Tim Ingersoll
Contributor
Travelled to Cozumel January 6, 2005 - January 11, 2005. Just me and Paulie Walnutsa. The three amigos were only two this year (Hola Big E - we missed you). No women. No children. Hard to have a bad time.
Travel. For a bankrupt airline US Air was excellent. No problems to report. Everything was smooth as silk.
Lodgings. Stayed at the Reef Residencias which is a new (read under construction) condo dvelopment next to the Reef Club. It sits right on the beach between Reef Club and Playa San Francisco. We booked it through Nancy Edwards at Cozumel Living. It was a two-bedroom condo with full kitchen and a great entertainment system. All of the fixtures/appliances were top of the line. We discovered that we were entitled to complimentary food at Reef Club. That was really nice. There is a pool on site and the place would be really quiet were it not for the construction noise. We got used to that in about 1/2 a day and really enjoyed the place. Very convenient to Playa San Francisco and Reef Club at one hundred yards either way. Overall highly recommended. One important note: there are no telephones in the condos so you really might want to rent a cell phone for the week. There is also no cable TV so we missed out on football (really forgot about it until I saw the GB/Vikings game on TV at Fat Tuesdays while downtown).
Restaurants. The usual suspects. . Prima, Guido's, Mesa 7 (where La Cocay used to be). The new location for La Cocay wasn't open but may be in February. Prima still wins for best food for the buck.
Car rental. Grabbed a Jeep at LessPay for $50.00/day. Probably should have shopped around for a better price but it was convenient and I know exactly where it is.
The Diving. Used Aldora as usual. All dives were with Bill LaRosa. Still the best DM I have ever had the pleasure of diving with. All water temps. were 80 degrees. All dives were over an hour except for an aborted night dive (sinus pain). Vis varied from 50-75 feet. Moments/sightings of note:
1. Octopus out and about during the day.
2. Two green moray eels out of the reef and free swimming on one dive. I had the unique pleasure of touching a six foot moray while it was free swimming (yeah, yeah so sue me). It feels like wet silk. One of the most unique textures I have ever felt.
3. Two remoras on a huge rainbow parrotfish.
Things to learn from:
1. Sinus pain ruined a night dive. Afrin plus Sudafed soon had me back in the saddle but next time I think I may start a regimen of Sudafed 24 the day before I go down.
2. At the end of a first dive someone on the boat dropped a very expensive camera while getting on the boat. I volunteered to get the camera. Fought to get down and then bounced to 35 feet to get the camera. Kept thinking come up slow but apparently didn't purge all the air from my BC and popped back to the surface like a cork. DM Bill was justifiably PO'd. He really cares.
Aldora was a little light on the logistics this trip. They have been hampered by Melgar being torn up and it has messed with their timing. We got picked up any time between 8:00 and 9:00. Bill made up for it by arranging for a beach pick-up right in front of the condo the last couple days. Very convenient.
Overall a great trip. Looking forward to the Turks & Caicos February 2, 2005 and back to Cozumel at the end of March.
Travel. For a bankrupt airline US Air was excellent. No problems to report. Everything was smooth as silk.
Lodgings. Stayed at the Reef Residencias which is a new (read under construction) condo dvelopment next to the Reef Club. It sits right on the beach between Reef Club and Playa San Francisco. We booked it through Nancy Edwards at Cozumel Living. It was a two-bedroom condo with full kitchen and a great entertainment system. All of the fixtures/appliances were top of the line. We discovered that we were entitled to complimentary food at Reef Club. That was really nice. There is a pool on site and the place would be really quiet were it not for the construction noise. We got used to that in about 1/2 a day and really enjoyed the place. Very convenient to Playa San Francisco and Reef Club at one hundred yards either way. Overall highly recommended. One important note: there are no telephones in the condos so you really might want to rent a cell phone for the week. There is also no cable TV so we missed out on football (really forgot about it until I saw the GB/Vikings game on TV at Fat Tuesdays while downtown).
Restaurants. The usual suspects. . Prima, Guido's, Mesa 7 (where La Cocay used to be). The new location for La Cocay wasn't open but may be in February. Prima still wins for best food for the buck.
Car rental. Grabbed a Jeep at LessPay for $50.00/day. Probably should have shopped around for a better price but it was convenient and I know exactly where it is.
The Diving. Used Aldora as usual. All dives were with Bill LaRosa. Still the best DM I have ever had the pleasure of diving with. All water temps. were 80 degrees. All dives were over an hour except for an aborted night dive (sinus pain). Vis varied from 50-75 feet. Moments/sightings of note:
1. Octopus out and about during the day.
2. Two green moray eels out of the reef and free swimming on one dive. I had the unique pleasure of touching a six foot moray while it was free swimming (yeah, yeah so sue me). It feels like wet silk. One of the most unique textures I have ever felt.
3. Two remoras on a huge rainbow parrotfish.
Things to learn from:
1. Sinus pain ruined a night dive. Afrin plus Sudafed soon had me back in the saddle but next time I think I may start a regimen of Sudafed 24 the day before I go down.
2. At the end of a first dive someone on the boat dropped a very expensive camera while getting on the boat. I volunteered to get the camera. Fought to get down and then bounced to 35 feet to get the camera. Kept thinking come up slow but apparently didn't purge all the air from my BC and popped back to the surface like a cork. DM Bill was justifiably PO'd. He really cares.
Aldora was a little light on the logistics this trip. They have been hampered by Melgar being torn up and it has messed with their timing. We got picked up any time between 8:00 and 9:00. Bill made up for it by arranging for a beach pick-up right in front of the condo the last couple days. Very convenient.
Overall a great trip. Looking forward to the Turks & Caicos February 2, 2005 and back to Cozumel at the end of March.
