Sue, Kim and I just returned from 10 days on Cozumel. I have found trip reviews to be very helpful to my own planning, so here are my thoughts.
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Transportation: We flew direct from Denver to Cozumel on Frontier. TSA was the usual hassle, but no worse than expected. Frontier allows us to check two bags free, so we left the Dive Caddies at home and carried on only our regs, computers, cameras and lights. On arrival, Mexican Immigration was fast (as it usually is) and hassle free. We ran the time-share gauntlet with only 2 smoke grenades and a single tear gas cannister to hold them off. Grab tickets for the shuttles, and off we went to the Sabor. On our return, checkin and security was fast and painless, and we got to our gate in record time. Unfortunately, they apparently had a lottery and our flight lost because they set up four tables and nearly everybody got both a patdown and a bag check. Boarding went fairly well despite that, and the Frontier crew (with the aid of a tailwind, I am sure) got us back to Denver 40 minutes early.
We went to the El Moro and Wet Wendys gatherings. The food and drinks were great at both places, as was the company. It was a lot of fun to put faces to some of the names here (CVchief, Pelagic-by-Nature, DJDiverDan, Sideways and others whose names escape me), and we had the opportunity to make several dives with Berekely and her hubby. Great people.
Resort: The Sabor is about 25 minutes south of the airport. We were on a shuttle with other people going to the south end of the island, so we were actually the first ones dropped off. As usual, the Mexican definition of "full van" differs somewhat from ours, but it was a short trip so the crowding wasn't too bad.
Check in at the Sabor was quick and painless. The rooms are nice enough. Not 5-star, but average for the price range. The view from our balcony was great.
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The beach was lovely. Bars, soft sand, bars, palm trees, and bars. The drinks are tasty and cold. There were also non-stop Pelicans to entertain you.
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And of course, the resident dinosaurs...
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The food is about average for an AI. Service was a little lacking compared to other resorts we've visited. The two places I noticed it most were in la Isla (the "generic" restaurant) and on the beach. We ate breakfast and lunch at La Isla, and it always seemed to take a long time to get our drinks ordered. And there's no service at all when you're laying around the pool or on the beach. We're used to resorts where "Why yes, Carlos, I'd love another drink" are the most common words out of your mouth. The service at Mosaique and Robertos was excellent, as was the food. We fell in love with Mosaique and ate there nearly every night. I have to say that Jesus at Mosaique is fabulous.
There is free WiFi but only in the lobby. The rooms are air conditioned and have TV (which we never turned on) and phones. It cost $1 to place a call, and $1 a minute if you called off the island. The only real complaint I had about the room was the lack out electrical outlets. With laptops, phones, cameras and lights, it got pretty difficult to keep things charged.
Diving: We dove primarily with Aldora Divers, but we did make two trips to the mainland, and I'll talk about those dive ops in there turn...
We dove from the Falicity, the Pescador and the Aldora. All the boats were in great shape, and the crews were very helpful. Our guides were Pepe, Julio and Allimandra. All were excellent. Surface Intervals were 2+ hours long, at Mr Sanchos Beach Club. Good food, and lots of fun.
At various times during this trip we dove Palancar Caves & Bricks, Horseshoe, Paseo del Cedral, Columbia Regular, Dalila, Yuncab, Tunich, Punta Palancar, Santa Rosa Wall and San Francisco. All the diving was great. The currents were mild and the guides did an excellent job of making sure nobody missed anything. Nurse sharks and turtles were everywhere, as were spotted eagle rays, eels, giant parrot fish, lobster, crabs, and stingrays. We saw three splendid toadfish on one dive, and found two out swimming during a night dive. There were also a couple of octopus and a squid. And, sadly, there were lionfish. The biggest I saw was 14-16" long. And they were not killed.
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An El Norte closed the port for Thursday, Friday and the morning of Saturday. During the SI Wednesday, Memo let us know that it was going to be closed. Diving on the windward side was offered, as was a trip to the maindland for cenote dives. We opted to go to the mainland. What was not made clear is that with this option, you're not actually diving with Aldora. All Aldora does is call a shop in Playa (Scuba Playa, in this case) and let them know you're coming. Not a problem, but since we had pre-paid for our diving, I wasn't carrying a ton of cash, and I don't use plastic in Mexico, if I can avoid it. But we got things worked out and headed off to Dos Ojos. We have done a few cenote dives before, including Dos Ojos so we knew what to expect. I can't say anything bad about Antonio or Scuba Playa, but they're not as outgoing as the Aldora gang, and you get spoiled easily.
Our last day we went back to the mainland to do a couple more cenote dives and a bullshark dive with our buddy Alvaro from AlwaysDiving. We dove a couple cenotes at a place called Tankah (not Tank Ha) that are pretty virgin. Our bubbles were knocking calcine loose from the ceiling, but they were gorgeous. The shark dive featured 3 7-8 foot bullies plus assorted remorae. There was also a rock fish laying on the bottom right where we descended, and as we finished a 4' stingray came along to check out the action.
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Overall, a fabulous trip.
