Another Cozumel noob looking for advice from the regulars

[Leejnd]

I know you probably hate seeing yet another one of these "tell me where to go!" threads, but I'm in a crunch and just don't have time to do a full search of the vast amounts of information in this forum. And it is VAST! I have done at least some cursory searching, and I will take the trouble to tell you exactly what I'm looking for, so hopefully you won't be too annoyed at another one of these threads to offer to help me.

I'm considering taking a trip to Cozumel during the week of July 4. (I suddenly found myself with that week open, and want to get in some diving.) So I'm trying to figure out where to stay, and what dive op to use. (Sound familiar so far?)

Here's where hopefully my thread differs - I've got some specific needs and desires:

Hotel Criteria

1. I am going to take my senior-citizen mother with me, who will just relax at the pool/beach while I dive. So I need to stay some place where she will be comfortable, treated well and not bored to tears. Hence, a larger resort will probably work better than a tiny hotel. And a place with activities and an onsite spa would be terrific.

2. I ain't broke so I'm willing to spend if it's truly worth it - but don't want to blow cash on a so-called five-star resort if it will leave me disappointed. I've stayed at some awesome high-end resorts around the world, but have enjoyed myself equally at quaint boutique hotels and well-run budget inns. I'd rather spend less at a decent place with fab service and amenities and feel like I got my money's worth, if the high-end resorts are not a good value for the spend. I've looked at the Presidente InterContinental - I stayed at the InterContinental in Tahiti, and loved it! - but I'm not sure this one is up to the same standards. Thoughts?

3. An all-inclusive would be great - took a peek at Cozumel Palace Resort - but not if the food is cruise-ship-buffet quality and the booze is cheap crap poured into name-brand bottles. I've never actually stayed at an AI, but would definitely be willing to try it, especially with Mom along - it would be nice not to have to worry about meals. But I tend to be a foodie, so if the food sucks I'd rather just deal with the meals separately.

Dive Op Criteria

1. Just to set the stage: I am a reasonably advanced diver - 200+ dives, PADI AOW & GUE-Fundies trained, have dived in some very challenging locations around the world, and will be bringing my own gear. Want to dive steel & Nitrox, if possible.

2. Since I will be alone, I will need a dive op that will either insta-buddy me with another diver, or a DM. I'm from SoCal where, on our boats, the DMs don't generally even get in the water and divers are expected to bring their own buddies and dive on their own...but I assume that Cozumel is a typical resort-diving destination where you are expected to dive in a herd with a DM. Normally I detest this, but since I'm solo I need an op that will dive with me.

3. No cattle boats! Small boat, small group would be great, and I don't want to be forced to end my dive cuz of noobie hoovers. Would love a dive op that is willing and able to work with a mix of skills (assuming there will be noobs on the boat) and won't force-fit to the lowest common denominator.

4. Now for the real complication: I had major back surgery a few months ago, and while I've been doing physical therapy and am doing great, I have to be careful with the gear on my back - no shore dives for me, and I will need some help gearing up and stepping off, and getting back on the boat. So I need a dive op that is full-service and willing to pamper, and willing to work with me given my special needs.

5. While it would be awesome to use a dive op onsite at the resort, I strongly suspect this is a fantasy. I have yet to find an onsite dive op that didn't violate most of the criteria I listed above. BUT hey, maybe I'll be surprised - if y'all come back and tell me a particular onsite dive op is the bomb, I would consider staying there. (One can dream, right?)

So I hope I gave enough details to elicit some real advice...and thank you all in advance! I know Coz is a much loved dive location, and I look forward to experiencing it myself.

 

[Brules]

Palace hotel. Its on the water, great views, is not HUGE (you didnt say how Sr your mom is, so I am thinking something easy to get around at), the ocean/1st floor are nice and flat with nice smooth concrete and very little stairs. Service/food is top notch for an AI and their $1500 resort credit they are tossing in right now would allow her to do a message every day if she chooses. Pier right there will allow any op to pick you up. Every room has an amazin view, sunsets are incredible, food/restaurants get raves reviews.

Dive ops: pick em....there are tons of high quality ops that will pamper you: Aldora, Blue XTSea, Living UW, DWM, Scuba Mau etc etc. Just know that in Cozumel, 90% of the boats are small 6 passenger panga style so you will be back rolling in and climbing a ladder to get back in. If you want giant stride and large ladders, you will have to go cattle boat.

But yeah, Palace would be my reccomendation for AI, if you want nice quaint dive resort, Blue Angel is the ticket. Just know that to reach the restaurant your mom will need to climb up and down stairs each time to reach it. If she is fit and up for it, BA is a great place from everything I hear.

