Quick trip report, Blue XT-Sea & El Cantil

[DMdoogie]

My wife and I were there from May 26-June 2. We dove every day with Blue XT-Sea and stayed at El Cantil condos. Both were excellent choices.
The diving: Incredible every day and night. Water temps 83 degrees every day and the usual 100 ft + excellent vis. The only visibility issue was the huge numbers of sponges spawning released clouds of white sponge splooge. We swam through so much of it I hope my wife doesn't give birth to Spongebob Squarepants in 9 months. It really was a sight to behold. We saw hawksbill turtles on almost every dive.

I can't say enough about Blue XT-Sea. We dove with them twice before and were never disappointed. We dove with Sue Sue and Mike for three days. Some examples of their service: they give you a gear bag on your first dive with them, take the gear with them, so you never have to take it to your room, wash it, and have it set up on your tank when the boat meets you the next day. They go out of their way to match divers with similar experience levels. On two days they sent out two boats, one with 4 less experienced divers, and one boat just for the two of us, and of course we could pick our dive sites. Any other op would have put all six divers on the same boat, rather than pay a seperate crew, pay for fuel etc. When we did the night dive they offered to send a second DM just for the two of us. We declined because we would be on the same reef anyway. All our dives were 1 hour or more and we could always dive our computers.

Christi runs a class operation, and the DMs Arturo, Pablo and Blanca were all outstanding. Highly recommended.

El Cantil was very nice and in a convient location to walk to town. We stayed in studio without a kitchen, but who wants to cook on vacation when there are so many great places to eat. The only downside is the condo has no ice machine, but the staff brought in a cooler and kept it filled every day. The town was deserted with most of the shops closed. The cruise ships are starting to come back, so hopefully the economy will pick up.

The best food we ever ate in our 20 years going to Coz was at Kinta. Gourmet food at a reasonable price. We ate there 3 nights. Get a reservation, the word is getting around fast. Check out Christi's restraunt recommendations for directions. La Choza was as good as ever, but we were the only people in the place, I hope it picks up for them. We had a great meal at Prima, which has moved from downtown to the top floor of EL Cantil, and is now called Prima Trattoria.
I'm trying to keep it short, but everything made for a great dive vacation. We will definately dive with Blue XT-Sea again next time.
Happy Diving,
DMdoogie

[ggunn]

We had a great meal at Prima, which has moved from downtown to the top floor of EL Cantil, and is now called Prima Trattoria.

Actually, it's a second location for them. The downtown location is still there.

[DMdoogie]

The waiter said that June 1 was the last night the downtown location would be open. When I went by there the next day, there was a big banner from the second floor balcony saying that they were closed and moved to the new location.

[Augustus]

the downtown location for Prima closed on May 31. That whole area now has a deserted look to it.

[ggunn]

I did not know that; when I was there in May both locations were open. I wouldn't worry, though; downtown locations on Cozumel reallocate pretty rapidly. It's a bit slow now with the economic situation combined with the flu scare, but this too shall pass.