Trip report March 27th - April 3rd.

[old gaffer]

Arrived at Playa Azul resort in the north hotel zone on Friday the 27th. Nice boutique hotel (50 rooms). Nobody at the adjoining Blue Dream Cozumel dive op. I had booked 5 days of morning 2 tank boat dives. Saturday morning was to be my first day of diving but got a call from op on Friday night saying a Norte was coming in so no diving on Saturday. Found out Saturday night that the port had not closed and other dive ops had got there dives in. Not happy about that and on Sunday morning waited for the op to open and found out I was the only diver scheduled so no diving. I put up a fuss so they sent me to Babieca dive op at El Cid LA ceiba resort and got 2 dives in. Did Tormentos and Paradise which were good dives.

my Brother in law and niece were doing their open water certs on Sunday and once again nothing for me. The dive op owner brought in one of her freelance dive Masters (Francisco) they did Cedral Pass with the instructor and I did Cedral Wall with Francisco and he was fabulous! Found 3 splendid toad fish, big green Moray plus a couple of large nurse sharks and lots more. Monday I was to do San Juan with the newly certified relatives but I felt an advanced dive for them was not appropriate. We did a couple of shallower reefs close to the resort and Francisco found plenty for us to see despite the minimal reef structure. Tuesday we did Yucab and Canterral which were good and Wednesday we did Palancar gardens so at least the new divers got aa chance to see some real nice reef structure. We did Paradise for our last dive and Francisco found many small things such as Flamingo tongues and banded shrimp but the highlight was an up close visit by a large Spotted Eagle Ray only an arms length from us and as it left there was a group of about six divers in front of it it so it turned and glided by us again only a foot or two away! Awesome!

i would stay at Playa Azul again as we Loved the place but I will be taking a cab to town to dive with an op that is more likely to be booked without disappointing gaps in my dive plans.

Gaffer.

 

[MMM]

After your other messages about your cancelled dives, I wondered if the issue was "not enough divers". Sad they don't like to tell you that since it raises questions about the rest of your trip. Maybe they don't realize in today's wired world, stuff like this gets found out. Glad you got some diving in. I stayed at Playa Azul on our first trip to Cozumel and loved the hotel but I woud NEVER recommend a northern hotel location for divers unless you have a car to get to caleta. Your dive choices are just too limited IMO. There are a few OP's that pick up in town but parking is a PITA and taxi fares add up to about the same as a car rental without the associated convenience.

 

[ggunn]

Arrived at Playa Azul resort in the north hotel zone on Friday the 27th. Nice boutique hotel (50 rooms). Nobody at the adjoining Blue Dream Cozumel dive op. I had booked 5 days of morning 2 tank boat dives. Saturday morning was to be my first day of diving but got a call from op on Friday night saying a Norte was coming in so no diving on Saturday. Found out Saturday night that the port had not closed and other dive ops had got there dives in. Not happy about that and on Sunday morning waited for the op to open and found out I was the only diver scheduled so no diving. I put up a fuss so they sent me to Babieca dive op at El Cid LA ceiba resort and got 2 dives in. Did Tormentos and Paradise which were good dives.

my Brother in law and niece were doing their open water certs on Sunday and once again nothing for me. The dive op owner brought in one of her freelance dive Masters (Francisco) they did Cedral Pass with the instructor and I did Cedral Wall with Francisco and he was fabulous! Found 3 splendid toad fish, big green Moray plus a couple of large nurse sharks and lots more. Monday I was to do San Juan with the newly certified relatives but I felt an advanced dive for them was not appropriate. We did a couple of shallower reefs close to the resort and Francisco found plenty for us to see despite the minimal reef structure. Tuesday we did Yucab and Canterral which were good and Wednesday we did Palancar gardens so at least the new divers got aa chance to see some real nice reef structure. We did Paradise for our last dive and Francisco found many small things such as Flamingo tongues and banded shrimp but the highlight was an up close visit by a large Spotted Eagle Ray only an arms length from us and as it left there was a group of about six divers in front of it it so it turned and glided by us again only a foot or two away! Awesome!

i would stay at Playa Azul again as we Loved the place but I will be taking a cab to town to dive with an op that is more likely to be booked without disappointing gaps in my dive plans.

Gaffer.

Man, I am sorry to hear of your experience with the dive op. You'd think that an op would realize that their customers are only there for a little while and every dive day is precious. If the op you have chosen can't (or doesn't want to) take you out diving, IMO it is incumbent on them to proactively place you with another op who is going out and has room for you. They all know each other and it's a small island. They really dropped the ball.

 

[diverken374]

We stayed at Playa Azul in October 2013 and did their golf package. Nice hotel. You were three to five minutes north of the Villa Aldora and you could have arranged to meet one of their boats there for future reference. Also could have met up with other ops in town such as Blue Xtsea rather than cab it all the way to the Caleta. Pleased that you had a few good dives and an awesome eagle ray encounter!

 

[ggunn]

We stayed at Playa Azul in October 2013 and did their golf package. Nice hotel. You were three to five minutes north of the Villa Aldora and you could have arranged to meet one of their boats there for future reference. Also could have met up with other ops in town such as Blue Xtsea rather than cab it all the way to the Caleta. Pleased that you had a few good dives and an awesome eagle ray encounter!

A few years ago in May we were diving Colombia Deep heading for the first pinnacle when the DM started excitedly pointing off to his left. A single eagle ray was coming out of the gloom the other way out in front of us. I was last in line so I had the best angle. I started moving slowly to my left to intercept it, and when I got almost right in front of it I froze and stopped making bubbles. It passed by within about a foot from my mask. I had no camera, of course, but the image is indelibly imprinted on my memory.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Dear Gordon,


Those are the best memories.

Dave Dillehay