We flew Continental Airlines out of Omaha with a connection in Houston, arriving Cozumel at 11:30AM. Bought our transfers, they packed the van full and we were off to the Casa Mexicana.
Id read some good reviews and recommendations on the Casa Mexicana, and we were not disappointed. The hotel was beautiful! Ive never stayed anywhere where they cleaned so much. Someone was always polishing, mopping, sweeping something. The place is spotless. We booked an oceanfront room, glad we did. Our view was great. We couldnt get the 5th floor, I imagine the views are fantastic from those rooms, but we were happy with our 3rd floor room. The balcony was large and great for hanging wetsuits to dry.
The breakfast buffet was wonderful, made to order omelets, bacon, sausage, fruit, cereals, pastries, juice, lots of variety. No coffee makers in the room, but they had coffee available near the front desk shortly after 6AM. The pool is small, as others have indicated. Unfortunately we never had time to use it. The staff was wonderful. I was always greeted with a smile and a Buenos Dias in the morning. Our maid did towel art on our bed every day, it was fun to see what she would come up with every day when we got back from diving. Loved having the mini fridge in the room, we kept it stocked with bottled water and a few cervesas.
After a lot of research we decided to go with Deep Blue. They were very responsive to our emails, and easy to work with. We dove with 5 different Divemasters: Sandro, Luis, Polo, Gabriel and Pepe. All were very professional, and fun! Both Lloyd and I love the small 6 pack fast boats! I couldnt believe how quickly we got to the reefs. Deep Blue picked us up at the Aldora pier, just a couple of blocks from our hotel. We kept our regs and wetsuits, they took care of getting the rest of our gear to the boat every morning. Most surface intervals were spent at the Nachi Cocum beach club. We requested Nitrox for our 2nd tanks, received them most of the time.
Now for the dives. All were multilevel using computers.
Palancar Caves
74 for 40 minutes
This was our first dive with Deep Blue. There was a bit of a mixup, they didnt have us down for afternoon dives the day of our arrival. However, we walked down to the dive shop and they were able to get us on a boat. So we ran back to the hotel, changed clothes, and walked to the pier with our gear. I surfaced with almost ½ tank of air. I assumed they were sizing us up since wed never dove with them before. We saw a hawksbill turtle on this dive.
Yucab
51 for 49 minutes
Saw a large free swimming nurse shark on this dive. Also saw a family of flamingo tongues, a splendid toadfish, and 2 skates.
Palancar Bricks
105 for 48 minutes
On this dive we were paired with a couple of guys, one of which was completing his AOW. We found out later at least one of them hadnt been diving in a couple of years. They surfaced about 20 minutes into the dive, out of air. Luis and Lloyd and I continued on until we hit 700 psi, then did our 3 minute safety stop. Saw a nice hawksbill turtle near the end of the dive.
C-53 - Felipe Xicotecatl - Wreck
69 for 40 minutes
The wreck wasnt high on my priority list, however the 2 divers we were sharing our boat with were determined to go there, so we did. Hey, its all good in Cozumel, right? Anyway, I was amazed at the number of glassy sweepers in the wreck. They were everywhere! I thought they looked fake in our picture, like I cut them out of a magazine and pasted them onto the picture. The current was a little strong. We were fine using the line.
Paso del Cedral
58 for 53 minutes
We did a 2 tank twilight dive with Deep Blue. This was the first dive. Saw a beautiful pair of Gray Angelfish, a barracuda, a sharptail eel, and hermit crab out for a walk. The 2 guys had picked up another friend from the airport, so there were now 3 of them diving. Luis made them all 3 go up when the first one hit 700 psi, which didnt take long. It was almost like 2 different dives, one when they were with us, and another one without them. Guess which one we preferred?
Yucab
56 for 51 minutes
Saw 3 octopus on this dive, got some pictures this time! Yes! Also saw a splendid toadfish on this dive, a large scrawled filefish, and a peacock flounder.
Santa Rosa
83 for 50 minutes
We were once again paired up with our 3 friends. I had some sites that I wanted to hit that we didnt during our last trip to Cozumel. Luis was very diplomatic, trying to explain to them that I had some sites that I wanted to do. They would have none of it. They wanted to go to Santa Rosa, and that was it. I finally got sick of the bickering and said its fine, lets go to Santa Rosa. Luis was so nice, are you sure? Yes, anything to stop the whining! These 3 did not have good buoyancy skills. They were all over the place. Luis made it clear to them that Lloyd and I were to go through the swim through first, so we didnt have to suffer through all the stuff they kicked up. I cringe when I think about it, Im hopeful there was no damage to the coral when they went through. Once again, they ran out of air, so Luis waved them off and continued the dive with us and another gentleman who had good air use.
