94GTStang
Contributor
Trip Report July 13th-18th
My girlfriend and I flew from Oklahoma City to Houston and then to Cozumel without any problems on Continental. Customs in Cozumel was a breeze as usual.
Upon landing and leaving the airport, we noticed the lack of greenery from the hurricane which was expected. A lot of work was being done on the roads and construction on the buildings as well.
We stayed at Fiesta Americana which looked incredible and freshly painted. Our room was not ready for it was just about 1ish, so we changed and went snorkeling for two hours. Oddly enough, my Spanish 1 teacher was checking-in in front of us and I hadnt seen him in 8 years! Small world! Our room was nice and clean with a great view of the ocean and the pool. One small problem was that the pool sometimes got a bit noisy, but no biggie.
Once settled in, we grabbed a $6 cab ride into town and went shopping. Lucky Ashley had a 6pm appointment with CozSally which I set up for her as a pampering gift. After her fantastic and coma inducing massage, I had a craving for Carlos and Charlies beer battered shrimp. Off to dinner then back to the hotel.
Next day, Friday, we met up with Jorge (cyclical) and his wife Shelly who stayed in the Tropical Casita Suites. We picked up our rental car from LessPay downtown later that day after more snorkeling. Being the hungry people we are, we drove south around the island and stopped off at Coconuts for some drinks/food. Later that night we went downtown and shopped around and ate at Costa Brava by the Punta Langosta parking lot. The food was excellent as well as the service! Once back at the hotel, we all got into the water by the pier for a little night snorkeling. Mainly just to play with our new lights.
Now time for the diving... Saturday morning, Raul from bottomtimedivers.net picked us up from the Fiesta Americana pier at 8:15. His boat was smaller, but with just the four of us and Raul diving, it was perfect. He asked us where we wanted to go but we let him pick. We started off diving Santa Rosa wall which ranged from 40-60ft. The current was mild and it gracefully carried us along our way. Here, we saw a few lobsters and plenty of fish. I will not say if the reefs were covered in sand for this was our first dive in Cozumel and I have no comparison. But we were impressed either way with what we saw. Our surface interval consisted of beaching at a resort while he fed us cantaloupe, cookies, bananas, and water. This dive for me lasted 53 minutes with a max depth of 63ft. Visibility was easily over 100.
Tormentos was our second dive. Here we saw about three big turtles, lobsters, along with the normal fauna of the reefs. After the dive, Raul took all of our gear for rinsing and storage. Having to fight a current to take pictures, this dive only lasted me 46 minutes at a max depth of 65ft. Viz was still the same.
For lunch, we ate at a corner chicken place across the street from the big Dominos. For $7 we got a full chicken, bags of rice and salsa. It was one of the best meals we had!
That night after resting up, we met back up with Raul at the pier for our night dive. He picked us up at 7:15 as to get us out to the site while it was till twilight. We dove las Palmas which a great choice. Here we saw many sleeping turtles, eels, and a nurse shark. Much to Rauls surprise, we didnt get to see an octopus. After the dive, Raul once again took our gear for storage and rinsing. This dive, I hit 66ft for only 45minutes.
The next day, Sunday, we met up with Raul again at 8:15. This time we picked Palancar Bricks/Caves and San Francisco for our two dives. Palancar Bricks/Caves was fabulous. The swim throughs were fascinating as well as the typical underwater life. This included another nurse shark, eels, turtles, and plenty of fish. At San Francisco, another shark was found under a ledge. I cant quite remember what it was for my memory on sharks has faded. But it was easily 300lbs. The first dive lasted 47 minutes with a max depth of 85ft. The second was for 52 minutes with a max of 78ft. Our surface interval once again consisted of cookies, water, and watermelon.
Later that night, we went downtown to the plaza to check out everything that was going on. The square was packed as usual and we ate at Primos. The food was excellent and plentiful.
For the rest of the trip, we drove around the island some more, ate at Coconuts again, swam in the waves on the east side, snorkeled, and just had an overall great time. The people were extremely friendly and inviting as always. The island itself is coming back together beautifully. I would gladly travel back there for a third time next year to see the progress they have made!
As for bottomtimedivers.net, Raul was the greatest and most friendly person to have as a dive master. He was the utmost professional, dove what we wanted and to our skill level. I would hands down go back to him for our return trip in the future! Thanks again LouDives for the recommendation!
Briefly, I will say that to save money on breakfast, drinks, and snacks go to the supermarket. We picked up cereal, soda, water, milk, chips, bananas, thing of tequila and mix, as well as other breakfast snack items. Being far south of the town, this helped out in the food cost. Plus, the casita had a fridge to keep our stuff cold.
In the future we will be heading back down to Coz! It once again proved to be a great place with everything we expect!
Eric & Ashley
Pictures were taken with a Sony P-73 4.1megapixel camera with a Sony underwater housing
From Coconuts
iHola!
