I had a business trip planned to Texas the end of March and decided to take advantage of being so close to Cozumel from Houston and pop down for a week. I was just in Cozumel this past December with my wife. Trip report here: Trip Report - Cozumel- December 20-31, 2020
I used up some United Airlines’ frequent flyer miles and had a free flight from Houston to CZM and return. Business travel covered my flight from Portland, OR to Houston and back.
I touched down in Cozumel 20 minutes early at 12:20pm. I breezed through immigration, my checked bag of dive gear was already on the carousel, I grabbed it, walked through customs and out to the shuttle counter. The shuttle to my downtown hotel was less expensive if paid for in pesos vs dollars by a few bucks. I am having a brain fade right now on what it cost, but I think it was around 80 pesos ($4).
I waited in the van with another couple for about 5 minutes, until we had a few more people and off we went and I was dropped at my hotel- Casa Mexicana. I booked through their website and actually chose to book and reserve at their sister hotel (Suites Bahia) in order to have a kitchenette. There is not enough business on the island yet and they have shuttered Suites Bahia and the other sister hotel (Suites Colonial) for the time being. Same thing as when I was here in December. I was transferred to Casa Mexicana, but they honored my less expensive rate, although I did lose my kitchenette since Casa Mexicana doesn’t have them. Total paid for 9 night’s stay is $500 with taxes. I have a nice king size bedroom with balcony and a mini fridge. For those unfamiliar, the rooms also have safes large enough for a 16 inch computer and any other valuables. The historic breakfast buffet is no longer. Who knows if buffets will ever make a return. Breakfast is included and ordered from a menu, plated and brought to you between the hours of 7am and 11am. There are tables located on the lobby/pool level where breakfast is served. For people with early morning start times for diving, it can be a bit of a crap shoot whether you can order and get served and eat in time. I recommend ordering through the folks at the lobby the night before if you want to be sure.
I spent the rest of my afternoon getting unpacked, getting a much-needed haircut, checking in and finishing up paperwork at the dive shop and getting dinner at Casa Cuzamil.
The original plan was to dive with Blue XT Sea, who I have been with for the past 7 years. As you may have read on Scubaboard, Christi decided to sell off her assets and close up business. I knew this was a high probability some time ago and was not unprepared. She offered to kindly transfer me over to either of two other operators she recommended or I could make my own arrangements with whomever. Knowing this day might come, I dived last Christmas day with Tres Pelicanos (affectionately known as 3 P’s by many here on the board). I wanted to get a feel for them and had a good experience. So, I booked my 8 days of morning boat dives with them.
When I got in last Thursday afternoon, we had the typical east winds blowing at about 10mph, but the forecast was predicting an overnight shift of winds from the north at 15-20mph. Sure enough, before I settled back into the hotel after dinner, they had shifted. I woke up Friday morning prepared to dive, but didn’t think we’d get out. Sure enough, the wind was raging from the north and one look told me I would be having a relaxed day without diving. So, no one got out Friday, but everything shifted again late Friday afternoon and we were back on for diving yesterday morning.
I walked over to 3P’s and arrived at 7:40am and they shuttled me and 1 other person down to the marina and their dive boat Skinny Shark. It was a quick drive down to the marina since there are still no cruise ships in port. The morning was spent diving in 79 degree crystal clear blue water with over 100 feet of visibility. We dived Santa Rosa wall and Punta Tunich. There was barely any current at all. Super chill and pretty dives. Had a very nice extended encounter with a smallish turtle and all of the other usual suspects. We had the entire reef to ourselves on both dives. Just me, Axel (here for a month from Arizona) and the owner of 3P’s, Steve, as our dive guide. It was a great start to the trip. After diving, I got cleaned up, took a little rest and then a late lunch a Burrito Gorditos before making my way back to the bar at Casa Cuzamil where I spent the next 5 hours watching the Final 4 basketball games with a bunch of other ex-pats.
This morning was equally beautiful diving. We dived the Cedral Mountains and Chankanab Bolones. Today was just me, a couple from Florida and Steve. Water temp was still 79 degrees and visibility was even better, which was tough to imagine. Steve found a pair of good sized nurse sharks huddled up together and tucked in deep under a shallow overhang. It was a nice find. I switched to my 5mm wetsuit today, as I found myself getting cold yesterday in my neutrally buoyant Lavacore.
I will continue to make posts throughout the week. Oh, almost forgot. There is a restaurant downtown that I know a lot of people frequent called Cuatro Tacos. It is a couple doors down from the Lobster Shack and the Thirsty Cougar. They have closed, but will be reopening (this week I believe) with a different concept. Instead of tacos, they will be doing tostadas. It will be called Bendita Tostadas. If they do open, I will check it out and report on it.
I could not be happier with my experience with 3P's so far. Very efficient and fun group. I have been diving 100CF aluminum tanks with 32% Nitrox. Dive times running 70-75 minutes- could go longer from an air standpoint, but that is plenty and I am ready to get out at that point.
Lastly, the island is pretty quiet right now. Apparently it was busier last week with lots of Mexican tourists coming over from the mainland for spring break. Not a lot of dive boats out and no one seems to be running afternoon dives at the moment, just not enough demand. Also, with the rotating reef closures, the month of April has the following dive sites closed and getting a rest: Dalila, Palancar Gardens and Palancar Horseshoe - (Palancar Bricks and Caves are still open- so not cut off completely from the reef system down south).