San Francisco
51 for 61 minutes
This dive was great! We let the others go ahead and we followed behind. While cruising the reef I spotted an octopus out on the reef! Lloyd got a couple of shots of it. No one else saw it. Other sightings included a peacock flounder, a spotted eel, and after the 3 surfaced, Luis was able to locate some blennies. So tiny! We also saw a honeycomb cowfish. After this dive we went to Deep Blue to talk to them. I was very polite, said the crew was wonderful, the boats were great, but that we didnt want to be paired with the 3 gentlemen again. Luis had already been in to talk with the staff, and we didnt have to dive with them again. I dont claim to be a fantastic diver. My goal is to learn something on every dive, enjoying the dive at the same time. However, I do constantly monitor my buoyancy and take the necessary measures to not to run into others, etc.
Paradise
40 for 64 minutes
We did a night dive. Saw 3 more octopus and 2 huge crabs that were having a bit of a tussle. One was using his claw to chomp on coral, almost like he was saying Hey buddy, you want a piece of me? Both had their claws raised at each other. Too funny! Lloyd got a shot of a large eye toadfish. Had a bit of a scare on this dive. A father and son dove with us, they appeared to have some problems just minutes into the dive, so they surfaced. However, they werent looking up. I saw the Divemaster shoot to the surface. One of them had surfaced or nearly surfaced between the props of a boat. Thank goodness the boat was just drifting!
Santa Rosa
84 for 39 minutes
We had planned to do Columbia Deep, however it was a little rough and Pepe thought that Santa Rosa would have better visibility. The current was strong, and the visibility wasnt what it had been the day before.
Paso del Cedral
66 for 47 minutes
We saw a nice turtle and a barracuda on this dive. We were doing a 2 tank morning and a 2 tank afternoon dive this day, so Deep Blue dropped us off at the Hotel Cozumel beach club. It worked out great. We rinsed out gear, hung it out to dry, and had a nice lunch at the beach club. Then they picked us back up for the afternoon dives.
Punta Tunich
62 for 46 minutes
Strong current on this dive. We were treated to yet another hawksbill turtle, this one swam directly underneath us. I had fun on this dive with the current.
Chankanaab
49 for 57 minutes
Our last dive of the trip. It was a great dive! Very little current, and we saw tons of fish, a skate, a spotted eel. Pepe found a juvenile pipefish, so tiny. Pepe high fived me undewater! Lloyd found an adult and juvenile drum. We did a 5 minute safety stop on this dive, since it was our 4th dive of the day.
Deep Blue was terrific. The boats were in great shape, the Divemasters and captains were fun, the staff at the shop very accommodating. I realize how difficult it must be to get divers of the same abilities, who want to go to the same sites, on the same boats. We weren't going to let that ruin our dives, and it didnt.
There are so many great restaurants in Cozumel, we still didnt get to some I wanted to try. Guess well just have to make another trip there! We ate lunch at La Choza, wonderful shrimp! Another day we had lunch at La Mission, the guacamole here was so good. One evening we met Dr. Steve and Karen this forum, they were also staying at the Casa Mexicana. We went to Prima with them. It was nice meeting you both!
Our last evening, we had a lovely dinner at Especias. Adrian is such a gracious host. Lloyd and I were the only 2 in the restaurant. Another gentleman came in saying there would be more joining them. Lloyd thought he heard him mention Christi. So we started a conversation, and found out it was Jonathan from the D2D board! Hed been diving with Blue XT Sea all week. We had a nice conversation, and Jonathan introduced us to Christi and her staff. Jonathan was on our flight the next day, so we had another chance to chat. It was nice meeting you!
On our last day we rented a car from Hertz and drove around the island. Our last trip we didnt have time to go to San Gervasio. Well worth the trip. We especially liked seeing all the iguanas. When it was time for lunch we headed to Coconuts. We also spent some time at Nachi Cocum. After spending some time relaxing, we headed over to Sallys mini-golf. Fun little course! Next trip we hope to tour the hyperbaric chamber and visit the museum.
