mississippidiver
Guest
I wanted to give a very detailed trip report but found it was simply too long and too detailed. So I tried to condense my report as much as possible. I hope this gives you some idea of how wonderful our time on Cozumel truly was...
Overview
On this trip to Cozumel I once again pre-booked Cozumel Palace for myself and an old friend of mine as I am a member of the resort and my cost there makes it a really attractive option. I had also pre-booked our diving with Tony Anschutz at ScubaTony. I also reserved a convertible vw bug with Margarita at Rentadora Isis. With all of our bases covered hurricane Dean entered the picture and seriously threatened to rain on our parade. But the storm finally turned south at the last minute and our trip was on!!!!
The resort
My buddy Matt and I arrive on Thursday August 23 2007 at around 11:30am. I get free transfers to and from the resort, as a member and were directed to board a van with a bunch of other guests going to Cozumel Palace. After we have taken our seats on the van some lady turns around and tells me that Matt and I have to get off of her van because she had booked that van for just her group of 52 from Houston. The van driver immediately, and in perfect English, informed her that I was the only Palace member on that van and that she could take her group in another van if she preferred. She apologized to him as she realized he had just put her in her place. Some people just dont know how to act when they leave home
On our arrival at the resort, we get the customary glass of champagne and a wet towel to place around our necks. The tour group of 52 from Houston headed by the Van Nazi woman had to wait for their room assignments, but our room was ready and waiting. My buddy Matt could not get over how beautiful the resort was. He kept repeating that he had never seen so much marble before. We dropped off our luggage and arranged the room and then headed down to the buffet lunch.
The food at Cozumel Palace, as Ive reported here before, is marvelous. On that day they had lamb chops cooked to order and the customary fish-of-the-day which is always grouper. I love grouper. My lamb chops arrived just as I requested, bloody as hell and covered in garlic and mint. My grouper fillet was grilled with garlic and cayenne pepper and was as good as any restaurant Ive tried in town.
In summary, the food and service were impeccable during our stay. Matt is now considering purchasing his own membership. We were even able to have them prepare items that werent on the menu such as ceasar salads with grilled shrimp. All of the staff knew our names by our second day there and within a few days knew exactly what we wanted for our breakfasts. I still feel that Cozumel Palace is the best resort on the island. Matt will concur
The diving
Since this was my first dedicated dive trip I wanted to choose an operator that would offer a more intimate level of service and after receiving numerous recommendations I chose Tony Anschutz at ScubaTony. After spending 6 days diving with this operation I cant imagine a better diver operator on the island. For the first two days Matt and I were the only ones diving with them. They allowed us to choose the time we left as well as the dive sites. The divemaster Eric is the greatest. His intimate knowledge of all of the divesites as well as all things Cozumel was invaluable. He is much more than a divemaster and is really more of a teacher of all things diving. The boat captain Carlos, was of great help getting us all setup for the dive and he has a great sense of humor. He knows the reef system so well that he doesnt even use a GPS to find the divesites. He just seems to know where to position the boat for each site.
We were joined on our third day by a group of 4 other divers and since they wanted to start their dives later in the morning (10:00am) we went along with their desires too. The diving was, well what Cozumel is known for, simply wonderful. We experienced it all. Walls, gardens, coral heads, swimthroughs. And being relatively new to the sport of diving we got to experience a lot of firsts on this trip. Such as my first night dive where I got to watch more than one octopus completely surround a small patch of coral and feed. I saw my first nudibranch, sea cucumbers, blacktip sharks, lobsters walking around and feeding, huge feeding king crabs, spotted moray eel and a couple of toadfish.
I was able to handle a 3-4 ft. nurse shark and held a small trunkfish in my palm. We were able to pet an octopus but couldnt coax it to climb onto our arms. We saw many turtles, stingrays, lobsters, crabs and green moray eels. And on our night dive on Paradise Reef in 60 ft. of water we got to watch lightning from a distant thunderhead descend from the cloud to the island during a thunderstorm. THAT WAS UNIQUE We got to dive Chankanaab Bolognes, Las Palmas, Punta Tunich, Santa Rosa Wall, Delila, Palancar Bricks, Palancar Gardens, Columbia Deep, El Cedral, Paradise Reef(night dive), La Francesa, Maracaibo Shallows and Devils Throat.
