Guitarcrazy
Contributor
Trip Report Cozumel Dec 31 to Jan 7
We decided to take our grown kids to Cozumel for our Christmas trip this year. We have been many times before, usually staying at an all-inclusive resort. My daughter is a foodie, and wanted to stay somewhere cheaper and pick nice restaurants in town for meals. We chose Casa del Mar based on location, reviews, and cost.
Casa del Mar is fairly close to downtown, about a 45 minute walk if you are feeling energetic. Short cab rides weren’t too expensive, about $12 for the 5 of us. When we arrived the check-in went smoothly, and they gave us room 125, close to pool. The room was very small, with 1 bed and a small bathroom. My daughter was in a larger room initially, with 2 beds. We inquired about the possibility of moving to larger rooms, and they accommodated us the following day. My daughter moved to 124, which was a corner room. It was easily 3 to 4 times larger than 125. We moved to 324, which was same size as 124, but with a refrigerator. They did not charge anything extra for 124, and only ended up charging us $12 per day for 324, which was well worth the extra cost.
The beds are firm as advertised, but we did not have any problem sleeping. The hotel is on the small side, which is nice. There was never a crowd at the pool or restaurant, and you didn’t have to fight to get a lounger like most of the AI resorts. The food in the restaurant was pretty decent, although we ate out most meals. We rented a car from the hotel, and it was very easy and affordable.
We dove with Scuba Luis for the first time. We used to dive with another operator, but our favorite DM was now at Scuba Luis, so we decided to go with them for this trip. My daughter’s boyfriend was not certified, so we arranged for him to get his open water on this trip. They have 2 boats, a smaller 6 pack with one motor, and a larger 12 pack with twin outboards. Most of the trip we were on the larger boat with 8 to 9 divers, but one day we did have 12 on the boat, which was cramped. The DMs, Raymundo and Martin are both excellent, and we had very fun dives with lots of wildlife. In February we had a bit of a hairy dive with a different operator, but we were very satisfied with the safety of the diving this trip. We did 11 dives with one being a night dive.
We were fortunate this trip to see multiple nurse sharks on multiple dives, loads of splendid toadfish, a few eagle rays, a large seahorse, and the highlight was a close encounter with a hammerhead shark at Palencar Caves on our last day. My son wanted to do some surfing so we booked a surf session with Machito Surf for one of the days. There isn’t much surf in Cozumel, but we still had fun riding the 2 foot waves for a few hours.
For restaurants we went to a few of our usual favorites, Kondesa, Guidos, New Especias, and some new ones like Palomar, La Mission, Tikila, Coco Café, and Paprika. Lunch at Palomar was good, but nothing especially noteworthy. We were not impressed with La Mission, but it seemed everywhere we went someone recommended it. Maybe we didn’t order the right foods. We read some poor reviews of Tikila and Paprika, but they were right next door to the hotel so we tried them anyway. We were all pleasantly surprised by both. After our night dive Tikila was the only place still open and we were all pleased with the food. We had fish tacos the next day at Paprika, and they were very tasty. We went back to Paprika for our final breakfast before flying home, and the breakfast was excellent. We also had coffee and breakfast at Coco Café earlier in the trip, and it was also very good.
All in all it was another great trip to Cozumel. It seems we are rarely disappointed in the food or diving, and it is impossible to beat the value offered there.
We decided to take our grown kids to Cozumel for our Christmas trip this year. We have been many times before, usually staying at an all-inclusive resort. My daughter is a foodie, and wanted to stay somewhere cheaper and pick nice restaurants in town for meals. We chose Casa del Mar based on location, reviews, and cost.
Casa del Mar is fairly close to downtown, about a 45 minute walk if you are feeling energetic. Short cab rides weren’t too expensive, about $12 for the 5 of us. When we arrived the check-in went smoothly, and they gave us room 125, close to pool. The room was very small, with 1 bed and a small bathroom. My daughter was in a larger room initially, with 2 beds. We inquired about the possibility of moving to larger rooms, and they accommodated us the following day. My daughter moved to 124, which was a corner room. It was easily 3 to 4 times larger than 125. We moved to 324, which was same size as 124, but with a refrigerator. They did not charge anything extra for 124, and only ended up charging us $12 per day for 324, which was well worth the extra cost.
The beds are firm as advertised, but we did not have any problem sleeping. The hotel is on the small side, which is nice. There was never a crowd at the pool or restaurant, and you didn’t have to fight to get a lounger like most of the AI resorts. The food in the restaurant was pretty decent, although we ate out most meals. We rented a car from the hotel, and it was very easy and affordable.
We dove with Scuba Luis for the first time. We used to dive with another operator, but our favorite DM was now at Scuba Luis, so we decided to go with them for this trip. My daughter’s boyfriend was not certified, so we arranged for him to get his open water on this trip. They have 2 boats, a smaller 6 pack with one motor, and a larger 12 pack with twin outboards. Most of the trip we were on the larger boat with 8 to 9 divers, but one day we did have 12 on the boat, which was cramped. The DMs, Raymundo and Martin are both excellent, and we had very fun dives with lots of wildlife. In February we had a bit of a hairy dive with a different operator, but we were very satisfied with the safety of the diving this trip. We did 11 dives with one being a night dive.
We were fortunate this trip to see multiple nurse sharks on multiple dives, loads of splendid toadfish, a few eagle rays, a large seahorse, and the highlight was a close encounter with a hammerhead shark at Palencar Caves on our last day. My son wanted to do some surfing so we booked a surf session with Machito Surf for one of the days. There isn’t much surf in Cozumel, but we still had fun riding the 2 foot waves for a few hours.
For restaurants we went to a few of our usual favorites, Kondesa, Guidos, New Especias, and some new ones like Palomar, La Mission, Tikila, Coco Café, and Paprika. Lunch at Palomar was good, but nothing especially noteworthy. We were not impressed with La Mission, but it seemed everywhere we went someone recommended it. Maybe we didn’t order the right foods. We read some poor reviews of Tikila and Paprika, but they were right next door to the hotel so we tried them anyway. We were all pleasantly surprised by both. After our night dive Tikila was the only place still open and we were all pleased with the food. We had fish tacos the next day at Paprika, and they were very tasty. We went back to Paprika for our final breakfast before flying home, and the breakfast was excellent. We also had coffee and breakfast at Coco Café earlier in the trip, and it was also very good.
All in all it was another great trip to Cozumel. It seems we are rarely disappointed in the food or diving, and it is impossible to beat the value offered there.
