I'm having a serious bout of Post-Dive Trip Depression; all I can think about as I soak my gear in the bathtub is how to sneak in another quick trip to Coz. And turtles. And friendly parrotfish faces.
Anyway, since I have seen many questions regarding Hotel Cozumel as well as comments regarding the food I thought Id'e throw in my own humble opinion.
About the food: its good/decent. Breakfast is what they do best, its all served buffet style with a cooked-to-order egg station and your usual variety of breakfast items. Lunch is served in the beach restaurant which is sooooo convenient for divers, its literally right next to the dive lockers. They had 2 grill items everyday, a rotation of fajitas, fish and hamburgers as well as some very good slow cooked meat dishes and fresh ceviche. Yum. There is also a bar there for a post-dive beer or margarita. Dinner was basically a repeat of lunch but with the AI price being so reasonable you could easily walk into town for something more foodie.
The hotel itself is nice; the rooms are basic but clean. The staff is great. The bartenders are generous. Everyone gets a dive locker. The shore diving is good. Thats really all I want on a dive trip. They occationally play music too loud but no worries.
We choose Dive Paradise mostly for convenience, as they have a shop at the hotel, and because they run an afternoon dive everyday. We choose the 'caribbean' boat because we're not in any hurry and like shade, after all they all go to the same places, right? Also the pricing is such that 3 tanks on the caribbean boat was something like $94 (because you get a discount if you take the slow boat and stay at Hotel Cozumel) versus something like $120 for the fast boat in the am plus the afternoon dive.
This worked out well for the most part. There were never more than 16 divers on the boat, usually less. We, the divers, got to choose the dive sites. The caribbean boats are slower but they took us to Palancar and Columbia. Except for a boat called the Sagittario. The Sagittario is really slow. If you get on the Sagittario you are probably going as far as Tormentos. That's my only complaint about DP. I have read comments regarding DP going to 'beginner' or 'easy' sites (whatever that's supposed to mean) but that was not my experience. Those posters must have been on the Sagittario. Most of my dive were in the 55-58 minute range, the longest 72, the shortest 45. Only got signaled to ascend a couple of times (the 45 min. dive) other than that we got to stay down as long as we wanted.
Would I stay there again? Yes. Would I dive with Dive Paradise again? Yes, but I would check the night before to see what boat I am on and possibly switch to a fast boat to avoid the Sagittario. We were happy with the other boats. We were happy with the DMs as well, they have a great crew, no complaints there.
Hope this helps.
Anyway, since I have seen many questions regarding Hotel Cozumel as well as comments regarding the food I thought Id'e throw in my own humble opinion.
About the food: its good/decent. Breakfast is what they do best, its all served buffet style with a cooked-to-order egg station and your usual variety of breakfast items. Lunch is served in the beach restaurant which is sooooo convenient for divers, its literally right next to the dive lockers. They had 2 grill items everyday, a rotation of fajitas, fish and hamburgers as well as some very good slow cooked meat dishes and fresh ceviche. Yum. There is also a bar there for a post-dive beer or margarita. Dinner was basically a repeat of lunch but with the AI price being so reasonable you could easily walk into town for something more foodie.
The hotel itself is nice; the rooms are basic but clean. The staff is great. The bartenders are generous. Everyone gets a dive locker. The shore diving is good. Thats really all I want on a dive trip. They occationally play music too loud but no worries.
We choose Dive Paradise mostly for convenience, as they have a shop at the hotel, and because they run an afternoon dive everyday. We choose the 'caribbean' boat because we're not in any hurry and like shade, after all they all go to the same places, right? Also the pricing is such that 3 tanks on the caribbean boat was something like $94 (because you get a discount if you take the slow boat and stay at Hotel Cozumel) versus something like $120 for the fast boat in the am plus the afternoon dive.
This worked out well for the most part. There were never more than 16 divers on the boat, usually less. We, the divers, got to choose the dive sites. The caribbean boats are slower but they took us to Palancar and Columbia. Except for a boat called the Sagittario. The Sagittario is really slow. If you get on the Sagittario you are probably going as far as Tormentos. That's my only complaint about DP. I have read comments regarding DP going to 'beginner' or 'easy' sites (whatever that's supposed to mean) but that was not my experience. Those posters must have been on the Sagittario. Most of my dive were in the 55-58 minute range, the longest 72, the shortest 45. Only got signaled to ascend a couple of times (the 45 min. dive) other than that we got to stay down as long as we wanted.
Would I stay there again? Yes. Would I dive with Dive Paradise again? Yes, but I would check the night before to see what boat I am on and possibly switch to a fast boat to avoid the Sagittario. We were happy with the other boats. We were happy with the DMs as well, they have a great crew, no complaints there.
Hope this helps.