This trip was wonderful. Cozumel is truly a special place. It is addictive!
Id read some good reviews and recommendations on the Casa Mexicana, and we were not disappointed. The hotel was beautiful! Ive never stayed anywhere where they cleaned so much. Someone was always polishing, mopping, sweeping something. The place is spotless. We booked an oceanfront room, glad we did. Our view was great. We couldnt get the 5th floor, I imagine the views are fantastic from those rooms, but we were happy with our 3rd floor room. The balcony was large and great for hanging wetsuits to dry.
The breakfast buffet was wonderful, made to order omelets, bacon, sausage, fruit, cereals, pastries, juice, lots of variety. No coffee makers in the room, but they had coffee available near the front desk shortly after 6AM. The pool is small, as others have indicated. Unfortunately we never had time to use it. The staff was wonderful. I was always greeted with a smile and a Buenos Dias in the morning. Our maid did towel art on our bed every day, it was fun to see what she would come up with every day when we got back from diving. Loved having the mini fridge in the room, we kept it stocked with bottled water and a few cervesas.
After a lot of research we decided to go with Deep Blue. They were very responsive to our emails, and easy to work with. We dove with 5 different Divemasters: Sandro, Luis, Polo, Gabriel and Pepe. All were very professional, and fun! Both Lloyd and I love the small 6 pack fast boats! I couldnt believe how quickly we got to the reefs. Deep Blue picked us up at the Aldora pier, just a couple of blocks from our hotel. We kept our regs and wetsuits, they took care of getting the rest of our gear to the boat every morning. Most surface intervals were spent at the Nachi Cocum beach club. We requested Nitrox for our 2nd tanks, received them most of the time.
Now for the dives. All were multilevel using computers.
Palancar Caves
74 for 40 minutes
This was our first dive with Deep Blue. There was a bit of a mixup, they didnt have us down for afternoon dives the day of our arrival. However, we walked down to the dive shop and they were able to get us on a boat. So we ran back to the hotel, changed clothes, and walked to the pier with our gear. I surfaced with almost ½ tank of air. I assumed they were sizing us up since wed never dove with them before. We saw a hawksbill turtle on this dive.
Yucab
51 for 49 minutes
Saw a large free swimming nurse shark on this dive. Also saw a family of flamingo tongues, a splendid toadfish, and 2 skates.
Palancar Bricks
105 for 48 minutes
On this dive we were paired with a couple of guys, one of which was completing his AOW. We found out later at least one of them hadnt been diving in a couple of years. They surfaced about 20 minutes into the dive, out of air. Luis and Lloyd and I continued on until we hit 700 psi, then did our 3 minute safety stop. Saw a nice hawksbill turtle near the end of the dive.
C-53 - Felipe Xicotecatl - Wreck
69 for 40 minutes
The wreck wasnt high on my priority list, however the 2 divers we were sharing our boat with were determined to go there, so we did. Hey, its all good in Cozumel, right? Anyway, I was amazed at the number of glassy sweepers in the wreck. They were everywhere! I thought they looked fake in our picture, like I cut them out of a magazine and pasted them onto the picture. The current was a little strong. We were fine using the line.
Paso del Cedral
58 for 53 minutes
We did a 2 tank twilight dive with Deep Blue. This was the first dive. Saw a beautiful pair of Gray Angelfish, a barracuda, a sharptail eel, and hermit crab out for a walk. The 2 guys had picked up another friend from the airport, so there were now 3 of them diving. Luis made them all 3 go up when the first one hit 700 psi, which didnt take long. It was almost like 2 different dives, one when they were with us, and another one without them. Guess which one we preferred?
Yucab
56 for 51 minutes
Saw 3 octopus on this dive, got some pictures this time! Yes! Also saw a splendid toadfish on this dive, a large scrawled filefish, and a peacock flounder.
Santa Rosa
83 for 50 minutes
We were once again paired up with our 3 friends. I had some sites that I wanted to hit that we didnt during our last trip to Cozumel. Luis was very diplomatic, trying to explain to them that I had some sites that I wanted to do. They would have none of it. They wanted to go to Santa Rosa, and that was it. I finally got sick of the bickering and said its fine, lets go to Santa Rosa. Luis was so nice, are you sure? Yes, anything to stop the whining! These 3 did not have good buoyancy skills. They were all over the place. Luis made it clear to them that Lloyd and I were to go through the swim through first, so we didnt have to suffer through all the stuff they kicked up. I cringe when I think about it, Im hopeful there was no damage to the coral when they went through. Once again, they ran out of air, so Luis waved them off and continued the dive with us and another gentleman who had good air use.
