Well I finally made it back and have somewhat decompressed. Temps in the high 80's here in Chicago yesterday and is now about 60 degrees. WTF! I'm ready to go back to Coz and Belize in July. I have some good and bad details on our stay but must say the overall experience was excellent as usual.
Firstly on the Grand Cozumel Occidental:
The facililty grounds were very nice and well kept with very friendly service from all the staff. Our room although intitially switched with a double then to a King the next day was nice and clean with secluded views of the jungle. The showers as said before in other threads were excellent with plenty of space for 2 and a blasting shower head. They were a bit slippery though and could be dangerous with glass walls and all. Mini fridge in the room is stocked daily with extra cerveza if you tip the maids a buck or two. The room safe was handy too for our travel documents.
The food on the other hand was average at best. I think they were trying to hard to do make it americanized and was all the same aftera couple days. I guess that is what you get for an AI, but we actually got day passes to go next door to the Occidental Allegro and ate their food which was much better. I just wish we had done it sooner. Due to the location on the southern part of Coz you are stuck with the resort food unless you wanna pay $15 each way to get into town. The worst thing about the food at The Grand Coz wa that there are times during the day when you are unable to get food since they don't stagger their buffets. From 10am -12 and from 3pm-6pm you are out of luck. This sucked cause sometimes I was barely able to get back from morning dives in time to eat and you are pretty hungry by then.
Overall the Grand is a great place to stay if you aren't very active and wanna stay in the resort and eat dull food. I personally am done with AI's and will opt for an apartment or hotel closer to town.
Local Reccomendations for Food:
Our DM Henry from Eco divers told us to go to these places for good eats.
El Pique - The best tacos pastor for cheap
Las Palmas - Great lunch for a little over $5 after gruelling morning dives
Jonny Bravo - The best skirt steack(Arrachera)tacos and queso fundido
Casa Denis - Tried and True good eats
Now for the best part which was the diving which we did morning dives with Eco Divers for 4 days and used the on-site Dive Palancar for twilight and night dives. Our last day we went over to Playa Del Carmen and used Seal Life Divers for going to Dos Ojos Cenotes.
Eco Divers were a great small operation located downtown on 1rst and 10th avenue(http://www.cozumel-diving.net/ecodivers). We got 4 days 2 tanks for a little over $200 US. Our boat was small with a great Capitan and we usually had 4 - 6 divers max every day. Henry our DM was great and showed us all the nooks, cranny's, and animals. He also pounded back quite a few cervecas with us at Viva Mexico one night too. Here was our schedule for the short week we were there:
5/30 - Rolled ankle playing Ping Pong. Took day off to acclimate and scooter over to east side and Punta Morelos. Body surfed in the nice waves.
5/31 - Columbia Reef, 26 min, 107'
Palancar Bricks, 46 min, 56'
Yucab Reef, 43 min, 48' - with Dive Palancar twilight
French Lady, 50 min, 42' - with Dive Palancar night
6/1 - Palancar Caves, 36 min, 98'
San Francisco, 55min, 52'
6/2 - Cedral Pass/Wall, 44min, 109'
Tunich/Yucab/Tormentos, 45min, 66' (current very strong so we swam over to fly by the other 2 reefs in one dive.)
6/3 - Punta Sur/Devil's Throat, 28min, 119' (first time thru was awesome!)
Columbia Shallows, 49min, 30'
6/4 - Dos Ojos, 40min, 26'
Dos Ojos/Bat Cave, 38min, 33' (Used Sea Life Divers in PDC. Very nice professional OP with a great cave guide Benjamin)
6/5 - Drink many cervecas and rum cokes. Re-Uptake events and off-gas.
6/6 - Final sun soak in pool and dirty monkey drinks. Back to Chicago heat and noise.
Well I know it was a long one but I hope some peoples got some info on the Grand Cozumel and our diving OPs. Can't wait to go back to Xcalak, Belize, and Honduras July 1rst for a month! I will definitely stop in Coz on my way back to Cancun. Will do an abbreviated post of that excursion.
tiny bubbles . . .
