ALBATROS SUITES BY BEDS FRIENDS - LOCATION: The suites are located in the same building as Papa Hogs and Hogtown Cafe, across the street from Monkey Beach Club & Carlota Beach Club. This is about midway down the island – a 5 minute taxi ride to Centro (Mega, etc).
NOISE: The road noise is constant until around midnight. The motorbikes are really loud, and the trucks delivering stuff at 10:30 at night with their beeping back-up noises are also annoying. Of course, in the morning you hear the tanks from Papa Hogs next-door, which is to be expected and not really a problem since we are divers. We were able to get accustomed to the around the clock noises of cars (we used to live on top of a freeway), but the Carlota Beach Club across the street played loud music with a strong base line until about 1 a.m., and that was inescapable. Noise canceling headphones with loud music or noise do not get rid of a base line that vibrates through your body. When we left we were asked to sign a letter to the government, complaining about the noise, and also asked to complain on booking.com – to add to their ongoing legal dispute with the club. We’re told that the Carlota bar, even when empty, will keep their music loud out of ‘spite’. There ARE a couple of rooms, I’m told, that have more concrete between the guests and the bar, so are less noisy. But ours was basically pointed at the bar. Not good for us.
ROOM (Marta – they’re all named, not numbered): We had a regular room on the second floor of the building – no upgrades. I had some minor gripes that I think Albatros needs to address. The wifi was in-and-out, which was a problem on the day we got weathered out due to a Norte and when I wanted to upload pics to my FB page, etc. Not a game-changer, but annoying. There are no chairs with backs in the room we had – just a tall table in the kitchenette with two stools. The balcony had one chair, and the lights on the balcony could not be turned off (so we unscrewed the light bulbs – they were really bright - even though we had high quality sun blocking curtains the light came in above and on the sides of the curtains). The toilet seat was loose, and I couldn’t get to the nuts to tighten them, and it was a really cheap, hollow toilet seat. They had snacks/drinks in the mini-fridge that were super expensive (IMO) – but hey, they were vegan and gluten free! We went to the convenience store directly below our room for our snacks (super nice people in the store too!).
There’s a light in the shower and one hanging in the bathroom inside a wicker ball, but nothing over the mirror. It was difficult for R to see while shaving, and I just put my makeup on while sitting on the bed in front of the window. I imagine if you wear contacts this might be an issue.
The room had two wicker mats on the floor at the foot of the bedS – they were tripping hazards for us old farts, as cute as they are, so we put them under the beds! My bed was a little too firm – Rs was more soft – both were pretty narrow.
FREE BREAKFAST: The normal hours are from 8 AM to 10 AM, which makes it tough for us to eat and let our food settle before diving.
ALBATROS, IN GENERAL: The place has a cool vibe – their motto is ‘living the chill life’ and it does look pretty cool. Nice color palette and décor. Very, very nice staff. The Suites do everything they can to be very eco-friendly, which translates into more glass than plastic (water bottles, hand sanitizer and some of the toiletries). There were a LOT of children there, but one of the staff at the restaurant said there usually aren’t that many kids.
FOOD: There is a restaurant on top of the building called Sereno. That’s where we got breakfast each morning. The free breakfast included French toast (really yummy), eggs (three ways), yogurt, toast, coffee. If you order a cappuccino there’s an upcharge of about $2.50. The food at Sereno is really very good – for any meal. They have a wonderful view for the sunset and the staff is great!
JUNGLE DIVERS: Excellent as always! Long bottom times, Stef does a great job of finding cool macro stuff. On our last day we did a shore dive at Tikila on air – it was 1:46 long and afterward we wished we’d been diving nitrox. Lots to see, even during the day. My computer said it was 80 degrees on every dive. I wore a 5/3 hooded best AND a 3mil wetsuit and was good. But there were folks diving in skins or even bathing suits and seemed fine. We had some current, but nothing super strong. We saw two eagle rays on our first Tikila shore dive – and they were close. Unfortunately, I got a silica gel packet caught in my housing and didn’t realize it until my housing started to flood (Moisture Munchers migrate around my housing – they don’t stay on the bottom like they’re supposed to). Missed some great shots, but I’ve got the Olympus TG6 (waterproof to 60ft?) and we didn’t go any deeper than about 30ft so no worries. Just sad to have missed some great opportunities. I think I have to make every mistake known to underwater photography at least once – maybe twice – to learn my lessons. So please don’t bother offering advice unless it’s truly unique. My problems are generally ‘user error’ – I know what to do, I just get in a hurry and screw up. This was entirely avoidable. I saw my first sea hare – it was at the end of the dive when we were in about 10ft of water. Roger couldn’t stay at depth (surge and maybe a little underweighted), so he handed me his camera to get the shot. He says it’s his camera so it’s his shot – I disagree!
