mini-report Cozumel

[Bigberg50]

Flew US Air to Cancun from PHL and after a 1 1/2 hr layover, it was off on AirCaribe for the 20 minute flight to Cozumel. Since you can't get your own taxi at the airport, I took the van down to the Intercontinental. The hotel is rated 4 stars- it's more like 3 1/2 because it could use some rehab. The rooms are nice but worn, the restaurants okay but their a bit pricey. They have a fitness center and a great beach. Scuba Du is on site. It quite a good dive op with 5 albeit slow boats. They ofetn run multiple boats to the same sites depending on need. They run "special" dives but need a minimum of 4 people. I could not get them to run a boat to the wreck. During the first 3 days, we hit the more popular Coz sites e.g. Palanca caves and gardens, Santa Rosa, Paradise, etc. On day 4, they were running a boat to Barracuda and St. Juan. These sites were the most thrilling rides I've ever been on. Although the DMs classified the current as moderate, it was faster than anything I'd yet done. We flew! After 7 very quick back rolls, it was down to 95 feet and flying!
Overall, the marine life at Coz was not as plentiful as Bonaire or Curacao, but the flying carpet ride makes Coz worth the trip. And, of course, Mexico is considerably less expensive than the Netherlands Antilles

 

[caymaniac]

Coz really sucks topside, the diving is good but you have to deal with Pod people, employees that can talk english but when convienient for them it's NO COMPRENDAE. Dealing with dangerous dives and dive masters is not my idea of how to spend my hard earned vacation money ( my wife and I and one other diver were left out in the middle of nowhere for nearly an hour - the boat was a speck on the horizen ). Columbia Shallows was one of the best shallow dives I've done but we are not ready to go back with all the rest of the crap Mexico seems to carry with its name - like you can't eat the food or drink the water. So its cheap, I guess you get what you pay for.
How about this idea - save up money, be able to eat food and drink the water, have safe dives & divemasters, what a great concept ! This hasnt happened to me or my friends in Coz.

SICKOFALLTHOSEWHOSAYCOZISAGREATDIVEDESTINATION

 

[ScubaBurt]

Hello Cyamanic,
First of all, welcome to the board. This is the place to vent your frustrations and get alot of great of information about traveling and diving.
Second, what was the dive op that left you adrift for nearly an hour???? My wife and I go to Cozumel each May(leaving the 18th) and we have NEVER experienced what you are describing. We stay at the Fiesta Americana and dive with Dive House. You won't find a more accomodating hotel and dive op. Dive House is one of the safest dive ops we have ever dove with. With drift diving, the boat follows your bubbles and is usually only a minute away from you at surface. The DM's are great. They lift BCand tank into the boat and setup a fresh tank for you before you can climb the ladder onto the boat. As far as the locals speaking English, the majority of the ones dealing with tourists, they speak almost perfect english. You will meet locals downtown that may not speak English or may not speak it well. I can understand their problem with speaking English because I can only speak a little Espanol. As far as eating the food, if you like Mexican food it doesn't get any better. The water, we usually drink bottled water. Hey, we drink bottled water in the U.S. also. I hope you will give Cozumel another chance and choose another dive op. The drift diving is some of the best and the island itself has alot of wonderful Mayan history and is worth another try. Good Luck.

 

[miked]

Caymaniac,
I have to agree with ScubaBurt's post. I, too, think Coz is great. I have not encountered any of the situations you described,but perhaps that is due to either luck or location. I'd also like to know what was the Hotel/Dive operator where you had such a bad time ?
My experiences (3 trips) also with with FA/DH have been positive.
You might try there-because the diving really is great.
{not to denigrate The Caymans-which based on your "screen name", you must enjoy.}
Good luck,
MikeD

 

[caymaniac]

Landed in Cancun, at airport armed military wouldnt let us off the plane in 90 degree heat. Plane wouldnt restart - after 2hrs. in this heat no airconditioning,no one allowed to deplane,all 5 plane starters were broken, a passenger from plane gets off to repair plane starter. Get to coz late, go to Lacieba, no rooms ready, wait 8 hrs and get room on 13 floor, no elevator for the last three floors, cant take a shower or flush toilet, not enough water pressure. Boats broken at Del-Mar aquatics, go out in banana boat no covering in hot son, elevators now broken all the time, bad sunburn, GOOD DIVE, told at surface interval not to eat the food - we see why - flies at toilets next to where food is cooked, eat bananas, drink coke. Three days pass no water pressure, finally get nice room after complaints, have taken own bottle of wine and cheese & put in fridge, set bottles out on top of fridge. Good dives, going up ten floors not as bad as 13. Loud noises continue each daytime as hotel is being worked on. Boat breaks down get towed in. Wife and I & one other diver get separated from main group on dive because of current, left for nearly an hour at surface to wait to be picked up. When leaving hotel wants to charge me for the bottles I put on top of fridge @$65.00 - tell them to bring it down to me if they are going to charge me - now they cant speak english after nearly onehalf hour resolve to take charges off the bill.
We have been to many places Egypt(Red Sea), and Africa(Sodwanna Bay) amongst many in the Carribean, and have never been treated so poorly. These Mexicans can keep right on doing the way they do things, but it will be hard to get my dollars without me coming there. Once was enough!

