Cozumel Shore Diving

[BRT]

And the urchin like to gather there making night dive entries and exits very exciting.

We once saw 5 stonefish around the big rocks at the exit. But only once.

 

[JFS]

I ran trips there when the place was still the La Reina (Lorena) and then Alex & Alex bought Blue Angel and moved it to the present location. My last trip I ran there Alejandra and her father bought the place from the former wife of the Island big shot that lived across the road in the house that looks like a ship. That man owned the boat facility just north of the Hotel. I used to live on the island for the 4 weeks (March-April) for 5 years before my wife took over. Her last year there is when the couple from Canada bought BA. I have been coming and going to the island since 1979 and have met so many different people and seen it grow from 22 taxis to over a 100 the last time I was there. I haven't been back for a while but Mateo still has a set of twin 80's I left with him so I could dive the local caves when there are "Nortes" on the island.

There is around 900 taxis now.....

 

[ggunn]

I ran trips there when the place was still the La Reina (Lorena) and then Alex & Alex bought Blue Angel and moved it to the present location. My last trip I ran there Alejandra and her father bought the place from the former wife of the Island big shot that lived across the road in the house that looks like a ship. That man owned the boat facility just north of the Hotel. I used to live on the island for the 4 weeks (March-April) for 5 years before my wife took over. Her last year there is when the couple from Canada bought BA. I have been coming and going to the island since 1979 and have met so many different people and seen it grow from 22 taxis to over a 100 the last time I was there. I haven't been back for a while but Mateo still has a set of twin 80's I left with him so I could dive the local caves when there are "Nortes" on the island.

The house directly across Melgar from Blue Angel is where Javier (now deceased) and Emma Segura live; they are not big shots and the house doesn't look like a boat. Javier built La Perla (now Blue Angel) in 1980 or 1981. The house you speak of must be farther north. I didn't know that the owner of that big boathouse next door had any connection with the hotel; as best I recall, Ale and her dad bought it from Arlene after Lorraine flew the coop. Maybe he was a co-investor?

I have stayed in that hotel at least once every year (except for 2020) with family and friends since the mid 1980's under all its names - La Perla, Lorena, La Reina, Caribe Blu, and Blue Angel - but I do not recall exactly when the changes happened. The Arlene/Lorraine and Arlene administrations (Lorena and La Reina) were trainwrecks.

My first Cozumel trip was in 1978, so yeah, I have seen a few changes on the island, too. ;^)

 

[scubadada]

We once saw 5 stonefish around the big rocks at the exit. But only once.

Scorpionfish?

 

[BRT]

Scorpionfish?

OK, I couldn't remember which was correct to call them. But they look like rocks. In the wave swept boulders in the exit area of BA they really stood out.

 

[Tunaman68]

BA has (finally) replaced the ladder on the dock and they have built benches so that you can rig up and get in and out of the water out there. The entry and exit there at the dive shop can be problematic; it's sort of a funnel that concentrates wave action.

SWEET!! Going for two weeks in October and it will be nice to avoid surge/urchin alley if we do a night dive!

 

[ggunn]

SWEET!! Going for two weeks in October and it will be nice to avoid surge/urchin alley if we do a night dive!

Yeah, the surge. Last year I got caught in the washing machine there trying to get out after a night dive. A good samaritan came in and helped me get out of it. There hadn't been much wave action when we went out, but coming in it was a different story. Between the wall and the rocks on the other side there is a sort of funnel where if the waves are coming in at the wrong angle the surge is very hard to get through.

This year we got in and out via the dock. Easy peasy.

 

[ReadyTo Dive]

I ran trips there when the place was still the La Reina (Lorena) and then Alex & Alex bought Blue Angel and moved it to the present location. My last trip I ran there Alejandra and her father bought the place from the former wife of the Island big shot that lived across the road in the house that looks like a ship. That man owned the boat facility just north of the Hotel. I used to live on the island for the 4 weeks (March-April) for 5 years before my wife took over. Her last year there is when the couple from Canada bought BA. I have been coming and going to the island since 1979 and have met so many different people and seen it grow from 22 taxis to over a 100 the last time I was there. I haven't been back for a while but Mateo still has a set of twin 80's I left with him so I could dive the local caves when there are "Nortes" on the island.

Off topic but is Mateo possibly the same Mateo who worked for Aldora specifically around 2016-2017? Tall and slender?

 

[Tunaman68]

Mateo at Blue Angel is def not tall or skinny. More like a fire hydrant.

 

[ggunn]

Mateo at Blue Angel is def not tall or skinny. More like a fire hydrant.

Or a bear.