Mossman, dang, I didn't get to try the steakhouse! The nights my family made reservations there, I ate in town (on my way back from rescue class - after a days worth of diving). And yeah, those pizzas were awesome while all sloshed at 1 in the morning... I had 3 of them one night, hahaha!
My main beef was that I would have liked breakfast before diving but I could swear that the Royal Club's posted hours said they didn't open until 8 and I was usually told to meet Jeremy's boat at 7:30 or 7:45. Buffet was an option, but I didn't feel like dragging my camera with me to breakfast (it weighs about 40 lbs), nor doing the walk back and forth, so I opted to dive on an empty stomach. (My fault: had I not been so hungover, I could have risen earlier, breakfasted at the buffet, then gone back to the room to grab camera and dry bag before setting out for the dock.) Also, being a cheap bastard who figured he already spent enough for food at the AI and on a "luxury" dive op, I refrained from buying lunch at the spots where we did our SIs. Fortunately LU provides fruit and cookies and plenty of hydration so I never approached starvation, but I sure was hungry enough on returning to the Royal Club that I ended up getting soup, chicken caesar, and a burger every day. At least the soup varied, but I do wish their lunch menu had a few more selections.
So on the last day I griped to the RC restaurant manager that it was too bad they opened so late so I couldn't get my pre-dive breakfast there and he told me they opened at 7 every morning, regardless of what was posted. Oh. Next time.
Which brings me to a real negative about AIs in Cozumel, at least when combined with long-dive dive ops. If you're a cheapo like me and don't want to spend money on lunch during the SI, you end up eating lunch late. Even though I'd get back earlier than most from our dives since the OG is so far south, it would still be around 1 p.m. or so, after which I'd have the long walk back from the dock to the RC, a quick shower while filling the tub for my camera to soak, and it's close to 2 by the time any food gets on my plate, practically 3 by the time I'm done stuffing my face. In order to try to get a little shut-eye before heading to the dock at 7:30 a.m., I tried to schedule my meals at 7. With plenty of cocktails between 3 and 7, who's hungry then? Even worse, by the time I finished dinner and lots of wine, I'd be all likkered up, alone and vulnerable, and the other AI guests took advantage of me, forcing me to stay up until 1 or 2 or later. I would have been better off in retrospect just eating later and heading right to bed instead of staying up drinking all night, eating pizza, then diving Maracaibo to 171' the next morning after a few hours of sleep. But hey, live and learn! It was my fault going to an AI unsupervised. An overgrown kid in a candy store. I've promised to bring J there on my next trip, mainly for my own good.
Oh, but back to my gripe: there's just not enough time in the day. Diving in general sucks for that reason, especially diving on big ass tanks. You get up at the crack of dawn to fiddle with a camera and make sure you've got everything you need on the boat, grab a quick bite, and away you go. It's mid-afternoon by the time you're back, showered, lunched, camera dealt with, and barely time for a quick siesta before it's already happy hour, dinner, night. Liveaboards make it easier in that there's nothing else to do but dive, but on land you feel like you should do something else. Sure. We just need more time. I remember reading recently that Cozumel was going to change its time zone in order to accommodate the cruise ships. Instead, I propose that Cozumel just add more hours to the day. A 28-hour day would benefit not only the cruise ships, but also all us poor divers who need more land time in between dive sets. Instead, you simply eliminate one of the days of the week, say Monday. Everyone hates Mondays. The first day of the five-day work week, the lousiest day for restaurants. Just get rid of it. Now we have six 28-hour days. Do the math, it works. That would be 4 extra hours each day for sightseeing, eating, drinking, even sleeping. Some might even dive some more. And we'd only have to pay for 6 hotel nights a week instead of 7. A win-win situation, though the hoteliers might differ. Still, with enough pressure from like-minded divers we could force Cozumel to make the change and start a worldwide trend. Just a thought.
Next we're gonna hear stories of trick shots that puts billiards to shame! lol! Tell Dario and Julio I said hi when you see 'em!
