kentmorrdave
Contributor
Trip Report Day 1
Left beautiful Eastern Shore of Maryland in a driving rain/thunderstorm. Using Reagan DCA for only the second time. Easy checkout but delays from the fierce thunderstorms. All in all traveling on a Wednesday beats a Saturday. Arrived in Cozumel 2:15, twenty minutes late. Check in at Coz Palace the same gourmet treatment, but, you could tell they were tired from the busy season. It was not the same grand reception we had in November. When my wife went to get the tours she was bothered with a Palace membership push. Its cool, but back off when we say no thanks. An awesome sunset and a quick snorkel chilled us out. The girls, 11 and 15, initial reaction was It is still too early to tell if the hotel is special in its own way, because it seems a lot like the other hotels we have been to. The younger one was more enthusiastic It is wicked awesome. Off to dinner and they say its a 45 minute wait. Too many people. We grab a cab to El Pique for snacks then stop by to see Tony Rome. Along the way we come upon a symphony playing Mexican classics on the plaza. Really nice. It must have had 75 musicians with giant video screens. Someone ponied up big bucks and the community really turned out. Mr. Tonys restaurant looks outstanding. Good job man. We roll into Coz Palace at 9:30 and have a light supper. Diving in the morning and Tammy and kids are going to Coba.
Seven oclock and we are out the door to breakfast. The hotel really has an outstanding breakfast buffet. Fresh juices, hot coffee and tea and ALL kinds of food and fruits. Plus, outstanding service. The girls tour leaves at 7:30 and I head to the dock to wait for the Alfa. The boat arrives and we head to Palancar caves on a simply outstanding morning. 80 minutes to 84 fsw. Arrow crab, pipe fish, 2 turtles and lots of beautiful views. Jeremy Anschel, a displaced Minnesotan, runs a good operation. His customers continue to return and dive with him. A 90 minute surface interval at Nachi Cochom. A nice place, mellow and clean. Second dive at Chankanaab Bolones. Lots of little stuff plus my favorite drum fish. 66 minutes at 80 fsw. Oh, by the way we also saw a SUBMARINE!
The Atlantis cruised by us at about 70 feet. At the hotel showering at 1:30, then a great luncheon buffet with a huge variety of hot and cold and an ice cream sundae bar!! Time for a siesta.
Day Two
The girls arrived back from Coba hot and dusty. The resort provides an included tour to Coba via the ferry and a very nice A/C bus. It had on board a Mayan historian and a tour guide. They said it was interesting. They do stop at a tourist trap for a half hour before arrival at Coba, be warned. Lunch buffet at Coba included, and the girls said it was good. We all tidied up and went to the Japanese restaurant here at the hotel. No wait tonight but there was when we left. Good sushi rolls with lots of ginger and wasabi. We all had different stir fries which were good. Great service again. They have stone crab claws on the steak buffet. It will be an early night tonight.
It is a little windy Friday morning but doesnt look too bad, from the west at 10-15 kts. A night of strong thunder squalls preceded it. It is, however, sunny and warm. We beat down the shore to Las Palmas. Living Underwaters new boat should provide a much nicer dive platform in only a few short weeks. I must admit I entered into this dive with a bit of skepticism. It seems to me Las Palmas currents are quite contrary. With LU you make a slow decent and gather at the bottom. Jeremy reasons that if you take time to chill you will be relaxed during the dive. It works great. We start out each dive with a two minute meeting of the minds. We also spotted a baby pipe seahorse while waiting. Cool. We made our way to the wall. It is very steep where we began. Two turtles and a giant green moray to start.
It was then the splendid toadfish tour.
Everyone saw at least 3, some saw 5 or 6. Lots of other fish. It started as a perceived lousy first dive but turned out excellent. 108 fsw for 61 minutes. Jeremy apologized for coming up with so much air left, but said the Captain was taking a beating on the surface. Since it was so rough we head in caleta for the SI. Caleta is a busy scene. Lots of hustle and bustle to provide the boats necessary for diving so many divers.
Second dive to Paradise reef. It is my second trip to Paradise, the first being my first boat dive on certification in 2004. Today was a day to appreciate diving no matter the circumstance. We could have *****ed about being on Paradise with steel 120s filled with nitrox but Jeremy made the best of it. A cool thing about nitrox, my no deco time never got below 195 that I saw. A nice gentle decent and we begin our search of every nook and cranny. A beautiful spotted eel,
another baby pipe seahorse, blennies, so much little stuff-relaxing. Dive buddies today was Joe from Colorado and Jim and Donna Baldwin from Louisiana. They also own a beautiful home here. Awesome divers and good folk. Jim was nice enough to give me a lift from caleta to save a rough boat trip. Todays dives show outstanding diving can be had on reefs not perceived as outstanding. It is not as crowded at the hotel on Good Friday. Great breakfast and lunch. Shrimp many ways, and as always outstanding service. They are trying to spoil me. a quick squall has me writing this and a norte is blowing in. Hope it doesnt hang around. More later.
