Vacation in Cozumel
My wife and I recently returned from an awesome two week vacation in Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen. We spent nine days in Cozumel and then took the ferry over to the mainland for a road trip to Chichen Itza follwed by three days in Playa and one last day in Cozumel.
Part 1 Cozumel 6/10-6/18/2009
We were extremely lucky to find a new dive operation in Cozumel, Blue Magic Scuba . It turns out that this dive op was started by people from our area in Northern California, Joyce Mustin and Mark Gaterud. They fell in love with Cozumel, bought Scuba Staff Divers and got right to work creating an awesome dive operation.
I have dove with a lot of other operations on the island and I have to say they sure have done things right. They picked some of the best dive masters on the island, Sandro, Enrique (Pumba), and Gabriel. These guys have loads of expereince and bring their own unique style to every dive. They were very attentive to the smallest detail like setting up all of our gear, providing big fluffy towels after every dive, juice, water, fruit and cookies on our service intervals and thoroughly rinsing our gear after each day of diving. During the dives they pointed out all of the different sea life that would have been easily over looked without their expert eyes, such as nudibranchs, sea horses, bristle worms and the tiny nurseries out in the overlooked seaweed beds.
A real plus for us was their willingness to separate divers by ability level. They could do this since they have four of the very fast panga style six pack boats. Although they could get a big boat for large groups if needed, it was nice to have the cozy fast boats to quickly get to our dive destinations. We were quickly separated by skill level after being observed by the dive masters and allowed to go on a boat with other advanced divers. We got a chance to see all the great advanced sites like Maracaibo, Punta Sur, Baracuda, San Juan, Colombia, etc. (note: They are advanced dives due to drop offs with swift and unpredictable currents.) I highly recommend Blue magic Scuba and plan on using them from now on when I go to Cozumel.
During our time in Cozumel we stayed at the Tamarindo. This charming little B&B was a real gem. It is located about four blocks up Calle 4, three blocks up from Blue Magic. This place is quite cheap, but provides a value far exceeding what they charge. We were in a suite with a King sized bed plus two twins and a kitchenette for about $50 a night. The whole place is very well maintained and provides for a very cozy and friendly atmosphere. It was so cozy that we made friends with all the other guests, they have only seven rooms, and made some amazing dinners together.
There are some amazing restaurants in Cozumel, but I have to mention two specifically. An awesome place to have lunch is Sabores, a little home run operation by Carmen located on Calle 5 Sur and Ave 5. They are only open from noon to 4pm, but you can’t beat their prices. You get a drink, soup and a great entrée for only 50 pesos, about $3.50. The other place is Kinta on Av. 5 between Calle 2 and 4 North. They have the most incredible gourmet menu. I highly recommend the pork!
I will post the rest of the trip in the Playa Del Carmen section.
My wife and I recently returned from an awesome two week vacation in Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen. We spent nine days in Cozumel and then took the ferry over to the mainland for a road trip to Chichen Itza follwed by three days in Playa and one last day in Cozumel.
Part 1 Cozumel 6/10-6/18/2009
We were extremely lucky to find a new dive operation in Cozumel, Blue Magic Scuba . It turns out that this dive op was started by people from our area in Northern California, Joyce Mustin and Mark Gaterud. They fell in love with Cozumel, bought Scuba Staff Divers and got right to work creating an awesome dive operation.
I have dove with a lot of other operations on the island and I have to say they sure have done things right. They picked some of the best dive masters on the island, Sandro, Enrique (Pumba), and Gabriel. These guys have loads of expereince and bring their own unique style to every dive. They were very attentive to the smallest detail like setting up all of our gear, providing big fluffy towels after every dive, juice, water, fruit and cookies on our service intervals and thoroughly rinsing our gear after each day of diving. During the dives they pointed out all of the different sea life that would have been easily over looked without their expert eyes, such as nudibranchs, sea horses, bristle worms and the tiny nurseries out in the overlooked seaweed beds.
A real plus for us was their willingness to separate divers by ability level. They could do this since they have four of the very fast panga style six pack boats. Although they could get a big boat for large groups if needed, it was nice to have the cozy fast boats to quickly get to our dive destinations. We were quickly separated by skill level after being observed by the dive masters and allowed to go on a boat with other advanced divers. We got a chance to see all the great advanced sites like Maracaibo, Punta Sur, Baracuda, San Juan, Colombia, etc. (note: They are advanced dives due to drop offs with swift and unpredictable currents.) I highly recommend Blue magic Scuba and plan on using them from now on when I go to Cozumel.
During our time in Cozumel we stayed at the Tamarindo. This charming little B&B was a real gem. It is located about four blocks up Calle 4, three blocks up from Blue Magic. This place is quite cheap, but provides a value far exceeding what they charge. We were in a suite with a King sized bed plus two twins and a kitchenette for about $50 a night. The whole place is very well maintained and provides for a very cozy and friendly atmosphere. It was so cozy that we made friends with all the other guests, they have only seven rooms, and made some amazing dinners together.
There are some amazing restaurants in Cozumel, but I have to mention two specifically. An awesome place to have lunch is Sabores, a little home run operation by Carmen located on Calle 5 Sur and Ave 5. They are only open from noon to 4pm, but you can’t beat their prices. You get a drink, soup and a great entrée for only 50 pesos, about $3.50. The other place is Kinta on Av. 5 between Calle 2 and 4 North. They have the most incredible gourmet menu. I highly recommend the pork!
I will post the rest of the trip in the Playa Del Carmen section.
