If you were in Cozumel last week and saw a 6'3" guy bent over and hobbling around town like a 90 year old, well that was me.
Made my first ever trip to Cozumel last week. The plans were to dive 4 days and take a class from Photocoz another day. But things didn't quite work out that way. We arrived on Saturday the 23rd unpacked and hit the beach. But on the morning of Sunday the 24th I twisted the wrong way and threw my back out. The end result is that I spent most of the week on my back in a beach chair (which wasn't all bad) and now I have the dubious distinction of having hauled my dive gear all the way to Cozumel and back for nothing!!!! But in spite of the injury we had a pretty good time and do plan on returning to Cozumel. And besides I learned a very useful phrase which was used many times during let's call it my 7 day surface interval.
Dos Cervesas Por Favor
A very limited trip review:
We were at the Occidental Grand in the Royal Club buildings. The resort was in great shape and service and the staff were outstanding. The food however was a little hit or miss especially at the buffet. The better meals were very good but unfortunatley we had a few meals that were poor.
Other restaurants we visited:
Panchos Backyard - had one lunch and one dinner here. All meals were very good and the service was top notch.
Beach Grill at Chakanaab - had lunch here one day. Typical beach grill, the food was good. The salsa was the HOTTEST I have ever experienced but also very good.
Casa Denis - One dinner here. Again very good with GREAT service.
Cafe ??? - Sorry don't remember the rest of the name. It was a little cafe on the 2nd level along the main drag. We had lunch here one day. It was nice to sit inside in the A/C. We had a table along the windows and watched the taxi vs. scooter vs. pod people madness down on the street. Oh, and the food wasn't bad either
Pepe's - On the expensive side but again they had A/C and were on the second level above the madness on the road down below. Had a very good steak and lobster tail dinner.
Travel: (warning to anyone with a cannister light)
The trip down (US Air Detroit to Charlotte, Charlotte to Cozumel) was very smooth.
However we had a little trouble on the way back with the Mexican airport security.
They would not allow my cannister light on the plane as a carryon. ('ve carried this on probably a dozen flights in my backpack with my regs and never had a problem). I asked why I couldn't take it on the flight and got a machismo type "Because I said so" answer. I asked what about the light prevented me from taking it as a carry on....same answer. I asked to see a supervisor and was refused. I had to go back to US Air checkin to see if the light could be put into my luggage. Which of course they could not becuase the luggage was already somewhere on a conveyor belt to oblivion.
The US Air rep was very helpful. He spent about 10 minutes searching for packing material for me. I was able to wrap the light and charger in bubble wrap that he found and them put them in a regulator bag. The USAir rep also put 3 large "FRAGILE" stickers on the bag and we checked it through. The good news is the light made it Charlotte in one piece and when picking up my bags to clear customs prior to the flight to Detroit I put the light back in my backpack and carried it on our connecting flight.
All in all we had a good trip and look forward to returning to Cozumel AND DIVING!!!!!!!!
Made my first ever trip to Cozumel last week. The plans were to dive 4 days and take a class from Photocoz another day. But things didn't quite work out that way. We arrived on Saturday the 23rd unpacked and hit the beach. But on the morning of Sunday the 24th I twisted the wrong way and threw my back out. The end result is that I spent most of the week on my back in a beach chair (which wasn't all bad) and now I have the dubious distinction of having hauled my dive gear all the way to Cozumel and back for nothing!!!! But in spite of the injury we had a pretty good time and do plan on returning to Cozumel. And besides I learned a very useful phrase which was used many times during let's call it my 7 day surface interval.
Dos Cervesas Por Favor
A very limited trip review:
We were at the Occidental Grand in the Royal Club buildings. The resort was in great shape and service and the staff were outstanding. The food however was a little hit or miss especially at the buffet. The better meals were very good but unfortunatley we had a few meals that were poor.
Other restaurants we visited:
Panchos Backyard - had one lunch and one dinner here. All meals were very good and the service was top notch.
Beach Grill at Chakanaab - had lunch here one day. Typical beach grill, the food was good. The salsa was the HOTTEST I have ever experienced but also very good.
Casa Denis - One dinner here. Again very good with GREAT service.
Cafe ??? - Sorry don't remember the rest of the name. It was a little cafe on the 2nd level along the main drag. We had lunch here one day. It was nice to sit inside in the A/C. We had a table along the windows and watched the taxi vs. scooter vs. pod people madness down on the street. Oh, and the food wasn't bad either
Pepe's - On the expensive side but again they had A/C and were on the second level above the madness on the road down below. Had a very good steak and lobster tail dinner.
Travel: (warning to anyone with a cannister light)
The trip down (US Air Detroit to Charlotte, Charlotte to Cozumel) was very smooth.
However we had a little trouble on the way back with the Mexican airport security.
They would not allow my cannister light on the plane as a carryon. ('ve carried this on probably a dozen flights in my backpack with my regs and never had a problem). I asked why I couldn't take it on the flight and got a machismo type "Because I said so" answer. I asked what about the light prevented me from taking it as a carry on....same answer. I asked to see a supervisor and was refused. I had to go back to US Air checkin to see if the light could be put into my luggage. Which of course they could not becuase the luggage was already somewhere on a conveyor belt to oblivion.
The US Air rep was very helpful. He spent about 10 minutes searching for packing material for me. I was able to wrap the light and charger in bubble wrap that he found and them put them in a regulator bag. The USAir rep also put 3 large "FRAGILE" stickers on the bag and we checked it through. The good news is the light made it Charlotte in one piece and when picking up my bags to clear customs prior to the flight to Detroit I put the light back in my backpack and carried it on our connecting flight.
All in all we had a good trip and look forward to returning to Cozumel AND DIVING!!!!!!!!
