judydivescoz
Contributor
I flew from the Westchester County Airport on Delta this trip. My husband is working in Mississippi right now so I was traveling alone. He was meeting me in Cozumel for a few days. The parking there is horrible at the airport so I decided to rent a car for the day and drive myself. My son works for Enterprise so I got the family discount and there was no drop off fee. Worked perfectly! My flight left Westchester at a very civilized 7:30 AM. Connection in Atlanta was perfect. Arrived in Cozumel right on time. It was the first flight in so it was quick thru immigration. Bags came right out and as I went thru customs they decided to search my bags. I had 2 bottles of vodka and some wine, they had no problem with that. They did take the chicken tender dog treats I brought for a friends dogs because they were imported from Canada. After that, I rolled my bags out of the airport and picked up by the friend we were staying with in Corpus Christi.
After dropping my bags off, we had lunch at Otates, it was a good as I remembered it. Spent the afternoon floating in the pool and relaxing. I had carried down a book for Sally so we met for dinner at a taco restaurant up by 50th. Can’t remember the name but it was great. It was great to meet Sally after reading her posts for the past few years.
I dove on Sunday with Albatros Charters (www.albatroscharters.com) , my usual and most favorite dive op on the island. There were only 3 divers, including me on the boat. Rita was our DM and Orlando the captain. Both were excellent. We had 2 great dives at Palancar Caves and Paradise. First dive 67 minutes the 2nd 92. I had not dove Paradise since just after Wilma except on a few night dives. I was amazed at how well it had recovered.
We had fish tacos at the house that night. We made them with fresh tuna we got from a fishing boat at the marina…very good!
Monday and Tuesday I dove with Blue X Tsea. First day I had the pleasure of diving with divers who had 2nd homes in Cozumel who were very experienced divers. Mago was the captain and Ramone the DM . Had 2, hour plus long and deep dives at Cedral Wall (167feet) and Punta Tunish (87 feet). Beautiful! The next day went with a different group Palancar Caves and San Francisco. Auturo was the DM. The other 5 divers on the boat were newly certified. Christi asked Arturo to stay with me so I could dive my computer. Both dives were over 70 minutes and stunning. I had a great time diving with this OP.
Tuesday night Rita from Albatros Charters and I went to the Scubaboard happy hour at La Hatch. We arrived late and the party was in full swing. It was nice to meet the faces behind the names. I wish we arrived earlier and got a chance to chat with everyone. Rita had a meeting with Pam who is running the Ultimate Diver Challenge (I think that is what its called) next door at La Pepeita . We had dinner with Pam and her husband after at El Pique. It sounds like it is going to be a great event.
Took Wednesday off from diving. We are looking for a home in Cozumel and so I went house shopping with Nancy Murray (Cozumel Island Real Estate ). She is a great agent who is very patient . She keeps us informed on what is going on in the real estate market in Cozumel. Jed, my husband arrived in the afternoon. I arranged for a for him massage right after he arrived ( I already had one earlier in the week)so he would be very prepared to relax. We like to use Rachel for massage. The bad news for us is that it was the last week she would be on the island . We had dinner at Alfredos at the El Presidente. It is the new favorite restaurant of our host. The service was great and the food excellent. We spent less than $100.00 for dinner with wine, a shared appetizer and entrees as well as desert for 3.
We dove with Albatros Charters Thursday thru Sunday. Dove all our favorite dive sites including Palancar Gardens and Bricks, Delilah, La Francesca, Cedral Pass and Chuncanab. All were long relaxed dives all of them exceeding 60 minutes. We love the relaxed feeling of diving with friends that Albatros always has for us. Rita was our DM on several dives as well as Edwin (Pato) on our Saturday dive. We saw lots of the usual suspects, eels, puffers, drums, turtles and lobsters and crabs. The highlight was seeing 3 dolphins Saturday at Delilah. They were having a great time playing in the water. One of them came fairly close to us then the 3 just disappeared. In my 10 years of diving its only the 2nd time I have seen dolphins in the wild. Neither Jed or I take pictures but 2 of the other divers on the boat did and forwarded them to me. I will post them as well as give the photographers credit if I can figure out how to do it.
Friday night we went to the Cozumel4you happy hour. Laura Wilkinson just started a great weekly newsletter and sponsers a weekly happy hour at diffrent locations each week. That Friday it was at The French Quarter. Had a great time meeting new people and catching up with old friends. The web page for the news letter is Cozumel 4 you - CZM source for helpful information, services, local businesses. She posts the location of the happy hour each week. Everybody is welcome.
We had diner with Deb from the Red Cross and her husband Francis on Saturday night along with Rita from Albatros. Great people. Had a delicious dinner. Kris is a wonderful host. We look forward to dinner at Kinta each time we visit.
