Michael Folise
Contributor
Sorry I am late with my report! Picutures to follow later as will be explianed further below.
We arrived in Cozumel December 26, 09 and took ground transportation to Casa Del Mar (cheaper than cab). Stayed until January 1, 2010. First the hotel. Casa del Mar is an excellent value. Rooms are clean and chearful, with a rustic Spanish/Mexican theme that I liked. A bit musty for those with sensitive nosed but understandable for being on the ocean. The hotel is triangular in plan with a fountain in the middle. One vertex points directly to the ocean. Thus, two sides have oblique views of la Mar. The third side has the cheap rooms and faces the jungle. Get the rooms with the ocean view. They are on these two sides overlooking the ocean and the grounds. They are not much more than the standard rooms which are on the third side facing the tennis courts and the jungle. Grouds are well tended, pool is nice after diving, excellent bar, etc..Staff is superb, very friendly, treated us like kings and were patient with my Spanish. We were not on the meal plan but ate some in the resturant. Food bar gets charded to your room so you only need to sign. Food was inexpensive and good + but not quite gourmet. I really recomend not being on the meal plan as there are some good inexpensive retaurants in town and it would be a shame to miss them. Long walk to town (about two easy miles on the sidewalk against the ocean) but with $5.00 cab ride back pleasant in the evening. There are a few sea side bars on the way to town and a close walk from the hotel. Make sure you have dinner Sunday night on the square as there is entertainment and the locals come out for their evening walk. Try the South East side of the town square for restaruants. Fabulous New Years Eve party at the Casa Del Mar pool with buffett (good ++), Mariachi band, DJ, dancing, etc. The Latin ladies got dressed up and it was really a lot of fun. One week room included a car for two days. All in all a good value and we never felt that we were not at a nice place.
Beaches on west side of island are great. Fun waves, not for toddlers but great for teenagers and adults. Water is only chest deep so you really can't swim but body surfing is possible. Go in the early AM. Stop off at the grocery store on the way (Chedrui I believe, a cultural experience in itself!) and get some tamales and drinks for the beach. No one is at the beach in the AM except for the lifegaurds! The tour busses don't come until after lunch and the locals start showing up in the late afternoon after work. Bring your camera.
Did two boat dives with the on site operator Del Mar Aquatics. Enjoyed them both and like everything here reasonably priced. The shop is on the pier across the street from the hotel grounds. The two are connected by a bridge over the road. There are bins to store your gear which can be secured with travel locks (probably unnecessary) so you don't have to bring anything back to your room except your wet suit and camera. Your lock will get full of salt so make sure you rinse it before you leave for home.
One on large boat "The big Splash" one on smaller boat "Splash IV". Both boats are reasonably fast. Set ups are a little different. On the big boat the tanks are behind you on the bench. On the smaller boat the tanks are in holes in the floor on top of the keel. The staff will set up everything for you but will set youset up your own gear if you prefer. Staff is friendly, helpful and safety oriented. No snacks on board (bring your own if you get hungery) but all the bottled water you can drink. Each dive master took time on the way out to talk to each buddy pair individually to get to know them, explain proceedure and size us up. I liked that. As you know the diving is essentially drift diving so getting down in a hurry is important. I lost track of my buddy on one of the descents (I was having some trouble myself) and at the bottom msitakenly followed another diver thinking it was her! Upon discovering my error, I immediately informed the dive master (Renne). He surfaced, confirmed she was back on the boat came back down, explained the situation to me and we compelted our dive. All of this was my fault, my buddy's fault (first dive with a new wet suit we didn't do a surface check-she was underweighted) and I lost track of her. At the end of the dive nobody made me feel bad, letured me, etc. (except my buddy). Interesting dives. One was to Paradisio-large coral columns with swim throughs (no current in here-good for photography), lots of sponges, sea fans and good marine life. Another was to Palancar Bricks, here the current was faster, fewer swim throughs more sea life (sharks, sea bass, sea horses, chromis (sp?) curios goat fish, etc. Photography only possible on the lee side of corals/rock strata. The sea life here seems very comfortable with divers and will allow close approach. Bad news, on that dive I struggled to unclip my slate and inadvertently uncliped my camera (Nikon 5400, Sea & Sea DX 5400 housing, Sea & Sea ys15 auto strobe) instead. Didn't notice it until I surfaced from the safety stop. It is now somewhere on the reef. $150 reward for its return.
