kwest
Contributor
Had a great second trip to Cozumel January 11th - 20th: Diving with Blue Magic Scuba staying at Park Royal. (Last year I dived with Blue Angel and stayed at the Wyndham)
We arrived on Monday afternoon, January 11th and there was a hint of sadness on the island. I think the Harbor Master had things closed on and off for two weeks and the weather had finally gotten to people. Luckily for me the diving was open Tuesday for the first time in four days and only closed one day during my 8 days there. Here is a report I hope it is helpful - feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
Park Royal: This place was very clean and the food in my opinion was much better than at the Wyndham. The beach area was not as large as the Wyndhams, but nice enough for my six-year-old sand-castle-architect. The main reason we chose to stay at Park Royal was to be closer to town so we could enjoy the restaurants every now and then. We really felt stuck at the Wyndham when we stayed there last year. I think next time we might try Playa Azul which is not all inclusive and North of town. It would require us to rent a car, but looks very nice. If it were just me and not my wife and son - I think I would stay at Blue Angel or Villa Blanca.
Blue Magic Scuba: I chose Blue Magic because I wanted more of a "valet" service this trip rather than keeping my wet gear at the hotel and trying to rinse it in the shower each day. Through the process of exploring my options I was also in touch with other dive operators and feel I should mention that Christi at Blue XTC, like Joyce from Blue Magic, really stood out as being helpful and more personable and enthusiastic than others. It's obvious that these two love what they are doing. In the end I chose Blue Magic because the owners are originally from Northern California where I live and we quickly became friends. I even got a chance to meet them up here before my trip. Pumba was my divemaster for all seven days of diving except one were we had 6 divers on the boat and they sent along Sandro to dive with me as my personal divemaster because the other divers were beginners - very nice touch. Both Sandro and Pumba were professional and fun. The boats were nice and we always had fruit, water and a new dry towel after each dive. Pumba did a great job of pointing out sea life both small and large. A highlight was when we dived Cantarell with just the two of us and saw some massive eagle rays in a surprisingly non-existent current (we did a lot of kicking). We also did a night dive at Paradise, again just the two of us, and I saw the largest moray eel I've ever seen. I think it could have fit my head in its mouth like the one from "The Deep"
. There were unfortunately also lion fish seen on almost every dive. Sandro and I saw four big ones together at 100 fsw at Palancar Caves. Most of my first dives of the day were in the 45-50 minute range sometimes down to 110-120 fsw with the second dives being about 55-65 minutes usually 55-65 fsw. When I ran out of pages in my log book, Joyce had a new one waiting for me the next day. Jorge at the dive shop also helped me get a great deal on a car rental. Blue Magic was exactly what I needed it to be and I feel I've found my dive operator for any future trips to Cozumel. That said, I didn't witness any one on another boat not having fun, so don't stress too much about your choice.
All-in-all another great trip to Cozumel and it pains me to sit here and write about it as it is cold and rainy outside and I wish I were back in the warm clear water.
(((kevin)))
We arrived on Monday afternoon, January 11th and there was a hint of sadness on the island. I think the Harbor Master had things closed on and off for two weeks and the weather had finally gotten to people. Luckily for me the diving was open Tuesday for the first time in four days and only closed one day during my 8 days there. Here is a report I hope it is helpful - feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
Park Royal: This place was very clean and the food in my opinion was much better than at the Wyndham. The beach area was not as large as the Wyndhams, but nice enough for my six-year-old sand-castle-architect. The main reason we chose to stay at Park Royal was to be closer to town so we could enjoy the restaurants every now and then. We really felt stuck at the Wyndham when we stayed there last year. I think next time we might try Playa Azul which is not all inclusive and North of town. It would require us to rent a car, but looks very nice. If it were just me and not my wife and son - I think I would stay at Blue Angel or Villa Blanca.
Blue Magic Scuba: I chose Blue Magic because I wanted more of a "valet" service this trip rather than keeping my wet gear at the hotel and trying to rinse it in the shower each day. Through the process of exploring my options I was also in touch with other dive operators and feel I should mention that Christi at Blue XTC, like Joyce from Blue Magic, really stood out as being helpful and more personable and enthusiastic than others. It's obvious that these two love what they are doing. In the end I chose Blue Magic because the owners are originally from Northern California where I live and we quickly became friends. I even got a chance to meet them up here before my trip. Pumba was my divemaster for all seven days of diving except one were we had 6 divers on the boat and they sent along Sandro to dive with me as my personal divemaster because the other divers were beginners - very nice touch. Both Sandro and Pumba were professional and fun. The boats were nice and we always had fruit, water and a new dry towel after each dive. Pumba did a great job of pointing out sea life both small and large. A highlight was when we dived Cantarell with just the two of us and saw some massive eagle rays in a surprisingly non-existent current (we did a lot of kicking). We also did a night dive at Paradise, again just the two of us, and I saw the largest moray eel I've ever seen. I think it could have fit my head in its mouth like the one from "The Deep"
. There were unfortunately also lion fish seen on almost every dive. Sandro and I saw four big ones together at 100 fsw at Palancar Caves. Most of my first dives of the day were in the 45-50 minute range sometimes down to 110-120 fsw with the second dives being about 55-65 minutes usually 55-65 fsw. When I ran out of pages in my log book, Joyce had a new one waiting for me the next day. Jorge at the dive shop also helped me get a great deal on a car rental. Blue Magic was exactly what I needed it to be and I feel I've found my dive operator for any future trips to Cozumel. That said, I didn't witness any one on another boat not having fun, so don't stress too much about your choice. All-in-all another great trip to Cozumel and it pains me to sit here and write about it as it is cold and rainy outside and I wish I were back in the warm clear water.
(((kevin)))
