Moodiejeff
Contributor
Well after much procrastination and tweaking - here goes...
I've tested this on a few other forums, sorry if you've seen it elsewhere.
Mia and I went to Cozumel May 15-22nd and stayed at Caribe Blu. We got an awesome deal on airfare through Funjet for $260 roundtrip per person. Non-stop to and from Chicago! No dealing with Houston - Ya-Hoo!
Decided to Dive with BlueXT~Sea for 5 days and try to get in 2 days with Blue Angel (onsite at Caribe Blu). As things worked out we ended up doing 6 days with BlueXT~Sea and didn't get any time in with Blue Angel. Shame, they get high marks and would have loved to have some contrast.
The decision to dive with Christi (BlueXT~Sea) was based upon numerous recomendations taken from a number of forums and websites. She gets near unanimous praise from just about everyone and is highly regarded as one of the best of the small and personalized outfits. Unfortunately the week we went the owners of Deep Blue(?) were on vacation. Christi had just about all of their customers on top of her own and one of her DMs was also on vacation in Belize! While we definitely think we got the personalized attention we sought, it seemed that her DMs were a bit thin. We only dove with Raul 2 out of the 6 days. We did have a problem with one of the divemasters... apparently so did some of her other customers because he was let go before we even had a chance to complain. Christi went out of her way for us on a couple occasions and obviously cares about customer satisfaction. Her boat is nice and clean... water, fruit juice and snacks are provided between dives. If she doesn't dive, she makes it a point to meet up with everyone during the surface intervals.
Diving:
Day 1- Headed to the dock at 2:00 for our designated pickup time for some afternoon "tune-up dives" with another couple who had arrived the same day. Raul and Mago picked us up in Shamu and off we went... Went to Palancar Gardens and Yucab. Palancar was nice but a suprising lack of any sort of fish life left me a bit disappointed, Coral formations were gorgeous as most of you know. Yucab was definitely the most uneventful dive I've ever had in Coz. A ripping current and overcast skies contributed to a snore of a dive. Unfortunately I had equalization problems at Yucab - A portent of things to come...
Day 2 - Palancar Bricks - 2 Sea Turtles, Nurse Shark, a tiny (and I mean tiny!) Sea Slug just trucking across the sand. Saw a sponge let off a load of "sperm" in an overhang and also brushed a stinging hydroid while taking a pic. I still have a rash on my arm from it!!!
San Clemente Wall - Nice dive, usual sea life. Unfortunately no unusual sea life!
Paradise - Tiny pipefish - 2 inches I'd guess
Day 3 - San Francisco Wall - Nitrox Cert. Dive no. 1 First time at this site, very interesting! DM - Christi
Paradise - Nitrox Cert. Dive no. 2 Really nice, slow dive looking in every nook and cranny. Saw a Black Eel stalk and eat an Arrow Crab - Way Cool! Spotted Drum, Flamingo tongues, Fork-tailed Eel Crabs, Lobster etc. DM - Christi
Paradise (Night Dive) - Yes, Paradise again! Could have been good but my new mask kept fogging, ended up being a chore flooding my mask every 2 minutes. Did have a squid swim right up to my face though, glad my mask was clear for that!
Day 4 - Punta Sur North - Equilization problems coupled with a strong current and an inattentive (shall remain nameless) divemaster led to a disaster of a dive - 'nuff said.
Cedral Pass - A bit better but still had ear problems, got down after a few minutes though. Anemone Crab, Scorpion Fish, Splendid Toadfish etc.
Day 5 - Woke up with my ears stuffed up, no pain though. Went to the doctor who told me not to dive.... Uh yeah, right! Contemplated it for a while and decided to try a shore dive out front of Caribe Blu to see how I felt. It went fine, saw a HUGE Puffer that was blind in one eye. Looked for a seahorse that was out there but couldn't find it.
Las Palmas (Night Dive) - Took me about 5 minutes to get down but I made it, glad I did too! A lot of Octopus, Squid, 2 Splendid Toadfish (Mia heard 'em croaking - I couldn't due to my clogged ears) Hermit Crab (the kind that stick anemones on their backs). DM - Raul
Day 6 - Columbia Deep - Wow! What an AWESOME site... reef and coral in really great shape, Turtles all around. DM - Omar
Cedral Pass - Definitely our favorite "second" site, was not disappointed this time either. A Turtle as soon as we entered the water, 2 free swimming Nurse Sharks, huge Midnight Parrotfish, and a well camouflaged Scorpionfish (see my pics, I had to look at the pic a few times before I even saw it! thought I missed the shot). The smallest Drums I've ever seen and a nudibranch that could only be measured in millimeters... how Omar saw that i'll never know. DM - Omar
Day 7 - Decided not to dive... My ears and Mia's wrist were hurting. Went to the Lighthouse at Punta Sur.
