Trip Report Blue Angel Resort trip report Feb. 2021

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Thrutch

Contributor
Messages
214
Reaction score
356
Location
Reno, NV
# of dives
500 - 999
I got back from my stay at Blue Angel Resort just two days ago, spending eight full days there with half days on either end for travel. I had the Liveaboard Package, which included my stay, all my meals, eight two-tank dive boat trips, one night dive (I upgraded this to a two-tank evening dive boat trip), and unlimited shore diving. I got in 31 dives over eight days (would’ve been 32, but I had to fly). 18 of those were guided by Blue Angel’s top-notch, experienced divemasters, and 13 were shore dives (12 solo, 1 w/ buddy). I use a DIN setup, which was no problem for them.

Now that the basics are out of the way, let me get down to the point: my stay at Blue Angel was nothing short of amazing.

DIVING

Over the course of my trip, we hit most every site on the guided boat dives. I managed to only get booked on the Jibara, their small boat, which is apparently quite a bit faster than the No Problem, allowing you to get to further away dive sites in a reasonable amount of time. Captain Chango knows his stuff and was always right there to pick us up, following our bubbles.

Andy, Julio, and Mateo were my DMs over the course of the week. Each one is a character, consummate professional, and highly experienced and knowledgeable guide. Our groups were small. Dive briefings were thorough and useful. I was constantly impressed, but highlights included perfectly tailoring dives for groups with a big difference in experience levels and the dive when we picked up a lost buddy pair our DM was able to calm down, assist in surfacing, and get back to their boat without disrupting our own schedule in any way. Watching the DMs work with their instructor interns only confirmed their levels of knowledge and experience. It’s a pleasure to dive with these folks.

There’s a full valet service available at no charge, though I like to be a bit more hands-on with my own gear, so I didn’t really take advantage of this service. The divers who used it were very pleased, so if it’s your thing, they’ve got you covered. There are permanent fresh water dunk tanks and a shower right next to the dive shop area for easy rinsing of gear. Rows of full cylinders (air and nitrox) are lined up next to the dive shop, which makes shore diving to your heart’s content incredibly easy.

I won’t go into the dive sites around Cozumel, which are great but something better researched elsewhere. We hit nearly all of them in the eight days I was there. I will, however, go into the shore dive at Blue Angel. It’s awesome. You can giant stride off the dock or walk in through a beach-ish area. Either way, you drop into an abundance of life, mostly small to medium stuff, but I did see an Eagle Ray and a Caribbean Whiptail Stingray, each with about a four foot wingspan. It’s a great area for eels, of which I spotted five species. Directly south of Blue Angel is Stingray Beach, which includes large fenced-in pens. This was closed when I was there, and you could easily swim over a lowered section of fence to go into the main pen, which has artificial reef structures attracting a bunch of life (including adorable juvenile Yellow Stingrays and Caribbean Spiny Lobsters). In addition to attracting life, the pens make a perfect landmark to guide you back to Blue Angel, day and night. Speaking of which, the shore dive makes for a great night dive, too. It stays around 20 feet deep and can get a whipping current, which the pens reduce considerably (when you’re on the down-current side, of course).

The staff are always watching out for you and your gear, too. When I almost walked away from the dunk tanks with my computer and compass sitting on the side, a staff member almost immediately got my attention and pointed them out. Made for great peace of mind.

STAYING

Every room has a giant sliding glass door that looks out at the ocean. Hard to beat. The floors are concrete, which is nice because you don’t have to worry about setting down wet gear. My room had a cool octopus design cut into the floor. I was in a single bed room, which had an AC unit, small table with chairs, sizable dresser, mini fridge, a futon couch, and I’m guessing a king size bed. The balconies even have drying racks for hanging your gear outside!

Because I had the liveaboard package, I ate every meal at the restaurant. This worked perfectly for me because I was on a solo dive vacation and not looking to do anything besides eat, sleep, and dive. The restaurant is fantastic. I’m a vegetarian, and the menu had numerous options for me. I was also told by the staff that they were building out a full vegan menu for some folks arriving in the near future, which should tell you how committed they are to getting things right for their guests. I also love spicy food, and they made special habanero sauces for me above and beyond their usual fare. Happy hour is two for one on drinks and apps.

