gzscuba
Contributor
My wife and I just got back a few days ago from Cozumel. We had an absolutely great time! I just wanted to share my experience and conclusions. I'd appreciate any comments.
The hotel: the room that we stayed in was fine. It had a good firm bed and reasonable A/C. The bathroom had some mildew, but it wasn't scary. (Considering the humid climate, mildew is probably a fact of life). I did notice that after a long shower, the AC got taxed somewhat and things got a bit humid. We got the European plan (no meals, just the room). We really didn't spend all that much time in the room other than sleeping.
The hotel is about a mile south of the main square, so we were within easy access of town, and didn't bother with taxis. One particularly good thing we found was that the supermarket Chedraui was only a block or two north of the hotel (across the street from Plaza Las Glorias hotel, next to the cinema). We found 5L bottles of purified water for about $1.25, since we didn't trust the water. I think we went through about 6 of these. It also seemed like you get the best prices on liquor at the Chedraui, too.
Diving:
As I mentioned, we went with Aldora and were very pleased with our experience. When initially contacting Aldora, we expressed interest in a Nitrox class. Dave offered us a very deal where we did the homework and book stuff at home before the vacation, and did the test and dives down in Cozumel, at a VERY good price. We did 5 days of two tank dives, one of the days being an afternoon/night dive pair.
On the day we arrived, after settling into the hotel, we went to the Aldora office and left our regulators. My reg was converted to a DIN fitting to use Aldora's Steel HP120 tanks. My wife used a Steel 100 tank. Because of the additional weight of the steel tanks, we were able to dive with 6 lbs of lead (with 3 ml wetsuits). I was amazed at the bottom time improvement I got with the high capacity tanks - I generally surfaced with 1000-1200 psi left in my tank, even after 60+ minute dives. Perhaps my breath control is getting better. Aldora uses smaller boats that accomodate 6 divers + 1 DM.
For the surface interval, we went to a beach area with a shower, restrooms, and a restaurant. We generally spent almost an hour and a half at the beach. Time wise, we got picked up at the hotel dock at 7:35 AM, were in the water by 8:30. After the surface interval, we generally got back into the water a bit before noon. That meant that we were getting back to the hotel at around 2 PM. I was very happy with this pace - two hours dive time per day is enough for me, and the long surface interval made me feel better about the depths and durations of our second dive.
1st day:
dive #1 - Palancar caves. - wall area
Saw bunch of big angelfish, butterflyfish, grunts. Good starting dive. We did a few swimthroughs of "canyons". The swimthroughs were somewhat challenging, as I tried hard not to kick any coral. max: 91 ft, ave 53 ft, 54 minutes
dive #2 - dive ended in santa rosa shallows - can't remember exactly where we started - reef dive. There was a really nice variety of fish, including some very inquisitive chub, 4 barracuda, a free-swimming green moray that looked more than 5 feet long being harrassed by a smaller grouper. We saw a nurse shark during the safety stop. max: 55 feet, ave: 41 ft, 72 minutes.
2nd day:
dive #1 - Palancar Breaks - wall
fairly similar to Palancar caves. Most notably, we saw two turtles. Max: 82 ft, ave 49 ft, 64 minutes.
dive #2 - Yocab reef - reef dive
DIdn't have to do much work on this dive, the current was reasonably strong. The DM said that this area is sometimes referred to as the "zoo" - and there was a great variety of fish. Most notably, two toadfish, lobster, another freely swimming green moray, spotted drum, spider crab.
using EAN36: 55 ft max, 41 ft ave, 70 minutes.
3rd day:
dive #1 - Palancar Brinks (might be Palancar horseshoe) - wall dive
Most notably, saw a ray swimming away near the end of the dive, bunch of sand tilefish, assorted fish. Using EAN32 83 ft max, 54 ft ave, 59 minutes.