I used up some United Airlines’ frequent flyer miles and had a free flight from Houston to CZM and return. Business travel covered my flight from Portland, OR to Houston and back.
I touched down in Cozumel 20 minutes early at 12:20pm. I breezed through immigration, my checked bag of dive gear was already on the carousel, I grabbed it, walked through customs and out to the shuttle counter. The shuttle to my downtown hotel was less expensive if paid for in pesos vs dollars by a few bucks. I am having a brain fade right now on what it cost, but I think it was around 80 pesos ($4).
I waited in the van with another couple for about 5 minutes, until we had a few more people and off we went and I was dropped at my hotel- Casa Mexicana. I booked through their website and actually chose to book and reserve at their sister hotel (Suites Bahia) in order to have a kitchenette. There is not enough business on the island yet and they have shuttered Suites Bahia and the other sister hotel (Suites Colonial) for the time being. Same thing as when I was here in December. I was transferred to Casa Mexicana, but they honored my less expensive rate, although I did lose my kitchenette since Casa Mexicana doesn’t have them. Total paid for 9 night’s stay is $500 with taxes. I have a nice king size bedroom with balcony and a mini fridge. For those unfamiliar, the rooms also have safes large enough for a 16 inch computer and any other valuables. The historic breakfast buffet is no longer. Who knows if buffets will ever make a return. Breakfast is included and ordered from a menu, plated and brought to you between the hours of 7am and 11am. There are tables located on the lobby/pool level where breakfast is served. For people with early morning start times for diving, it can be a bit of a crap shoot whether you can order and get served and eat in time. I recommend ordering through the folks at the lobby the night before if you want to be sure.
I spent the rest of my afternoon getting unpacked, getting a much-needed haircut, checking in and finishing up paperwork at the dive shop and getting dinner at Casa Cuzamil.
The original plan was to dive with Blue XT Sea, who I have been with for the past 7 years. As you may have read on Scubaboard, Christi decided to sell off her assets and close up business. I knew this was a high probability some time ago and was not unprepared. She offered to kindly transfer me over to either of two other operators she recommended or I could make my own arrangements with whomever. Knowing this day might come, I dived last Christmas day with Tres Pelicanos (affectionately known as 3 P’s by many here on the board). I wanted to get a feel for them and had a good experience. So, I booked my 8 days of morning boat dives with them.
When I got in last Thursday afternoon, we had the typical east winds blowing at about 10mph, but the forecast was predicting an overnight shift of winds from the north at 15-20mph. Sure enough, before I settled back into the hotel after dinner, they had shifted. I woke up Friday morning prepared to dive, but didn’t think we’d get out. Sure enough, the wind was raging from the north and one look told me I would be having a relaxed day without diving. So, no one got out Friday, but everything shifted again late Friday afternoon and we were back on for diving yesterday morning.
I walked over to 3P’s and arrived at 7:40am and they shuttled me and 1 other person down to the marina and their dive boat Skinny Shark. It was a quick drive down to the marina since there are still no cruise ships in port. The morning was spent diving in 79 degree crystal clear blue water with over 100 feet of visibility. We dived Santa Rosa wall and Punta Tunich. There was barely any current at all. Super chill and pretty dives. Had a very nice extended encounter with a smallish turtle and all of the other usual suspects. We had the entire reef to ourselves on both dives. Just me, Axel (here for a month from Arizona) and the owner of 3P’s, Steve, as our dive guide. It was a great start to the trip. After diving, I got cleaned up, took a little rest and then a late lunch a Burrito Gorditos before making my way back to the bar at Casa Cuzamil where I spent the next 5 hours watching the Final 4 basketball games with a bunch of other ex-pats.
This morning was equally beautiful diving. We dived the Cedral Mountains and Chankanab Bolones. Today was just me, a couple from Florida and Steve. Water temp was still 79 degrees and visibility was even better, which was tough to imagine. Steve found a pair of good sized nurse sharks huddled up together and tucked in deep under a shallow overhang. It was a nice find. I switched to my 5mm wetsuit today, as I found myself getting cold yesterday in my neutrally buoyant Lavacore.
I will continue to make posts throughout the week. Oh, almost forgot. There is a restaurant downtown that I know a lot of people frequent called Cuatro Tacos. It is a couple doors down from the Lobster Shack and the Thirsty Cougar. They have closed, but will be reopening (this week I believe) with a different concept. Instead of tacos, they will be doing tostadas. It will be called Bendita Tostadas. If they do open, I will check it out and report on it.
I could not be happier with my experience with 3P's so far. Very efficient and fun group. I have been diving 100CF aluminum tanks with 32% Nitrox. Dive times running 70-75 minutes- could go longer from an air standpoint, but that is plenty and I am ready to get out at that point.
Lastly, the island is pretty quiet right now. Apparently it was busier last week with lots of Mexican tourists coming over from the mainland for spring break. Not a lot of dive boats out and no one seems to be running afternoon dives at the moment, just not enough demand. Also, with the rotating reef closures, the month of April has the following dive sites closed and getting a rest: Dalila, Palancar Gardens and Palancar Horseshoe - (Palancar Bricks and Caves are still open- so not cut off completely from the reef system down south).
. Dude, someday we're going to cross paths even if it's just in the airport. 
