locker, and my room was ready. I made the mistake of leaving my nylon dive bag in the wet locker with my neoprene boots, it was rank by the end of the second day. This was my first trip to the tropics to do boat diving, and I didn't realize that I really needed a mesh bag and nothing else. Doing mostly shore diving with no DM teaches you certain things which are mostly very helpful but not always.
The food was good to excellent, depending on the closeness to actual Mexican food. The pizza was recognizably pizza but nothing special. But the pollo adobado and cochinita pibil were excellent. It took me a few minutes to discover that you have to ask for corn or flour tortillas at the griddle, and they are heated to order. Service was friendly and attentive. Unfortunately, the rigidity of the staff at Los Arcos popped up again. There is nowhere to eat in the evening except ordering from a very limited room service menu at additional, though reasonable, cost. I just wanted to take my plate and eat by the pool, same tables they serve snack, but I was informed in no uncertain terms that it would not be permitted. Ditto on swimsuits, we saw some folks getting refused service because they had bikini tops instead of shirts/blouses. Having a nice restaurant (and it is, food, service, and decor) is great, but when there's literally no other place to eat except in your room, it's unreasonable. Even the outdoor restaurant (Los Girasoles) won't seat you if you're wet, have to change into dry swimsuit. The bartender wouldn't even let us hook up our video camera to the TV to show our group's videos. It wasn't mean, just, like, nope, not happening. Other times the staff were great, going out of their way to help out and make our time there special.
Having never been to Cozumel and only having a handful of tropical dives in Puerto Rico and Hawai'i, I didn't know what to expect, but the diving was stunning. I'm so accustomed to the 8mm wetsuit and hood that diving in a skin was a revelation. The degree to which it is so much easier to manipulate everything underwater is amazing. I had brought a shorty and 4mm full suit and like my canvas and nylon bags, they sat unused all week. The boat Paradise Diver is older, pretty clearly not getting another coat of paint, but entirely serviceable. It has a marine head, about 50% shade cover, multiple entries, and good underseat storage. The camera area is fairly small, not having kept up with the increase in setups. The captain was excellent, drops were on target, he would keep repositioning until we got to the right spot in the right direction. Crew were very friendly, I especially liked Memo, he was safety-focused but funny. Carlos was also an asset. Gener was very helpful topside but again pretty rigid. We would be nowhere close to NDL and still with well over the 700 psi / 48 bar requested for starting our ascent and he would be deploying his SMB to end the dive. One time we splashed after the first group but were brought up first. So our median dive time was 53 minutes, always on aluminum 80s. I couldn't have stayed out there another hour, but I don't understand the point of going to a whole other country to dive and not using all your time. All were excellent at spotting.
Snack was the same every day, an excellent banana, decent apple, and some kind of snack bar. We took surface intervals on the boat since there is no anchoring or mooring. The crew was outstanding at fixing issues, no sooner did someone have a problem with an o-ring or BCD and they were at work. Tanks were set up for DIN as requested. The boat was slow, we didn't pass anybody. It took over an hour to get to Palancar Gardens, though splitting up the trip on the way back meant a relatively short return. I had a great time, there was so much to see. In California I'm really a fan of kelp and invertebrates, I didn't think I really liked fish! I booked a private DM the first day for US$50, and got Sergio. He was friendly but I would have been better off without him. I told him in advance that my ears are really bad and I need to descend slowly. At the surface, he told me, "We have to go down now," which is not what you say to someone with bad ears. He just dropped and didn't stay with me at all. Instead he was trying to convince my buddy to join the group. I had to come to the surface because it was just not working, and he didn't come up or send an SMB. Yes, I'm responsible for my own safety, and if I had to surface I should have put mine up, which I did later in the trip.
The last day we didn't have dives booked so I tried out Aldora. What a change! Yes, it was about 50% more expensive per dive. But they slapped a steel 120 on my back and we went to town. Basically everything was better. More shade on one of the fastest boats on the island, no time limits, correct nitrox mix for the shallower dive, really just a great experience all around. Surface interval was at the fine beach club Playa Palancar, where I had a bottle of water and a mango frozen drink (no alcohol) for MXN$200. Aldora were about 10 minutes late picking me up but called to let me know they'd be late. They didn't like me changing my own tank, but that's not a big deal, I think it's more that they want to provide valet service.
The room in the hotel was extremely functional, lots of space, plenty of outlets, good AC, Mexican standard toilet that you can't put toilet paper in, safe in the closet. Decent amount of deferred maintenance but pretty typical for dive resorts. The purified water in the hallways was kept topped up and the room was immaculate. The folks who do the laundry and cleaning are great. Why not leave MXN$2000 for them on your next trip? I really liked that all rooms had a pool view. It's not that big, but the pool is huge (I didn't get in, actually). It's a little awkward to take the passage under the road, especially the one day when it flooded. Overall an excellent layout, much better than the mega resorts where you need a golf cart. Only one elevator, so try to get a room in the front building unless you don't mind stairs (I don't).
Really wish I was there now. Would go back to Hotel Cozumel, but dive with Aldora.
