Trip Report - Short

[Titletowndiver]

Trip Report July 24 - 31

I'm finally caught up with real life enough to post a trip report. Nothing to interesting to report. I'm not gonna go into too much detail as most of you have been there and done that. Good weather, tons of fun, and lots of interesting people. Overall another great trip to Cozumel. If anyone has an specific questions feel free to email me. Took a few
photos (click here) but most didn't turn out very well due to my lack of skills.

FLIGHTS
Flew out of Chicago Midway on ATA. Flights were on time, no problems other than all of the crying, unruly kids. Apparently it's ok to let your children run up and down the aisle, scream, cry, and kick the seats in front of them.
Note to parents travelling with children: Not everyone thinks its cute or amusing when your children have temper tantrums on planes. What are the odds that I end up next to "Damien" on both flights?!?!?

HOTEL
We decided to stay at the PLG one last time before it gets renovated. It seems that the new management has already taken over. The bottled beer and dinner menu that were previously offered on the AIC plan is now gone. The food varied from awful to some meals being very good. We typically ate dinner in town at the usual haunts but I like
the convenience of breakfast and lunch at the hotel.

OP
Dove fast boats all week with Dive Paradise. DP was booked solid all week so we had a few problems getting our preferred DM's. In the past we've never had any problems with DP but this time we did end up doing a few "go down to 80 for 30 and up" dives which I wasn't to thrilled about considering we had all experienced divers on the boat. Overall I have no major complaints with DP but next trip (Oct hopefully) I may try out a new OP. To anyone diving with DP in the future I highly recommend requesting Victor, Porfurio <sp> or Nacho. They all do a great job and are a ton of fun to spend your morning and afternoon with.

DIVING
I'm always amazed by how much different things are between summer and winter in Coz. This trip we saw sharks almost every day while last Jan we were lucky to see just a few. Water temperature was ridiculously warm, I only wore a 3mm on the 1st day. Currents were mild compared to previous trips. We did a total of 16 dives over 6 days. This trip Tormentos, Palancar Bricks, Cedral Wall, and Columbia Deep really stood out. sighs. I can't wait to go back...

 

[divematt]

Trip Report July 24 - 31

I'm finally caught up with real life enough to post a trip report. Nothing to interesting to report. I'm not gonna go into too much detail as most of you have been there and done that. Good weather, tons of fun, and lots of interesting people. Overall another great trip to Cozumel. If anyone has an specific questions feel free to email me. Took a few
photos (click here) but most didn't turn out very well due to my lack of skills.

FLIGHTS
Flew out of Chicago Midway on ATA. Flights were on time, no problems other than all of the crying, unruly kids. Apparently it's ok to let your children run up and down the aisle, scream, cry, and kick the seats in front of them.
Note to parents travelling with children: Not everyone thinks its cute or amusing when your children have temper tantrums on planes. What are the odds that I end up next to "Damien" on both flights?!?!?

HOTEL
We decided to stay at the PLG one last time before it gets renovated. It seems that the new management has already taken over. The bottled beer and dinner menu that were previously offered on the AIC plan is now gone. The food varied from awful to some meals being very good. We typically ate dinner in town at the usual haunts but I like
the convenience of breakfast and lunch at the hotel.

OP
Dove fast boats all week with Dive Paradise. DP was booked solid all week so we had a few problems getting our preferred DM's. In the past we've never had any problems with DP but this time we did end up doing a few "go down to 80 for 30 and up" dives which I wasn't to thrilled about considering we had all experienced divers on the boat. Overall I have no major complaints with DP but next trip (Oct hopefully) I may try out a new OP. To anyone diving with DP in the future I highly recommend requesting Victor, Porfurio <sp> or Nacho. They all do a great job and are a ton of fun to spend your morning and afternoon with.

DIVING
I'm always amazed by how much different things are between summer and winter in Coz. This trip we saw sharks almost every day while last Jan we were lucky to see just a few. Water temperature was ridiculously warm, I only wore a 3mm on the 1st day. Currents were mild compared to previous trips. We did a total of 16 dives over 6 days. This trip Tormentos, Palancar Bricks, Cedral Wall, and Columbia Deep really stood out. sighs. I can't wait to go back...

So,

How was the air conditioning at PLG? I was going to go there this Saturday for 9 days, but everyone (not everyone) here told me they were having huge air conditioning problems so I switched to Caribe Blu.

 

[Titletowndiver]

So,

How was the air conditioning at PLG? I was going to go there this Saturday for 9 days, but everyone (not everyone) here told me they were having huge air conditioning problems so I switched to Caribe Blu.

No AC when we 1st arrived but they moved us to a new room the same day and had no problems after. I did hear a few people complaining that they still had no AC after a few days. Not sure if they asked to be moved or not but I certainly wasn't going to stay 7 nights without it!

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Trip Report July 24 - 31

FLIGHTS
Flew out of Chicago Midway on ATA. Flights were on time, no problems other than all of the crying, unruly kids. Apparently it's ok to let your children run up and down the aisle, scream, cry, and kick the seats in front of them.
Note to parents travelling with children: Not everyone thinks its cute or amusing when your children have temper tantrums on planes. What are the odds that I end up next to "Damien" on both flights?!?!?


By the way those kids are just as annoying to parents who are travelling with comparatively well-behaved children. On the other hand temper tantrums, by there very nature, are not subject to control. I have had miserable kids as a result of factors that were completely out of our control (flight delays, weather delays, TSA delays, etc.). I'm sure you have had a miserable travel experience. Try that same experience when you are eight years old. You might be a bit crankier than you are at your age. The alternative, of course, is to leave them home or not travel at all. Neither alternative is pleasing to my non-diving spouse. The reality is that parents travel with their children and a certain percentage of the parents and/or children are not going to be shall we say well-equipped for flight, so. . . . I will leave you with the words that my brother said to me when I complained about his kids on a long flight (before I had my own of course): "Life isn't about what happens to you its all about how you react to it". You choose how you react to the tantrums and kicking. Laugh and get over it or have your own tantrum. End of ramble.

 

[Titletowndiver]

On the other hand temper tantrums, by there very nature, are not subject to control. I have had miserable kids as a result of factors that were completely out of our control (flight delays, weather delays, TSA delays, etc.)

I couldn't agree more but when kids are so out of control that they're pulling the hair of the person in front of them (a stranger no less) because they want more candy then it's time for the parents to do something other than read a magazine and occasionally say "stop it".

 

[zinmaker]

Hello,

Great trip report, when I dove with Dive Paradise, Victor was our lead DM, I could tell he was a good DM, however he was having some family problems. Victor basically brought his problems to work, which I think is an unwritten rule about divemastering, not to bring your problems to work. We did the crappiest trip through the C-53 ever, and another dive he put a lot of peoples computers into Deco mode after a rather short surface interval and a dive profile simular to the first dive of the day. I was lucky enough to be paying attention to my no deco time, and ended up hovering over the reef enough to stay out of no deco time. I remember Nacho as being a great DM.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I couldn't agree more but when kids are so out of control that they're pulling the hair of the person in front of them (a stranger no less) because they want more candy then it's time for the parents to do something other than read a magazine and occasionally say "stop it".

Absolutely. If its not a full flight thats when I move.

 

[Meg]

. To anyone diving with DP in the future I highly recommend requesting Victor, Porfurio <sp> or Nacho. They all do a great job and are a ton of fun to spend your morning and afternoon with.

I've been to Coz 3 times now, but have not had the pleasure of diving with Victor....Nacho and Porfilio <sp?>, however, ROCK!!!!

I can't wait to go back.

Meg