One of the nights I stayed (two actually, but I was out on an evening dive boat trip), we were treated to the musical talents of the girlfriend of one of the DMs. She has an amazing voice and was backed up by a killer local guitarist. With a post-dive beer in my hand, this was downright spectacular.

There’s an Oxxo convenience store right across the street. Downtown is a 30 minute walk. There’s a grocery store closer than that, and taxis are going by all the time.

COVID

I pushed this trip twice due to COVID concerns before deciding to just do it. On the island, every local is wearing a mask, even on bicycles and scooters. The easiest way to spot tourists, usually fellow Americans, from a distance is that they’re the only ones not wearing masks in public.

At Blue Angel, the staff is all masked up. Guests who aren’t eating or drinking usually are, too. Your temperature is taken before you can enter the restaurant. Hand sanitizer bottles are all over the place. At the front desk, you can schedule someone to come to the hotel to administer your test for any day of the week during business hours, which means you don’t have to miss out on any diving or spend any time in a clinic. I scheduled mine for 3 p.m. on a Sunday, when I had to stop diving so I could fly anyway. I had the results and documentation I needed the same day.

OVERALL

I met several guests who have been coming back to Blue Angel for years, even decades for some, and it’s clear why. Blue Angel is a special place. The location alone is incredible, but the friendliness, helpfulness, professionalism, knowledge, and experience of all the staff members put Blue Angel over the top. I know I’ll be back, hopefully sooner rather than later.
 
Nice review! Good info. Got a procedural question, since I know different op.s do things different ways and some customers may prefer one or the other approach. Late in the dive when a couple of people start running low gas pressures...do they send people up singly or in pairs, or does the whole group have to come up together?

Glad to hear you got some solo shore diving in. Did anyone question/challenge you solo diving from shore? On the boat, were they cool with diving with the group, or did you have to have an assigned buddy?

That alarmed seal or sealion avatar rocks...
 
Nice review! Good info. Got a procedural question, since I know different op.s do things different ways and some customers may prefer one or the other approach. Late in the dive when a couple of people start running low gas pressures...do they send people up singly or in pairs, or does the whole group have to come up together?
The DM sends up his SMB and any divers who are done early go up in pairs and hang near the SMB. The rest come up together. No one goes up alone.
 
You mentioned the live aboard package. I don’t see that on their website. What are the details on that?
BA sometimes offers limited time specials. They can usually be found on their Facebook page.
 
So are people required to be in assigned Buddy pairs?
I always dive with a buddy, but however you are diving, if you get low on air the DM will want you to go up with someone rather than alone. I have seen this arranged at depth, i.e., DM points at one diver, points at another, lays his two index fingers side by side, and points toward his SMB on the surface.
 
Nice review! Good info. Got a procedural question, since I know different op.s do things different ways and some customers may prefer one or the other approach. Late in the dive when a couple of people start running low gas pressures...do they send people up singly or in pairs, or does the whole group have to come up together?

Glad to hear you got some solo shore diving in. Did anyone question/challenge you solo diving from shore? On the boat, were they cool with diving with the group, or did you have to have an assigned buddy?

That alarmed seal or sealion avatar rocks...

Thanks! Other folks have chimed in on the buddy thing, but the short answer is that it depends. I went up solo on one dive very deliberately and with clear communication with the DM. This was because I was hungover and sucked my air down. Chango was over to pick me up quickly. On dives with less experienced divers, the DM made sure they stuck together in pairs at very least (DM would be roughly at safety stop depth, dsmb deployed, keeping an eye on everyone) and sometimes surfaced with them. Generally, the group came up roughly together, as they tailor dives (like keeping the newbies above the reef while the rest of us were doing more of a wall dive) and match up divers to make surfacing separately a non-issue.

When with the more experienced divers, we dove mostly as a group but naturally buddied up for obvious reasons. With the less experienced folks, buddying up was explicitly required of everyone in the group, which was easy because it was a couple, me and another solo vacationer, and then the newbie pair. The four of us had been diving together for the better part of the week already, so it wasn't an awkward instabuddy situation, thank goodness.

No one questioned my solo shore diving, but I had been up front about my experience as a solo diver when asking if they allowed it in emails prior to my arrival. YMMV
 
Thanks so much for the trip report. There's still 6-8 inches of snow on some of our neighbors lawns so reading these reports is necessary for one's sanity. We've been once to BA and hope to return. Sounds like you have a good trip and that's what counts! Also, glad you made it safe and sound.

Rob
 
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