trip report: Villablanca & Papa Hogs (Feb 26 - Mar 1)

[dirkpitt]

Now that I'm back in the swing of things in the real world (ugh!), I can finally post a trip report. My wife and I spent 4 nights in Coz, 2/26-3/1. It was our first time in Coz and first time boat diving! We got OW certified in 9/03 and had only done shore dives. Here's the scoop:

Getting There

We booked thru Expedia, Austin to Cozumel connecting thru Houston on Continental. It's a short 1hr 45min flight from Houston and everything went smoothly. I think next time I'd drive from Austin to Houston because of customs. They only give you an hour to change planes but you have go to thru passport check, customs, pickup your bags and recheck them! In Cozumel, the Expedia rep was not there to meet us and another couple. After waiting for about 15 mins, another driver took us to our hotel. The Expedia guy never called me to setup a ride back to the airport so we took a cab. Not a big deal, but since we paid for transfers in advance, I got them refunded when we got back.

The Hotel

We stayed at the Villablanca Garden Beach Hotel. I posted a review to TripAdvisor, here's the text:

"My wife and I recently returned from a 4-night stay at the Villablanca. I did quite a bit of research on Coz hotels, and overall it seems accomodations on the island range from bad to mediocre. The all inclusives don't get very good reviews and the so-called luxury hotels seem overpriced for what you get. So, when I stumbled on the Villablanca, I thought it might be too good to be true. After reading the positive reviews here and elsewhere, and since it's right across the street from two dive shops, we took the plunge.

Booked thru Expedia, great rates. Got a superior oceanview room for around $80 a night. We checked in and we happy to see we got one of the two rooms on the third floor. The rooms are quite large with a sitting area, big table, kitchen and fridge. Spartan is probably the best description, everything is white and very simple. The room was clean upon check-in and the maid service was good.Couple quibbles: the mattresses are very hard, you can feel the springs; our TV didn't work and it took complaining 3 times to get one that did; no direct dial local calls from the room.

Jorge, the manager, was always very nice and provided us with some good beach suggestions and local advice. Nancy, who runs the bar and restaurant, was friendly and makes a good, cheap breakfast. It's nice to be across the street from Papa Hogs, and the Hog Town Cafe next door has awesome food. I became addicted to their nachos! The Temptations restaurant across the street (above Dive Paradise) was also good with attentive service and low prices.

Regarding the location, it's about 1 1/2 miles south of town. You can walk to a supermarket in about 10 mins. Town and the big cruise ship market is about a 15 min walk. Cabs are abundant but pretty expensive. I never felt unsafe walking back and forth, even at night.Overall, we really enjoyed our stay at Villablanca and will be returning next time we're in Coz."

The Diving

Let me preface by saying I was a little nervous about drift diving. I'd read the threads about Coz not necessarily being for beginners with some worry. I reviewed my PADI book and skills and hoped for the best.

The water was very choppy and the wind was strong when we arrived. I quickly found out diving had been virtually shut down for the past couple days due to an "El Norte". Pretty disconcerting considering that's the whole reason we came to Coz. The harbormaster had either restricted all boat traffic or only allowed large cattle boats to go out, depending on conditions. We saw a brave group trying to shore dive in front of the hotel, they got pretty beat up on entry and I'm not sure everyone actually went out. The pier had the red flag up, indicating dangerous shore diving conditions.

We had planned to dive with Blue XT Sea based on all the positive reviews and them being good for newbies. I got in touch with Christi the afternoon we arrived and quickly learned it wasn't looking good for us to dive with them. She had tons of customers that hadn't been able to dive earlier in the week and students backed up. We played it by ear, but by the next morning, they still weren't letting small boats like Christi's out. I didn't come all the way down there to sit on the beach, so we went to Dive Paradise and Papa Hogs determined to get out. Dive Paradise was pretty booked and I wanted a private DM since we were going to dive with 18 people. They couldn't spare one, so my wife walked over to Papa Hogs. We were in luck, Margaret thought she could get us out on the 1:00 boat. So, we hauled out stuff over there and waited. Sure enough, we got on a boat with 4 other divers and a DM, Sergio. Nice group, varied experience, us and one other newbie plus some more experienced people. Rough seas, but it was an exciting ride out!

Day 1
Dive 1: Yucab - saw a 7' Nurse Shark
Dive 2: Tormentos - Eagle Ray

Day2
Dive 3: Yucab (again - we didn't have a choice)
Dive 4: Paradise - Eagle Ray

None of the dives were deeper than 60'. Visibility was awesome, I'd say 140'. Water temp was 80-82 and we were wearing 3mm shorties. All in all, we loved it - such a different world from our murkly lake check out dives!

The currents were pretty strong on the first day, I tried to go with the flow but you still had to fight to stay with the group sometimes. Also, I didn't want to run into anything. Second day, currents weren't so bad and I tried to take the "la-z-boy" approach and let it take me. I'm an air hog, but I made a concerted effort to breath more deeply and exhale more slowly on every dive. This resulted in increasing bottom time. The DM's wanted us to ascend at 600psi and do a 15' safety stop for 3 mins. By the last dive, I was able to last about 40 mins, which I thought was pretty good considering I had to ascend on the first dive after only 25 mins!

I was impressed with Papa Hogs. They were able to accommodate us at the last minute both days and I never felt unsafe. The DMs were good and the boat captains helpful. They are no nonsense operation - no cushions on the boats, you rinse your own gear, haul all your stuff, etc. I had heard that Mike was a bit gruff, and he is, but you can tell he's a nice guy at heart and they really provided us with good service. We will dive with Papa Hogs again and I recommend them. Plus, Hogtown Cafe has awesome food, perfect post-dive food.

I wish we could have done more dives in retrospect, but being our first time out, we were pretty conservative. The current was too rough for shore dives when we got there and the next morning. We didn't dive at all on the last full day so we had a full 24hr surface interval before flying. Next trip, definitely more diving, more advanced sites (I want to dive the famous Cozumel Santa Rosa wall), shore dives and maybe a night dive. I'm ready to go back or maybe to the Cayman's or Bonaire. We've got a lot to learn, but I think Coz gave us a good foundation for more trips.

Non-Diving Activities

Nachi-Cocom is a beautiful beach, highly recommended. I hear it's less commercial and less crowded than Playa Sol. Chankanaab Marine Park is pretty cool. Very touristy, but they have nice gardens, a beach with good snorkeling (lots of buried Mayan replicas under the water) and you can dive there. Punta Langoste is a huge, American style mall at the northern cruise ship terminal. It's home to Carlos and Charlies, Senor Frogs and Fridays. If you want to feel like you're at home (for better or for worse!), that's the place. Chedraui supermarket is great for beer and food if you want to DIY.

P.S. Blue XT Sea refunded my deposit and gave me a certificate for a free dive for our next trip, which I thought was very nice.

[ggunn]

Now that I'm back in the swing of things in the real world (ugh!), I can finally post a trip report. My wife and I spent 4 nights in Coz, 2/26-3/1. It was our first time in Coz and first time boat diving! We got OW certified in 9/03 and had only done shore dives.

Nice report, but Dude! This ain't the real world, THAT is! ;^)

[Diver Kat]

We did 2 trips to Coz last year and stayed at VB and dove PH, both times. Your post made me miss Nancy, Mike & Margaret & crew ... everything may be no frills, and no nonsense, but they do take care of their customers!!

And if you're thinking of Bonaire - Air Jamiaca is running a deal out of Houston right now for $389 RT .....

Happy Diving!!