Hotel View
Fiesta Americana
Lobster
Nurse Shark
Me, Ashley, Shelly, and Jorge
My girlfriend and I flew from Oklahoma City to Houston and then to Cozumel without any problems on Continental. Customs in Cozumel was a breeze as usual.
Upon landing and leaving the airport, we noticed the lack of greenery from the hurricane which was expected. A lot of work was being done on the roads and construction on the buildings as well.
We stayed at Fiesta Americana which looked incredible and freshly painted. Our room was not ready for it was just about 1ish, so we changed and went snorkeling for two hours. Oddly enough, my Spanish 1 teacher was checking-in in front of us and I hadnt seen him in 8 years! Small world! Our room was nice and clean with a great view of the ocean and the pool. One small problem was that the pool sometimes got a bit noisy, but no biggie.
Once settled in, we grabbed a $6 cab ride into town and went shopping. Lucky Ashley had a 6pm appointment with CozSally which I set up for her as a pampering gift. After her fantastic and coma inducing massage, I had a craving for Carlos and Charlies beer battered shrimp. Off to dinner then back to the hotel.
Next day, Friday, we met up with Jorge (cyclical) and his wife Shelly who stayed in the Tropical Casita Suites. We picked up our rental car from LessPay downtown later that day after more snorkeling. Being the hungry people we are, we drove south around the island and stopped off at Coconuts for some drinks/food. Later that night we went downtown and shopped around and ate at Costa Brava by the Punta Langosta parking lot. The food was excellent as well as the service! Once back at the hotel, we all got into the water by the pier for a little night snorkeling. Mainly just to play with our new lights.
Now time for the diving... Saturday morning, Raul from bottomtimedivers.net picked us up from the Fiesta Americana pier at 8:15. His boat was smaller, but with just the four of us and Raul diving, it was perfect. He asked us where we wanted to go but we let him pick. We started off diving Santa Rosa wall which ranged from 40-60ft. The current was mild and it gracefully carried us along our way. Here, we saw a few lobsters and plenty of fish. I will not say if the reefs were covered in sand for this was our first dive in Cozumel and I have no comparison. But we were impressed either way with what we saw. Our surface interval consisted of beaching at a resort while he fed us cantaloupe, cookies, bananas, and water. This dive for me lasted 53 minutes with a max depth of 63ft. Visibility was easily over 100.
Tormentos was our second dive. Here we saw about three big turtles, lobsters, along with the normal fauna of the reefs. After the dive, Raul took all of our gear for rinsing and storage. Having to fight a current to take pictures, this dive only lasted me 46 minutes at a max depth of 65ft. Viz was still the same.
For lunch, we ate at a corner chicken place across the street from the big Dominos. For $7 we got a full chicken, bags of rice and salsa. It was one of the best meals we had!
That night after resting up, we met back up with Raul at the pier for our night dive. He picked us up at 7:15 as to get us out to the site while it was till twilight. We dove las Palmas which a great choice. Here we saw many sleeping turtles, eels, and a nurse shark. Much to Rauls surprise, we didnt get to see an octopus. After the dive, Raul once again took our gear for storage and rinsing. This dive, I hit 66ft for only 45minutes.
The next day, Sunday, we met up with Raul again at 8:15. This time we picked Palancar Bricks/Caves and San Francisco for our two dives. Palancar Bricks/Caves was fabulous. The swim throughs were fascinating as well as the typical underwater life. This included another nurse shark, eels, turtles, and plenty of fish. At San Francisco, another shark was found under a ledge. I cant quite remember what it was for my memory on sharks has faded. But it was easily 300lbs. The first dive lasted 47 minutes with a max depth of 85ft. The second was for 52 minutes with a max of 78ft. Our surface interval once again consisted of cookies, water, and watermelon.
Later that night, we went downtown to the plaza to check out everything that was going on. The square was packed as usual and we ate at Primos. The food was excellent and plentiful.
For the rest of the trip, we drove around the island some more, ate at Coconuts again, swam in the waves on the east side, snorkeled, and just had an overall great time. The people were extremely friendly and inviting as always. The island itself is coming back together beautifully. I would gladly travel back there for a third time next year to see the progress they have made!
As for bottomtimedivers.net, Raul was the greatest and most friendly person to have as a dive master. He was the utmost professional, dove what we wanted and to our skill level. I would hands down go back to him for our return trip in the future! Thanks again LouDives for the recommendation!
Briefly, I will say that to save money on breakfast, drinks, and snacks go to the supermarket. We picked up cereal, soda, water, milk, chips, bananas, thing of tequila and mix, as well as other breakfast snack items. Being far south of the town, this helped out in the food cost. Plus, the casita had a fridge to keep our stuff cold.
In the future we will be heading back down to Coz! It once again proved to be a great place with everything we expect!
Eric & Ashley
Pictures were taken with a Sony P-73 4.1megapixel camera with a Sony underwater housing
From Coconuts
iHola!
Hotel View
Fiesta Americana
Lobster
Nurse Shark
Me, Ashley, Shelly, and Jorge