Tony even agreed to take a bunch of underwater pictures of us and put them on a cd and didnt even charge us for that service. Im sure that most all of the dive operators on the island are very good, but I simply cant imagine a better dive operator than ScubaTony. When we received our bill for the week of diving he forgot to include the night dive. I penciled in the night dive and the charges and we paid for that as well. Matt and I both left good tips for both Eric and Carlos We will be back to visit them and you should give them a try too. You will become a loyal customer
The island
We rented our vw from Rentadora Isis as planned. She was wonderful and the vehicle ran fine. No problems at all. We had a vw convertible with full insurance for only $35 per day. She is the only one I will use from now on. When we arrived, the military had roadblocks just before Palancar Beach and right beside Coconuts Bar. Therefore you couldnt even reach Punta Sur park. We were told that Chen Rio was destroyed too. So we took a trip to Coconuts Bar and Mezcalitos to take some photos. Mezcalitos was still closed but Coconuts was open even though they hadnt put their thatch roof back on yet. All of the t-shirts seemed to have survived. We ordered the fish tacos and Sols and were amazed at the view from the bluff and the two tourists parading around in their thongs
After a couple of days they opened up the road to Punta Sur and we were able to drive around the southern part of the island. There were several places where the road had been washed away and there was still a lot of sand all over the pavement in many places. After visiting as much of the eastern shore as was possible we decided to turn the car back in and just used taxis or walked to town.
We walked around town on Sunday evening and really enjoyed the band in the square and watching all of the locals with their families enjoying the night out. I had to force Matt to eat outside of the resort and we went to Especias and had a great meal there. We also tried to stop at La Lobsteria, but they were closed. There is a lot of construction going on in and around the main town. Most of the streets are being worked on and Margarita told us that they were widening the sidewalks which will just make the streets more narrow.
Summary
We had the time of our lives on this trip. It rained the evening we arrived and the day before we left. The diving consumed our time and left very little time for shopping or sightseeing. I am now a loyal customer of ScubaTony and Rentatoda Isis. Cozumel Palace, once again, surpassed all of my expectations and we left tips for the room staff as well as the staff in the restaurants.
Check with ScubaTony for your next dive trip and be sure to rent your vehicles from Margarita at Rentadora Isis. Im already planning my return
Overview
On this trip to Cozumel I once again pre-booked Cozumel Palace for myself and an old friend of mine as I am a member of the resort and my cost there makes it a really attractive option. I had also pre-booked our diving with Tony Anschutz at ScubaTony. I also reserved a convertible vw bug with Margarita at Rentadora Isis. With all of our bases covered hurricane Dean entered the picture and seriously threatened to rain on our parade. But the storm finally turned south at the last minute and our trip was on!!!!
The resort
My buddy Matt and I arrive on Thursday August 23 2007 at around 11:30am. I get free transfers to and from the resort, as a member and were directed to board a van with a bunch of other guests going to Cozumel Palace. After we have taken our seats on the van some lady turns around and tells me that Matt and I have to get off of her van because she had booked that van for just her group of 52 from Houston. The van driver immediately, and in perfect English, informed her that I was the only Palace member on that van and that she could take her group in another van if she preferred. She apologized to him as she realized he had just put her in her place. Some people just dont know how to act when they leave home
On our arrival at the resort, we get the customary glass of champagne and a wet towel to place around our necks. The tour group of 52 from Houston headed by the Van Nazi woman had to wait for their room assignments, but our room was ready and waiting. My buddy Matt could not get over how beautiful the resort was. He kept repeating that he had never seen so much marble before. We dropped off our luggage and arranged the room and then headed down to the buffet lunch.
The food at Cozumel Palace, as Ive reported here before, is marvelous. On that day they had lamb chops cooked to order and the customary fish-of-the-day which is always grouper. I love grouper. My lamb chops arrived just as I requested, bloody as hell and covered in garlic and mint. My grouper fillet was grilled with garlic and cayenne pepper and was as good as any restaurant Ive tried in town.
