Greetings:
A couple months back I told fellow SB'rs that I would report back about my first trip to The Blue Angel Resort in Cozumel. So here goes:
LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT!!!!!
Before I get into the reason why I loved The Blue Angel, let me set the background:
If you're a diver, you absolutely will not be disappointed with a stay at The Blue Angel Resort!
Happy bubbles!
islanddream
A couple months back I told fellow SB'rs that I would report back about my first trip to The Blue Angel Resort in Cozumel. So here goes:
LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT!!!!!
Before I get into the reason why I loved The Blue Angel, let me set the background:
- I'm not a seasoned diver although I've been diving for about 10 years.
- Our past trips to Cozumel didn't include staying on the island but rather catching the ferry to the island and then back to PDC. We've always stayed at 4-5 star resorts.
- We've never gone diving six days in a row...usually we dive every other day.
- I've never owned or used a safety sausage.
- I've always stayed within sight of the divemaster and surfaced when he/she did.
- I've never been on a boat where the majority of the divers are very experienced at diving.
- I've never been in a situation where my husband's regulator started blowing lots of air at 45'.
- The rooms are very basic....concrete floors, two double beds (at least that's what was in our room), dresser, TV that only got a few channels so we didn't watch it (which is a good thing!), large shower, open closet with shelves. This is definitely a "no frills" place so if you expect chocolates on your pillow and the bed turned down every night, this wouldn't be the place for you.
- Clean, clean, clean! Although the rooms are very basic, I was really impressed with the cleanliness. The maids work their magic everyday so you come back to a very tidy room.
- Each room has a balcony that looks out on the ocean! There's a small table and two chairs if you're inclined to want to sit outside. What I liked is that we could hang all of our dive gear, skins, wetsuits, and swimsuits on the balcony and they were usually pretty dry by morning (if you did morning dives).
- There was Wi-Fi in the lobby and restaurant. Reception was not good in the rooms.
- The restaurant is very good with a good selection of items for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Best of all is the Happy Hour where you get 2 for 1 drinks and 2 for 1 appetizers for a great price! The staff in the restaurant are SO nice and really try to get you what you want...even if it's not listed on the menu. (Oatmeal for breakfast is not on the menu...just ask!)
- This is really a divers hotel. Most of the guests were divers so it was very easy to meet new people who were as crazy about diving as we are!
- Shore diving is available right at the hotel.
- Pony (runs the dive shop) was great about getting us on the same boat (after the first day) with people we met and enjoyed diving with.
- Starting the second day, Jorge was our DM. He's awesome! He's very low-key and doesn't have a lot of rules on a boat filled with good divers. He is very strict about one thing: STAY WITH YOUR BUDDY! IF YOUR BUDDY GOES UP, YOU GO UP! It worked for us even though my husband is an airhog and we haD to ascend sooner than I liked :depressed:.
- Jorge was great about finding all kinds of sealife.
- Another rule he had was if he was going to ascend, the rest of us didn't have to if we still had enough air. We were allowed to manage our own dives, make safety stops, stay with our buddy, and get to the surface safely.
- The boat captain was quick to pick people up when we ascended. Since we didn't ascend in a group, he had to be very vigilent....and he was!
- We talked with Matt (dive instructor) a great deal about getting Nitrox certified. He gave us his time even though we decided to postpone certification until our next trip to Cozumel. He was so darn nice!
- I don't require or need a fancy place to stay when diving. If the dive staff is great and we get to dive excellent sites, that's the most important thing to me.
- My husband and I learned SO much from the experienced divers on our boat! Everyone was so helpful when we asked questions and they didn't make us feel like we were a couple of goofs.
- To be honest, I have to say I felt like I went from kindergarten to high school in a week with all we learned and experienced.
- Probably the biggest eye-opener for us were our Suunto Cobra computers! We've had them for ten years and they have worked great for the diving we've done previously. During this week we did some fairly deep dives (my max was 116') with swim-throughs, walls, etc. Our past diving history was much more conservative and our computers never put us close to deco. However, because of the profiles we were diving each day, we got very close to deco many times. What a pain to have to ascend when there were so many more swim-throughs to do! Anyhow, Jorge said it perfectly... "those computers are s--t!" And we have to agree because they are SO conservative! Like I said, they've done us well in the past, but we are now diving a much different profile. While at the resort my husband went online and orders us brand new computers....Merry Christmas to us! The divers on our boat were really knowledgeable about several brands and could give us the pros and cons of each. They really helped us make an informed decision about what to buy.
- Prior to going to Coz we had our regulators serviced. On our first day we were on a boat with a contracted DM (not Jorge who is an employee of the resort) and did a great first dive. The second dive wasn't so good. At 45' my husband's regulator came apart and was blowing air like crazy. I quickly swam up to him (he'd already put the octo in his mouth) and so did the DM. The DM signaled for him to ascend (husband was holding his reg together so it wouldn't blow excess air...meanwhile a part blew off it and sunk to the bottom of the ocean :depressed
and I ascended with him. I was so proud of how calmly my husband handled the situation when he was underwater. He chose not to finish the dive (there was an extra reg. onboard). - On past trips we've stayed with the DM to ascend. Because we weren't required to, we ascended when Mr. Airhog was low on air or our computers were about to scream DECO. At times we ascended with other divers from our group but one time we ascended alone. No sausage and lots of boats! I realized how dangerous it was to come up without a safety sausage and after the day of diving we walked into town and bought one. Now I have to tell you the first time I tried it I shot to the surface like a rocket! Thank goodness my safety stop was about done. After talking with the experienced divers and watching them, I got it figured out on my second attempt. Whew! My husband ordered a sausage online for himself so now we both will be equipped. I'm sure he'll do a much better job on his first try since he had a front-row seat watching me make an ass out of myself!
If you're a diver, you absolutely will not be disappointed with a stay at The Blue Angel Resort!
Happy bubbles!
islanddream