dive #2 - Paso de Cedral reef
Another reef with a cornucopia of life: conch, green moray, lobster, 2 crabs, friendly chub, barracuda, a rather large black group (maybe 3 foot) EAN36 55 ft max, 41 ft ave, 76 minutes
4th day - twilight and night dives - got picked up at 4 PM
dive #1 - Columbia - wall and reef dive
An absolutely breathtaking wall. At one point, we were hovering at 80 or so feet around some coral or rock "cliffs" that just plunge down into the abyss. It sort of reminded me of an underwater version of cliffs in the Badlands in Montana. There was a reaonable amount of current that we were riding along the wall. After a bit, we went back to more of a reef, where we got very lucky. I saw four turtles over the course of the dive, but others said that there were a total of 8. One of them was climbing on the coral - maybe looking for some lunch. We also saw two rays, both resting in the sand. One of them was being harrassed by a couple of fish, and moving every 10 seconds or so. There was also a large black grouper (maybe 3-4 ft long). 87 ft max, 53 ft ave, 56 minutes.
dive #2 - Paradise reef - night dive
This was the third night dive that I've done, and by far the best night dive I've been on. We just let the current do all of the work. Saw an octopus, and we think it may have eaten a fish while we watched. Many lobsters and crabs were out. There were 2 spotted morays that we found hiding in crevices. I scared a sand tilefish with my light, and it burrowed into the sand - very cool. At one point, we turned off our lights, and by waving your hands, you can stimulate these little worm creatures to briefly glow green. We went for a while with main lights off, seeing these little green sparkles light up around us. We ascended in this cloud of little pink "fleas". I'm not sure if they're the green phosphorescent creatures or not... The dive ended us up rather close to the cruise ship dock. It was VERY odd to hit the surface and hear "Love Shack" playing in the distance. Finally I know why people enjoy night dives. EAN36: 42 ft max, 33 ft ave, 59 minutes.
5th day
dive #1 - Punta Sur, Southern Wall
We dove around some canyon and swimthrough areas at around 90 feet initially - saw a huge lobster, a big queen triggerfish, and a nurse shark. We went past the entrance to Devil's Throat, then ascended to around 50 feet, as we had pushed our computers into deco. I was paying attention to my computer, as this was the first time I had pushed the computer past the NDL. Saw a nice starfish towards the end of the dive. Max: 98 ft, ave: 57 ft, 52 minutes.
dive #2 - Punta Tunich Dropoff
There was a fairly ripping current on this dive - once you figured out how, you can sort of sail in the current by adjusting trim - neat, though very different from normal diving. Notables: ray, turtle, scorpionfish, hermit crabs. After turning away from the dropoff, we did a hard swim for a bit, and ended up at another reef area, where we did the safety stop. EAN36: max: 67 feet, ave: 46 feet, 66 minutes
That last dive was my 50th lifetime. Reason enough for a happy dance
The nitrox class: I had figured that we would have a very short class, since we had already done the homework, and probably could have taken the test immediately. However, Memo took the time to show us a bunch of ideas that PADI really didn't cover in the book. He also showed us the fill station for the island and a rundown on how they do the PP blending. Aldora provided O2 sensors for checking the tanks on the boat before the dives.
I was really happy with Aldora - the higher capacity tanks ensured nice long dive times, and I was pretty pleased with the fact that I wasn't the one who had to call a low-air. We were able to choose our dive sites (though I really wasn't sure what to choose at first). Finally, the really good deal on the nitrox course really generated loyalty. I'll definitely be diving with them again the next time I go to Coz.
Thanks to Memo, Fernando, Gustavo, and Volrath (sorry about the bad spelling) for the help with the excellent diving.
Food:
Tried Casa Denis, the first night we were there - my wife had some fish with butter/lime/shrimp sauce - truly excellent. I had Cochinitas pibil, which was okay, though a tad bit dry.
Tried La mission - I had the mexican sampler - it was all very good. I especially liked the mole. My wife had the beef filet, which was very nicely spiced.
Acuario - had a nice mixed seafood dinner, if a bit expensive.
Went back to casa denis. The shrimp ceviche was really really good, and we both enjoyed the mexican plate (bunch of different items, all very good). better than La Mission in my opinion.
La Prima - Truly excellent seafood - we had the seafood and pasta for two. The seafood was all cooked very well, much better than I can get in the midwest. I think I liked it better than Acuario.
La Choza - I had chicken in a mayan black sauce. I don't know what the black sauce is made of, but it was quite good. My wife had pork fajitas - also well spiced. We'll also be going back to La Choza.
For breakfast, we went to Jeanie's Waffle house a couple of times - it was very good. We also went to a small place in the strip mall area south of the Chedraui. They had 4 soft tacos for $3.50 - very tasty, and you can't beat the price. They also do a good breakfast.
