Help choosing a place to stay

[Jake]

Hi all-

Some friends and I are looking at a trip to Cozumel in February. Blue Angel seems to be the place we're angling towards, but I wanted to ask for other opinions based on a few variables:

1. Relative proximity to town. I've read that BA is kind of in the perfect spot for those who may want to go into town occasionally, but not frequently.
2. BA is not all-inclusive. Should we care? As in, does it end up costing more in Cozumel not to stay at an all-inclusive?
3. BA has a package for 7 nights and 5 days of diving for $1,500/2 people. However we're thinking that we'll probably be crossing to the mainland to dive cenotes on probably two days. Given that, would it be better just to pay for lodging and diving separately?
4. Does it matter where we stay if we need to catch the ferry to the mainland for the cenotes? Put another way, are there any areas we want to avoid if we need to get to the ferry a few times?
   
5. From pictures I've seen, shore diving doesn't look super great at Cozumel, but where would we have the best luck?
6. Should we plan on bringing all of our own gear (save for tanks and weights)?
7. Any other tips folks would like to provide would be appreciated.

If anyone has recommendations on cenote operations, I'd welcome those too.

Thanks!

 

[love2fishfork]

San Miguel has some great restaurants and therefore I would never do an all inclusive. I prefer to stay in town (El Cantil) where I can walk to restaurants. From BA you will need a cab to get to town. I'm not a big fan of Cenotes because they are void of life and COLD. Just rock formations. They are good on your last day of diving to give your wetsuit a good rinse. I would bring gear if you have it.

 

[ReefHound]

1. Most would take a taxi into town. It's about 3 miles. We walked it a few times but not when carrying anything. 80 pesos into town. BA has bicycles you can rent, $5 for 2 hrs or $15 for 24 hrs.

2. BA includes breakfast, you order off the menu with a dozen choices. Plenty of tasty meals under $15 and a daily happy hour with 2 for 1 drinks and 2 for $10 appetizers. And you can put everything on your room and pay at the end to mimic the AI convenience. That said, you can eat even cheaper at places in town and enjoy better variety. AI is more for convenience than price, imo. Yo might save money AI if you drink a lot and don't care about the quality of the drinks.

3. You could probably beat that price booking separately and shopping for sales. And you can stay at BA and dive with anybody else. Many other ops can pick you up right at the BA pier.

4. Doesn't much matter. You can walk to the ferry from many downtown hotels and a short taxi ride from most others. The AI resorts on the southern end of the island may involve a 30 minute taxi at a higher rate. The ferry runs from 6am to 10pm hourly with 3 competing ferries.

5. Shore diving doesn't match up to the boat diving but we enjoy it for a few supplement dives. One of the best shore dives is at BA.

6. I always have my own gear. I am familiar with it and trust it. That said, the rental gear I've seen there is in good shape. If you'd rather rent gear than lug it there at least make arrangements with your op ahead of time to ensure they have what you need in your size.

 

[Jake]

1. Most would take a taxi into town. It's about 3 miles. We walked it a few times but not when carrying anything. 80 pesos into town. BA has bicycles you can rent, $5 for 2 hrs or $15 for 24 hrs.

2. BA includes breakfast, you order off the menu with a dozen choices. Plenty of tasty meals under $15 and a daily happy hour with 2 for 1 drinks and 2 for $10 appetizers. And you can put everything on your room and pay at the end to mimic the AI convenience. That said, you can eat even cheaper at places in town and enjoy better variety. AI is more for convenience than price, imo. Yo might save money AI if you drink a lot and don't care about the quality of the drinks.

3. You could probably beat that price booking separately and shopping for sales. And you can stay at BA and dive with anybody else. Many other ops can pick you up right at the BA pier.

4. Doesn't much matter. You can walk to the ferry from many downtown hotels and a short taxi ride from most others. The AI resorts on the southern end of the island may involve a 30 minute taxi at a higher rate. The ferry runs from 6am to 10pm hourly with 3 competing ferries.

5. Shore diving doesn't match up to the boat diving but we enjoy it for a few supplement dives. One of the best shore dives is at BA.

6. I always have my own gear. I am familiar with it and trust it. That said, the rental gear I've seen there is in good shape. If you'd rather rent gear than lug it there at least make arrangements with your op ahead of time to ensure they have what you need in your size.

Great reply. Thank you.

 

[Jake]

San Miguel has some great restaurants and therefore I would never do an all inclusive. I prefer to stay in town (El Cantil) where I can walk to restaurants. From BA you will need a cab to get to town. I'm not a big fan of Cenotes because they are void of life and COLD. Just rock formations. They are good on your last day of diving to give your wetsuit a good rinse. I would bring gear if you have it.

Thanks for the tip on the cenotes. I had thought about doing them mid-trip, but the last day is a good suggestion.

 

[flyboy08]

Just cannot beat the Occidental weekly AI rate and free nitrox with ProDive on site....great resort...great diving and DM...great beach and two pools!

I get $1084 for room and board for the misses and me and $32/tank nitrox! We blow off dinner two or three times to hit our favs in town....still worth it!

ProDive will setup all other excursion you could possibly want.

 

[Jake]

Just cannot beat the Occidental weekly AI rate and free nitrox with ProDive on site....great resort...great diving and DM...great beach and two pools!

I get $1084 for room and board for the misses and me and $32/tank nitrox! We blow off dinner two or three times to hit our favs in town....still worth it!

ProDive will setup all other excursion you could possibly want.

Marvelous. Thank you for the suggestion. Do they offer shore diving there?

 

[flyboy08]

Marvelous. Thank you for the suggestion. Do they offer shore diving there?

I do not believe so, but you can do 4 dives a day and a few night dives all in a week! There are six restaurants on premises and all are ok...to real good one night, not so the next, but one can always find something nourishing .....booze included too...each night we sat down...7 of us, they just placed the tequila bottle on the table

 

[rek_diver]

If you have your own dive gear why wouldn't you bring it with you on a scuba diving trip?

 

[Jake]

If you have your own dive gear why wouldn't you bring it with you on a scuba diving trip?

The airline lost one of my full gear bags once before. It was a huge headache and the thought of going through it again has made me really cautious about taking my stuff.