After many years of diving I finally got to Cozumel. Being a first timer and having read all the glowing reports over the years, I may of set my expectations too high. While we enjoyed our trip, there are things about Cozumel that, at least in my opinion, could be changed to vastly improve my impression of it. My comparisons are based on quite a few trips to the Florida Keys and east coast, the Bahamas and Bonaire.
Our accommodations were at EL Cid/La Ciaba. The rooms were nice and the grounds well kept. The king size bed was great, the AC worked and the huge shower was hot The resort restaurant is OK, nothing to write home about. The food was about average for a resort. My only complaint was with the restaurant staff, the service was poor and slow. They seemed really irritated we wanted them to open on time- 7am. I hate to eat and run but with a 7:30 pickup we needed the restaurant open on time. Several of our group were actually thrown out of the restaurant because they were sitting at one of the tables a few minutes before 7, this is an open air restaurant, more on fun at the restaurant later. All in all, the El Cid is a nice place to stay but some improvements at the restaurant need to be made.
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We dove with Dive with Martin who picked up at the El Cid dock every morning at 7:30. Martin runs a medium size operation with reasonably fast boats. We typically had 8 to 10 divers on our boat. Our group was large enough that we had 2 boats pretty much to our selves and dove the sites we wanted. The boat captains and DMs were helpful and knowledgably. If I return to Cozumel, I would not hesitate to use Martin again. We dove 2 tanks each morning with each dive lasting around 45 minutes with a 60 minute SI on the beach. Depths ranged anywhere from 100ft to around 50 with the end of the dive on a shallow part of the reef. The dives were pretty much a follow the leader dive with everyone hanging together in a loose group and drifting along in a gentle to medium current. The reefs were healthy with lots of fish life and turtles on most every dive. Being an UW photographer, the constant current and need to keep with my group forced me to change my normal style of diving from a slow unhurried pace to a more run and gun approach. I still got some good photos. Overall, I enjoyed the dives and would love to spend more time exploring the reefs in a much more leisurely manner. The diving makes returning to Coz worthwhile. Some of my pictures are below
Topside Cozumel was somewhat disappointing to me. I am not accustomed to nor do I appreciate constant harassment by street vendors. It seemed we could not walk more than 50 ft without being pounced upon by some vendor trying to get me to come into their store. I found the restaurants for the most part, to be average in quality and value but poor in customer service. Prices were not expensive but were no bargain either. I can get much better food and service in any Mexican restaurant here in Raleigh than at any place I ate in Cozumel. In general, the wait staffs were less attentive than I would expect. I am not typically a picky person and will tolerate quite a bit but I do have my expectations as a customer. I had one particularly bad experience at the resort restaurant. Long story short, I got almost no service one morning at breakfast, had to ask and wait for what I did get and then was accosted 3 times for not leaving a tip. The waiter had the nerve to actually forge a tip onto my room bill after I left the restaurant. Based on the reaction of the front desk, its not an uncommon occurrence. The breakfast was a serve yourself buffet so all I wanted was to have my coffee cup filled, I dont think thats too much to ask of a waiter. Im sorry but no coffee early in the morning means no tip. It appears to me that the constant influx of huge crowds off the cruise ships has created an atmosphere of give me your money and get out. On the other hand, two restaurants did stand out, Casa Mission and a small pizza place I cant remember the name of. Casa Mission is a very pretty restaurant set in a lush garden. Their food was good, a little more expensive than some of the other places we ate but the atmosphere and more importantly the service was well worth the slightly more expensive menu. The other restaurant was a small pizza place several blocks off the main street, I wish I could remember its name.. Good pizza, good service and a good value. If I return to Cozumel, they will be the only 2 restaurants on my return to list. To be fair, this was my first time to Coz and I did not really have a clue as to where to eat and where not to. I suspect that there are some much better restaurants off the beaten path and I need to do some exploring to find them.
Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Cozumel. We had a fun group of divers, a good dive operator and the reefs are beautiful. In addition to the good diving, we had the opportunity to meet several SB members while on island. My wife and I had the pleasure of sharing a meal with James Goddard, his wife and child. We also met Sharky one morning over breakfast. Like always, wonderful SB people.