Leaving is always tough. I had a Delta flight in the afternoon on Monday. In the waiting area, I ran into Brian and Karen, divers from the Albatros dives as well as Francis, Debs husband. It was nice rehashing our dives from the week, made the waiting so much better. Francis was on the same flight as I was. He was kind enough to help me with my bags in Atlanta. My flight back to Westchester was over an hour late leaving Atlanta because of weather. I called Enterprise at the airport to let them know the flight was late. I was grateful that they stayed open after hours so I could pick up my rental car and drive home.
Great vacation! We have already booked another for October.
After dropping my bags off, we had lunch at Otates, it was a good as I remembered it. Spent the afternoon floating in the pool and relaxing. I had carried down a book for Sally so we met for dinner at a taco restaurant up by 50th. Can’t remember the name but it was great. It was great to meet Sally after reading her posts for the past few years.
I dove on Sunday with Albatros Charters (www.albatroscharters.com) , my usual and most favorite dive op on the island. There were only 3 divers, including me on the boat. Rita was our DM and Orlando the captain. Both were excellent. We had 2 great dives at Palancar Caves and Paradise. First dive 67 minutes the 2nd 92. I had not dove Paradise since just after Wilma except on a few night dives. I was amazed at how well it had recovered.
We had fish tacos at the house that night. We made them with fresh tuna we got from a fishing boat at the marina…very good!
Monday and Tuesday I dove with Blue X Tsea. First day I had the pleasure of diving with divers who had 2nd homes in Cozumel who were very experienced divers. Mago was the captain and Ramone the DM . Had 2, hour plus long and deep dives at Cedral Wall (167feet) and Punta Tunish (87 feet). Beautiful! The next day went with a different group Palancar Caves and San Francisco. Auturo was the DM. The other 5 divers on the boat were newly certified. Christi asked Arturo to stay with me so I could dive my computer. Both dives were over 70 minutes and stunning. I had a great time diving with this OP.
Tuesday night Rita from Albatros Charters and I went to the Scubaboard happy hour at La Hatch. We arrived late and the party was in full swing. It was nice to meet the faces behind the names. I wish we arrived earlier and got a chance to chat with everyone. Rita had a meeting with Pam who is running the Ultimate Diver Challenge (I think that is what its called) next door at La Pepeita . We had dinner with Pam and her husband after at El Pique. It sounds like it is going to be a great event.
Took Wednesday off from diving. We are looking for a home in Cozumel and so I went house shopping with Nancy Murray (Cozumel Island Real Estate ). She is a great agent who is very patient . She keeps us informed on what is going on in the real estate market in Cozumel. Jed, my husband arrived in the afternoon. I arranged for a for him massage right after he arrived ( I already had one earlier in the week)so he would be very prepared to relax. We like to use Rachel for massage. The bad news for us is that it was the last week she would be on the island . We had dinner at Alfredos at the El Presidente. It is the new favorite restaurant of our host. The service was great and the food excellent. We spent less than $100.00 for dinner with wine, a shared appetizer and entrees as well as desert for 3.
We dove with Albatros Charters Thursday thru Sunday. Dove all our favorite dive sites including Palancar Gardens and Bricks, Delilah, La Francesca, Cedral Pass and Chuncanab. All were long relaxed dives all of them exceeding 60 minutes. We love the relaxed feeling of diving with friends that Albatros always has for us. Rita was our DM on several dives as well as Edwin (Pato) on our Saturday dive. We saw lots of the usual suspects, eels, puffers, drums, turtles and lobsters and crabs. The highlight was seeing 3 dolphins Saturday at Delilah. They were having a great time playing in the water. One of them came fairly close to us then the 3 just disappeared. In my 10 years of diving its only the 2nd time I have seen dolphins in the wild. Neither Jed or I take pictures but 2 of the other divers on the boat did and forwarded them to me. I will post them as well as give the photographers credit if I can figure out how to do it.
Friday night we went to the Cozumel4you happy hour. Laura Wilkinson just started a great weekly newsletter and sponsers a weekly happy hour at diffrent locations each week. That Friday it was at The French Quarter. Had a great time meeting new people and catching up with old friends. The web page for the news letter is Cozumel 4 you - CZM source for helpful information, services, local businesses. She posts the location of the happy hour each week. Everybody is welcome.
We had diner with Deb from the Red Cross and her husband Francis on Saturday night along with Rita from Albatros. Great people. Had a delicious dinner. Kris is a wonderful host. We look forward to dinner at Kinta each time we visit.
Leaving is always tough. I had a Delta flight in the afternoon on Monday. In the waiting area, I ran into Brian and Karen, divers from the Albatros dives as well as Francis, Debs husband. It was nice rehashing our dives from the week, made the waiting so much better. Francis was on the same flight as I was. He was kind enough to help me with my bags in Atlanta. My flight back to Westchester was over an hour late leaving Atlanta because of weather. I called Enterprise at the airport to let them know the flight was late. I was grateful that they stayed open after hours so I could pick up my rental car and drive home.
Great vacation! We have already booked another for October.
