melyssaandscott
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Five days in Cozumel in January 2004: scuba diving most of the time, all land-based.
We finally finished this trip report, so although it is a little old, we decided to post it.
Included in this report are an overview of our entire trip, diving in Cozumel, our hotel and topside activities and details on planning our trip as well as getting there.
Visit www.diveintotheworld.com for the full trip report including pictures, plus many other reports.
OVERVIEW
Our trip to Cozumel was fun, easy and inexpensive. We planned it as a warm-up for a longer trip we would be doing the following month, but it was a worthwhile trip in itself. The diving exceeded all our expectations. We saw large fish, colorful coral and numerous other creatures while diving from roomy boats with a maximum of six divers. The subtropical island is full of cruise-shippers during the day but it remains peaceful, especially at night after the ships have left.
Cost
Tour package: $279 per person included charter flight from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport and hotel for 4 days/3 nights with rides to and from the San Miguel airport
Diving: $55 for a two tank dive, $50 per two tank for ten dives
Restaurants: Wide range, can be from $10 to much more per meal
Ratings (out of 5)
Hotel: Casa del Mar (www.casadelmarcozumel.com) ***
Charter airlines: FunJet (www.funjet.com) ***
Tour Agency: FunJet Vacations (www.funjet.com) ****
Diving: Papa Hogs (www.papahogs.com) ****
Restaurants: Ernestos **
Papa Hogs - across from ***
Casa del Mar **
Tips
Best Time to Go: Almost anytime, but all with both positives and negatives. Winter can have cold fronts in addition to windy weather and rough waters, but the water temperature is still in the high 70s F (25-27 C) and the air temperature is in the 70s (24 C). The summer months are calmer with warmer water, but the air temperature can reach the 90s F (32 C) with high humidity, rain (especially in June) and the threat of hurricanes.
Diving: Many diving operation cater to the cruise ships and thus have very crowded diving boats choose wisely
Charter: Funjet has great packages out of Dallas-Fort Worth, although a bit of a cattle-call
DIVING IN COZUMEL & OUR FAVORITE DIVES
We dived with Papa Hogs. We never had more than six people in a boat and the boat could have fit more. The shop is located a short walk from the hotel Casa del Mar, about five miles south of San Miguel. The Canadian owners and Mexican Divemasters offered personalized, but not overly friendly service.
On all our dives we saw large fish, especially French Angel fish, and on most, we encountered turtles, lobsters, eagle rays and rocky swim-throughs. Visibility was between 80 and 100 feet most of the trip.
Our favorite dives were San Francisco and Palancar reefs as well as Santa Rosa Wall. They had the most variety of fish and scenery.
LAND-BASED ACCOMMODATIONS AND ADVENTURES
We stayed at the Casa del Mar Hotel, located near the cruise ship docking about five miles south of the main town San Miguel. It has a beach across the street from the hotel, a pool with a swim-up bar and a full restaurant, as well as tennis courts. The hotels restaurant has an immense breakfast buffet and a full menu for the other meals, which was convenient considering the surrounding area does not have any other quality restaurants. Rooms are basic, but clean. In order to go to San Miguel, the best place to eat or shop, we had to take a taxi for about $5 one-way.
San Miguel has numerous restaurants, sports bars and shopping. The shopping is standard Mexican knick-knacks and luxury goods tax-free. On Sunday night, the main square of San Miguel moves to music and dancing.
On Cozumel, shopping is popular, as well as snorkeling, fishing and relaxing at the beach. Trips to the Yucatan to see Mayan ruins like Tulum and the cenotes of the Dos Ojos Cave System are available, but they take all day. With limited time, it is hard to fit them in along with the diving.
TRIP PLANNING AND GETTING THERE
Our tour agency was FunJet. A cost of $279 per person included charter airlines from Dallas-Fort Worth airport and hotel for 4 days/3 nights with rides to the airport. The plane trip takes only two hours, but check-in for the airline can be a madhouse, especially when leaving Cozumel. The operation is a bit of a cattle-call, but for the price, we did not mind putting up with crowded vans to the hotels and the crazy check-in process. Since we do not live in Dallas, we used Southwest frequent flyer tickets to get to the area. Since Southwest flies into Love Field only and the hotel shuttles do not operate between airports, we had to use taxis. A taxi ride between airports runs about $35 one-way. Also, because of flight times we had to stay a night in Dallas, using Priceline for a $30 hotel room.
