Even_Stephen
Registered
My wife and I just got back from my our first trip to Coz. Here are the details...
Getting there: Flew USAirways from Knoxville, TN with a connection in Charlotte. Very late leaving Knoxville, but made the flight to Coz. Charlotte is a pretty easy airport to get through even when changing concourses. Flight to Coz was on a nice new Airbus (A319, I think, about the size of a 737), on time with about 2:30 flight time. Jam packed plus the obligatory screaming infant and, interestingly, several teen newlywed couples.
Cozumel Airport: The nicest Caribbean airport I've ever been in. New, clean, and well air conditioned. Nicer than most U.S. airports I've been in. Immigration and customs were a breeze. They use a "press this button and do what the light says" system to decide whether to inspect your baggage or not. They didn't inspect ours. BEWARE: After customs, you are free to go get your ground transportation. My package advised me to look for Lomas travel. However, I was intercepted by a friendly guy who said that the van wouldn't be here for 5 minutes or so. He started showing me stuff on a map, etc. Finally figured out it was a timeshare pitch for the El Cid la Cieba. Thanks a lot. Ditched him and found a Lomas rep. Nice air conditioned van that only stopped twice before getting us to the Presidente. As others have pointed out, one cannot take a taxi FROM the airport - only the shuttle service.
Presidente: A really great place. Super, super service by everybody we came in contact with (with one minor exception). We were 2 hours early for check in, but they had a room ready. Offered us a choice of 2 doubles or a king. We paid for a garden view room (the least expensive) and that's what we got. But it was a great room. Clean with a capital 'C'. Huge. Rather sparsely furnished, but plenty of drawers and closet space. Excellent air conditioning and water pressure. Bellman advised us that all ice on the property was made with purified water, but not to drink the tap water. Hotel supplies one 1.5 liter bottle of water per day, after that one is on one's own. Mini-bar in room, but no separate fridge and no in-room safes. We were on the ground floor and had an aboslutely wonderful patio. Large and open with table, chairs and loungers. Room key opened both front and patio doors. Very convenient. Patio overlooked a large grassy area with palm trees. Quiet and relaxing. The room also had a strange but useful second patio on the other side of the room. A sliding glass door opened to a five-by-ten or so patio surrounded on all sides by walls at least 12 feet high. No way in or out except the single door. Perfect place to dry dive gear. Otherwise, useless. The "fancy" restaurant was closed for renovation (looks like it's going to be an Italian place). The open-air restaurant (and a snack bar) were open. Breakfast buffet was included with our room. It was very good. Omlet station plus a variety of American and Mexican breakfast foods. We also ate a couple of lunches there and dinner once. Food was quite good and pretty reasonably priced for a high-end resort. Terrific service. For the record, Cokes cost $3.50 and beer is $4.00. The only service problem we had at the hotel was the Concierge. The Concierge desk was unmanned much of the time. However, when it was occupied, the young lady there was really quite a dimwit. There is just a small, though nice, manmade sand beach at the Presidente that goes all the way into the sea. However, they build a sandy strip the entire length of the property on top of the ironshore. It's really quite nice. They also built several piers with ladders into the sea along the ironshore. Makes for easy entry/exit into deep water for swimming/snorkling. And the snorkling was pretty dang good. Saw the biggest cuttlefish I've ever encountered plus lots of parrotfish and others. Some decent corals heads and sponges in this area.
How was the diving?: Dandy! I went on 6 dives and all were great. We used the on-site operator, Scuba Du. Viz was about 100ft and water temperature was 80 degrees on all dives. We dove without wetsuits and were just fine. We dove Santa Rosa Wall, Tormentos, Columbia Wall, San Francisco, Palancar Bricks, and Yucab Reef. My wife and I agreed that San Francicso was our favorite dive. We saw our first (and second!) seahorse and the biggest hermit crab ever on that dive. I also saw a spendid toadfish at Yucab.
Continued ...
Getting there: Flew USAirways from Knoxville, TN with a connection in Charlotte. Very late leaving Knoxville, but made the flight to Coz. Charlotte is a pretty easy airport to get through even when changing concourses. Flight to Coz was on a nice new Airbus (A319, I think, about the size of a 737), on time with about 2:30 flight time. Jam packed plus the obligatory screaming infant and, interestingly, several teen newlywed couples.
Cozumel Airport: The nicest Caribbean airport I've ever been in. New, clean, and well air conditioned. Nicer than most U.S. airports I've been in. Immigration and customs were a breeze. They use a "press this button and do what the light says" system to decide whether to inspect your baggage or not. They didn't inspect ours. BEWARE: After customs, you are free to go get your ground transportation. My package advised me to look for Lomas travel. However, I was intercepted by a friendly guy who said that the van wouldn't be here for 5 minutes or so. He started showing me stuff on a map, etc. Finally figured out it was a timeshare pitch for the El Cid la Cieba. Thanks a lot. Ditched him and found a Lomas rep. Nice air conditioned van that only stopped twice before getting us to the Presidente. As others have pointed out, one cannot take a taxi FROM the airport - only the shuttle service.
Presidente: A really great place. Super, super service by everybody we came in contact with (with one minor exception). We were 2 hours early for check in, but they had a room ready. Offered us a choice of 2 doubles or a king. We paid for a garden view room (the least expensive) and that's what we got. But it was a great room. Clean with a capital 'C'. Huge. Rather sparsely furnished, but plenty of drawers and closet space. Excellent air conditioning and water pressure. Bellman advised us that all ice on the property was made with purified water, but not to drink the tap water. Hotel supplies one 1.5 liter bottle of water per day, after that one is on one's own. Mini-bar in room, but no separate fridge and no in-room safes. We were on the ground floor and had an aboslutely wonderful patio. Large and open with table, chairs and loungers. Room key opened both front and patio doors. Very convenient. Patio overlooked a large grassy area with palm trees. Quiet and relaxing. The room also had a strange but useful second patio on the other side of the room. A sliding glass door opened to a five-by-ten or so patio surrounded on all sides by walls at least 12 feet high. No way in or out except the single door. Perfect place to dry dive gear. Otherwise, useless. The "fancy" restaurant was closed for renovation (looks like it's going to be an Italian place). The open-air restaurant (and a snack bar) were open. Breakfast buffet was included with our room. It was very good. Omlet station plus a variety of American and Mexican breakfast foods. We also ate a couple of lunches there and dinner once. Food was quite good and pretty reasonably priced for a high-end resort. Terrific service. For the record, Cokes cost $3.50 and beer is $4.00. The only service problem we had at the hotel was the Concierge. The Concierge desk was unmanned much of the time. However, when it was occupied, the young lady there was really quite a dimwit. There is just a small, though nice, manmade sand beach at the Presidente that goes all the way into the sea. However, they build a sandy strip the entire length of the property on top of the ironshore. It's really quite nice. They also built several piers with ladders into the sea along the ironshore. Makes for easy entry/exit into deep water for swimming/snorkling. And the snorkling was pretty dang good. Saw the biggest cuttlefish I've ever encountered plus lots of parrotfish and others. Some decent corals heads and sponges in this area.
How was the diving?: Dandy! I went on 6 dives and all were great. We used the on-site operator, Scuba Du. Viz was about 100ft and water temperature was 80 degrees on all dives. We dove without wetsuits and were just fine. We dove Santa Rosa Wall, Tormentos, Columbia Wall, San Francisco, Palancar Bricks, and Yucab Reef. My wife and I agreed that San Francicso was our favorite dive. We saw our first (and second!) seahorse and the biggest hermit crab ever on that dive. I also saw a spendid toadfish at Yucab.
Continued ...