San Francisco
51 for 61 minutes
This dive was great! We let the others go ahead and we followed behind. While cruising the reef I spotted an octopus out on the reef! Lloyd got a couple of shots of it. No one else saw it. Other sightings included a peacock flounder, a spotted eel, and after the 3 surfaced, Luis was able to locate some blennies. So tiny! We also saw a honeycomb cowfish. After this dive we went to Deep Blue to talk to them. I was very polite, said the crew was wonderful, the boats were great, but that we didnt want to be paired with the 3 gentlemen again. Luis had already been in to talk with the staff, and we didnt have to dive with them again. I dont claim to be a fantastic diver. My goal is to learn something on every dive, enjoying the dive at the same time. However, I do constantly monitor my buoyancy and take the necessary measures to not to run into others, etc.
Paradise
40 for 64 minutes
We did a night dive. Saw 3 more octopus and 2 huge crabs that were having a bit of a tussle. One was using his claw to chomp on coral, almost like he was saying Hey buddy, you want a piece of me? Both had their claws raised at each other. Too funny! Lloyd got a shot of a large eye toadfish. Had a bit of a scare on this dive. A father and son dove with us, they appeared to have some problems just minutes into the dive, so they surfaced. However, they werent looking up. I saw the Divemaster shoot to the surface. One of them had surfaced or nearly surfaced between the props of a boat. Thank goodness the boat was just drifting!
Santa Rosa
84 for 39 minutes
We had planned to do Columbia Deep, however it was a little rough and Pepe thought that Santa Rosa would have better visibility. The current was strong, and the visibility wasnt what it had been the day before.
Paso del Cedral
66 for 47 minutes
We saw a nice turtle and a barracuda on this dive. We were doing a 2 tank morning and a 2 tank afternoon dive this day, so Deep Blue dropped us off at the Hotel Cozumel beach club. It worked out great. We rinsed out gear, hung it out to dry, and had a nice lunch at the beach club. Then they picked us back up for the afternoon dives.
Punta Tunich
62 for 46 minutes
Strong current on this dive. We were treated to yet another hawksbill turtle, this one swam directly underneath us. I had fun on this dive with the current.
Chankanaab
49 for 57 minutes
Our last dive of the trip. It was a great dive! Very little current, and we saw tons of fish, a skate, a spotted eel. Pepe found a juvenile pipefish, so tiny. Pepe high fived me undewater! Lloyd found an adult and juvenile drum. We did a 5 minute safety stop on this dive, since it was our 4th dive of the day.
Deep Blue was terrific. The boats were in great shape, the Divemasters and captains were fun, the staff at the shop very accommodating. I realize how difficult it must be to get divers of the same abilities, who want to go to the same sites, on the same boats. We weren't going to let that ruin our dives, and it didnt.
There are so many great restaurants in Cozumel, we still didnt get to some I wanted to try. Guess well just have to make another trip there! We ate lunch at La Choza, wonderful shrimp! Another day we had lunch at La Mission, the guacamole here was so good. One evening we met Dr. Steve and Karen this forum, they were also staying at the Casa Mexicana. We went to Prima with them. It was nice meeting you both!
Our last evening, we had a lovely dinner at Especias. Adrian is such a gracious host. Lloyd and I were the only 2 in the restaurant. Another gentleman came in saying there would be more joining them. Lloyd thought he heard him mention Christi. So we started a conversation, and found out it was Jonathan from the D2D board! Hed been diving with Blue XT Sea all week. We had a nice conversation, and Jonathan introduced us to Christi and her staff. Jonathan was on our flight the next day, so we had another chance to chat. It was nice meeting you!
On our last day we rented a car from Hertz and drove around the island. Our last trip we didnt have time to go to San Gervasio. Well worth the trip. We especially liked seeing all the iguanas. When it was time for lunch we headed to Coconuts. We also spent some time at Nachi Cocum. After spending some time relaxing, we headed over to Sallys mini-golf. Fun little course! Next trip we hope to tour the hyperbaric chamber and visit the museum.
This trip was wonderful. Cozumel is truly a special place. It is addictive!