In summary, the food and service were impeccable during our stay. Matt is now considering purchasing his own membership. We were even able to have them prepare items that werent on the menu such as ceasar salads with grilled shrimp. All of the staff knew our names by our second day there and within a few days knew exactly what we wanted for our breakfasts. I still feel that Cozumel Palace is the best resort on the island. Matt will concur
The diving
Since this was my first dedicated dive trip I wanted to choose an operator that would offer a more intimate level of service and after receiving numerous recommendations I chose Tony Anschutz at ScubaTony. After spending 6 days diving with this operation I cant imagine a better diver operator on the island. For the first two days Matt and I were the only ones diving with them. They allowed us to choose the time we left as well as the dive sites. The divemaster Eric is the greatest. His intimate knowledge of all of the divesites as well as all things Cozumel was invaluable. He is much more than a divemaster and is really more of a teacher of all things diving. The boat captain Carlos, was of great help getting us all setup for the dive and he has a great sense of humor. He knows the reef system so well that he doesnt even use a GPS to find the divesites. He just seems to know where to position the boat for each site.
We were joined on our third day by a group of 4 other divers and since they wanted to start their dives later in the morning (10:00am) we went along with their desires too. The diving was, well what Cozumel is known for, simply wonderful. We experienced it all. Walls, gardens, coral heads, swimthroughs. And being relatively new to the sport of diving we got to experience a lot of firsts on this trip. Such as my first night dive where I got to watch more than one octopus completely surround a small patch of coral and feed. I saw my first nudibranch, sea cucumbers, blacktip sharks, lobsters walking around and feeding, huge feeding king crabs, spotted moray eel and a couple of toadfish.
I was able to handle a 3-4 ft. nurse shark and held a small trunkfish in my palm. We were able to pet an octopus but couldnt coax it to climb onto our arms. We saw many turtles, stingrays, lobsters, crabs and green moray eels. And on our night dive on Paradise Reef in 60 ft. of water we got to watch lightning from a distant thunderhead descend from the cloud to the island during a thunderstorm. THAT WAS UNIQUE We got to dive Chankanaab Bolognes, Las Palmas, Punta Tunich, Santa Rosa Wall, Delila, Palancar Bricks, Palancar Gardens, Columbia Deep, El Cedral, Paradise Reef(night dive), La Francesa, Maracaibo Shallows and Devils Throat.
Tony even agreed to take a bunch of underwater pictures of us and put them on a cd and didnt even charge us for that service. Im sure that most all of the dive operators on the island are very good, but I simply cant imagine a better dive operator than ScubaTony. When we received our bill for the week of diving he forgot to include the night dive. I penciled in the night dive and the charges and we paid for that as well. Matt and I both left good tips for both Eric and Carlos We will be back to visit them and you should give them a try too. You will become a loyal customer
The island
We rented our vw from Rentadora Isis as planned. She was wonderful and the vehicle ran fine. No problems at all. We had a vw convertible with full insurance for only $35 per day. She is the only one I will use from now on. When we arrived, the military had roadblocks just before Palancar Beach and right beside Coconuts Bar. Therefore you couldnt even reach Punta Sur park. We were told that Chen Rio was destroyed too. So we took a trip to Coconuts Bar and Mezcalitos to take some photos. Mezcalitos was still closed but Coconuts was open even though they hadnt put their thatch roof back on yet. All of the t-shirts seemed to have survived. We ordered the fish tacos and Sols and were amazed at the view from the bluff and the two tourists parading around in their thongs
After a couple of days they opened up the road to Punta Sur and we were able to drive around the southern part of the island. There were several places where the road had been washed away and there was still a lot of sand all over the pavement in many places. After visiting as much of the eastern shore as was possible we decided to turn the car back in and just used taxis or walked to town.
We walked around town on Sunday evening and really enjoyed the band in the square and watching all of the locals with their families enjoying the night out. I had to force Matt to eat outside of the resort and we went to Especias and had a great meal there. We also tried to stop at La Lobsteria, but they were closed. There is a lot of construction going on in and around the main town. Most of the streets are being worked on and Margarita told us that they were widening the sidewalks which will just make the streets more narrow.
Summary
We had the time of our lives on this trip. It rained the evening we arrived and the day before we left. The diving consumed our time and left very little time for shopping or sightseeing. I am now a loyal customer of ScubaTony and Rentatoda Isis. Cozumel Palace, once again, surpassed all of my expectations and we left tips for the room staff as well as the staff in the restaurants.
Check with ScubaTony for your next dive trip and be sure to rent your vehicles from Margarita at Rentadora Isis. Im already planning my return