View attachment 110677
Transportation: We flew direct from Denver to Cozumel on Frontier. TSA was the usual hassle, but no worse than expected. Frontier allows us to check two bags free, so we left the Dive Caddies at home and carried on only our regs, computers, cameras and lights. On arrival, Mexican Immigration was fast (as it usually is) and hassle free. We ran the time-share gauntlet with only 2 smoke grenades and a single tear gas cannister to hold them off. Grab tickets for the shuttles, and off we went to the Sabor. On our return, checkin and security was fast and painless, and we got to our gate in record time. Unfortunately, they apparently had a lottery and our flight lost because they set up four tables and nearly everybody got both a patdown and a bag check. Boarding went fairly well despite that, and the Frontier crew (with the aid of a tailwind, I am sure) got us back to Denver 40 minutes early.
We went to the El Moro and Wet Wendys gatherings. The food and drinks were great at both places, as was the company. It was a lot of fun to put faces to some of the names here (CVchief, Pelagic-by-Nature, DJDiverDan, Sideways and others whose names escape me), and we had the opportunity to make several dives with Berekely and her hubby. Great people.
Resort: The Sabor is about 25 minutes south of the airport. We were on a shuttle with other people going to the south end of the island, so we were actually the first ones dropped off. As usual, the Mexican definition of "full van" differs somewhat from ours, but it was a short trip so the crowding wasn't too bad.
Check in at the Sabor was quick and painless. The rooms are nice enough. Not 5-star, but average for the price range. The view from our balcony was great.
View attachment 110678
The beach was lovely. Bars, soft sand, bars, palm trees, and bars. The drinks are tasty and cold. There were also non-stop Pelicans to entertain you.
View attachment 110689 View attachment 110690
And of course, the resident dinosaurs...
View attachment 110691 View attachment 110692
The food is about average for an AI. Service was a little lacking compared to other resorts we've visited. The two places I noticed it most were in la Isla (the "generic" restaurant) and on the beach. We ate breakfast and lunch at La Isla, and it always seemed to take a long time to get our drinks ordered. And there's no service at all when you're laying around the pool or on the beach. We're used to resorts where "Why yes, Carlos, I'd love another drink" are the most common words out of your mouth. The service at Mosaique and Robertos was excellent, as was the food. We fell in love with Mosaique and ate there nearly every night. I have to say that Jesus at Mosaique is fabulous.
There is free WiFi but only in the lobby. The rooms are air conditioned and have TV (which we never turned on) and phones. It cost $1 to place a call, and $1 a minute if you called off the island. The only real complaint I had about the room was the lack out electrical outlets. With laptops, phones, cameras and lights, it got pretty difficult to keep things charged.
Diving: We dove primarily with Aldora Divers, but we did make two trips to the mainland, and I'll talk about those dive ops in there turn...
We dove from the Falicity, the Pescador and the Aldora. All the boats were in great shape, and the crews were very helpful. Our guides were Pepe, Julio and Allimandra. All were excellent. Surface Intervals were 2+ hours long, at Mr Sanchos Beach Club. Good food, and lots of fun.
At various times during this trip we dove Palancar Caves & Bricks, Horseshoe, Paseo del Cedral, Columbia Regular, Dalila, Yuncab, Tunich, Punta Palancar, Santa Rosa Wall and San Francisco. All the diving was great. The currents were mild and the guides did an excellent job of making sure nobody missed anything. Nurse sharks and turtles were everywhere, as were spotted eagle rays, eels, giant parrot fish, lobster, crabs, and stingrays. We saw three splendid toadfish on one dive, and found two out swimming during a night dive. There were also a couple of octopus and a squid. And, sadly, there were lionfish. The biggest I saw was 14-16" long. And they were not killed.
View attachment 110700View attachment 110699View attachment 110698View attachment 110697View attachment 110696View attachment 110695View attachment 110694View attachment 110693View attachment 110701
An El Norte closed the port for Thursday, Friday and the morning of Saturday. During the SI Wednesday, Memo let us know that it was going to be closed. Diving on the windward side was offered, as was a trip to the maindland for cenote dives. We opted to go to the mainland. What was not made clear is that with this option, you're not actually diving with Aldora. All Aldora does is call a shop in Playa (Scuba Playa, in this case) and let them know you're coming. Not a problem, but since we had pre-paid for our diving, I wasn't carrying a ton of cash, and I don't use plastic in Mexico, if I can avoid it. But we got things worked out and headed off to Dos Ojos. We have done a few cenote dives before, including Dos Ojos so we knew what to expect. I can't say anything bad about Antonio or Scuba Playa, but they're not as outgoing as the Aldora gang, and you get spoiled easily.
Our last day we went back to the mainland to do a couple more cenote dives and a bullshark dive with our buddy Alvaro from AlwaysDiving. We dove a couple cenotes at a place called Tankah (not Tank Ha) that are pretty virgin. Our bubbles were knocking calcine loose from the ceiling, but they were gorgeous. The shark dive featured 3 7-8 foot bullies plus assorted remorae. There was also a rock fish laying on the bottom right where we descended, and as we finished a 4' stingray came along to check out the action.
View attachment 110703View attachment 110702View attachment 110704
Overall, a fabulous trip.
