Asteve
Contributor
First trip to Cozumel, trip report.
After reading the board, we (wife and I) decided to book Blue Angle Resort. Resort, dive shop and shore diving were thing that played into the selection.
RESORT: Blue Angle Resort. Not sure how to rate the resort. It is very utilitarian, concrete floor and hallways, you do not feel bad about walking around in a wet suit that is dripping. You can walk into the bathroom wearing a wet suit and the shower is big enough to take off the wet suit, There is a drain in the main part of the bathroom if you get crazy in the shower. All was clean.
There are rails to hang all dive gear on the balcony to dry. Balconies have a table and chairs that overlooks the pool and dock. They added more lounge chairs while we were there. Quite a few people were using the pool.
The beds were softer then most we have had in Mexico. Staff were friendly and helpful. The hotel is on a busy road and the rooms are close. The restaurant has live contemporary music at night. There is a note in the room that earplugs are available at the front desk, we did not need them and enjoyed the music. All was generally pretty quiet by 10:00, anyway.
DIVE SHOP/BOATS: Staff was very helpful with check in and the Regulators and BCs that we rented were in good shape. Got a big bread basket to store our gear and a lock and key.We could get to it 24/7.
We picked up the gear the day before the first boat dive, no charge for gear that day. We did our shore dive and got our weights sorted out. Tanks are out side the dive shop so available 24/7 but I think they had a sign no diving after 11PM. We had signed up for the 8AM boat dives. The next morning we were on the boat. There were 4 of us and then we picked up 3 more divers at other resorts. Then the divers were asked where we wanted to dive. Man, all I needed was a pop quiz. Hey man, I am on vacation! So a spot was picked, and into the water we go. Entry is by a back roll off the side of the boat. They hang a ladder off the side when getting in the boat and you climb up with the tank on your back, but if you needed to take off your tank in the water it was OK with the boat crew. 3 of the boats that I was on were pongas with a 200 hp to 250 hp outboard motor. The 4th was a cabin cruiser that they used for the night dive, giant stride off the back to get in the water. Most dives were about an hour long ( I think the shortest was 40 minutes) and you were to stay with the dive master (that seemed to mean if they could see your air bubbles, you were OK). After each dive you were given fruit and cake and water. Depending how deep and where the next dive was would dictate if you would stop on shore. I am not a fan of drift diving but the visibility and the stuff was such that it was OK. I enjoyed it so much that when we got back to the resort I went in to see if I could get on the afternoon dive, was told no room and then someone walk up and canceled. Wife said 2 dive a day were enough for her. The next 4 days I added the afternoon dives the night before with no problems. One day they had 3 boats go out for the afternoon dives. We also did the night dive. So my 5 days of dives I did 21 dives. The deepest was 90 feet. I think there were 5 different dive masters and all were good. The afternoon boats got back to the dock about 4:30. Happy hours started at 4PM and runs to 6:30 PM so a quick clean up and off to get 2 for 1 Margarita and 2 appetizer for the price of one. The restaurant having a view made it a easy place to have dinner. Food was good.
By 8 PM I was ready for bed.
SHORE DIVE: The entry is a little rocky and with a little wave action can make it not fun. Most do a giant stride off the boat dock and swim over to the pen to dive.
Other Information:
We like Southwest Airlines, they have a Non-stop from Denver to Cancun. We are retired so we thought we'd do a few days in Playa del Carmen. We did the Bus to Playa del Carmenand, the drag to our hotel (was easy). We found a taxi that gave a 200 peso hour rate. Had him give us a tour of Playa del Carmen and two days later had him take us to Aktun Chen ( I like to have someone else do the driving so I can look around). We liked Playa del Carmen, it was a fun place. We did a trip to Aktun Chen to snorkel in a Cenotes (rated the best for snorkel). What I did not know is they have a walking tour of 3 Cenotes that were more like small caverns. Well lit and interesting formations. It was great. Think we liked it as well or better than the snorkel cave, which is good. If you think about it the Cenotes are formed with water in the bottom half so there is nothing to see in the bottom half , you have stalactites but no stalagmites. I would say do the cave tour if you can only do one, we did both. Other have given excellent advice on the bus and ferry so not going to add any thing here.
All in all, it was a great trip. We enjoyed the ruins at Tulum, Coba and Chichen Itza. (Note from the wife Not to be missed is the evening dance show at Xcharet Park. At 4:00 the entry fee drops a bit, and since we had no particular interest in their beach or inner-tube river rides, it left us with time to see the grounds, the aquarium and butterfly pavilion before the show. We were both awed with this evening performance that gave us everything from history, to the Mayan ball games, to amazing musical performances. Even my husband was impressed with the stage engineering that was involved. Great fun!)
