First time diving Cozumel- Need Help!

[JamieMc5280]

SCC may have large boats to dive from, but they are not run in the typical cattle boat fashion. They are very good about pairing similarly skilled divers together in groups of 8. That was one of my concerns as well the first time I went to Coz. I can tell you that I have never felt "held back" on any dive that I have done with SCC. We did Cathedral and Devil's throat on my last trip in 2014. And with a relatively low number of dives I can't think of a dive that you won't enjoy.... In fact you will probably be so please with your experience, that you'll be planning your next trip down while you are still on the plane heading home.... It's addictive!!!!

I am really looking forward to this trip! Everything sounds amazing- It's a good problem to have when there are so many wonderful options available

 

[jbjclj]

We have been coming to Cozumel for 35 years and have stayed everywhere. We started up north at Cabanas del Caribe (gone with Wilma) loved it but you had to have a car or taxi. We've stayed at Fiesta Americana(10 x before the reno) Iberrostar (5 x) Occidental Grand, Park Royal (10X) Casa del Mar, Blue Angel, Suites Bahia (3 x) Vista del Mar (3X) Cozumel Palace, Casa Mexicana (3X). We now go for 1 month 2 times a year and usually split 2 weeks in town in order to walk everywhere and hit the great restaurants. Then we stay at an AI for 2 weeks, since we have friends that come down and have non diving wives.

We have settled on Casa Mexicana as our in town hotel....great staff,breakfast, well priced. We stayed at Cozumel Palace for the AI part of our last trip (pricey, but we purchased the weeks from a Palace member) this last trip and we were really spoiled. We won't go back to the Southern Resorts. Just too far from town and costly cab ride.

We have dived with Dive with Martin, Aldora, Blue Angel, Blue XTSea, Living Underwater, Tres Pelicanos all great, but have settled on 3P. We get to see our friends (divemasters and owners of the other shops) on the surface interval at the pier.

Have fun

Cheryl

 

[ggunn]

We have been coming to Cozumel for 35 years and have stayed everywhere. We started up north at Cabanas del Caribe (gone with Wilma) loved it but you had to have a car or taxi.

My first Coz trip was in 1978 with my family, and we stayed at Cabanas. The next time I went, we moved to La Perla (which became Lorena, La Reina, Caribe Blu, and is now Blue Angel), and we still stay there, but we made a pilgrimage to the Cabanas restaurant for at least one sunset on every trip until Wilma blew it away. We fed the sergeant majors and tangs the stale bread the waiters brought to us, and after the sunset they would turn on the UW lights and the tarpon would cruise in. I loved that place.

 

[jbjclj]

Hope the proposed hotel on the site keeps that space as it was (updated of course). It was beautiful. Can't remember what the new hotel is, Marriott,Hilton?????

 

[Hatul]

I'll second the Blue Angel Resort. It's relatively small and personal and friendly. And the staff love animals.

 

[ccannon707]

If I could afford it I would stay at Condumel every visit. Lovely waterfront location... next door to the President's island compound; walkable to town; stocked kitchen - if you use the items provided they mark a list and you are charged for them. Having beer, water, ice, sodas, eggs, bread, condiments etc... the first day is great. Then you go grocery shopping (or not). It's located a few doors away from Aldora Villa, so you can walk over to get the ride to the boat. Good snorkeling out front. Small with a wonderful staff.

A fellow diver recommended a lovely B&B in town and while looking at that I saw another oceanfront condo/villa called Condumel. Looks interesting and just north of town and a few doors south of Aldora Villa. Looks great, full kitchen, ocean front and close enough to Aldora for pickup? Anyone fimilar with this villa/condo?

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

We have been coming to Cozumel for 35 years and have stayed everywhere. We started up north at Cabanas del Caribe (gone with Wilma) loved it but you had to have a car or taxi. We've stayed at Fiesta Americana(10 x before the reno) Iberrostar (5 x) Occidental Grand, Park Royal (10X) Casa del Mar, Blue Angel, Suites Bahia (3 x) Vista del Mar (3X) Cozumel Palace, Casa Mexicana (3X). We now go for 1 month 2 times a year and usually split 2 weeks in town in order to walk everywhere and hit the great restaurants. Then we stay at an AI for 2 weeks, since we have friends that come down and have non diving wives.

We have settled on Casa Mexicana as our in town hotel....great staff,breakfast, well priced. We stayed at Cozumel Palace for the AI part of our last trip (pricey, but we purchased the weeks from a Palace member) this last trip and we were really spoiled. We won't go back to the Southern Resorts. Just too far from town and costly cab ride.

We have dived with Dive with Martin, Aldora, Blue Angel, Blue XTSea, Living Underwater, Tres Pelicanos all great, but have settled on 3P. We get to see our friends (divemasters and owners of the other shops) on the surface interval at the pier.

Have fun

Cheryl

I am like you. We have been going to COZ for years and have stayed at most of the hotels. We generally stay away from the Cozumel Palace because it is so expensive. Tell me about buying a week or two from a Palace member. Does it save a lot of money? How does one go about it.

 

[jbjclj]

Ebay. Go to Cozumel Palace $500 off choice (or look at all the others). Contact the contact person with your dates and they will confirm and give you more info. We were on the concierge level. It was $1632 for the week for 2. Very spoiled. PM me if you need more info

 

[dkinpgh]

Ebay. Go to Cozumel Palace $500 off choice (or look at all the others). Contact the contact person with your dates and they will confirm and give you more info. We were on the concierge level. It was $1632 for the week for 2. Very spoiled. PM me if you need more info

I'm a Palace Member and that's not the rate I'm paying for a concierge level room March 1! Way more than that. Will say that they do spoil you - The other deal (?) is that you can use resort credits to cover the cost of dives with Aqua Safari. Most of the folks here know that Palace bought the company a couple years ago.

 

[jbjclj]

Actually, we were there for 17 days and the total was 3866 or 277 per day. This was in Oct/Nov of this year. Would NOT dive with Aqua Safari, we used the credits for spa, etc.