hd0519
Registered
I haven't written trip reports in the past, but because of recent discussions about conditions on Cozumel, I thought I should take the time to write something up. In the past 18 months I've made two other trips to Cozumel but this was my first time back after Wilma.
Operator
This was my third trip diving with Blue XT Sea. I know it sounds like a broken record on this board but I can't say enough good things about Christi and crew. Just an extremely professional class act with small fast boats, diving to individual computer and air consumption limits, and wonderful DMs. I did not get to dive from the new boat (Bandida II) but was invited to the christening ceremony and got to go on an evening "champagne" cruise which was really special. It is a beautiful boat and should be wonderful to dive from.
Hotel
On previous trips I'd stayed at the Caribe Blu, but this time I wanted to stay downtown so I went with the Vista del Mar. My room was nice, very clean, had a comfortable bed, and everything worked (as opposed to the Caribe where I've had some hot water availability issues). The room was comparable to those at the Caribe but maybe a notch or too nicer (although not in any significant way). I had an ocean view room which means that my balcony was directly facing Melgar. The traffic noise made it tough to sleep on my first night (Saturday) but the next day the manager told me that Saturday nights were noisier and if it still bothered me after Sunday night they would move me to a room that faced the courtyard. Sunday night and every night after was fine so I did not change rooms.
I was picked up each morning at the "Aldora" pier which is maybe two blocks up the street. I really liked being downtown because I could walk everywhere (which I enjoy), and avoid cab fares. All of the restaurants that I went to were within easy walking distance and even the Chedraui and the Blue XT Sea dive shop were only about ten minutes walk from the hotel.
Restaurants
I ate lunch and/or dinner at Casa Denis, La Choza, Rock-n-Java, La Mission (on 30th), Chi (the new Chinese restaurant), and Camilo's and all were great. My favorite meal of the day though is breakfast and I really enjoyed eating that at Coco's. I just thought Coco's was wonderful. They have a great selection of traditional dishes, good coffee, and the service is great. They open early at 0600 so if you're a morning person like me, you have plenty of time to eat a leisurely breakfast before your morning pick up. I also ate breakfast at Rock-n-Java and it was very good but they don't open until 7:00 so when I ate there I felt a little more rushed to make the dive boat at 7:45 or 8:00.
Diving
In light of some recent reports, I feel compelled to add my two cents to the debate on post-Wilma dive conditions. I'm probably not critical enough, and unfortunately I really can't remember where every last sponge and sea fan were on every pre-Wilma dive I ever made, and I am accused all the time of being an overly optimistic glass-half-full kind of guy, but honestly, I didn't really see much of a difference from when I was here a year ago. There are clearly some individual, localized sections of some of the reefs we dove that are damaged but, these sections make up a small percentage of the overall reef and are really notable exceptions. Otherwise, things looked pretty much the way I remembered them. Based on some reports I'd read, I expected to find little or no soft coral and that was not the case at all. On some dives the soft corals were small (but plentiful), and on others they looked basically normal to me. I thoroughly enjoyed all of my dives and I saw more aquatic life than I have on any previous trip. We saw multiple turtles on literally every dive, I saw my first nurse shark, and saw the most amazing thing I have ever seen underwater - an enormous free swimming green moray eel that appeared to be about 8 feet in length.
For deep dives we dove Santa Rosa Wall, Palancar Horseshoe, Gardens, and Bricks. For shallow dives we did San Francisco, Caracolillo/La Francesa, El Paso Cedral, Dalila, and a night dive on Paradise. My favorite deep dive was Palancar Bricks but my favorites overall were El Paso Cedral, and especially Caracolillo/La Francesa which I had never dove before but was just beautiful.
I should also point out that there were noticably fewer boats on the water. As compared to previous trips I ran into other groups under water less frequently and there were fewer divers in those groups. Although it's obviously not so good for the operators, Cozumel is a little less crowded right now, which is nice for the divers who are there.
