Just got back from Cozumel

[Scott2771]

Just got back Friday from Cozumel and I thought I would let you know how it went. My son and I went out for two dive trips that were great. The first trip we dove Santa Rosa wall and then a shallower reef with Carallito del Caribe's dive master Jorge Rosado. (Thanks Dee for the recommendation) Great diving, good dive master, and a fast small boat. Only 5 divers on this trip. If you have new BCD's with the regulator incorporated with the air inflator as the secondary air source make sure you take your hose, if you don't take your regulator. Most of the dive shops are not rigged up for these yet, at least on the Seaquest vest, and they will have to change to your hose to fit the with their regulator. The Santa Rosa was a more than I wanted to start my son out on, but he did alright and the dive master and I kept our eye on him. There was another instructor that was in the dive group, just diving, that made me feel better. The second dive was better for him, down to 50 ft on one of the shallower reefs and he got to stay a little longer due to not sucking the air down so fast. I had forgotten how quickly a tank can go with new divers. I made him tell me when he got to 1000 psi because it did not take him anytime to go through 500 psi. On both dives we saw about every kind of fish, a lobster that could have pulled a small boat and manta rays, eels, and star fish. The water was crystal clear approaching 200 ft visibility. The second day of diving we dove the Palancar Gardens. This was a great dive we saw sea turtles and a giant manta ray. What a sight. All of the other fish were there and the coral was gorgous. Again we dove a shallower reef on the second dive. We dove with Juan Jose Leca Gomez Dive House on these dives. This is the dive shop that is just in front of the Fiesta Americana. These guys were great. They were tripping over each other serving all of the divers. They had a much larger boat, although it was slower, it allowed my wife and daughter to go along to snorkel. A dive master stayed with them the whole time and gave them a great tour. These dive masters were well trained and paid attention to every detail and safety was at the top of there agenda. I would recommend them for new divers and snorkelers. The only disapointment was the hotel Fiesta Americana. Don't waste your money there. The rooms were substandard for the prices and the staff just could not get rid of you quick enough, if you had a problem. I really think there was so many problems that the staff was overwhelmed. A very poorly run hotel. We will never stay there again. We heard good things about the Reef Club and the Presidenta. Thanks for all of your suggestions before we went. The diving was unbelievable.

 

[tx.lakerats]

Glad to hear that you had a great time!!

 

[glbirch]

Excellent.

Hope that manta hangs around, I'll be looking for him in two weeks.

 

[Cudabait]

Scott,

Good report. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

Regards,

 

[DalTexDiver]

Happy to see another post on my fav dive spot. Close, cheap and good. Did 10 dives. Saw free swimming nurse. About 6 footer. Viz was so so as current was kind of slow but still great diving. Dove with Dive House at Fiesta Americana. Big boats and not many people. One day we only had 8 divers. Very cool. Ask for Pirate if you dive there. He is kind of surly the first day but after a good tip, you will find him much more friendly.

 

[tangfish]

Any recommendations on where to stay and who to dive with while there? I'm going in mid april for 2 weeks. Also, I'm considering doing my Rescue cert there instead of braving the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest

 

[Dee]

One of the best is Christi at Blue XTSea. Send her an email and she'll get you set up.

 

[5615mike]

Just got back Friday from Cozumel and I thought I would let you know how it went. My son and I went out for two dive trips that were great. The first trip we dove Santa Rosa wall and then a shallower reef with Carallito del Caribe's dive master Jorge Rosado. (Thanks Dee for the recommendation) Great diving, good dive master, and a fast small boat. Only 5 divers on this trip. If you have new BCD's with the regulator incorporated with the air inflator as the secondary air source make sure you take your hose, if you don't take your regulator. Most of the dive shops are not rigged up for these yet, at least on the Seaquest vest, and they will have to change to your hose to fit the with their regulator. The Santa Rosa was a more than I wanted to start my son out on, but he did alright and the dive master and I kept our eye on him. There was another instructor that was in the dive group, just diving, that made me feel better. The second dive was better for him, down to 50 ft on one of the shallower reefs and he got to stay a little longer due to not sucking the air down so fast. I had forgotten how quickly a tank can go with new divers. I made him tell me when he got to 1000 psi because it did not take him anytime to go through 500 psi. On both dives we saw about every kind of fish, a lobster that could have pulled a small boat and manta rays, eels, and star fish. The water was crystal clear approaching 200 ft visibility. The second day of diving we dove the Palancar Gardens. This was a great dive we saw sea turtles and a giant manta ray. What a sight. All of the other fish were there and the coral was gorgous. Again we dove a shallower reef on the second dive. We dove with Juan Jose Leca Gomez Dive House on these dives. This is the dive shop that is just in front of the Fiesta Americana. These guys were great. They were tripping over each other serving all of the divers. They had a much larger boat, although it was slower, it allowed my wife and daughter to go along to snorkel. A dive master stayed with them the whole time and gave them a great tour. These dive masters were well trained and paid attention to every detail and safety was at the top of there agenda. I would recommend them for new divers and snorkelers. The only disapointment was the hotel Fiesta Americana. Don't waste your money there. The rooms were substandard for the prices and the staff just could not get rid of you quick enough, if you had a problem. I really think there was so many problems that the staff was overwhelmed. A very poorly run hotel. We will never stay there again. We heard good things about the Reef Club and the Presidenta. Thanks for all of your suggestions before we went. The diving was unbelievable.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with FA. I have stayed there several times and have always been very pleased with the overall service of the facility. We never go during high season so that can certainly cause problems to increase exponentially. I have never stayed in the regular rooms only in the casita suites in the back of the hotel so I can not comment on that.

If you go to reef club, unless you upgrade your room to the high end, your going to be more depressed than you are now. Presidente is a nicer facility but is WAY more expensive so don't be mislead by comparing the two.

Glad you had good diving experience. Will be there in May so I have a bit of a wait.

 

[cap10]

Everyone has his or her favorite Hotel and dive operator. Mine is Casa Del Mar hotel across from La Ceiba and Dive House for diving across from Fiesta Americana Hotel. I too stayed once at FA and won't go back.

Cap10

 

[getwet2]

Hi,

I'm new to Scubaboard, just signed up today and this is the first report I've read and what a small world it is. My wife and I just returned from Cozumel on March 11,2004 and we also stayed at the Fiesta Americana and we didn't like the hotel either. They seem to recycle the left over food again and again, we also had this smell in our room for the last two days that they could not get rid of. If you left the balcony door open a crack it did go away but came right back when you closed it, I think the exhaust fan crapped out, pun intended. The island it self is great and the diving is even better but this hotel...... We went last minute and paid $8oo Canadian p/p AI for the week but full price would have been a big mistake.
I dove with "Dive with Martin" and it was run pretty good. The boats were smaller and quite quick to get you to the sites, first ones there every day. They pick you up right at the hotel pier and the gear is on the boat and set up, for those of us who rent. The dive guides were knowledgable about the marine life but I had to give the guide crap on the night dive for grabbing the puffer fish by the tail and making it inflate. The price was good also, $200 US for 8 dives plus 1 night dive, all your equipment and an underwater video of one of the dives. Now the video wasn't bad but it wasn't professionally editted either.
I would definetly recommend Cozumel but not the Fiesta Americana.