Trip Report Cozumel, December 2022

[ROUS]

We're staying at the Wyndham in April. Thanks for the cautionary info.

 

[ChuckP]

We would have preferred that they start the dive day earlier to enable three dives before heading back to town

The "two tank" dive trip is sort of the thing here - yes we'll do three tanks but it's not ordinary and here's why:

1) Doing three tanks in the morning is hard pressed to get you back in time to do another two tank trip in the afternoon. A lot of boats will do morning and afternoon trips - there just isn't time, the crew has to eat too.

2) Two tanks in morning, two in afternoon and one night dive is about maxed out with SI and people eating

3) Lastly, most small boats just can't carry or are unwilling to carry that many tanks. Four people on a 6 pax boat with no afternoon trip - we'd do three tank trips every day but it just doesn't work out like that with reservations. A 6 pax with DM is 22 tanks to leave the marina with, coming back to the marina to swap tanks out is gas expensive when going all the way back into the park - it's like a catch 22.

A reservation with the comment that we'd really like to do 3 tank dives and we'll see what the schedule is that week and play it by ear is much easier to work with or January 12th thru 17th get's you what you want for a few more people next year.....

 

[ggunn]

Yeah, I'd expect nicer of Wyndham. I have had disappointments in many hotel branded properties over the years.

Yo tambien. Years ago when I worked in semiconductors my company occasionally sent me to San Jose, CA. The first time I went they gave me a list of hotels to choose from, and there was a Hyatt on the list, so I chose it. I had seen Hyatt hotels before, so I was expecting something like the Hyatt Regency in Houston. What I got was a run down and rebranded Holiday Inn that was probably built in the early 1960's; I don't think they had ever changed the carpet or wallpaper, just the sign out front.

 

[Pacific Diver]

We're staying at the Wyndham in April. Thanks for the cautionary info.

Look, it's adequate. We had just expected something else.

I have three minimums for a hotel room: clean, quiet, comfortable bed. The Wyndham cleared those hurdles. The place is worn out, the furniture particularly, but housekeeping was diligent. We had no noise issues when we were there; there didn't seem to be a lot of partiers and our neighbors were quiet. The beds were OK.

A frustration was the lack of a mini-fridge in the room. It's on me for assuming there would be one. The Wyndham is close to two supermarkets and we like to stock up on yogurt, cheese, bread, etc, but that wasn't an option.

Also, I am only slightly above average height, and the shower head hit me in the middle of the strike zone. I have a pet peeve about showers that I can't stand under, but this one was particularly ridiculous. Is it annoying? Yes. Is it a big deal? No. And there was plenty of hot water.

The wifi worked pretty well.

I assume you have at least breakfast included, I don't know if they offer a rate with no meal plan at all. While there are servers, they are understaffed, so get your own coffee and be patient when the buffet items run out. The breakfast is not great, but it will put something in your stomach before you go diving. Pro tip: They hide the spoons in the server station on the right as you face the water, the one near the dive racks, upper right drawer.

If you're not on any meal plan, there is a place nearby, La Cocina de Silvia, that is only open for breakfast and early lunch. We never got there, but people seemed to like it.

For hotels close to town, I don't think you have a lot of options. The all-inclusives are far from town. We had wanted to find a short-term rental in town, but couldn't find one that both met our needs and could string together seven nights in a row.

 

[Pacific Diver]

The "two tank" dive trip is sort of the thing here - yes we'll do three tanks but it's not ordinary and here's why:

1) Doing three tanks in the morning is hard pressed to get you back in time to do another two tank trip in the afternoon. A lot of boats will do morning and afternoon trips - there just isn't time, the crew has to eat too.

2) Two tanks in morning, two in afternoon and one night dive is about maxed out with SI and people eating

3) Lastly, most small boats just can't carry or are unwilling to carry that many tanks. Four people on a 6 pax boat with no afternoon trip - we'd do three tank trips every day but it just doesn't work out like that with reservations. A 6 pax with DM is 22 tanks to leave the marina with, coming back to the marina to swap tanks out is gas expensive when going all the way back into the park - it's like a catch 22.

A reservation with the comment that we'd really like to do 3 tank dives and we'll see what the schedule is that week and play it by ear is much easier to work with or January 12th thru 17th get's you what you want for a few more people next year.....

Thanks for taking the time to reply. This all makes sense.

We have done a lot of diving elsewhere on larger boats that traveled farther from port to get to the dive sites, thus three or four dives could work: early departure, couple of dives, early lunch with long SI, and another dive or two in the afternoon. But, of course, that means more staff and more gas.

 

[drrich2]

Yeah, I'd expect nicer of Wyndham.

From reviews I'd seen of Hotel Cozumel over the years, the following points tended to come up:

1.) Rather cheap lodging (pre-Wyndham acquisition), albeit farther from town center than, oh, say, Casa Mexicana.

2.) Huge outdoor pool.

3.) Has shore diving access.

4.) Reviews on the food vary widely; the impression I got was that, in aggregate, breakfast was pretty good, and later meal reviews varied from 'good value for money' to 'okay for what you get' to 'inedible' (making it hard to conclude much of anything).

My question is what has changed since Wyndham acquired it?

We have hit eight Caribbean dive destinations and would put Cozumel third behind Belize and Roatan. We have only a couple of quibbles. First, visibility was murky and became poor when heavy clouds rolled in. Second, current was sometimes so strong that drift dives moved too quickly to enjoy: "Hey, I'd like to take a closer.....aaaaaand I'm past it." I'd be curious if visibility is better at other times of year.

Cozumel has a reputation for excellent visibility, so I'm surprised to hear it disappointed on your trip. I found it quite good when I went. I doubt what you saw was the usual.

Comparing to Belize and Roatan, I'd add the caveat it's an apples-to-oranges comparison (which is still legit; sometimes you have to pick!). Cozumel is drift diving and the other two are not. Belize quality is said to be highest at the outer atolls region (as opposed to Ambergris Cay), so for the best diving you give up ready access to some topside entertainments (which Cozumel has), and I'm told Roatan diving differs off the north coast vs. the south (I've only dove in the south, at CocoView Resort). Of those two, I'd give it to Roatan for lush reefs and Cozumel for mid-size fish density.

What did you prefer about diving Belize and Roatan, and where did you dive at those destinations?

 

[ChuckP]

I don't dive every day but there has been some days lately that were murky. Some of the days were slightly cloudy, some days we had some strong winds, some days we had some rain...... I don't think it is trending worse visibility, I just think there are a lot of things that contribute to it.

I dove a lot in the Bahamas, water was much clearer but the reefs sucked and you had to swim which double sucked!!!

I personally will take the current everyday verses swimming - that just comes with the fact that I can't stop and see everything, there's more down stream!!!

 

[GameChanger]

I had some murky visibility on a couple of Coz dives back in September. No biggie. Still a zillion times better than the (non) visibility in our local lakes...

 

[MMM]

The viz tends to be murky after a big storm...that can be a norte in the winter, just a good old heavy rain or wind at other times and occasionally weird currents can go nuts and start swirling sand...the latter isn't murky, just crap viz. Luck of the draw

 

[ggunn]

I have been diving Cozumel for many years; in my experience the viz there is very good to excellent the vast majority of the time. Runoff after a big rain can murk things up for a bit but the prevailing current usually clears it up pretty quickly. A strong SE wind can reduce visibility on the southernmost reefs because of wave action on the south end but it’s usually localized.