OTHER …
SUNSET RESTAURANT: We went to the Sunset restaurant and bar for a second time. It was a mistake. The first time we were not happy with the food or the service, but we thought that perhaps the first time was an outlier. Nope. The second time was also not good, and we felt it was expensive for Cozumel.
HOGTOWN CAFÉ: They are not open for dinner, but they are open for breakfast and lunch. On Wednesday they feature a chicken poblano spaghetti that is very good. We also had the grilled chicken sandwich – very good.
CARLOTA BEACH CLUB & BAR: It is located directly across the street. Our first day there we walked in to see if they served dinner. We weren’t acknowledged until we made it to the back of the place (nice view), and when we asked if they served dinner the guy didn’t know (maybe he didn’t understand my question) and he asked someone else who said yes. But we were the ONLY people there. That seemed like a bad sign so we left.
BLUE ANGEL: Blue Angel is a couple of blocks north of Albatros, and when we were here two months ago we went there for dinner and enjoyed it. They have good food and drinks and entertainment – happy hour 4-6. Good this time around too.
ERNESTOS: Located next to Roberta’s. Good food, good service, good prices. Their fajitas are great, says R, who is a bit harder to please.
DENTIST: Not a typo! R broke a crown about a month before we went down. He went to a local dentist who quoted him $1800 to make him a new one. So, we got a recommendation for a dentist in Cozumel and a quote of $450! We sacrificed a couple of dives to get it done, but he got his crown and I ended up getting my teeth cleaned and polished, as well as getting an x-ray for one tooth that looked suspicious (no cavity). My cost, including the x-ray was $45. R also got a mouth guard (recommended by his dentist here too, because he grinds his teeth at night) for $82. Those are $300-$500 here. The dentist he went to was trained in Barcelona, and he’s very happy with his crown. The name of the office is Dental Care Cozumel, and he went to Dr Yazmin.
NOISE: The road noise is constant until around midnight. The motorbikes are really loud, and the trucks delivering stuff at 10:30 at night with their beeping back-up noises are also annoying. Of course, in the morning you hear the tanks from Papa Hogs next-door, which is to be expected and not really a problem since we are divers. We were able to get accustomed to the around the clock noises of cars (we used to live on top of a freeway), but the Carlota Beach Club across the street played loud music with a strong base line until about 1 a.m., and that was inescapable. Noise canceling headphones with loud music or noise do not get rid of a base line that vibrates through your body. When we left we were asked to sign a letter to the government, complaining about the noise, and also asked to complain on booking.com – to add to their ongoing legal dispute with the club. We’re told that the Carlota bar, even when empty, will keep their music loud out of ‘spite’. There ARE a couple of rooms, I’m told, that have more concrete between the guests and the bar, so are less noisy. But ours was basically pointed at the bar. Not good for us.
ROOM (Marta – they’re all named, not numbered): We had a regular room on the second floor of the building – no upgrades. I had some minor gripes that I think Albatros needs to address. The wifi was in-and-out, which was a problem on the day we got weathered out due to a Norte and when I wanted to upload pics to my FB page, etc. Not a game-changer, but annoying. There are no chairs with backs in the room we had – just a tall table in the kitchenette with two stools. The balcony had one chair, and the lights on the balcony could not be turned off (so we unscrewed the light bulbs – they were really bright - even though we had high quality sun blocking curtains the light came in above and on the sides of the curtains). The toilet seat was loose, and I couldn’t get to the nuts to tighten them, and it was a really cheap, hollow toilet seat. They had snacks/drinks in the mini-fridge that were super expensive (IMO) – but hey, they were vegan and gluten free! We went to the convenience store directly below our room for our snacks (super nice people in the store too!).
There’s a light in the shower and one hanging in the bathroom inside a wicker ball, but nothing over the mirror. It was difficult for R to see while shaving, and I just put my makeup on while sitting on the bed in front of the window. I imagine if you wear contacts this might be an issue.