 

[ColoDale]

Hotels – these are the top ones I know of:
Intercontintal - Presidente. Fairly close by Taxi to town, has a good reputation, higher dollar and is next to the Caleta (harbor for many dive ops so pickup for diving is easy). It is not AI.
Cozumel Palace - Closer in town by large grocery stores and walking distance to city sites. I have heard it’s a nice place and fairly new. I have not stayed at these but I have always heard the food was good. I have not heard that Cozumel Palace had cruise ship buffet food or that the alcohol is lower quality. I can’t remember if this is AI or not but it is close to restaurants other than in house.

The Iberostar, which I have stayed, had better food than most of the AI's to the south where I have stayed. However in May when we were in Cozumel we had some divers on our boat that stayed at the Iberostar and they said it wasn't that great. The Iberostar has touted itself on good food though. Bear in mind recommendations and opinions about hotels and food are like me convincing you that the color blue is better than red. I am not a "foodie" so take these with a grain of salt.

I have heard that the Residencies Reef to the south is very good but it is more isolated as are the others to the south. I don’t believe it’s AI but I unerstand the food was good. These are essentially condos the owners rent. I may be wrong but that may be the case with Cozumel Palace but I will be corrected here if so. There may be a recent trip report here on SB Cozumel section about it if I remember correctly.

If you want to stay in town there are many hotels but one I know that our friends liked was Casa Mexicana on Melgar (main street along the coast). There flight to Canada was cancelled due to weather and a local Mexican friend recommended it. It has a reputation for being clean and well kept with good food. It is close to restaurants, shopping, main square, and piers for diving. It is across the street from the ocean. From my friends and reviews I have seen, feedback is excellent and very good on all levels. I think it's about $120 a night but verify it. I also do not recall if they have an elevator so check that for your mother. Check their website and reviews. I don’t think it has the same reputation as say an Intercontinental.

The Park Royal has undergone renovations recently and I hear is nice but I put it in the same categories as the AI’s to the south.

I've been to Cozumel a few times with my older/senior father-in law who dives and he entertains himself and is a good traveler. On the other hand I have been there with non-diver my mother-in -law and she was bored silly. She had to have social interaction, amenities, high quality this and that. We stayed on the south end with both.

Diving
For what you described, I know of two that fit the bill: Living Underwater and Aldora Divers. Both have very good reputations. I have dived with Living Underwater but not Aldora but I have friends that dive consistently over the years with Aldora and recommend it highly. Both have high capacity steel tanks and at least LU has steel 95s and I am pretty sure either can get nitrox. They charge similarly. Living Underwater is not a house op and I don’t believe Aldora is either.

Having brought up Aldora, I am sure their regulars will chime in with more details or point out any misinformation I have on Aldora. I am trying to be careful with Aldora info as I have not used them personally. There is quite alot of info on Aldora on this site.

Neither run cattle boats. These are the 6-8 pax variety. LU has one boat which is wide with a captain, DM/owner and deckhand. I really like LU’s boat. I am not sure on Aldora’s boats and staffing. Last I knew they had 7 boats.

Backroll entry is the norm for LU with side ladder re-entry to the boat. I think Aldora may be the same. I would see their websites and contact them for details especially with a back problem. I injured my back a few years ago but no surgery was necessary. Since I had a big dive trip coming up, I concentrated on the physical therapy and specialist visits for a few months to ensure I could giant stride of the back of a rocking boat and get back in. I think both would accommodate you.

From what I know of LU and have heard from Aldora’s regulars, your assumption about DM lead herd diving in Cozumel is not entirely true. Though the group stays generally together as it is a drift dive, you should have much more freedom than the stereotypical cruise ship cattle boat diving. I think the replies to your post here from others (and I think there will be replies to that effect) will prove this out.
One thing about Jeremy (DM/owner of LU) is he goes fairly slow and does not bang his tank much. I found he points a lot (and holds it there for awhile) and if you don’t see him you lose out since is good at spotting all kinds of interesting things. I think he does this to not interrupt you.
I use the DMs for spotters since I generally have my camera and they mostly leave me alone otherwise but I have dived with the same op for over a decade (not LU but have used them).

LU does not send the whole group up when one diver is low on air. I think Aldora is the same. They will put up an SMB from depth and the low diver goes up. This is generally true of many operations in Cozumel that run six packs. I also think that these two operations deal mostly with more experienced divers due to steel tanks and higher cost but that does not mean that new divers or air hogs won’t be there.

There are probably more ops in Coz that use steels but I am not aware of them. The one I use, can provide AL100’s but use AL80’s generally. There are a bunch of quality six pack “boutique” ops with good reputations that don’t use steel tanks.

I hope these were real answers that help and not cheerleading.

