planning advice from cozumel experts!

[work4mike]

Hi Betsy (yes, I cross-posted @ the other website ), and to everyone who replied- Thanks for all your insightful and caring comments...

Y'all have definitely convinced us that the dog should be staying home!

Initially, what sparked our posting was the inability to get our regular sitter and/or family to look after our dog. Since we never liked using a kennel, our options were only independent sitters and/or family. The timing for our intended trip made it impossible to get family help or our regular sitter. But, taking all the replies into consideration, we've decided to move our travel dates around.

On the topic of Cozumel; I was surprised to see the comments that the Cozumel shore snorkelling was not as nice as I had hoped it to be. My wife likes snorkelling and we were going to do more snorkelling off the beach.

I have only read of Cozumel, seen the pictures and I thought the snorkelling was going to be fantastic.

Thanks again, to all who replied. It was all very helpful!! ;-)

 

[betsyinczm]

Hi......I already answered you on the other forum (congratulated you on a good decision!), but never got to your snorkeling question..........not sure anymore where you are staying now that the doggie thing has changed............maybe tell us when you decide and many will chime in about their favorite places..........OR start another thread, even though there are many already..........just know that even though the snorkeling is "less" stellar than before, it's still great and there is still much to see!!

Betsy

 

[thelawgoddess]

i think caribe blu will allow you to bring dogs, but you should definitely check with them first. someone had a couple of toy dogs while we were there - quiet, well-behaved, and only knew they were there when we saw the owners walking them.

not sure if the snorkeling's much to look at, but we did shore dives there at night and they were great. not a lot of feautures and no corals or anything, but we'd see 3 octos and 2-3 eels in addition to lots of other fish - all in 24 ft or less of water. those were some of our favorite dives actually. a little surf and some surge to deal with on the entry/exit, though. (it's not a beach, though - it's fairly rocky on the shore.) they do have a small pool right on the water in lieu of a sandy beach but not much to look at in there.

we had one single diver with us one day on a boat with us and one other couple and he pretty much dove alone and could do as he pleased - the dm watched him and ascended with him.

 

[1gromit]

Hi, I was recently in a similar situation - my ex snorkeled but didn't dive. She really wanted a peaceful beautiful place with good beaches and the best possible snorkeling (which we did together; I dove in the morning, we snorkeled in the afternoon).

I can say quite definitively that the best snorkeling was at Presidente (I've stayed at Fiesta Americana, Barracuda, Casa Del Mar, and Presidente).

It's often said that there is no great snorkeling here, but that's not true. Pre-wilma, snorkeling at Presidente was subperb (much better than Fiesta Americana, actually, which was probably second best of the ones I've tried).

Presidente has a sunken boat with a wide variety of sea life (not sure how it survived the storm, tho), and a very large snorkeling area with a variety of small coral heads. We saw eel, rays, massive parrot fish (larger than any that I've seen diving), lizard fish, all types of angels, triggers, basslets and so forth. Quite enjoyable, really.

The only hesitation I have regarding presidente: I haven't been there since the storm.

 

[sealskin98]

For the day before you leave (or a mid-week break), you might want to look into Chankanaab Park. It "costs" to get in and bring your own mask, fins, and snorkle. And last time I was there you couldn't bring in your own dive gear (regs., b.c., etc.), or something like that, but that was several years ago.

I've only been there once, and didn't do the overpriced tourist dive or the "dolphin dive", but I had a nice time on snorkle and dipping down to about 15 feet or so.

I wish I had spent about half a day there, was only there about 2 hours. It costs to get in, but I liked the place. Would go back, but only for one day with the fees they charge. Saw trumpet fish, blue tangs, angel fish....ect. Wife just stuck her mask down in the water from the steps (she's scared of water) and saw a bunch of neat stuff.

But that was a few years ago, don't know what it looks like now. Just remember that the park "costs" an entrance fee.

Then there are the snorkle trips or glass bottom boat things on the reefs. Aaaak!

Just go to the water and jump in. Not as good as a boat dive, but hey.