That is it. Contact us if you have any questions: questions@diveintotheworld.com
We finally finished this trip report, so although it is a little old, we decided to post it.
Included in this report are an overview of our entire trip, diving in Cozumel, our hotel and topside activities and details on planning our trip as well as getting there.
Visit www.diveintotheworld.com for the full trip report including pictures, plus many other reports.
OVERVIEW
Our trip to Cozumel was fun, easy and inexpensive. We planned it as a warm-up for a longer trip we would be doing the following month, but it was a worthwhile trip in itself. The diving exceeded all our expectations. We saw large fish, colorful coral and numerous other creatures while diving from roomy boats with a maximum of six divers. The subtropical island is full of cruise-shippers during the day but it remains peaceful, especially at night after the ships have left.
Cost
Tour package: $279 per person included charter flight from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport and hotel for 4 days/3 nights with rides to and from the San Miguel airport
Diving: $55 for a two tank dive, $50 per two tank for ten dives
Restaurants: Wide range, can be from $10 to much more per meal
Ratings (out of 5)
Hotel: Casa del Mar (www.casadelmarcozumel.com) ***
Charter airlines: FunJet (www.funjet.com) ***
Tour Agency: FunJet Vacations (www.funjet.com) ****
Diving: Papa Hogs (www.papahogs.com) ****
Restaurants: Ernestos **
Papa Hogs - across from ***
Casa del Mar **
Tips
Best Time to Go: Almost anytime, but all with both positives and negatives. Winter can have cold fronts in addition to windy weather and rough waters, but the water temperature is still in the high 70s F (25-27 C) and the air temperature is in the 70s (24 C). The summer months are calmer with warmer water, but the air temperature can reach the 90s F (32 C) with high humidity, rain (especially in June) and the threat of hurricanes.
Diving: Many diving operation cater to the cruise ships and thus have very crowded diving boats choose wisely
Charter: Funjet has great packages out of Dallas-Fort Worth, although a bit of a cattle-call
DIVING IN COZUMEL & OUR FAVORITE DIVES
We dived with Papa Hogs. We never had more than six people in a boat and the boat could have fit more. The shop is located a short walk from the hotel Casa del Mar, about five miles south of San Miguel. The Canadian owners and Mexican Divemasters offered personalized, but not overly friendly service.
On all our dives we saw large fish, especially French Angel fish, and on most, we encountered turtles, lobsters, eagle rays and rocky swim-throughs. Visibility was between 80 and 100 feet most of the trip.
Our favorite dives were San Francisco and Palancar reefs as well as Santa Rosa Wall. They had the most variety of fish and scenery.
LAND-BASED ACCOMMODATIONS AND ADVENTURES
We stayed at the Casa del Mar Hotel, located near the cruise ship docking about five miles south of the main town San Miguel. It has a beach across the street from the hotel, a pool with a swim-up bar and a full restaurant, as well as tennis courts. The hotels restaurant has an immense breakfast buffet and a full menu for the other meals, which was convenient considering the surrounding area does not have any other quality restaurants. Rooms are basic, but clean. In order to go to San Miguel, the best place to eat or shop, we had to take a taxi for about $5 one-way.
San Miguel has numerous restaurants, sports bars and shopping. The shopping is standard Mexican knick-knacks and luxury goods tax-free. On Sunday night, the main square of San Miguel moves to music and dancing.
On Cozumel, shopping is popular, as well as snorkeling, fishing and relaxing at the beach. Trips to the Yucatan to see Mayan ruins like Tulum and the cenotes of the Dos Ojos Cave System are available, but they take all day. With limited time, it is hard to fit them in along with the diving.
TRIP PLANNING AND GETTING THERE
Our tour agency was FunJet. A cost of $279 per person included charter airlines from Dallas-Fort Worth airport and hotel for 4 days/3 nights with rides to the airport. The plane trip takes only two hours, but check-in for the airline can be a madhouse, especially when leaving Cozumel. The operation is a bit of a cattle-call, but for the price, we did not mind putting up with crowded vans to the hotels and the crazy check-in process. Since we do not live in Dallas, we used Southwest frequent flyer tickets to get to the area. Since Southwest flies into Love Field only and the hotel shuttles do not operate between airports, we had to use taxis. A taxi ride between airports runs about $35 one-way. Also, because of flight times we had to stay a night in Dallas, using Priceline for a $30 hotel room.
That is it. Contact us if you have any questions: questions@diveintotheworld.com
