This is my first trip report, and hopefully someone will find it helpful even though it is for a well traveled location. My wife is a college professor and accordingly we try to make a long weekend trip to the Caribbean every October during fall break, usually 5 or 6 days. This year, after it sitting on our dive location bucket list for years, we finally decided to hit Cozumel. After a moderate amount of research last spring we booked Blue Angel largely based on the overall vibe and general satisfaction reported about BA here on SB.
We had dove on the Yucatan side 9 years ago (2015). During that trip we dove cenotes and open water reef and a deep wreck (C56 Minesweeper). That was the trip I earned my AOW from a Cave Instructor. With the hype over Coz, I came in expecting similar reef conditions to the Yucatan side.
First the actual diving:
We did 8 boat dives and 3 shore dives during our 4 dive days. The reef life was mediocre. Some of the topography was pretty cool (like Dalila and San Clemente), but I frankly expected more coral and reef life. I guess my expectations from 9-years ago were too high and Cozumel like every other location in the Caribbean has experienced significant reef degradation over the past decade. I was expecting to see sharks on every dive. We saw 2 nurse sharks on the second dive (Tormentos). The only other ones we saw were in the pen at "Stingray Beach". We also dove Palancar Gardens (twice), Villa Blanca, La Francesa, La Parasio/Paradise and the house "reef" in front of BA. My wife and I life to go slowly - I usually shoot a lot of macro and take my time finding the small stuff - blennys, worms, nudis, etc. The first two days I put on my dome to shoot wide-angle expecting sharks and too much current to be able to shoot macro. Except for one nice Hawksbill Turtle, shooting WA was generally a bust, and the current... it was no where near what I had prepared myself for. Day 3 and 4 I shot macro and found a few good subjects, but unfortunately couldn't find a second toadfish (I had found one the first dive - first time I had seen one). We dive once a year in Roatan and while different, I'd say the quality of the diving (reef, sea life and general condition) was similar, maybe a hair better than Roatan. The reef and sea life on Bonaire, where we went this past June, were in much better condition than Cozumel.
The BA dive operation:
in summary, I was not impressed. Upon arrival at BA (around 2PM), our room wasn't ready yet so we were asked to go sit on the "patio" area and they would bring out a complimentary drink (which was never served). While waiting we decided to go check into the dive shop as we were interested in getting in a shore dive to get wet and sort out any equipment and ear issues. There was no orientation of any sort given. We were given the customary forms and waivers to complete, presented our C-cards, and confirmed we would be diving on Nitrox.
We travel with all of our own gear and my full camera kit. I was looking for some type of explanation of their routine or processes, but all we got was answers to specific questions we asked. For instance, they have two rinse tanks and 2 50-gal rinse drums. It was not until day 2 that I learned one is supposed to be BC/Regs, one wetsuits, one masks and other gear, and presumably the other was for cameras... not really certain still. For the shore dive, they pulled over two tanks and said "here you go, just leave them here when you are finished as the shop will be closed"... OK, so we have to store our gear in our room or leave it locked up out side? Which got a response that the hotel staff could open up the gear room if you ask. I have a camera rinse bag (cooler) that I usually bring on the boat if the boat doesn't have a dedicated camera tank. Upon asking about a boat camera tank, it was clarified that neither boat has a rinse tank and tomorrow we were assigned to the small boat, so would need to get permission from the captain if there was enough room for my bag... fortunately there was.