 

[Bigberg50]

You do sound like you had the trip from hell!! But, my experiences as outlined at the beginning of this thread were quite different. Landed in Cancun, went through customs, walked about 100 feet to the domestic terminal. No line at AirCarribe ( did have to pay an additional $19 to check 2 bags). Plane had 8 on board ( of 16 seats ). Arrived on time in Coz. baggage in 5 minutes. Van to the Intercontinental took 15 minutes. Room was ready, bellhop took the bags with me to the room. Coffee was on time everyday as was the wake-up call. Scuba Du had 5 boats ready daily. They took care of all gear including rinse and getting it from their storage kiosk to the pier. My daily cost including room, breakfast and 2 tank dive was $210 single occupancy. This included a $10/day service charge which I did not know about in advance.
I would go to Coz again but not until I've had the chance to dive all the other places on my list.

 

[FastDen]

Hi BigBerg and Caymaniac!
To Caymaniac- in the immortal words of Keanu Reeves, "Wow- bummer, dude!" Include me with most of the other folks on this site- I LOVE Cozumel, and have always had the most amazing experiences there, both under water and topside. I guess it all just depends on your luck and attitude. Yeah, s--t happens to us all at different times on different trips, but if you can learn to roll with the punches the negative experiences can sometimes turn into postitive ones. Fortunately, I've never had the all the nightmare situations you seem to have encountered in Coz, but I've hit similar rough spots in other destinations, so I sympathize with you to a point. To avoid so many disappointments in the future, all I can say by way of advice is do as much research as possible before you go next time. A little time on the Internet can tell you what condition a hotel is in, who the best dive ops are, the best restaurants, sights, etc. In fact, you've already found one of the best sources of info- Scuba Board!

What surprises me though, is your take on the Mexican people. I've never found more open, friendly, gracious people anywhere, and I've traveled extensively just like you. True, there are some surly, difficult folks working at the hotels and businesses in Coz and other places in Mexico (and I've had even worse encounters with military types than you did when I was traveling in Russia, the Dominican Republic, even Italy), but it sounds like you're accusing an entire culture for the mistakes of a few. Maybe part of the reason workers in the service industries in Coz and elsewhere get "attitudes" is from dealing with so many "ugly American" types constantly complaining when their country and culture don't measure up to our pampered, exalted standards. I always try to remember that, no matter what my expectations, whenever I'm traveling I'm- bottom line- a guest in someone else's HOME, and if I need to file a complaint over something about the service, food, etc. to do so in a way that is respectful and considerate.

And has for rude people, lousy service, over-priced food and drink-have you been to New York City or France lately? (I live in both places so I'm allowed to say that!) Or how about the Caymans? True, the diving is spectacular, but the prices are exorbitant, some of the dive ops are just glorified cattle boats, the water can STILL make you sick if you're sensitive to changes, and what's worse, the Cayman government officially discriminates with legalized bigotry against a large portion of U.S. citizens by denying entry to their country to American lesbian and gay tourists. Give me Mexico any day!

Still, I wish you better luck in your travels in the future, and hope that someday you'll maybe give Coz another chance. It would be a shame for you to miss out on all the real fun there!
FastDen :rainbow:

 

[caymaniac]

My wife did call it the" vacation from hell ", I told her we should give it another chance but she says "no way" ( and we all know most times what she wants she gets ). Anyway, I'm not trying to accuse all Mexicans of treating me bad the way they treated us. I have friends that are Mexican in our town who would not treat their dog like we were treated. We have traveled a bit even in Paris we had a great time and didnt experience rude people like others say you will. As far as Cayman is concerned, we have never had a problem with the water ( even though on the Brac it has tasted braccish ). I do have a problem with Grand Cayman if they put in the new piers that they are talking about, and that may destoy some diving areas - just for cruise ships. As far as costing alot, I can't say that it is out of line ( to a degree ). Let's not go hog wild and spend a diving week at the Hyatt staying in their apartments - eating at The Grand Old House. A condo with a family and the grocery store, and eating out once a day is not so expensive place. We had dinner for four w/ drinks at the Crows Nest ( best mahi mahi served anywhere ) for about $100.00, now anyone can pay that much here in the states. Maybe some day I can change her mind to go back ( I doubt it )
Dive Safe, Caymaniac

 

[miked]

Caymaniac,
Thanks for the details, gory as they may be. Sorry you had such a horrible experience. As I said earlier, I've had only good times in Coz, but I can see why you opinion is as stated.
Good luck on your future trips, to wherever they may be.
Mike

 

[Kat]

Caymaniac, My first trip to Cozumel was pretty bad too. The hotel we booked & paid for, well ahead of time, was mysteriously-booked solid. At the airport, Apple Vacations put us on the wrong bus & we checked into the wrong hotel. Then had to repack & be moved to another hotel. We wasted a whole day, just trying to check in. Our Apple rep at our hotel wasn't much help either. I also got sick. Wrote a nasty letter to Apple, when we got back and got 2 $100.00 voucher for another trip(with them-yuck)
I wasn't even a diver yet, when all of this happened. But through it all, I still loved Cozumel. It is my favorite place to go & I travel alot. The first time I dove Cozumel I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. I had always been a huge snorkeling fan, but diving there was the best.
Please try & keep in mind that English is not their language. When visiting another country its always helpful to speak the native language. I do not speak spanish very well, but I try & the locals are very appreciative(spelling?)
Very sorry you had such a bad experiance. As stated before, bad things can & do happen anywhere you might go. I do know people who hate Mexico & would never go. I work with a lady who wouldn't go on an expense paid business trip to Cancun.
I hesitate to encourage you to give it another try. Everyone has a favorite place to go & it may be better for you & your wife to go to your favorites instead. You tried Cozumel, didn't like it. Go where your happiest!