Comments are welcome, and I hope this info is useful to someone.
The hotel: the room that we stayed in was fine. It had a good firm bed and reasonable A/C. The bathroom had some mildew, but it wasn't scary. (Considering the humid climate, mildew is probably a fact of life). I did notice that after a long shower, the AC got taxed somewhat and things got a bit humid. We got the European plan (no meals, just the room). We really didn't spend all that much time in the room other than sleeping.
The hotel is about a mile south of the main square, so we were within easy access of town, and didn't bother with taxis. One particularly good thing we found was that the supermarket Chedraui was only a block or two north of the hotel (across the street from Plaza Las Glorias hotel, next to the cinema). We found 5L bottles of purified water for about $1.25, since we didn't trust the water. I think we went through about 6 of these. It also seemed like you get the best prices on liquor at the Chedraui, too.
Diving:
As I mentioned, we went with Aldora and were very pleased with our experience. When initially contacting Aldora, we expressed interest in a Nitrox class. Dave offered us a very deal where we did the homework and book stuff at home before the vacation, and did the test and dives down in Cozumel, at a VERY good price. We did 5 days of two tank dives, one of the days being an afternoon/night dive pair.
On the day we arrived, after settling into the hotel, we went to the Aldora office and left our regulators. My reg was converted to a DIN fitting to use Aldora's Steel HP120 tanks. My wife used a Steel 100 tank. Because of the additional weight of the steel tanks, we were able to dive with 6 lbs of lead (with 3 ml wetsuits). I was amazed at the bottom time improvement I got with the high capacity tanks - I generally surfaced with 1000-1200 psi left in my tank, even after 60+ minute dives. Perhaps my breath control is getting better. Aldora uses smaller boats that accomodate 6 divers + 1 DM.
For the surface interval, we went to a beach area with a shower, restrooms, and a restaurant. We generally spent almost an hour and a half at the beach. Time wise, we got picked up at the hotel dock at 7:35 AM, were in the water by 8:30. After the surface interval, we generally got back into the water a bit before noon. That meant that we were getting back to the hotel at around 2 PM. I was very happy with this pace - two hours dive time per day is enough for me, and the long surface interval made me feel better about the depths and durations of our second dive.
1st day:
dive #1 - Palancar caves. - wall area
Saw bunch of big angelfish, butterflyfish, grunts. Good starting dive. We did a few swimthroughs of "canyons". The swimthroughs were somewhat challenging, as I tried hard not to kick any coral. max: 91 ft, ave 53 ft, 54 minutes
dive #2 - dive ended in santa rosa shallows - can't remember exactly where we started - reef dive. There was a really nice variety of fish, including some very inquisitive chub, 4 barracuda, a free-swimming green moray that looked more than 5 feet long being harrassed by a smaller grouper. We saw a nurse shark during the safety stop. max: 55 feet, ave: 41 ft, 72 minutes.
2nd day:
dive #1 - Palancar Breaks - wall
fairly similar to Palancar caves. Most notably, we saw two turtles. Max: 82 ft, ave 49 ft, 64 minutes.
dive #2 - Yocab reef - reef dive
DIdn't have to do much work on this dive, the current was reasonably strong. The DM said that this area is sometimes referred to as the "zoo" - and there was a great variety of fish. Most notably, two toadfish, lobster, another freely swimming green moray, spotted drum, spider crab.
using EAN36: 55 ft max, 41 ft ave, 70 minutes.
3rd day:
dive #1 - Palancar Brinks (might be Palancar horseshoe) - wall dive
Most notably, saw a ray swimming away near the end of the dive, bunch of sand tilefish, assorted fish. Using EAN32 83 ft max, 54 ft ave, 59 minutes.
dive #2 - Paso de Cedral reef
Another reef with a cornucopia of life: conch, green moray, lobster, 2 crabs, friendly chub, barracuda, a rather large black group (maybe 3 foot) EAN36 55 ft max, 41 ft ave, 76 minutes
4th day - twilight and night dives - got picked up at 4 PM
dive #1 - Columbia - wall and reef dive
An absolutely breathtaking wall. At one point, we were hovering at 80 or so feet around some coral or rock "cliffs" that just plunge down into the abyss. It sort of reminded me of an underwater version of cliffs in the Badlands in Montana. There was a reaonable amount of current that we were riding along the wall. After a bit, we went back to more of a reef, where we got very lucky. I saw four turtles over the course of the dive, but others said that there were a total of 8. One of them was climbing on the coral - maybe looking for some lunch. We also saw two rays, both resting in the sand. One of them was being harrassed by a couple of fish, and moving every 10 seconds or so. There was also a large black grouper (maybe 3-4 ft long). 87 ft max, 53 ft ave, 56 minutes.
