First Coz trip - need help planning

[deepsea21]

We arrive in Coz Dec 8th and depart on the 24th. Staying at the Casa Mexicana and diving with 3P's yet again. I don't mess with perfection once I've found it. If you wish to save a few bucks book the Bahia Suites or the Colonial that are sister hotels of the Casa. The Bahia is waterfront as is the Casa while the Colonial is about 2 blocks back on the south side of the town square. You get the free breakfast buffet that is served at the casa included with your stay at either of their sister hotels but you'll have about a 5 minute walk from the Bahia and a 10 minute walk from the Colonial to get to it. It opens at 7AM sharp so you get 35 minutes to eat breakfast before the 5 minute walk around the corner to 3P's shop for the courtesy transport to and from the marina. There are public restrooms on the Casa's pool deck and there is a restroom at 3P's shop so there is no need to get back to your hotel between breakfast and being at 3P's by 7:40 AM. I personally think given the days you'll be staying 3P's will have afternoon boats going out as that weak is the start of peak season (which is why we leave again on the 24th this year to avoid it and the high prices that go with it).

Whatever you decide, book something sooner than later because when Saturday December 22nd hits it is like the tourist flood gates open in Coz and on Sunday the 23rd most all quality dive ops will be fully booked for their AM dives.

As far as the Mary Carmen in the square goes, it used to be dirt cheap (for a reason) but it was OK considering the price they charged back in the day. Too many reviews on TA seems to have caused the Mary Carmen to hike their rates from the old days but I don't see that anything there has changed to justify higher rates other than more TA reviews. I don't think it is worth what they now charge when one can stay at the Bahia or Colonial and get the Casa's massive breakfast buffet included. I guess the Mary Carmen USED to offer some form of small continental breakfast included but if Dandy had to pay that must be gone too. Furthermore, the idea of eating breakfast in that odd concrete area walking through captive Tortoise poop from all those Tortoises they keep in the dining area is just wrong and disgusting. However, I think having wing-clipped parrots that walk up and down a bar to be fed peanuts by patrons while they poop and pick their feathers where people eat and drink is wrong, disgusting, and asking for disease as well... but some just love it... another excuse to pull out their selfie sticks!

 

[deepsea21]

Mary Carmen has a lovely courtyard which made it much more appealing with roaming turtles who beg for treats. Be careful about hand feeding as they were aggressive when I passed out cantaloupe pieces.

And this from the guy who travels with a PVC pipe bomb looking thing stuffed with paper straws to save the environment? I expected more from you Dandy. "Roaming" Tortoises? Roaming where? From one concrete wall to the other starved 20 hours a day so they beg for breakfast scraps? Go down into that concrete containment area you call a "lovely courtyard" some evening and see where all those Tortoises are.. You'll find them huddled together in groups under tables and in corners because there is no natural habitat for them to sleep in. I ventured in one evening because I heard about the Tortoises and what I saw was disgusting! As a matter of fact, I have 1/2 a mind to go in there and take some pics of them at night and post them on TA as reason NOT to stay there!

 

[Alan P]

I have dove over Christmas for years and have dove with all with above mentioned and the only one that dove afternoon dives with regularity was 3P's. Will be diving with them again over Christmas this year. See you on the boat!

 

[DandyDon]

It (Casa Mexicana breakfast) opens at 7AM sharp

Ha! Good luck on that.

Furthermore, the idea of eating breakfast in that odd concrete area walking through captive Tortoise poop from all those Tortoises they keep in the dining area is just wrong and disgusting.

You haven't stayed there, have you. You post with an air of unearned experience.

You don't have to walk thru the courtyard. The walkway in front of the rooms goes all the way around the the courtyard, but is up a couple of steps from the courtyard so the turtles never get out. I never saw any turtle poop tho. I am sure it happens, but they keep the area and the pond clean. Lovely plants.

Breakfast is served upstairs, just off of the lovely formal dining room. I ate outside on the upstairs patio every day.

I think having wing-clipped parrots that walk up and down a bar to be fed peanuts by patrons while they poop and pick their feathers where people eat and drink is wrong, disgusting, and asking for disease as well... but some just love it... another excuse to pull out their selfie sticks!

Who has those?

You'll find them huddled together in groups under tables and in corners because there is no natural habitat for them to sleep in. I ventured in one evening because I heard about the Tortoises and what I saw was disgusting! As a matter of fact, I have 1/2 a mind to go in there and take some pics of them at night and post them on TA as reason NOT to stay there!