We had Mateo as our guide for the first three days and Luis on the forth day. The first two days only a 10AM boat went out. Day 3 and 4 more divers arrived and they sent out an 8AM boat as well and a two tank dusk/night trip the 4th day which we could not take advantage of. The first day was the smaller (fast) boat. The last 3 days we were on the larger slow boat. Fortunately waves were not too bad. All dives we were in groups of 4-6 per guide... technically. The other divers in our group seemed to had a need to continuously fin even with the current and literally moved twice the pace we did across the reef. I don't think the other divers we were with (nor anyone on the boat for that matter) were AOW or higher. This was somewhat frustrating, but could have been a lot more frustrating. During dive 1 and 2 with Mateo, he quickly realized we moved at a more casual pace across the reef and also that we were "self sufficient" as dive buddies, understood how to navigate and follow the reef and ascend at the appropriate time/location. Being "stuck" with less experienced divers I feel limited our opportunity to experience some of deeper, more challenging sites I've read about. It also limited the amount of swim-throughs I was interested in doing as they were silted out by bad buoyancy control and finning by the rest of our group. Anyway, Mateo acknowledge the speediness of the others in our group and gave us the grace and liberty to do our own thing and so every dive was pretty much just my wife and I exploring mostly on our own, but as a result we had nothing of interest specifically called out to our attention, which is the whole point of a guide, no? Day 3 ended with our group apparently being dropped off at the wrong place to dive Paradise Reef. The pre-dive briefing was not particularly clear (less so since we were not the right spot), and we ended up diving the shallows in about 30-feet with not great viz and never really saw the reef. The last day Luis manage to keep the group a little tighter and pointed out a couple of items of interest during the dives.
We also did 3 shore dives and frankly those were pretty much as enjoyable as the reef dives in spite of the lack of good reef in front of the resort. However, what it lacks in reef, it makes up for in a nice variety of sea life, including a lot of juvenile fish, eals, rays, octopus, etc. It is shallow (20-25 feet) but we spent 75-90 minutes on each shore dive finding all manner of sea life.
Finally, the Resort:
I was not impressed. While the cost was reasonable, and I like the location outside of downtown San Miguel, I don't think I would stay here again. These are economy rooms. We were in room 204. The rooms are large but basic. Painted/stained concrete floors, painted cement plaster walls. Only two of the 3-drawers on our dresser would open, but there was enough storage space with the hanging bar and 2 open shelves. The bed was firm but comfortable, which makes it tolerable, since after all the bed is the most important thing in the room. There were only 2 electrical receptacles in the entire room. The mini-fridge kept our drinks cold. We didn't use the TV. The bathroom had dirt stained tiles and grout and a shower drain that didn't...drain. The toilet was the same height as the ones installed in the childcare centers that I've built, the seat being only 12-inches off the floor is rather uncomfortable. The mini-split AC unit rattled loudly any time it ran. The street noise is bad, especially Friday-Sunday. We were frequently awakened by loud scooters/bikes/cars/trucks throughout the night. Monday and Tuesday nights the noise died down by 11 and I slept much better. The lock on the door isn't keeping anyone out (without the the security chain being used from the inside), so definitely use the in room safe to store any valuables that fit. As these rooms are very drafty, it is either opressively muggy with the AC at 23C or higher or too cold but not muggy with it set to 22C or lower. If they had a camera room, the mugginess wouldn't have bothered me, but I needed it reasonably dry to limit moisture in my housing during camera setups, so we dealt with it being a bit chilly. These rooms need a serious updating.
There was (loud) live music 3 of the 5 nights from 6-8 on the BA lawn. The musicians were decent, but it was too loud to try to have dinner conversation on the lawn while they were playing. We did not hear music from anywhere else in our room.
The kitchen was still undergoing renovations during our stay. Our last day (Wednesday 10/16) they reopened the restaurant dining area and were in the process of moving all the kitchen equipment back up so we got to eat breakfast in the restaurant which was definitely nicer than on the lawn. I'm not sure if it was due to the temporary setup, but we found the food to be average quality and overpriced even though everyone seemed to speak highly of it. The best thing I had was the BA Cheeseburger. It was very good and huge. Disappointed after the first day, we ended up only eating breakfast there and got lunch across the street at La Noventa Y Tres (except Tuesday when they are closed and I got the cheeseburger at BA). Everything we had at La Noventa Y Tres was very tasty and very reasonably priced. We ate dinner one night at La Noventa Y Tres as well. We also went to dinner at Rock-n-Java which I was highly disappointed in and Sereno's (rooftop) which was pretty good (but was surprised that they only accepted cash). Snacks and sodas are easy to grab across the street from BA at the Oxxo convenience store.