Summary
I had a wonderful time. All in all, this was my favorite trip to Cozumel and I hope to be back soon.
Operator
This was my third trip diving with Blue XT Sea. I know it sounds like a broken record on this board but I can't say enough good things about Christi and crew. Just an extremely professional class act with small fast boats, diving to individual computer and air consumption limits, and wonderful DMs. I did not get to dive from the new boat (Bandida II) but was invited to the christening ceremony and got to go on an evening "champagne" cruise which was really special. It is a beautiful boat and should be wonderful to dive from.
Hotel
On previous trips I'd stayed at the Caribe Blu, but this time I wanted to stay downtown so I went with the Vista del Mar. My room was nice, very clean, had a comfortable bed, and everything worked (as opposed to the Caribe where I've had some hot water availability issues). The room was comparable to those at the Caribe but maybe a notch or too nicer (although not in any significant way). I had an ocean view room which means that my balcony was directly facing Melgar. The traffic noise made it tough to sleep on my first night (Saturday) but the next day the manager told me that Saturday nights were noisier and if it still bothered me after Sunday night they would move me to a room that faced the courtyard. Sunday night and every night after was fine so I did not change rooms.
I was picked up each morning at the "Aldora" pier which is maybe two blocks up the street. I really liked being downtown because I could walk everywhere (which I enjoy), and avoid cab fares. All of the restaurants that I went to were within easy walking distance and even the Chedraui and the Blue XT Sea dive shop were only about ten minutes walk from the hotel.
Restaurants
I ate lunch and/or dinner at Casa Denis, La Choza, Rock-n-Java, La Mission (on 30th), Chi (the new Chinese restaurant), and Camilo's and all were great. My favorite meal of the day though is breakfast and I really enjoyed eating that at Coco's. I just thought Coco's was wonderful. They have a great selection of traditional dishes, good coffee, and the service is great. They open early at 0600 so if you're a morning person like me, you have plenty of time to eat a leisurely breakfast before your morning pick up. I also ate breakfast at Rock-n-Java and it was very good but they don't open until 7:00 so when I ate there I felt a little more rushed to make the dive boat at 7:45 or 8:00.
Diving
In light of some recent reports, I feel compelled to add my two cents to the debate on post-Wilma dive conditions. I'm probably not critical enough, and unfortunately I really can't remember where every last sponge and sea fan were on every pre-Wilma dive I ever made, and I am accused all the time of being an overly optimistic glass-half-full kind of guy, but honestly, I didn't really see much of a difference from when I was here a year ago. There are clearly some individual, localized sections of some of the reefs we dove that are damaged but, these sections make up a small percentage of the overall reef and are really notable exceptions. Otherwise, things looked pretty much the way I remembered them. Based on some reports I'd read, I expected to find little or no soft coral and that was not the case at all. On some dives the soft corals were small (but plentiful), and on others they looked basically normal to me. I thoroughly enjoyed all of my dives and I saw more aquatic life than I have on any previous trip. We saw multiple turtles on literally every dive, I saw my first nurse shark, and saw the most amazing thing I have ever seen underwater - an enormous free swimming green moray eel that appeared to be about 8 feet in length.
For deep dives we dove Santa Rosa Wall, Palancar Horseshoe, Gardens, and Bricks. For shallow dives we did San Francisco, Caracolillo/La Francesa, El Paso Cedral, Dalila, and a night dive on Paradise. My favorite deep dive was Palancar Bricks but my favorites overall were El Paso Cedral, and especially Caracolillo/La Francesa which I had never dove before but was just beautiful.
I should also point out that there were noticably fewer boats on the water. As compared to previous trips I ran into other groups under water less frequently and there were fewer divers in those groups. Although it's obviously not so good for the operators, Cozumel is a little less crowded right now, which is nice for the divers who are there.
Summary
I had a wonderful time. All in all, this was my favorite trip to Cozumel and I hope to be back soon.
I don't see any point in taking the 3 mil suit - just the 1 and the skin. 