Go ahead, since you seem to not know what you talk about. You'll probably find them huddled together in their little pond.

 

[deepsea21]

You haven't stayed there, have you. You post with an air of unearned experience. You don't have to walk thru the courtyard. The walkway in front of the rooms goes all the way around the the courtyard, but is up a couple of steps from the courtyard so the turtles never get out. I never saw any turtle poop tho. I am sure it happens, but they keep the area and the pond clean. Lovely plants. Breakfast is served upstairs, just off of the lovely formal dining room. I ate outside on the upstairs patio every day.

You got that right Dandy. I have NEVER stayed there nor will I EVER stay there. Congratulations, you got another thing right... The Tortoises can never get out because they can't scale concrete walls or climb up concrete steps. Furthermore, they are Tortoises, NOT "turtles" (FYI...Tortoises live on land, turtles live in the water). Let's clarify another thing, breakfast is indeed served "upstairs" (where the Tortoises can climb) but all those dining tables in the Tortoise compound aren't there for decoration. You know and I know that people take their food and their kids down into that pit and eat it there while their little kids crawl around on the concrete ground feeding them. I guess you just elect to dine above and then take 2-3 steps down (can't remember if it was 2 or 3) into the concrete compound with your left over pieces of melon and feed them?

Spare me and everyone here your justifications for supporting that place. I find it hypocritical that you of all people would actually recommend that place! What's next? SeaWorld is OK to visit as long as one only goes for the rides and doesn't watch a dolphin show (I understand the Orca shows are now a thing of the past). We live in a free world and you are free to say you like the Mary Carmen and you like feeding those Tortoises. Just don't try to justify your blatant hypocrisy.

Oh, One other comment of yours to my statement that the Casa Mexicana breakfast buffet opens at 7AM sharp. You responded, "Ha! Good luck with that". Well, I can assure you that after 15 years of diving Coz (and staying at the Casa Mexicana the majority of that time) the Casa's breakfast buffet has opened at 7AM sharp 95% of the time and the other 5% it has been 7:05-7:10AM. Not that you'd know that as I assume you've never stayed at the Casa just as I've never stayed at that Mary Carmen. Who wants to stay at the Casa Mexicana when you can save $ and feed captive Tortoises? I guess you prefer the MC and feeding Tortoises.

Dandy, this ends my discussion with you on this topic as any more commentary will not address the OP's questions and only further pollute this thread.

 

[Tool Belt]

Ditto on Casa Mexicana buffet opening at 7:00 am sharp all of the 14 days I have stayed there.

 

[DandyDon]

Furthermore, they are Tortoises, NOT "turtles" (FYI...Tortoises live on land, turtles live in the water).

Nope, turtles. They have their little pond there in the courtyard. Mexican Ornate Sliders: Trachemys venusta venusta was my guess after discussing photos with FB friends at the time. They're sold thru pet outlets. Some might discuss the ethics of keeping them as pets, but that argument would have to go back to the domestication of dogs, cats, cattle, horses, etc.

I can't imagine why you are so critical of this old hotel, but I won't lose any sleep over it. The beds were firmer than I like, and the hot water was iffy - but I was happy at my $34/night rate.

Let's clarify another thing, breakfast is indeed served "upstairs" (where the Tortoises can climb) but all those dining tables in the Tortoise compound aren't there for decoration.

I guess that was a typo as the turtles can't climb upstairs. I drank coffee at tables in the courtyard and saw a couple of birthday gatherings with cakes, but as I said - the staff keep the courtyard very clean, and the plants are lovely. I didn't notice anyone bring breakfast downstairs, altho I guess they could.

Not that you'd know that as I assume you've never stayed at the Casa

I've stayed at Colonial a couple or more trips, left my bag of some gear at TP while I went to Casa Mexican for breakfasts, and while I was always there at 7am, the buffets were never open ontime. My bad luck maybe. 7:05-7:10am is just not the same thing when you need to be on the TP transport ontime. It's been a couple of years tho, so maybe they've improved since then.

Dandy, this ends my discussion with you on this topic

Yeah, whatever. No loss.

 

[nodakdive]

It's one thing to cheerlead your hotel and dive op when someone posts, "Gee, I've never been diving in Cozumel and I'm trying to figure out who to dive with and where to stay."

It's entirely another thing when an OP lays out some guidelines that don't fit your chosen favorites.