After reading the board, we (wife and I) decided to book Blue Angle Resort. Resort, dive shop and shore diving were thing that played into the selection.
RESORT: Blue Angle Resort. Not sure how to rate the resort. It is very utilitarian, concrete floor and hallways, you do not feel bad about walking around in a wet suit that is dripping. You can walk into the bathroom wearing a wet suit and the shower is big enough to take off the wet suit, There is a drain in the main part of the bathroom if you get crazy in the shower. All was clean.
There are rails to hang all dive gear on the balcony to dry. Balconies have a table and chairs that overlooks the pool and dock. They added more lounge chairs while we were there. Quite a few people were using the pool.
The beds were softer then most we have had in Mexico. Staff were friendly and helpful. The hotel is on a busy road and the rooms are close. The restaurant has live contemporary music at night. There is a note in the room that earplugs are available at the front desk, we did not need them and enjoyed the music. All was generally pretty quiet by 10:00, anyway.
DIVE SHOP/BOATS: Staff was very helpful with check in and the Regulators and BCs that we rented were in good shape. Got a big bread basket to store our gear and a lock and key.We could get to it 24/7.
We picked up the gear the day before the first boat dive, no charge for gear that day. We did our shore dive and got our weights sorted out. Tanks are out side the dive shop so available 24/7 but I think they had a sign no diving after 11PM. We had signed up for the 8AM boat dives. The next morning we were on the boat. There were 4 of us and then we picked up 3 more divers at other resorts. Then the divers were asked where we wanted to dive. Man, all I needed was a pop quiz. Hey man, I am on vacation! So a spot was picked, and into the water we go. Entry is by a back roll off the side of the boat. They hang a ladder off the side when getting in the boat and you climb up with the tank on your back, but if you needed to take off your tank in the water it was OK with the boat crew. 3 of the boats that I was on were pongas with a 200 hp to 250 hp outboard motor. The 4th was a cabin cruiser that they used for the night dive, giant stride off the back to get in the water. Most dives were about an hour long ( I think the shortest was 40 minutes) and you were to stay with the dive master (that seemed to mean if they could see your air bubbles, you were OK). After each dive you were given fruit and cake and water. Depending how deep and where the next dive was would dictate if you would stop on shore. I am not a fan of drift diving but the visibility and the stuff was such that it was OK. I enjoyed it so much that when we got back to the resort I went in to see if I could get on the afternoon dive, was told no room and then someone walk up and canceled. Wife said 2 dive a day were enough for her. The next 4 days I added the afternoon dives the night before with no problems. One day they had 3 boats go out for the afternoon dives. We also did the night dive. So my 5 days of dives I did 21 dives. The deepest was 90 feet. I think there were 5 different dive masters and all were good. The afternoon boats got back to the dock about 4:30. Happy hours started at 4PM and runs to 6:30 PM so a quick clean up and off to get 2 for 1 Margarita and 2 appetizer for the price of one. The restaurant having a view made it a easy place to have dinner. Food was good.
By 8 PM I was ready for bed.
SHORE DIVE: The entry is a little rocky and with a little wave action can make it not fun. Most do a giant stride off the boat dock and swim over to the pen to dive.
Other Information:
We like Southwest Airlines, they have a Non-stop from Denver to Cancun. We are retired so we thought we'd do a few days in Playa del Carmen. We did the Bus to Playa del Carmenand, the drag to our hotel (was easy). We found a taxi that gave a 200 peso hour rate. Had him give us a tour of Playa del Carmen and two days later had him take us to Aktun Chen ( I like to have someone else do the driving so I can look around). We liked Playa del Carmen, it was a fun place. We did a trip to Aktun Chen to snorkel in a Cenotes (rated the best for snorkel). What I did not know is they have a walking tour of 3 Cenotes that were more like small caverns. Well lit and interesting formations. It was great. Think we liked it as well or better than the snorkel cave, which is good. If you think about it the Cenotes are formed with water in the bottom half so there is nothing to see in the bottom half , you have stalactites but no stalagmites. I would say do the cave tour if you can only do one, we did both. Other have given excellent advice on the bus and ferry so not going to add any thing here.
All in all, it was a great trip. We enjoyed the ruins at Tulum, Coba and Chichen Itza. (Note from the wife Not to be missed is the evening dance show at Xcharet Park. At 4:00 the entry fee drops a bit, and since we had no particular interest in their beach or inner-tube river rides, it left us with time to see the grounds, the aquarium and butterfly pavilion before the show. We were both awed with this evening performance that gave us everything from history, to the Mayan ball games, to amazing musical performances. Even my husband was impressed with the stage engineering that was involved. Great fun!)