Eats:
Not the best culinary experience we've had... Last trip was soooo much better. I don't remember what days we went where, I'll just list them and give my impressions. Lunch always seemed to be better for some reason.
Dinner
Guido's - A bit disappointing, the Mahi was extremely fresh and tasty but I didn't like how it was prepared... kinda had a curry flavor to it. My fault, not theirs, was going to order the Steak... Oh Well! This is normally our favorite place to eat dinner, last trip we went 3 times in 8 days! Gotta have the Garlic Bread!
Casa Dennis - Tried the Seafood platter for 2... Yummy!!!!
La Choza - I had Lobster, good but a bit overcooked. Mia had the Fish (Mahi?) in mustard sauce, was a bit overpowering taste-wise until we figured to take the fish out of the foil (and the sauce)... was very tasty then.
Ambar's - Don't waste your time - overpriced and bland food, horrible service as well. Was very underwhemed!
Mexico en los Siglos - Had a Calamari Appetizer, Wahoo for me and Snapper for Mia. Food was good but really expensive for what you got. The appetizer was a LOT for a small portion.
The Grill - Went there really late one night after a night dive... probably after 11:00. I had assorted tacos (Beef, Pork, Shrimp) which were very good. Mia had Grouper, she liked it - I did not. Glad it was her dish, not mine!
French Quarter - Took Christi out for dinner... Best meal of the trip. I had Surf & Turf (I'm drooling thinking about it!), Mia had Mahi with Wasabi sauce. Also tried Christi's Pork - was a little gamey but very good.
Lunch
Casa Dennis - Mixed Ceviche to start, Mayan Pork Tacos for me, Shrimp Fajitas for Mia. Our staples for lunch at Casa Denis. Outstanding food at very reasonable prices. A must try!
The Mission - Grilled and Garlic Grouper... very tasty. Guacamole for the Chips was really good, so was the Garlic Bread.
Caribe Blu Cafe (I don't remember the name is it Rendez Blu?) - Had some tacos which in Mia's words were "very nummy".
Hotel Presidente cafe - Had lunch there at one of our surface intervals. Seafood Cocktail, Guacamole & Chips. Very good but wished they had Ceviche.
Ernesto's Fajita Factory - Tacos & Fajitas - Really good!
Breakfast
Jeannie's Waffle House - Waffles were really boring and bland, tasted worse than frozen. My Eggs and potatoes were good though.
Caribe Blu Cafe - Really good breakfast!
Hotel:
I highly recommend Caribe Blu, it's a very nice, clean and quaint hotel. No musty smell either. They just got a few king size beds so we opted for one of those. Prices are about as fair as you're going to get as well ($60-$70).
While down there we checked out a bunch of other hotels in the moderate price range... Caribe Blu was by far the nicest for the price. Only Plaza Las Glorias was close and they are going all-inclusive anyway.
Here's a quick review of our impressions:
Casa Del Mar - Much bigger place than it looks, rooms look nice but are extremely dark. Would possibly consider this one... possibly
Villa Blanca - Mia liked this place, I thought it smelled pretty musty. The rooms and grounds are really nice.
Scuba Club - What a cool place! The room we saw was really nice, great view, cool layout. Bed looked hard. Drawbacks: All-inclusive and you must use their onsite dive operator. No thanks. Without those 2 major drawbacks I would consider staying here.
Plaza Las Glorias - The lobby has been remodelled since last I was there, rooms were very nice. Will never get to stay here as it's been sold and will go all-Inclusive soon. Seemed too crowded anyway.
Barracuda - No Way! Smelly rooms and thin mattresses! Was hoping for better.
Wanted to see a room at Fiesta Americana but never made it down there. That was our second choice for this trip.
My previous 3 trips to Coz were all spent at The Presidente... If you can afford it, that is the place to be!
My overall impression of this trip was that it was a bit disappointing... the visiblilty was nowhere near as good as our last 2 trips, my ears got clogged halfway through, and we could hardly get a good dinner down there. Am I being a whiny little Bi+ch? Yes, almost certainly. Coz is a great place to visit and I know for a fact I will be back. It's a shame about the bad weather they've had the last couple of weeks, if I thought the viz was bad last month...
Considering it was less than $1000 for 2 people to fly & stay down there I guess I can't complain too much!
It was nice to meet Christi, Ggunn (and his family), Chris, Rich Hagelin (and his wife) and all the other scubaboarders while we were down there.
If I think of anything else i'll add it later.