The room had two wicker mats on the floor at the foot of the bedS – they were tripping hazards for us old farts, as cute as they are, so we put them under the beds! My bed was a little too firm – Rs was more soft – both were pretty narrow.
FREE BREAKFAST: The normal hours are from 8 AM to 10 AM, which makes it tough for us to eat and let our food settle before diving.
ALBATROS, IN GENERAL: The place has a cool vibe – their motto is ‘living the chill life’ and it does look pretty cool. Nice color palette and décor. Very, very nice staff. The Suites do everything they can to be very eco-friendly, which translates into more glass than plastic (water bottles, hand sanitizer and some of the toiletries). There were a LOT of children there, but one of the staff at the restaurant said there usually aren’t that many kids.
FOOD: There is a restaurant on top of the building called Sereno. That’s where we got breakfast each morning. The free breakfast included French toast (really yummy), eggs (three ways), yogurt, toast, coffee. If you order a cappuccino there’s an upcharge of about $2.50. The food at Sereno is really very good – for any meal. They have a wonderful view for the sunset and the staff is great!
JUNGLE DIVERS: Excellent as always! Long bottom times, Stef does a great job of finding cool macro stuff. On our last day we did a shore dive at Tikila on air – it was 1:46 long and afterward we wished we’d been diving nitrox. Lots to see, even during the day. My computer said it was 80 degrees on every dive. I wore a 5/3 hooded best AND a 3mil wetsuit and was good. But there were folks diving in skins or even bathing suits and seemed fine. We had some current, but nothing super strong. We saw two eagle rays on our first Tikila shore dive – and they were close. Unfortunately, I got a silica gel packet caught in my housing and didn’t realize it until my housing started to flood (Moisture Munchers migrate around my housing – they don’t stay on the bottom like they’re supposed to). Missed some great shots, but I’ve got the Olympus TG6 (waterproof to 60ft?) and we didn’t go any deeper than about 30ft so no worries. Just sad to have missed some great opportunities. I think I have to make every mistake known to underwater photography at least once – maybe twice – to learn my lessons. So please don’t bother offering advice unless it’s truly unique. My problems are generally ‘user error’ – I know what to do, I just get in a hurry and screw up. This was entirely avoidable. I saw my first sea hare – it was at the end of the dive when we were in about 10ft of water. Roger couldn’t stay at depth (surge and maybe a little underweighted), so he handed me his camera to get the shot. He says it’s his camera so it’s his shot – I disagree!
OTHER …
SUNSET RESTAURANT: We went to the Sunset restaurant and bar for a second time. It was a mistake. The first time we were not happy with the food or the service, but we thought that perhaps the first time was an outlier. Nope. The second time was also not good, and we felt it was expensive for Cozumel.
HOGTOWN CAFÉ: They are not open for dinner, but they are open for breakfast and lunch. On Wednesday they feature a chicken poblano spaghetti that is very good. We also had the grilled chicken sandwich – very good.
CARLOTA BEACH CLUB & BAR: It is located directly across the street. Our first day there we walked in to see if they served dinner. We weren’t acknowledged until we made it to the back of the place (nice view), and when we asked if they served dinner the guy didn’t know (maybe he didn’t understand my question) and he asked someone else who said yes. But we were the ONLY people there. That seemed like a bad sign so we left.
BLUE ANGEL: Blue Angel is a couple of blocks north of Albatros, and when we were here two months ago we went there for dinner and enjoyed it. They have good food and drinks and entertainment – happy hour 4-6. Good this time around too.
ERNESTOS: Located next to Roberta’s. Good food, good service, good prices. Their fajitas are great, says R, who is a bit harder to please.
DENTIST: Not a typo! R broke a crown about a month before we went down. He went to a local dentist who quoted him $1800 to make him a new one. So, we got a recommendation for a dentist in Cozumel and a quote of $450! We sacrificed a couple of dives to get it done, but he got his crown and I ended up getting my teeth cleaned and polished, as well as getting an x-ray for one tooth that looked suspicious (no cavity). My cost, including the x-ray was $45. R also got a mouth guard (recommended by his dentist here too, because he grinds his teeth at night) for $82. Those are $300-$500 here. The dentist he went to was trained in Barcelona, and he’s very happy with his crown. The name of the office is Dental Care Cozumel, and he went to Dr Yazmin.
