That was nudi eggs - have no idea what kind though. Maybe someone here does?
Trip Report Casa Mexicana & Jungle Divers Macro Hunting May 2023
- Thread starter Kimela
- Start date
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dflaher
Contributor
As far as I recall, isn't the Aldora pickup at that pier at 7:00am? Would make it hard to enjoy a buffet breakfast and be at the pier by then. Unless either the Aldora pickup time or the CM buffet times have changed.
Carlos Danger
Contributor
Do the dive companies that leave the nearby pier then stop at the hotel piers on the way to dive sites? If so, I do see the advantage of staying further south (at the expense of being further away from town). Once I get on the boat I'm ready to dive, and don't necessarily look forward to making several stops at various piers picking others up.
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Yes some make many stops
Sometimes divers are not at the dock and the boat will wait for the divers to show up
Staying south means a later start time than staying in town by usually 30 to 45 mins.
Sometimes, yes. With Blue Angel, the dive op I have gone out with for the past several years, it happens occasionally but when it happens it's nearly always just one stop that takes 5 minutes or so.
FWIW, Blue Angel is a nice Goldilocks choice between a hotel in town and the southern resorts. It is on the water with a dock where the resident dive op boats as well as others pick up divers; it's convenient for fishing boats as well. There is an excellent restaurant on site. It's small - 22 rooms - and all rooms have a glass wall with a sliding door facing the water. It's close enough to town for inexpensive taxi rides for eating and shopping but far enough that cruise ship travelers do not affect it at all. The boat rides to the far south dive sites are longer than from the southern resorts but shorter than the rides from docks in town. It is my hotel of choice.
The only issue I see with blue angel is pricing. It's nearly double Casa Mexicana, and actually a bit more than an All Inclusive (at least for my off season dates). It does sound excellent, best of both worlds in a sense, but I may have to forgo some convenience if I want to stay within budget 
nodakdive
Contributor
For a meaningful impact on short, ready to dive when you get on boat diving, I think you'd have to stay far south at one of the AIs. If you dive with the house op there will be no other pick-ups and the trip to the first dive will be quite short. Second site may take a little longer to get to, but depending on the AI, you might SI back at the resort and not be stuck on the big boat, which some people like.
If you're trying to avoid being far south, using the hotel's/resort's in-house dive op at a place closer to town would also help avoid pick-ups, but the trip to the 1st dive will be longer. Much, much longer if the house dive op uses a big boat.
Another "Goldilocks" type option would be either Casa del Mar, Park Royal, El Cid la Cieba or my personal favorite, Village Tan Kah. I've never stayed there, but for the right people/situation I would loudly sing its' praises. All four of these places are just north of the south cruise ship pier. On the other side of that pier is the caleta and the start of the Marine Park. There are conveniences to the location which include shore diving, a few places to eat if you're not staying AI, the taxi fare is around 100 pesos and there is a convenience store close if you need something. It's closer to the dive sites than Blue Angel, but negligibly less. I wouldn't chose any of those places over Blue Angel based on distance from the dive sites, but it sounds like Blue Angel is seems pricey to you.
I have stayed at Casa del Mar many times. The Goldilocks feature to that place is that it splits the difference, imo, between a big sprawling resort and a hotel. Restaurant, swimming pool, hot tub, nice grounds, tennis court that I've only seen used for a birthday party for what appeared to be a local kid, sea-wall beach with lounge chairs and little palapas for shade, dock that you don't have to pay to be picked up from, dive lockers and rinse tanks on the doc, etc. If you're diving, you'll absolutely want a room with a patio or balcony.
Rob9876
Contributor
Fresh guacamole, chips, pico de gallo, cold cuts, cheese, and buns. Sometimes they'll mix it up and make a tuna salad. I like the guacamole and pico on the boat more than anywhere else I've had it - I suppose because it's fresh. Oh, and they always have freshly sliced pineapple and cantelope, sometimes melon and sometimes papaya. And water - bottled, or a cooler to refill your own bottle.
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