Here Are The Pics
I've tested this on a few other forums, sorry if you've seen it elsewhere.
Mia and I went to Cozumel May 15-22nd and stayed at Caribe Blu. We got an awesome deal on airfare through Funjet for $260 roundtrip per person. Non-stop to and from Chicago! No dealing with Houston - Ya-Hoo!
Decided to Dive with BlueXT~Sea for 5 days and try to get in 2 days with Blue Angel (onsite at Caribe Blu). As things worked out we ended up doing 6 days with BlueXT~Sea and didn't get any time in with Blue Angel. Shame, they get high marks and would have loved to have some contrast.
The decision to dive with Christi (BlueXT~Sea) was based upon numerous recomendations taken from a number of forums and websites. She gets near unanimous praise from just about everyone and is highly regarded as one of the best of the small and personalized outfits. Unfortunately the week we went the owners of Deep Blue(?) were on vacation. Christi had just about all of their customers on top of her own and one of her DMs was also on vacation in Belize! While we definitely think we got the personalized attention we sought, it seemed that her DMs were a bit thin. We only dove with Raul 2 out of the 6 days. We did have a problem with one of the divemasters... apparently so did some of her other customers because he was let go before we even had a chance to complain. Christi went out of her way for us on a couple occasions and obviously cares about customer satisfaction. Her boat is nice and clean... water, fruit juice and snacks are provided between dives. If she doesn't dive, she makes it a point to meet up with everyone during the surface intervals.
Diving:
Day 1- Headed to the dock at 2:00 for our designated pickup time for some afternoon "tune-up dives" with another couple who had arrived the same day. Raul and Mago picked us up in Shamu and off we went... Went to Palancar Gardens and Yucab. Palancar was nice but a suprising lack of any sort of fish life left me a bit disappointed, Coral formations were gorgeous as most of you know. Yucab was definitely the most uneventful dive I've ever had in Coz. A ripping current and overcast skies contributed to a snore of a dive. Unfortunately I had equalization problems at Yucab - A portent of things to come...
Day 2 - Palancar Bricks - 2 Sea Turtles, Nurse Shark, a tiny (and I mean tiny!) Sea Slug just trucking across the sand. Saw a sponge let off a load of "sperm" in an overhang and also brushed a stinging hydroid while taking a pic. I still have a rash on my arm from it!!!
San Clemente Wall - Nice dive, usual sea life. Unfortunately no unusual sea life!
Paradise - Tiny pipefish - 2 inches I'd guess
Day 3 - San Francisco Wall - Nitrox Cert. Dive no. 1 First time at this site, very interesting! DM - Christi
Paradise - Nitrox Cert. Dive no. 2 Really nice, slow dive looking in every nook and cranny. Saw a Black Eel stalk and eat an Arrow Crab - Way Cool! Spotted Drum, Flamingo tongues, Fork-tailed Eel Crabs, Lobster etc. DM - Christi
Paradise (Night Dive) - Yes, Paradise again! Could have been good but my new mask kept fogging, ended up being a chore flooding my mask every 2 minutes. Did have a squid swim right up to my face though, glad my mask was clear for that!
Day 4 - Punta Sur North - Equilization problems coupled with a strong current and an inattentive (shall remain nameless) divemaster led to a disaster of a dive - 'nuff said.
Cedral Pass - A bit better but still had ear problems, got down after a few minutes though. Anemone Crab, Scorpion Fish, Splendid Toadfish etc.
Day 5 - Woke up with my ears stuffed up, no pain though. Went to the doctor who told me not to dive.... Uh yeah, right! Contemplated it for a while and decided to try a shore dive out front of Caribe Blu to see how I felt. It went fine, saw a HUGE Puffer that was blind in one eye. Looked for a seahorse that was out there but couldn't find it.
Las Palmas (Night Dive) - Took me about 5 minutes to get down but I made it, glad I did too! A lot of Octopus, Squid, 2 Splendid Toadfish (Mia heard 'em croaking - I couldn't due to my clogged ears) Hermit Crab (the kind that stick anemones on their backs). DM - Raul
Day 6 - Columbia Deep - Wow! What an AWESOME site... reef and coral in really great shape, Turtles all around. DM - Omar
Cedral Pass - Definitely our favorite "second" site, was not disappointed this time either. A Turtle as soon as we entered the water, 2 free swimming Nurse Sharks, huge Midnight Parrotfish, and a well camouflaged Scorpionfish (see my pics, I had to look at the pic a few times before I even saw it! thought I missed the shot). The smallest Drums I've ever seen and a nudibranch that could only be measured in millimeters... how Omar saw that i'll never know. DM - Omar
Day 7 - Decided not to dive... My ears and Mia's wrist were hurting. Went to the Lighthouse at Punta Sur.