 

[Leejnd]

Palace hotel. Its on the water, great views, is not HUGE (you didnt say how Sr your mom is, so I am thinking something easy to get around at), the ocean/1st floor are nice and flat with nice smooth concrete and very little stairs. Service/food is top notch for an AI and their $1500 resort credit they are tossing in right now would allow her to do a message every day if she chooses. Pier right there will allow any op to pick you up. Every room has an amazin view, sunsets are incredible, food/restaurants get raves reviews.

Dive ops: pick em....there are tons of high quality ops that will pamper you: Aldora, Blue XTSea, Living UW, DWM, Scuba Mau etc etc. Just know that in Cozumel, 90% of the boats are small 6 passenger panga style so you will be back rolling in and climbing a ladder to get back in. If you want giant stride and large ladders, you will have to go cattle boat.

But yeah, Palace would be my reccomendation for AI, if you want nice quaint dive resort, Blue Angel is the ticket. Just know that to reach the restaurant your mom will need to climb up and down stairs each time to reach it. If she is fit and up for it, BA is a great place from everything I hear.

Thanks! I've been reading more about Palace, and it does sound like a good option. Mom is in her 70's and is slowing down, but quite mobile and still does yoga and pilates. A few stairs won't bother her, as long as it's not excessive. How do I get this $1500 credit? That sounds AWESOME!

As for the pangas, doing backrolls sounds more manageable for me than giant strides - don't have to stand up with the gear on. My only issue is that I'll have to de-gear in the water as I probably shouldn't try to climb the ladder with the tank on my back. But most of the time I've dove off pangas or zodiaks (Bali, La Bufadora, French Polynesia), they had everyone shed gear in the water before climbing up anyway. Is that the standard practice in Coz?

 

[ColoDale]

Glad you answered back as I forgot to mention that most if not all of the panga/six packs have you remove your gear including weight belts if any and fins and they haul it into the boat.

 

[Leejnd]

I hope these were real answers that help and not cheerleading.

Yes, GREAT info!

Palace is definitely an AI, which I would normally avoid like the plague but I'm trying to make this trip as low-stress as possible, and to ensure my mom is happy and well-fed and can take care of herself while I'm off diving. I'm getting closer to settling on that. Yeah it's a bit pricey, but it sounds like it's worth it. And that $1500 credit should keep Mom busy with massages, tours, and other activities.

I appreciate the info on the dive ops. I'm pleased to read that it's NOT the norm to do the DM herding thing, and hope to pick the right dive op to avoid that. I too like to bring my camera, and I do appreciate a DM who will point out the cool stuff I don't see. I've noticed some great reviews in here of Aldora, so they sound very good. LU sounds great too...I noticed you mentioned they have a wide boat...so it's not a panga? My only concern about diving off pangas is if we have to make a pounding trip across the water to get to dive sites. I really don't think I should put my newly-fused vertebrae through that. Can you stand up in LU's boat? If we're pounding through waves, as long as I can stand up I can cushion the movement with my knees, at least.

Anyway, great food for thought - I will look into both those dive ops and continue my research. Thanks again!

 

[Leejnd]

Hmmm...just saw this on the Aldora website...food for thought!

#2 All-Inclusive

Another real pleasure of Cozumel is its fantastic choice of restaurants at comparatively modest prices. All-inclusive resorts are, in Dave's mind, most suited for remote locations where multiple food options do not exist or where it is dangerous to leave the premises like Jamaica. Indeed one of the great joys of Cozumel (not quite as fun as diving, but almost) is cruising the fine dining establishments and enjoying the wide variety of cuisine available. (Someday Dave will publish a list of restaurant suggestions.) Lately some of the all-inclusive resorts, in recognition of this fact, have offered packages without meals and drinks. But if you opt out, you cannot even buy a beer at the pool…sure makes it damn inconvenient since they are all so far out of town!

So, rule #2 is equally clear: Cozumel is the wrong island for an all-inclusive accommodation.

I didn't realize there were so many great options for excellent dining in town. Rethinking the accommodations strategy...

 

[Tunaman68]

IMHO having an all inclusive would severely limit your Cozumel experience. Soooo much of the fun for us was interacting with the locals on Sunday night in the square, and trying as much of the AMAZING local food as we could get to! Read and memorize Christi's restaurant list -not a clunker on there! We loved the Blue Angel as it featured a great dive op, good price, comfy (not fancy) accommodations, super awesome staff in all areas, and breakfast for everyone and lunch for divers included in the package leaving you free to find you own dinner. However, the in house food was home made and KILLER!!

Have Fun!

 

[smokey braden]

leejnd,
cozumel palace.
aldora.
regards,

 

[smokey braden]

sorry, double post.