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Sorry to see that the floor animals have been covered.
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At least here is no tank Nitrox Nazi line like at SCC. You did not do your tape right, to the end of the line for you, no Nitrox for you!
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.
Upon our arrival we relaxed on the patio area and were served our complimentary drinks. It was nice to relax and regroup after traveling.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.
OK, to call this a resort is a stretch. We were very happy with the accommodations which, while a little rough and worn, we never felt bad about bringing our wet gear up to the room and spreading it out on the balcony railing to dry. The bed was comfortable and the frig cold. Plenty of warm water for showers and our room (305) was clean. We were never bothered by road noise at night. The floor in the room was a little funky. the colored veneer cement would pop off in places creating little piles of rubble, but the maid would clean it up every day and we could only think that after we checked out someone from maintenance would be up there creating more random colored spot patches.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 / Dining room did open up after a few days and that was nice as it had started to rain in anticipation of tropical storm Nadine. To be under cover was welcome. The food got better as the kitchen got more organized. We ate breakfasts there every day and liked it very much. We mostly ate dinner in town, there some very good vegan restaurants there but we thought the restaurant at BA had a very creative and tasty vegan menu as well!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.
They do have one. it is up in the dive shop and I found I needed to ask for it every day to be brought to the boat.I am heading to BA in a couple months. Our package includes nitrox. Do you happen to know if the OP provides an O2 analyzer?
There was still a big turtle in pebbles in the center of the floor, Just lots of spotted patches every else...Sorry to see that the floor animals have been covered.
Can somebody speak on the quality of the shore diving at Blue Angel?We did 8 boat dives and 3 shore dives during our 4 dive days.