The staff at the resort were generally cheerful and very friendly. That helped offset some of the disappointment of the accommodations.
We had dove on the Yucatan side 9 years ago (2015). During that trip we dove cenotes and open water reef and a deep wreck (C56 Minesweeper). That was the trip I earned my AOW from a Cave Instructor. With the hype over Coz, I came in expecting similar reef conditions to the Yucatan side.
First the actual diving:
We did 8 boat dives and 3 shore dives during our 4 dive days. The reef life was mediocre. Some of the topography was pretty cool (like Dalila and San Clemente), but I frankly expected more coral and reef life. I guess my expectations from 9-years ago were too high and Cozumel like every other location in the Caribbean has experienced significant reef degradation over the past decade. I was expecting to see sharks on every dive. We saw 2 nurse sharks on the second dive (Tormentos). The only other ones we saw were in the pen at "Stingray Beach". We also dove Palancar Gardens (twice), Villa Blanca, La Francesa, La Parasio/Paradise and the house "reef" in front of BA. My wife and I life to go slowly - I usually shoot a lot of macro and take my time finding the small stuff - blennys, worms, nudis, etc. The first two days I put on my dome to shoot wide-angle expecting sharks and too much current to be able to shoot macro. Except for one nice Hawksbill Turtle, shooting WA was generally a bust, and the current... it was no where near what I had prepared myself for. Day 3 and 4 I shot macro and found a few good subjects, but unfortunately couldn't find a second toadfish (I had found one the first dive - first time I had seen one). We dive once a year in Roatan and while different, I'd say the quality of the diving (reef, sea life and general condition) was similar, maybe a hair better than Roatan. The reef and sea life on Bonaire, where we went this past June, were in much better condition than Cozumel.
The BA dive operation:
in summary, I was not impressed. Upon arrival at BA (around 2PM), our room wasn't ready yet so we were asked to go sit on the "patio" area and they would bring out a complimentary drink (which was never served). While waiting we decided to go check into the dive shop as we were interested in getting in a shore dive to get wet and sort out any equipment and ear issues. There was no orientation of any sort given. We were given the customary forms and waivers to complete, presented our C-cards, and confirmed we would be diving on Nitrox.
We travel with all of our own gear and my full camera kit. I was looking for some type of explanation of their routine or processes, but all we got was answers to specific questions we asked. For instance, they have two rinse tanks and 2 50-gal rinse drums. It was not until day 2 that I learned one is supposed to be BC/Regs, one wetsuits, one masks and other gear, and presumably the other was for cameras... not really certain still. For the shore dive, they pulled over two tanks and said "here you go, just leave them here when you are finished as the shop will be closed"... OK, so we have to store our gear in our room or leave it locked up out side? Which got a response that the hotel staff could open up the gear room if you ask. I have a camera rinse bag (cooler) that I usually bring on the boat if the boat doesn't have a dedicated camera tank. Upon asking about a boat camera tank, it was clarified that neither boat has a rinse tank and tomorrow we were assigned to the small boat, so would need to get permission from the captain if there was enough room for my bag... fortunately there was.
