Our family (Wife and I plus our 17/16/14 year old kids) just got back from Cozumel, and had one of our best vacations ever. Some really great family time on the island. Here's my stream-of-consciousness review:
- Direct flight from Denver on UAL really made it an easy trip down and back. I'm not normally a fan of United, but the flight went off without a hitch and the flight crew were great.
- We stayed at Aldora Villa and stayed in the Falice Suite.
- The suite is nice, clean, with a kitchenette. Perfect for eating breakfast and lunch. Beautiful view, and about 35 steps to the dock for morning pickup. Swimming/sunning/snorkeling/shore diving right in the back yard!
- Chris and Chris manage the Villa and were waiting for us when we arrived, gave a quick tour of the Villa grounds and how everything works. Seamless and efficient.
- Loaner bikes are AWESOME. Saves the hassle and cost of rental car, if you so choose. We rode up past the country club, to our friend's AI up north, down to the dive shop, etc.
- After diving, we (twice) used the grill and made up some skirt steak tacos and enjoyed a post-dive beer under the palapa.
- Chris and Chris are always there for a chat, answer a question, help load you on the dive boat, get you to Mega, etc. etc. etc. We felt like we were staying in their guest house.
- In short, it's well-run, clean, nicely located, quiet, and we'd definitely go back!
- We dove with Aldora as well:
- Boat captains were Alex, Chispa, Felix, Fidel. Some had a hard time with our kids names, so we all agreed on some nicknames (Kiwi, El Jefe, etc.) When we'd see the other captains on the SI, they'd wave and call out the kids' nicknames. The kids loved that!
- DM day 1 was Mario, days 2-5 DM was Jorgé - both were excellent. Great communication and pre-dive planning. Since we were diving with our kids, who only had about 20 dives prior to this trip, safety was a high priority for us. Being a group of 5, most days were just our family on the boat.
- Jorgé seemed to genuinely enjoy the kids' enthusiasm for diving, the boat rides, and their attempts to speak Spanish. We all had some good laughs, both above and below the water.
- The Norte attempted to shut down the port a few days during our trip, but we were able to dive every day. I don't know what went on behind the scenes to allow the port to stay open, but we rely on the dive op to make good judgement on safety issues related to the weather. On one hand, I don't want to miss diving, on the other, I don't want to be on a sinking boat!
- Parkas are great, especially when you surface to a 20 mph wind and start uncontrollable shivering when you climb onto the boat!
- Leaving the Villa at 7:30 am gets you to the dive sites early, and most times, earlier than anyone else. I think that may be the reason we saw SEVEN juvenile black tips at Palancar one morning. They were in about 40' of water, we were in 60'. They came down to check us out, did a flyby, then descended into the depths. Fantastic!
- After diving, all gear goes back to the shop and seems to be very well cleaned and organized and ready for the next day's dive. There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes, I suspect!
- Well all dove the steel 100 cf tanks. The 120s would be too big for our kids, I think. Even with 100s, we got 75 minute dives each and every time. We all seem to consume air at the same rate, except when the boys are zipping around with the gopro.
- Restaurants (all of us agreed that the Coz food scene is much of our enjoyment!)
- El Moro - food is great, Ray makes the whole experience superb!
- Los Otates - kids all ordered two meals, and we ate for about $30 as a family. We liked the tortas. Slow service, though. But... we are on island time, so no biggie.
- Ohana - enjoyed the Chicago style pizza and other dishes. Peanut butter tequila finished off a nice meal.
- Blue Angel - a late afternoon dinner - 2 for 1 drinks and tapas. Food was great, and we used to stay here (before kids starting coming with us on these trips).
- Panchos Backyard.... well... too expensive ($9 margaritas - ouch). Food decent, but we won't go back. $120 for our family dinner is a deal killer.
- Brunch at La Choza - very very good. If I lived on Coz, I'd go every weekend.
- Fishing - we chartered with Albatross for a 4 hour fishing excursion and went with another family from home. 9 of us on the boat. About $525. Caught 2 barracuda. Not a bad day and something different than diving.
- Miscellaneous
- We ended up not renting a car. Between using Aldora bikes and taxis, it wasn't necessary to rent a car. In hindsight, we could/should have rented for a day or two to see the other side (especially during the Norte) and maybe hit up Señor Iguanas.
- Taxi fares are really random. Even the drivers don't know what to charge. Sometimes, they'd ask us "what does it normally cost to go there?". I caught one driver looking at his cell phone where he had the fare map stored in his picture library trying to figure out what to charge us. One time, it was $14 to go from Aldora to Blue Angel. Another, it was $10.
- We noticed that there are no female servers in restaurants. Interesting. Not sure why not.
- It's amazing to me, that just about everyone we interacted with (taxi drivers, restaurant servers, DMs, boat captains, clerks at the Mega) all were friendly and enthusiastically doing their jobs. Not only that, it all seems genuine. I really appreciate that most about Cozumel. So many people in the service industry in the US could learn from this.
- One of the great synergies of this trip, is that our kids are learning about other people, culture, geographies, languages, etc. I had many proud parenting moments watching the kids trying to speak Spanish, asking about menu items, conversing with waiters/taxi drivers/dive staff, etc.
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