Cozumel Show and Tell. Advice for diving/hotel por favor?

[frontiernurse]

I’ve read the threads… Still would love some Insider tips on dive ops and accomodations please? I Almost horned in on the "who to dive with" and "solo diver" threads but thought that might be rude. Hope this is OK!

I am planning a solo trip to Cozumel for next March 2012. I've done some research on Cozumel and read through these threads and tripadvisor etcetera, and my head is spinning. Aldora sounds like an amazing operation, but so does Blue XTsea and some others. Do these ops take people to cenotes? Is that like a 10 hour excursion and totally unrealistic? My ideal stay is 10-days with tons of cozumel dives and a centote dive. Smaller groups preferred. I’d rather stay in one place the whole time. I'm an intermediate diver (~50 dives, Advanced open water cert). No drift dives yet. I can carry/set up my own gear but I'm lazy and also don’t mind having it set for me.

In terms of accomodations, Again, I'm very lazy, and I like to roll out of bed and saunter to the dock. Don't want to rent a car, want to be ocean front in a beautiful setting in a room with a view. would love to stay in a place where I could just dive, then hang out, snorkel out front or nearby, don't need nightlife or to be right in town but do need easily accessible food/drink...
I loved Kona Tiki Hotel in Kona, I loved Banarama in Roatan, so if anyone has been to those places and knows of comparable moderately priced places you can also dive from with a good op that meets all my princess needs? Any thoughts on staying at Blue Angel or Villa Aldora? Vs. staying elsewhere and having a dive op pic me up?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Tunaman68]

Our experience with was that Blue Angels offers exactly what you are talking about. Every room has a view, killer food, nice shore dive (free tanks), boat dock 20 steps from your bed, town a short cab ride or nice walk away, mostly 6-8 pac boats, and Matteo will take you over for a day trip to the cenotes. I was not there alone, but we met lots of really awesome folks staying and diving with BA and after a few days, meals and dive boats all felt like family.

Aldora and XTsea are also highly rated and much loved, and Dave and Christi (although I have never met them) seem to be amazing and helpful folks as well!

Have Fun!

 

[DandyDon]

You did good starting your own thread. Makes it easier to focus on you & your preferences.

Including a day of Cenotes with a Cozumel trip is usually a ferry ride to Playa del Carmen, ride to the Cenotes for dives & lunch, back to PDC, ferry back - and you never know which of the competing boats will be next so do not buy round trip tickets as there is no savings, just a ticket you have to keep up with and maybe a wait for your ferry while the other is leaving.

Lots of good choices on hotels and dive Ops. Some will assist you with the Cenote set up instead of taking you themselves. You generally get the best prices by booking air & hotel packages, then adding the diving - but not always. Matrix - ITA Software is a good site for checking plane ticket prices, then comparing to packages on Orbitz, Kayak, Cheap Caribbean, etc vs booking separately.

A quick look from the 3 airports there to CZM in March for 10-12 nights including possible travel night shows March 1-12 the cheapest at $534 including taxes & fees and no redeyes required. Pretty nice connections.

 

[driftin' by]

Blue Angel, as Tunaman68 suggests seems to fit the description. But for the ultimate in laziness, perhaps an AI will suite you best but you didn't specify if that was an option. While BA does have an on-site restaurant, it's not AI. Fiesta Americana, Hotel Cozumel and Scuba Club are all good AI options being near town but if having a view is required, FA and Scuba Club are the best option if depending on room while it's nearly impossible to get a good view at HC. At SC, you'll have to dive with them.... they are super all inclusive (except alcohol) including the diving as other ops are not allowed to pick up there. At HC and FA, other operators can pick up there without hassle and you'd be wise to select one that takes care of your gear.

 

[tom_n_tacoma]

I'd pick the Blue Angel. SMall hotel, ocean views, good food, nice people working there, nice small boats, pool, decent shore dives right there, especially at night, easy walk into town if you want or a cheap cab ride. I also like Blue XTSea to dive with, and Aldora is a good op too. We have a place to stay ourselves now down there so don't need to rent a room but we keep going back to the Blue Angel to dive.

 

[frontiernurse]

Thanks all for the suggestions! I looked at a few AI but they look big and impersonal. I like a little quirk. High Maintenance or what? Are there really huge variations between the dive ops we're talking about? (Blue Angel, Aldora and Blue xtsea?)

Oh, and I may have overstated my laziness just a bit. I'm willing to work for a really cool, special experience for sure.

 

[d_aviddiver]

One would be to stay at Blue Angel and dive with BlueXTSea.

 

[Pelagicsal]

I dive with Aldora and usually stay at the Villa. It's like staying at a friend's beach house. I travel by myself, generally, but I'm not alone at the Villa unless I want to be. It's set up for the divers to socialize, and we do!

The 4 6-pack boats pick up at the Villa - unless you are on the big boat, then they give you a ride or set up a taxi.

It's a 10-20 minute walk or 40 peso ride to town, and lots of great places deliver food. Rooms have refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker. Some have full kitchen.
Several rooms have beach/ocean view; only 3 rooms don't.

If you stay at the Villa, you are diving with Aldora. Nobody else picks up there.

They will look after your gear except for wetsuit. There are tanks and weights available at the Villa. Looking for the seahorses or doing a nightdive out front make it worth grabbing your gear off the boat at least once...

Cenote arrangements depend on who is available and what's going on. I have gone with Aldora staff (thanks Liang!), taken the ferry over and gone with a shop in Playa del Carmen (that Aldora arranged), and listened to stories from folks that Mateo took over. All were easily managed and fun. 10 days is plenty of time to do both.

Depending on your March dates, I can vouch for the customers that will be at the Villa. KCDiver56 and Prop Joe will be there, with groups of friends, for a couple of weeks in March. I am hoping to sneak down for a long weekend and join them. They are amazing divers and lovely folks to hang out with.

Let me know if you'd like to know anything else. I'm definitely a regular...

 

[cicopo]

Since no one has mentioned it Aldora supplies bigger (steel) tanks than Blue XT Sea or Blue Angel but both of them will supply AL 100's at a reasonable cost. I haven't dove with Aldora but have used Blue XT Sea & they were excellent, & so was Blue Angel but they are very different ops. Here's the link to my diving with Blue Angel.

Trip report; my diving with Blue Angel. - Cozumel Forum - TripAdvisor

And my photo album which has the link to my hotel thoughts on both Blue Angel & Hotel Cozumel

https://picasaweb.google.com/CozumelTimeCapsules/BlueAngelResortFormerlyTheCaribeBlu

 

[frontiernurse]

I love scubaboard!!! These posts are sooo helpful! And my head is still spinning. I am not someone who can afford to dive 3x/year (yet!) so I want to make every trip count! (Which is why I am starting now for a March trip.)

Is March a busy time in Cozumel?

Anyway, THANK YOU all for your input... and keep it coming! The more specific the better!