dive #2 - Paradise reef - night dive
This was the third night dive that I've done, and by far the best night dive I've been on. We just let the current do all of the work. Saw an octopus, and we think it may have eaten a fish while we watched. Many lobsters and crabs were out. There were 2 spotted morays that we found hiding in crevices. I scared a sand tilefish with my light, and it burrowed into the sand - very cool. At one point, we turned off our lights, and by waving your hands, you can stimulate these little worm creatures to briefly glow green. We went for a while with main lights off, seeing these little green sparkles light up around us. We ascended in this cloud of little pink "fleas". I'm not sure if they're the green phosphorescent creatures or not... The dive ended us up rather close to the cruise ship dock. It was VERY odd to hit the surface and hear "Love Shack" playing in the distance. Finally I know why people enjoy night dives. EAN36: 42 ft max, 33 ft ave, 59 minutes.
5th day
dive #1 - Punta Sur, Southern Wall
We dove around some canyon and swimthrough areas at around 90 feet initially - saw a huge lobster, a big queen triggerfish, and a nurse shark. We went past the entrance to Devil's Throat, then ascended to around 50 feet, as we had pushed our computers into deco. I was paying attention to my computer, as this was the first time I had pushed the computer past the NDL. Saw a nice starfish towards the end of the dive. Max: 98 ft, ave: 57 ft, 52 minutes.
dive #2 - Punta Tunich Dropoff
There was a fairly ripping current on this dive - once you figured out how, you can sort of sail in the current by adjusting trim - neat, though very different from normal diving. Notables: ray, turtle, scorpionfish, hermit crabs. After turning away from the dropoff, we did a hard swim for a bit, and ended up at another reef area, where we did the safety stop. EAN36: max: 67 feet, ave: 46 feet, 66 minutes
That last dive was my 50th lifetime. Reason enough for a happy dance
The nitrox class: I had figured that we would have a very short class, since we had already done the homework, and probably could have taken the test immediately. However, Memo took the time to show us a bunch of ideas that PADI really didn't cover in the book. He also showed us the fill station for the island and a rundown on how they do the PP blending. Aldora provided O2 sensors for checking the tanks on the boat before the dives.
I was really happy with Aldora - the higher capacity tanks ensured nice long dive times, and I was pretty pleased with the fact that I wasn't the one who had to call a low-air. We were able to choose our dive sites (though I really wasn't sure what to choose at first). Finally, the really good deal on the nitrox course really generated loyalty. I'll definitely be diving with them again the next time I go to Coz.
Thanks to Memo, Fernando, Gustavo, and Volrath (sorry about the bad spelling) for the help with the excellent diving.
Food:
Tried Casa Denis, the first night we were there - my wife had some fish with butter/lime/shrimp sauce - truly excellent. I had Cochinitas pibil, which was okay, though a tad bit dry.
Tried La mission - I had the mexican sampler - it was all very good. I especially liked the mole. My wife had the beef filet, which was very nicely spiced.
Acuario - had a nice mixed seafood dinner, if a bit expensive.
Went back to casa denis. The shrimp ceviche was really really good, and we both enjoyed the mexican plate (bunch of different items, all very good). better than La Mission in my opinion.
La Prima - Truly excellent seafood - we had the seafood and pasta for two. The seafood was all cooked very well, much better than I can get in the midwest. I think I liked it better than Acuario.
La Choza - I had chicken in a mayan black sauce. I don't know what the black sauce is made of, but it was quite good. My wife had pork fajitas - also well spiced. We'll also be going back to La Choza.
For breakfast, we went to Jeanie's Waffle house a couple of times - it was very good. We also went to a small place in the strip mall area south of the Chedraui. They had 4 soft tacos for $3.50 - very tasty, and you can't beat the price. They also do a good breakfast.
Comments are welcome, and I hope this info is useful to someone.