Eats:
Not the best culinary experience we've had... Last trip was soooo much better. I don't remember what days we went where, I'll just list them and give my impressions. Lunch always seemed to be better for some reason.
Dinner
Guido's - A bit disappointing, the Mahi was extremely fresh and tasty but I didn't like how it was prepared... kinda had a curry flavor to it. My fault, not theirs, was going to order the Steak... Oh Well! This is normally our favorite place to eat dinner, last trip we went 3 times in 8 days! Gotta have the Garlic Bread!
Casa Dennis - Tried the Seafood platter for 2... Yummy!!!!
La Choza - I had Lobster, good but a bit overcooked. Mia had the Fish (Mahi?) in mustard sauce, was a bit overpowering taste-wise until we figured to take the fish out of the foil (and the sauce)... was very tasty then.
Ambar's - Don't waste your time - overpriced and bland food, horrible service as well. Was very underwhemed!
Mexico en los Siglos - Had a Calamari Appetizer, Wahoo for me and Snapper for Mia. Food was good but really expensive for what you got. The appetizer was a LOT for a small portion.
The Grill - Went there really late one night after a night dive... probably after 11:00. I had assorted tacos (Beef, Pork, Shrimp) which were very good. Mia had Grouper, she liked it - I did not. Glad it was her dish, not mine!
French Quarter - Took Christi out for dinner... Best meal of the trip. I had Surf & Turf (I'm drooling thinking about it!), Mia had Mahi with Wasabi sauce. Also tried Christi's Pork - was a little gamey but very good.
Lunch
Casa Dennis - Mixed Ceviche to start, Mayan Pork Tacos for me, Shrimp Fajitas for Mia. Our staples for lunch at Casa Denis. Outstanding food at very reasonable prices. A must try!
The Mission - Grilled and Garlic Grouper... very tasty. Guacamole for the Chips was really good, so was the Garlic Bread.
Caribe Blu Cafe (I don't remember the name is it Rendez Blu?) - Had some tacos which in Mia's words were "very nummy".
Hotel Presidente cafe - Had lunch there at one of our surface intervals. Seafood Cocktail, Guacamole & Chips. Very good but wished they had Ceviche.
Ernesto's Fajita Factory - Tacos & Fajitas - Really good!
Breakfast
Jeannie's Waffle House - Waffles were really boring and bland, tasted worse than frozen. My Eggs and potatoes were good though.
Caribe Blu Cafe - Really good breakfast!
Hotel:
I highly recommend Caribe Blu, it's a very nice, clean and quaint hotel. No musty smell either. They just got a few king size beds so we opted for one of those. Prices are about as fair as you're going to get as well ($60-$70).
While down there we checked out a bunch of other hotels in the moderate price range... Caribe Blu was by far the nicest for the price. Only Plaza Las Glorias was close and they are going all-inclusive anyway.
Here's a quick review of our impressions:
Casa Del Mar - Much bigger place than it looks, rooms look nice but are extremely dark. Would possibly consider this one... possibly
Villa Blanca - Mia liked this place, I thought it smelled pretty musty. The rooms and grounds are really nice.
Scuba Club - What a cool place! The room we saw was really nice, great view, cool layout. Bed looked hard. Drawbacks: All-inclusive and you must use their onsite dive operator. No thanks. Without those 2 major drawbacks I would consider staying here.
Plaza Las Glorias - The lobby has been remodelled since last I was there, rooms were very nice. Will never get to stay here as it's been sold and will go all-Inclusive soon. Seemed too crowded anyway.
Barracuda - No Way! Smelly rooms and thin mattresses! Was hoping for better.
Wanted to see a room at Fiesta Americana but never made it down there. That was our second choice for this trip.
My previous 3 trips to Coz were all spent at The Presidente... If you can afford it, that is the place to be!
My overall impression of this trip was that it was a bit disappointing... the visiblilty was nowhere near as good as our last 2 trips, my ears got clogged halfway through, and we could hardly get a good dinner down there. Am I being a whiny little Bi+ch? Yes, almost certainly. Coz is a great place to visit and I know for a fact I will be back. It's a shame about the bad weather they've had the last couple of weeks, if I thought the viz was bad last month...
Considering it was less than $1000 for 2 people to fly & stay down there I guess I can't complain too much!
It was nice to meet Christi, Ggunn (and his family), Chris, Rich Hagelin (and his wife) and all the other scubaboarders while we were down there.
If I think of anything else i'll add it later.
Here Are The Pics