Unless the OP in this thread is willing to stay south of the marina, Tres Pelicanos is a fail with regard to the requests in the original post. Cheerleading a stay at Casa Mexicana and diving with Tres Pelicanos is a complete and utter fail and offering that as a solution is, imo, a disservice to the OP. There's no convenient shore diving at Casa Mexicana and diving with TP and staying anywhere north of the marina requires a car ride to the marina.

Yes, the OP mentioned TP in the info request. The OP also mentioned Aldora and used the word "affordable", whatever that means to the OP. Imo, Casa Mexicana is affordable as is Casa del Mar, but neither is as inexpensive as the Pepita, for instance. Though the difference in price between TP and Aldora is hefty, there can be good reasons to pay extra and dive with Aldora. One reason is that it fits the OP's requirements as Aldora will pick up basically anywhere north of downtown. If the OP dives with Aldora and stays at a hotel with shore diving, then all the boxes are checked, depending on what "affordable" means.

I have nothing against Tres Pelicanos or Casa Mexicana. I've stayed at Casa Mexicana and the buffet was open at 7am, but not 7am sharp by any means, not even once in the week I stayed there. It was just like most buffets opening from a cold start. The cooks came in first and started cooking. At some point workers showed up and started opening the room. Later, food started showing up on the buffet, usually before 7am, things like fruits, coffee and pastries. Eventually, everything is there and ready to go, all the food is out and the people working the buffet line go into maintenance mode. Maybe Casa Mexicana has changed, but that's how it was when I stayed. Everything was eventually ready to go, but it was a matter of some minutes after 7am, 5 minutes or so, but not 7am sharp. Not the end of the world for me as I didn't need to get anywhere. I can understand how those few minutes could be meaningful to some.

If you're a big TP fan, and truly want to be helpful, then do that, for instance, chime in and tell of your experience with TP picking up divers south of downtown but north of the marina. Do they do that? About what time would they get to someplace like CDM? Would they just tell you to take a taxi and that they'll cover the cost? When diving with another op I was picked up at CDM by the shop owner on the side of the road. It was a very short ride. I was given a time to be there. The ride arrived within 5 to 10 minutes of the time I was told to be there. I was taken back to the hotel by taxi which was paid for when I got in the taxi at the marina. I don't know how it works with TP, but I would think that someone that's used that shop would know. My part was to include TP in my post as the OP had mentioned that shop, and despite it not being a fit, I offered a solution that minimized the time spent in the car to the marina.

As for bashing of another poster who was providing helpful information? Completely unnecessary.

Here's a better way: "I've never stayed there, but I've looked at the place and I wouldn't stay at the Mary Carmen. For my tastes, it's a little expensive for what you get and they have pet turtles in a courtyard area and I'm not a fan of people having pet turtles kept the way I saw them kept at the Mary Carmen."

Here's another example of helpful information: "I second the suggestion of a private DM for your first boat trip, especially if your profile dive count is accurate and if you've never been drift diving. Also be aware that if you plan on shore diving, you should probably have a buddy unless you're experienced with solo diving. If you decide to stay at CDM/VTH/PR/ELCID, there's usually someone working on the ground level under Tikila, a little bar right across the street from CDM and a matter of 50 feet north, and for some amount of money which I don't know, they will take you on a guided tour of the shore diving there. I would, at least for my first shore dive, look into that. Tikila would also be an option for shore diving if you decide to stay downtown and are willing to taxi to some shore diving. Additionally, if you're going to shore dive, you'll want/need a dive flag so you're visible to boat traffic. Maybe someone that's done a guided shore dive out of Tikila can give more information."

 

[k4kafka]

Ditto on Casa Mexicana buffet opening at 7:00 am sharp all of the 14 days I have stayed there.

I love Casa Mexicana,but have a small problem when you post their breakfast buffet opening at “7:00 AM sharp”. Last week they had no plates or hot water for tea until the staff slowly brought the stuff upstairs at 7:15. The rest of the week was similar. Two days they decided to move everything down to the first floor conference room because of a threat of rain. I dive with Aldora who is very punctual concerning their pick-up times at the pier...a 5-6 minute walk from CM...The Casa was obviously having a bad week with a crew working on the escalators for 5 days straight,and some major welding (and loud grinding) on the 1st floor,where my room was...

 

[hilljo88]

Casa Del Mar has shore dive, short walk to dive op. You’ll love Coz wherever you stay. Friendly helpful dive ops. Some great, cheap restaurants that cater to divers.