Did one night dive from the Casa Del Mar "beach" to the "house reef". Free tanks and lights from Del Mar Aquatics for unlimited shore diving. This dive was better than I expected (didn't expect much) as there were quite a few critters out and about. We did a simple out and back "L" shaped course (first leg out west to a mooring pin, second leg 90 degrees to the north) and made it back right to the entry. The best shore dive here is to the north of the submarine pier ( would have required another 90 degree leg) which will require an inverted "U" shaped course so so make sure your navigation skills are good and carry a back up light (one of ours went dead, yes we had a back up). Also to the left of the entry (south) 20 yards is the "reef" for the adjacent time share and there is pretty good marine life here. this would make and easy and fun orientation dive, just don't expect a Polynesian coral garden and you wont be disapointed.
Also, the hotel has its own beach club further south on the island. The beach here is great (sandy, no rocks) but no waves. OK for snorkleing as there is some marine life here. This is also where the Del Mar boats stop for the surface interval to pick up the second set of tanks. There are restrooms here, a restaraunt and bar, etc.
All in all we had a great time and would return again. I had a chance to check out the Blue Angel (another place we considered) and it looked OK too. It is all on the ocean side of the street but is a little more cramped and probalby noisier than Casa Del Mar. On the other hand, if you are going to be diving every day and just sleeping at night this might be a good option closer (about one mile) to town. It is also a smaller facility.
The Cozumel diving I saw (five dives only) is different than the polynesioan coral garden experience. More current, less extravagant coral, but better sponges, sea fans,etc. and I think the carribean marine life is more varied. Mostly though, if you plan carefully this is a very inexpensive dive vacation by comaprison, probably half the price and a lot more fun being in a foriegn culture. It is hard not to fall in love with these people even when you know they are doing there best to try to rip you off in a street market.
One final thought. Casa Del Mar also has two story "cabanas" with full kitchens, etc. This might make a lot of sense for a family as you could so some of your own cooking (breakfast in particular) and save a lot of money by only going out for dinner. I also just like to have a kitchen/refridgerator with snacks, beer fruit, ice cream, well you get the idea. They didn't seem to be that much more expensive.
We arrived in Cozumel December 26, 09 and took ground transportation to Casa Del Mar (cheaper than cab). Stayed until January 1, 2010. First the hotel. Casa del Mar is an excellent value. Rooms are clean and chearful, with a rustic Spanish/Mexican theme that I liked. A bit musty for those with sensitive nosed but understandable for being on the ocean. The hotel is triangular in plan with a fountain in the middle. One vertex points directly to the ocean. Thus, two sides have oblique views of la Mar. The third side has the cheap rooms and faces the jungle. Get the rooms with the ocean view. They are on these two sides overlooking the ocean and the grounds. They are not much more than the standard rooms which are on the third side facing the tennis courts and the jungle. Grouds are well tended, pool is nice after diving, excellent bar, etc..Staff is superb, very friendly, treated us like kings and were patient with my Spanish. We were not on the meal plan but ate some in the resturant. Food bar gets charded to your room so you only need to sign. Food was inexpensive and good + but not quite gourmet. I really recomend not being on the meal plan as there are some good inexpensive retaurants in town and it would be a shame to miss them. Long walk to town (about two easy miles on the sidewalk against the ocean) but with $5.00 cab ride back pleasant in the evening. There are a few sea side bars on the way to town and a close walk from the hotel. Make sure you have dinner Sunday night on the square as there is entertainment and the locals come out for their evening walk. Try the South East side of the town square for restaruants. Fabulous New Years Eve party at the Casa Del Mar pool with buffett (good ++), Mariachi band, DJ, dancing, etc. The Latin ladies got dressed up and it was really a lot of fun. One week room included a car for two days. All in all a good value and we never felt that we were not at a nice place.
Beaches on west side of island are great. Fun waves, not for toddlers but great for teenagers and adults. Water is only chest deep so you really can't swim but body surfing is possible. Go in the early AM. Stop off at the grocery store on the way (Chedrui I believe, a cultural experience in itself!) and get some tamales and drinks for the beach. No one is at the beach in the AM except for the lifegaurds! The tour busses don't come until after lunch and the locals start showing up in the late afternoon after work. Bring your camera.