Firstly on the Grand Cozumel Occidental:
The facililty grounds were very nice and well kept with very friendly service from all the staff. Our room although intitially switched with a double then to a King the next day was nice and clean with secluded views of the jungle. The showers as said before in other threads were excellent with plenty of space for 2 and a blasting shower head. They were a bit slippery though and could be dangerous with glass walls and all. Mini fridge in the room is stocked daily with extra cerveza if you tip the maids a buck or two. The room safe was handy too for our travel documents.
The food on the other hand was average at best. I think they were trying to hard to do make it americanized and was all the same aftera couple days. I guess that is what you get for an AI, but we actually got day passes to go next door to the Occidental Allegro and ate their food which was much better. I just wish we had done it sooner. Due to the location on the southern part of Coz you are stuck with the resort food unless you wanna pay $15 each way to get into town. The worst thing about the food at The Grand Coz wa that there are times during the day when you are unable to get food since they don't stagger their buffets. From 10am -12 and from 3pm-6pm you are out of luck. This sucked cause sometimes I was barely able to get back from morning dives in time to eat and you are pretty hungry by then.
Overall the Grand is a great place to stay if you aren't very active and wanna stay in the resort and eat dull food. I personally am done with AI's and will opt for an apartment or hotel closer to town.
Local Reccomendations for Food:
Our DM Henry from Eco divers told us to go to these places for good eats.
El Pique - The best tacos pastor for cheap
Las Palmas - Great lunch for a little over $5 after gruelling morning dives
Jonny Bravo - The best skirt steack(Arrachera)tacos and queso fundido
Casa Denis - Tried and True good eats
Now for the best part which was the diving which we did morning dives with Eco Divers for 4 days and used the on-site Dive Palancar for twilight and night dives. Our last day we went over to Playa Del Carmen and used Seal Life Divers for going to Dos Ojos Cenotes.
Eco Divers were a great small operation located downtown on 1rst and 10th avenue(http://www.cozumel-diving.net/ecodivers). We got 4 days 2 tanks for a little over $200 US. Our boat was small with a great Capitan and we usually had 4 - 6 divers max every day. Henry our DM was great and showed us all the nooks, cranny's, and animals. He also pounded back quite a few cervecas with us at Viva Mexico one night too. Here was our schedule for the short week we were there:
5/30 - Rolled ankle playing Ping Pong. Took day off to acclimate and scooter over to east side and Punta Morelos. Body surfed in the nice waves.
5/31 - Columbia Reef, 26 min, 107'
Palancar Bricks, 46 min, 56'
Yucab Reef, 43 min, 48' - with Dive Palancar twilight
French Lady, 50 min, 42' - with Dive Palancar night
6/1 - Palancar Caves, 36 min, 98'
San Francisco, 55min, 52'
6/2 - Cedral Pass/Wall, 44min, 109'
Tunich/Yucab/Tormentos, 45min, 66' (current very strong so we swam over to fly by the other 2 reefs in one dive.)
6/3 - Punta Sur/Devil's Throat, 28min, 119' (first time thru was awesome!)
Columbia Shallows, 49min, 30'
6/4 - Dos Ojos, 40min, 26'
Dos Ojos/Bat Cave, 38min, 33' (Used Sea Life Divers in PDC. Very nice professional OP with a great cave guide Benjamin)
6/5 - Drink many cervecas and rum cokes. Re-Uptake events and off-gas.
6/6 - Final sun soak in pool and dirty monkey drinks. Back to Chicago heat and noise.
Well I know it was a long one but I hope some peoples got some info on the Grand Cozumel and our diving OPs. Can't wait to go back to Xcalak, Belize, and Honduras July 1rst for a month! I will definitely stop in Coz on my way back to Cancun. Will do an abbreviated post of that excursion.
tiny bubbles . . .
