Cozumel trip report 7-4 thru 7-10
First of all, Thank You to all that provided the tips to us first timers, it made the trip a lot less stressful & a ton of fun.
My wife & I, my son & his girlfriend went on the trip.
Lodging:
Stayed @ Hotel Cozumel, with the all inclusive pkg. We liked the hotel, very clean, restaurants were convenient, food was good but not a great deal of variety, nice pool with beach chairs to siesta, nice beach area with beach chairs to siesta. Safe in room, dive lockers by beach, rinse tanks by beach. Lots of activities for non-divers also.
Diving:
Dove with Dive Paradise, they are the shop on location. Cattle boats? Only one trip seemed crowded but still had a dive master for 8 divers. Kind of enjoyed the larger boat when the sun was beating down & wanted a little shade. During surface interval they provided water, soda, fruits, fruit turnovers or turnover that had a slim piece of ham. Good dive masters except for the night dive, he didnt seem to care if we were around or not.
Day 1 dives: San Francisco reef, 89, 47 minutes
Las Palmas drop off, 58, 50 minutes
Day 2 dives: Santa Rosa wall, 85, 39 minutes
Yaucab wall, 56, 50 minutes
Shore night dive in front of Hotel, 15, 57 minutes
Day 3 dives: Palancar Horseshoe, 89, 43 minutes
C-53 Wreck, 71, 43 minutes
Las Palmas drop off Night dive, 63 49 minutes
We liked the Palancar Horseshoe dive the best, Las Palmas night dive the least. The
C-53 dive was ok, minimal current but we didnt have gloves along for the penetration.
Shore night dive in front of the Hotel was great, just headed south & drifted back, lots of sea creatures out. (except for the lobsters, we saw more on the shore night dive than we did on the Las Palmas night dive) All dives included we saw eels, octopus, 1 nurse shark about 6, green sea turtles, sting rays, parrotfish, puffers, barracuda, slippery dick, angelfish, hogfish, horse-eye jack, grouper, trigger fish, snapper, trumpet fish, tang & others I couldnt identify.
We rented a Jeep one day & went to the East side, beautiful beaches but was saddened to see all the trash/litter that was all along the beach. Hard to understand how someone could trash such a neat area. Stopped @ Coconuts (Tks for the tip Gordon) loved the place, I think we were there for 3 hours, good salsa & chips, good shrimp, great margaritas. Stopped @ the San Gervasio ruins (bring sketter dope)
I went on a half day fishing trip one morning, turned out to be a 3 hr 45 minute trip (travel time included) we caught some bottom fish but all in all a pretty expensive morning for what I got out of it.
Ate in town 3 times, twice @ Casa Denis (recommend by Scubaboard posters) great food & margaritas. Once @ Primas, had the 1 lb lobster tail with Fettuccini, Ill never forget that meal. Highly recommend Casa Denis, Prima & Coconuts.
The non-divers did several snorkel swims, one @ night which they really liked. Sea Trek walk by the hotel beach (free if you were staying @ the hotel) A lot of sun bathing waiting for their divers to return.
We had a great time & are looking forward the going back again.
Terry
First of all, Thank You to all that provided the tips to us first timers, it made the trip a lot less stressful & a ton of fun.
My wife & I, my son & his girlfriend went on the trip.
Lodging:
Stayed @ Hotel Cozumel, with the all inclusive pkg. We liked the hotel, very clean, restaurants were convenient, food was good but not a great deal of variety, nice pool with beach chairs to siesta, nice beach area with beach chairs to siesta. Safe in room, dive lockers by beach, rinse tanks by beach. Lots of activities for non-divers also.
Diving:
Dove with Dive Paradise, they are the shop on location. Cattle boats? Only one trip seemed crowded but still had a dive master for 8 divers. Kind of enjoyed the larger boat when the sun was beating down & wanted a little shade. During surface interval they provided water, soda, fruits, fruit turnovers or turnover that had a slim piece of ham. Good dive masters except for the night dive, he didnt seem to care if we were around or not.
Day 1 dives: San Francisco reef, 89, 47 minutes
Las Palmas drop off, 58, 50 minutes
Day 2 dives: Santa Rosa wall, 85, 39 minutes
Yaucab wall, 56, 50 minutes
Shore night dive in front of Hotel, 15, 57 minutes
Day 3 dives: Palancar Horseshoe, 89, 43 minutes
C-53 Wreck, 71, 43 minutes
Las Palmas drop off Night dive, 63 49 minutes
We liked the Palancar Horseshoe dive the best, Las Palmas night dive the least. The
C-53 dive was ok, minimal current but we didnt have gloves along for the penetration.
Shore night dive in front of the Hotel was great, just headed south & drifted back, lots of sea creatures out. (except for the lobsters, we saw more on the shore night dive than we did on the Las Palmas night dive) All dives included we saw eels, octopus, 1 nurse shark about 6, green sea turtles, sting rays, parrotfish, puffers, barracuda, slippery dick, angelfish, hogfish, horse-eye jack, grouper, trigger fish, snapper, trumpet fish, tang & others I couldnt identify.
We rented a Jeep one day & went to the East side, beautiful beaches but was saddened to see all the trash/litter that was all along the beach. Hard to understand how someone could trash such a neat area. Stopped @ Coconuts (Tks for the tip Gordon) loved the place, I think we were there for 3 hours, good salsa & chips, good shrimp, great margaritas. Stopped @ the San Gervasio ruins (bring sketter dope)
I went on a half day fishing trip one morning, turned out to be a 3 hr 45 minute trip (travel time included) we caught some bottom fish but all in all a pretty expensive morning for what I got out of it.
Ate in town 3 times, twice @ Casa Denis (recommend by Scubaboard posters) great food & margaritas. Once @ Primas, had the 1 lb lobster tail with Fettuccini, Ill never forget that meal. Highly recommend Casa Denis, Prima & Coconuts.
The non-divers did several snorkel swims, one @ night which they really liked. Sea Trek walk by the hotel beach (free if you were staying @ the hotel) A lot of sun bathing waiting for their divers to return.
We had a great time & are looking forward the going back again.
Terry