If I can find cheap air and a reasonable place to stay I would return and put up with the vendors and wait staff, the diving makes it worth it. Otherwise, I will try some other places before returning. I realize this is not the normal glowing Coz report but I felt like I needed to call it like I saw it.
Our accommodations were at EL Cid/La Ciaba. The rooms were nice and the grounds well kept. The king size bed was great, the AC worked and the huge shower was hot The resort restaurant is OK, nothing to write home about. The food was about average for a resort. My only complaint was with the restaurant staff, the service was poor and slow. They seemed really irritated we wanted them to open on time- 7am. I hate to eat and run but with a 7:30 pickup we needed the restaurant open on time. Several of our group were actually thrown out of the restaurant because they were sitting at one of the tables a few minutes before 7, this is an open air restaurant, more on fun at the restaurant later. All in all, the El Cid is a nice place to stay but some improvements at the restaurant need to be made.
.
We dove with Dive with Martin who picked up at the El Cid dock every morning at 7:30. Martin runs a medium size operation with reasonably fast boats. We typically had 8 to 10 divers on our boat. Our group was large enough that we had 2 boats pretty much to our selves and dove the sites we wanted. The boat captains and DMs were helpful and knowledgably. If I return to Cozumel, I would not hesitate to use Martin again. We dove 2 tanks each morning with each dive lasting around 45 minutes with a 60 minute SI on the beach. Depths ranged anywhere from 100ft to around 50 with the end of the dive on a shallow part of the reef. The dives were pretty much a follow the leader dive with everyone hanging together in a loose group and drifting along in a gentle to medium current. The reefs were healthy with lots of fish life and turtles on most every dive. Being an UW photographer, the constant current and need to keep with my group forced me to change my normal style of diving from a slow unhurried pace to a more run and gun approach. I still got some good photos. Overall, I enjoyed the dives and would love to spend more time exploring the reefs in a much more leisurely manner. The diving makes returning to Coz worthwhile. Some of my pictures are below
Topside Cozumel was somewhat disappointing to me. I am not accustomed to nor do I appreciate constant harassment by street vendors. It seemed we could not walk more than 50 ft without being pounced upon by some vendor trying to get me to come into their store. I found the restaurants for the most part, to be average in quality and value but poor in customer service. Prices were not expensive but were no bargain either. I can get much better food and service in any Mexican restaurant here in Raleigh than at any place I ate in Cozumel. In general, the wait staffs were less attentive than I would expect. I am not typically a picky person and will tolerate quite a bit but I do have my expectations as a customer. I had one particularly bad experience at the resort restaurant. Long story short, I got almost no service one morning at breakfast, had to ask and wait for what I did get and then was accosted 3 times for not leaving a tip. The waiter had the nerve to actually forge a tip onto my room bill after I left the restaurant. Based on the reaction of the front desk, its not an uncommon occurrence. The breakfast was a serve yourself buffet so all I wanted was to have my coffee cup filled, I dont think thats too much to ask of a waiter. Im sorry but no coffee early in the morning means no tip. It appears to me that the constant influx of huge crowds off the cruise ships has created an atmosphere of give me your money and get out. On the other hand, two restaurants did stand out, Casa Mission and a small pizza place I cant remember the name of. Casa Mission is a very pretty restaurant set in a lush garden. Their food was good, a little more expensive than some of the other places we ate but the atmosphere and more importantly the service was well worth the slightly more expensive menu. The other restaurant was a small pizza place several blocks off the main street, I wish I could remember its name.. Good pizza, good service and a good value. If I return to Cozumel, they will be the only 2 restaurants on my return to list. To be fair, this was my first time to Coz and I did not really have a clue as to where to eat and where not to. I suspect that there are some much better restaurants off the beaten path and I need to do some exploring to find them.
Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Cozumel. We had a fun group of divers, a good dive operator and the reefs are beautiful. In addition to the good diving, we had the opportunity to meet several SB members while on island. My wife and I had the pleasure of sharing a meal with James Goddard, his wife and child. We also met Sharky one morning over breakfast. Like always, wonderful SB people.
If I can find cheap air and a reasonable place to stay I would return and put up with the vendors and wait staff, the diving makes it worth it. Otherwise, I will try some other places before returning. I realize this is not the normal glowing Coz report but I felt like I needed to call it like I saw it.