Left beautiful Eastern Shore of Maryland in a driving rain/thunderstorm. Using Reagan DCA for only the second time. Easy checkout but delays from the fierce thunderstorms. All in all traveling on a Wednesday beats a Saturday. Arrived in Cozumel 2:15, twenty minutes late. Check in at Coz Palace the same gourmet treatment, but, you could tell they were tired from the busy season. It was not the same grand reception we had in November. When my wife went to get the tours she was bothered with a Palace membership push. Its cool, but back off when we say no thanks. An awesome sunset and a quick snorkel chilled us out. The girls, 11 and 15, initial reaction was It is still too early to tell if the hotel is special in its own way, because it seems a lot like the other hotels we have been to. The younger one was more enthusiastic It is wicked awesome. Off to dinner and they say its a 45 minute wait. Too many people. We grab a cab to El Pique for snacks then stop by to see Tony Rome. Along the way we come upon a symphony playing Mexican classics on the plaza. Really nice. It must have had 75 musicians with giant video screens. Someone ponied up big bucks and the community really turned out. Mr. Tonys restaurant looks outstanding. Good job man. We roll into Coz Palace at 9:30 and have a light supper. Diving in the morning and Tammy and kids are going to Coba.
Seven oclock and we are out the door to breakfast. The hotel really has an outstanding breakfast buffet. Fresh juices, hot coffee and tea and ALL kinds of food and fruits. Plus, outstanding service. The girls tour leaves at 7:30 and I head to the dock to wait for the Alfa. The boat arrives and we head to Palancar caves on a simply outstanding morning. 80 minutes to 84 fsw. Arrow crab, pipe fish, 2 turtles and lots of beautiful views. Jeremy Anschel, a displaced Minnesotan, runs a good operation. His customers continue to return and dive with him. A 90 minute surface interval at Nachi Cochom. A nice place, mellow and clean. Second dive at Chankanaab Bolones. Lots of little stuff plus my favorite drum fish. 66 minutes at 80 fsw. Oh, by the way we also saw a SUBMARINE!
The Atlantis cruised by us at about 70 feet. At the hotel showering at 1:30, then a great luncheon buffet with a huge variety of hot and cold and an ice cream sundae bar!! Time for a siesta.
Day Two
The girls arrived back from Coba hot and dusty. The resort provides an included tour to Coba via the ferry and a very nice A/C bus. It had on board a Mayan historian and a tour guide. They said it was interesting. They do stop at a tourist trap for a half hour before arrival at Coba, be warned. Lunch buffet at Coba included, and the girls said it was good. We all tidied up and went to the Japanese restaurant here at the hotel. No wait tonight but there was when we left. Good sushi rolls with lots of ginger and wasabi. We all had different stir fries which were good. Great service again. They have stone crab claws on the steak buffet. It will be an early night tonight.
It is a little windy Friday morning but doesnt look too bad, from the west at 10-15 kts. A night of strong thunder squalls preceded it. It is, however, sunny and warm. We beat down the shore to Las Palmas. Living Underwaters new boat should provide a much nicer dive platform in only a few short weeks. I must admit I entered into this dive with a bit of skepticism. It seems to me Las Palmas currents are quite contrary. With LU you make a slow decent and gather at the bottom. Jeremy reasons that if you take time to chill you will be relaxed during the dive. It works great. We start out each dive with a two minute meeting of the minds. We also spotted a baby pipe seahorse while waiting. Cool. We made our way to the wall. It is very steep where we began. Two turtles and a giant green moray to start.
It was then the splendid toadfish tour.
Everyone saw at least 3, some saw 5 or 6. Lots of other fish. It started as a perceived lousy first dive but turned out excellent. 108 fsw for 61 minutes. Jeremy apologized for coming up with so much air left, but said the Captain was taking a beating on the surface. Since it was so rough we head in caleta for the SI. Caleta is a busy scene. Lots of hustle and bustle to provide the boats necessary for diving so many divers.
Second dive to Paradise reef. It is my second trip to Paradise, the first being my first boat dive on certification in 2004. Today was a day to appreciate diving no matter the circumstance. We could have *****ed about being on Paradise with steel 120s filled with nitrox but Jeremy made the best of it. A cool thing about nitrox, my no deco time never got below 195 that I saw. A nice gentle decent and we begin our search of every nook and cranny. A beautiful spotted eel,
another baby pipe seahorse, blennies, so much little stuff-relaxing. Dive buddies today was Joe from Colorado and Jim and Donna Baldwin from Louisiana. They also own a beautiful home here. Awesome divers and good folk. Jim was nice enough to give me a lift from caleta to save a rough boat trip. Todays dives show outstanding diving can be had on reefs not perceived as outstanding. It is not as crowded at the hotel on Good Friday. Great breakfast and lunch. Shrimp many ways, and as always outstanding service. They are trying to spoil me. a quick squall has me writing this and a norte is blowing in. Hope it doesnt hang around. More later.
It becomes tough to check in every day but it sure makes remembering the trip that much easier... then when you get home you can condense it down into a nice trip report. 