Did two boat dives with the on site operator Del Mar Aquatics. Enjoyed them both and like everything here reasonably priced. The shop is on the pier across the street from the hotel grounds. The two are connected by a bridge over the road. There are bins to store your gear which can be secured with travel locks (probably unnecessary) so you don't have to bring anything back to your room except your wet suit and camera. Your lock will get full of salt so make sure you rinse it before you leave for home.
One on large boat "The big Splash" one on smaller boat "Splash IV". Both boats are reasonably fast. Set ups are a little different. On the big boat the tanks are behind you on the bench. On the smaller boat the tanks are in holes in the floor on top of the keel. The staff will set up everything for you but will set youset up your own gear if you prefer. Staff is friendly, helpful and safety oriented. No snacks on board (bring your own if you get hungery) but all the bottled water you can drink. Each dive master took time on the way out to talk to each buddy pair individually to get to know them, explain proceedure and size us up. I liked that. As you know the diving is essentially drift diving so getting down in a hurry is important. I lost track of my buddy on one of the descents (I was having some trouble myself) and at the bottom msitakenly followed another diver thinking it was her! Upon discovering my error, I immediately informed the dive master (Renne). He surfaced, confirmed she was back on the boat came back down, explained the situation to me and we compelted our dive. All of this was my fault, my buddy's fault (first dive with a new wet suit we didn't do a surface check-she was underweighted) and I lost track of her. At the end of the dive nobody made me feel bad, letured me, etc. (except my buddy). Interesting dives. One was to Paradisio-large coral columns with swim throughs (no current in here-good for photography), lots of sponges, sea fans and good marine life. Another was to Palancar Bricks, here the current was faster, fewer swim throughs more sea life (sharks, sea bass, sea horses, chromis (sp?) curios goat fish, etc. Photography only possible on the lee side of corals/rock strata. The sea life here seems very comfortable with divers and will allow close approach. Bad news, on that dive I struggled to unclip my slate and inadvertently uncliped my camera (Nikon 5400, Sea & Sea DX 5400 housing, Sea & Sea ys15 auto strobe) instead. Didn't notice it until I surfaced from the safety stop. It is now somewhere on the reef. $150 reward for its return.
Did one night dive from the Casa Del Mar "beach" to the "house reef". Free tanks and lights from Del Mar Aquatics for unlimited shore diving. This dive was better than I expected (didn't expect much) as there were quite a few critters out and about. We did a simple out and back "L" shaped course (first leg out west to a mooring pin, second leg 90 degrees to the north) and made it back right to the entry. The best shore dive here is to the north of the submarine pier ( would have required another 90 degree leg) which will require an inverted "U" shaped course so so make sure your navigation skills are good and carry a back up light (one of ours went dead, yes we had a back up). Also to the left of the entry (south) 20 yards is the "reef" for the adjacent time share and there is pretty good marine life here. this would make and easy and fun orientation dive, just don't expect a Polynesian coral garden and you wont be disapointed.
Also, the hotel has its own beach club further south on the island. The beach here is great (sandy, no rocks) but no waves. OK for snorkleing as there is some marine life here. This is also where the Del Mar boats stop for the surface interval to pick up the second set of tanks. There are restrooms here, a restaraunt and bar, etc.
All in all we had a great time and would return again. I had a chance to check out the Blue Angel (another place we considered) and it looked OK too. It is all on the ocean side of the street but is a little more cramped and probalby noisier than Casa Del Mar. On the other hand, if you are going to be diving every day and just sleeping at night this might be a good option closer (about one mile) to town. It is also a smaller facility.
The Cozumel diving I saw (five dives only) is different than the polynesioan coral garden experience. More current, less extravagant coral, but better sponges, sea fans,etc. and I think the carribean marine life is more varied. Mostly though, if you plan carefully this is a very inexpensive dive vacation by comaprison, probably half the price and a lot more fun being in a foriegn culture. It is hard not to fall in love with these people even when you know they are doing there best to try to rip you off in a street market.
One final thought. Casa Del Mar also has two story "cabanas" with full kitchens, etc. This might make a lot of sense for a family as you could so some of your own cooking (breakfast in particular) and save a lot of money by only going out for dinner. I also just like to have a kitchen/refridgerator with snacks, beer fruit, ice cream, well you get the idea. They didn't seem to be that much more expensive.
