Villablanca trip report 11/23-11/29

[WicketsMom]

Just back from 6 days in Cozumel. We flew into Cancun, took the bus and ferry across to Cozumel. (This was our original plan as it was about $250/person less than flying directly into Cozumel.) Not too bad, the only problem we encountered was that on our arrival the ferries weren't running a full schedule so we had to wait almost two hours in Playa Del Carmen for the next one. They were adding more to the schedule through the weekend though and should be back to the normal schedule by now. Arrived at our hotel and found that they had upgraded us to a Villa. Very nice, and we had the entire back portion of the hotel to ourselves. They were conserving electricity, so the walk to our room was a little dark but I never felt uncomfortable. Unfortunately the gardens have suffered a lot of damage from Wilma, but already all the trees and bushes have been trimmed back, new topsoil added, and we even saw some new growth starting to appear. The pier is gone, so we had to go to the Hotel Cozumel pier for pickup, but managed that easily with a rental scooter - my favorite way to get around down there anyway as long as it's not raining!

Thursday (Thanksgiving) we made our first dives that afternoon at Palancar Bricks. We were on a fast boat with a total of five divers aboard and absoultely no current. We saw several splendid toadfish, lots and lots of spotted morays, several angelfish, and a turtle. There was a good bit of sand on the reef, and you could see several bases of purple vase sponges that had been torn away, but the fish life was abundant and several of the deeper areas showed little signs of damage.

I can't remember the name of the second site that day, but it was the same with no current and lots of fish. We found a large section of PVC pipe on this one and our divemaster brought it up off of the reef. Saw some other debris, but it was metal (maybe some sort of power equipment) and was already rusting and too large for us to try and bring up.

Friday, we had planned for the EDP dive to do Devil's Throat but had been told ahead of time that it required 4 divers for that to go out. When we arrived it was just Brad and I, so we were expecting a regular fast boat trip. To our surprise, we went ahead to Punta Sur and did Devil's Throat as we had planned. It was very nice having the boat to ourselves. The dive was nice, not alot of damage apparent here, but again absolutely no current. This was our first time to do Devil's Throat and our divemaster pointed out that the sponge cross that used to be there was gone.

Our second site that day was Tunich. When we first got to the bottom, we were greeted by a group of about 7 eagle rays, one of my favorites! Hopefully I got some good shots and will post them if so. Again, some of the shallower areas had obvoius damage, but there is still lots of healthy reef remaining.

Saturday we did a trip to the mainland, then rented a car to go to the east side of the island. Part of the road on the back is washed out and you can't make the full loop around the island any more. But Coconut's survived and we stopped in there for a little while.

Sunday we were back to diving and did Columbia Wall for the first site (just four divers on the boat this day). When we got there, another boat pulled up to us and the divemasters were talking and the other boat showed us a French Angelfish that had been shot by spearfishers. We asked our divemaster what they said and were told that someone had been spearfishing on that reef and had been reported. I couldn't understand if they had been caught or not, but at the start of the dive we found the rest of their 'catch' that had been dumped on the bottom in the sand- another couple of angelfish, a small grouper, and a lobster. It was very sad. We saw a large free-swimming green moray heading that way to get a free meal. This ended up being our first true drift dive on this trip, as the current had finally picked up again.

Second site of the day was Delila (sp?). Saw one very large eagle ray with no tail here in the shallows, a big octopus, and another free-swimming green moray. Brad was low on air, so we stayed at 15 feet when the eel showed up while the other divers went to try and get a photo. They also found a jet-ski overturned and buried in the sand!

Monday we started with Palancar Caves and found a big turtle sleeping in the reef. He didn't even move when we took his picture. Saw two more eagle rays just over my head as we exited a swim-through, and another turtle. This one hung out with us on the surface as we waited for the boat too.

We finished off with Paso del Cedral where we saw many more eels, a nurse shark, and another turtle.

All in all, the dives were very nice. You can definitely see damage, but there are parts that are still as nice as they were before. The fish are just as plentiful as before we went, if not more so as I've never seen eagle rays in Cozumel before and we saw many on this trip.

We are not at all unhappy that we decided to go forward with our plans to make this trip. We had great dives, great food, and actually enjoyed there being fewer people around (some nights in town we felt like the only 'gringos' there!). We did have to contend with some construction noise at the hotel, but not really early (and we were heading out to dive anyway) and they were very considerate when they were working near our villa. We did only have one TV station (in Spanish) available, as the cable was out, but we didnt' go there to watch TV although it is nice to know what's going on in the rest of the world while you're gone.

They have really made remarkable progress and are proud of what has been accomplished in such a short period of time (and should be). Most of our favorite restaurants are back up and just as good as before, and we tried several new ones off of Christi's list that were also good. The locals are really ready for the on-island tourists to return, and many of the hotels are ready for guests too. If you were planning on going in the next few weeks, I don't think you will be disappointed - we weren't. We tried to tip a little more than usual since the number of customers is so limited. Also, many places now (more so than usual) want US cash only, no credit cards, so plan accordingly.

[DenverDiverErin]

That was a really thorough report of your trip! Thanks so much for going through the dives especially. We will be in Coz Dec. 31-Jan.7, staying at Bahia downtown, and diving with Dive Paradise. Can't wait to get down there. Are there any other pieces of advice you have about what to bring with, or what to expect, for people who have been to Coz many times before, and might not know about changes from Wilma?

[Debraw]

Great trip report. It sounds like you dove with Dive Paradise for the trip. We dive with them also when we travel to Cozumel. I love that EDP dive. We have always either had just us or maybe one other couple on the boat we we did it. I have never had less than an hour bottom time on that trip. I have only toured the Villablanca, never stayed there. I liked the rooms when we peeked in one of them, nice and big! Are they making repairs to Temptations, the restaurant? We are hoping to make it back to Cozumel late next summer or early fall. Thanks again for the thorough trip report, it's appreciated!