We had Mateo as our guide for the first three days and Luis on the forth day. The first two days only a 10AM boat went out. Day 3 and 4 more divers arrived and they sent out an 8AM boat as well and a two tank dusk/night trip the 4th day which we could not take advantage of. The first day was the smaller (fast) boat. The last 3 days we were on the larger slow boat. Fortunately waves were not too bad. All dives we were in groups of 4-6 per guide... technically. The other divers in our group seemed to had a need to continuously fin even with the current and literally moved twice the pace we did across the reef. I don't think the other divers we were with (nor anyone on the boat for that matter) were AOW or higher. This was somewhat frustrating, but could have been a lot more frustrating. During dive 1 and 2 with Mateo, he quickly realized we moved at a more casual pace across the reef and also that we were "self sufficient" as dive buddies, understood how to navigate and follow the reef and ascend at the appropriate time/location. Being "stuck" with less experienced divers I feel limited our opportunity to experience some of deeper, more challenging sites I've read about. It also limited the amount of swim-throughs I was interested in doing as they were silted out by bad buoyancy control and finning by the rest of our group. Anyway, Mateo acknowledge the speediness of the others in our group and gave us the grace and liberty to do our own thing and so every dive was pretty much just my wife and I exploring mostly on our own, but as a result we had nothing of interest specifically called out to our attention, which is the whole point of a guide, no? Day 3 ended with our group apparently being dropped off at the wrong place to dive Paradise Reef. The pre-dive briefing was not particularly clear (less so since we were not the right spot), and we ended up diving the shallows in about 30-feet with not great viz and never really saw the reef. The last day Luis manage to keep the group a little tighter and pointed out a couple of items of interest during the dives.
We also did 3 shore dives and frankly those were pretty much as enjoyable as the reef dives in spite of the lack of good reef in front of the resort. However, what it lacks in reef, it makes up for in a nice variety of sea life, including a lot of juvenile fish, eals, rays, octopus, etc. It is shallow (20-25 feet) but we spent 75-90 minutes on each shore dive finding all manner of sea life.
Finally, the Resort:
I was not impressed. While the cost was reasonable, and I like the location outside of downtown San Miguel, I don't think I would stay here again. These are economy rooms. We were in room 204. The rooms are large but basic. Painted/stained concrete floors, painted cement plaster walls. Only two of the 3-drawers on our dresser would open, but there was enough storage space with the hanging bar and 2 open shelves. The bed was firm but comfortable, which makes it tolerable, since after all the bed is the most important thing in the room. There were only 2 electrical receptacles in the entire room. The mini-fridge kept our drinks cold. We didn't use the TV. The bathroom had dirt stained tiles and grout and a shower drain that didn't...drain. The toilet was the same height as the ones installed in the childcare centers that I've built, the seat being only 12-inches off the floor is rather uncomfortable. The mini-split AC unit rattled loudly any time it ran. The street noise is bad, especially Friday-Sunday. We were frequently awakened by loud scooters/bikes/cars/trucks throughout the night. Monday and Tuesday nights the noise died down by 11 and I slept much better. The lock on the door isn't keeping anyone out (without the the security chain being used from the inside), so definitely use the in room safe to store any valuables that fit. As these rooms are very drafty, it is either opressively muggy with the AC at 23C or higher or too cold but not muggy with it set to 22C or lower. If they had a camera room, the mugginess wouldn't have bothered me, but I needed it reasonably dry to limit moisture in my housing during camera setups, so we dealt with it being a bit chilly. These rooms need a serious updating.
There was (loud) live music 3 of the 5 nights from 6-8 on the BA lawn. The musicians were decent, but it was too loud to try to have dinner conversation on the lawn while they were playing. We did not hear music from anywhere else in our room.
The kitchen was still undergoing renovations during our stay. Our last day (Wednesday 10/16) they reopened the restaurant dining area and were in the process of moving all the kitchen equipment back up so we got to eat breakfast in the restaurant which was definitely nicer than on the lawn. I'm not sure if it was due to the temporary setup, but we found the food to be average quality and overpriced even though everyone seemed to speak highly of it. The best thing I had was the BA Cheeseburger. It was very good and huge. Disappointed after the first day, we ended up only eating breakfast there and got lunch across the street at La Noventa Y Tres (except Tuesday when they are closed and I got the cheeseburger at BA). Everything we had at La Noventa Y Tres was very tasty and very reasonably priced. We ate dinner one night at La Noventa Y Tres as well. We also went to dinner at Rock-n-Java which I was highly disappointed in and Sereno's (rooftop) which was pretty good (but was surprised that they only accepted cash). Snacks and sodas are easy to grab across the street from BA at the Oxxo convenience store.
The staff at the resort were generally cheerful and very friendly. That helped offset some of the disappointment of the accommodations.
