My Research Notes from Planning Cozumel Trip

[WetInPortland]

What a wonderful gift to the dive community! I hope you'll allow me to buy you dinner on your next trip.

On very small suggestion - you mention Uber and the May 2018 change in the [Mobility] law that resulted in the taxi strikes that you referenced. The law was changed again. Here's my post to the "Airport Shuttle Van pricing" thread:

Uber is effectively illegal in Quintana Roo, so no Uber in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, or Cozumel (or Tulum or Chetumal). Shortly after the national elections in July 2018, the QRoo Congress voted to reclassify Uber in such a way that, according to the Uber executives, "practically would leave them unable to operate."

Full article is linked below. It's in Spanish, but you can plug the URL into Google Translate. The information is all there, but the formatting is a little messy. Guess who all the folks in the white shirts are?

QRoo aprueba reformas que reclasifican Uber

 

[drrich2]

Thanks for the update! That's just the kind of up-to-date info. divers new to Coz. will need. There's so much going on in Cozumel it seems something's always changing.

Richard.

 

[MMM]

I think we should "pin" this thread near the top of the page. Great job, informative, and balanced. Thank you.

We strictly limit the number of threads we pin at the top. In part, it is to keep the page relatively uncluttered. If something new is to be pinned, probably something else needs to be unpinned and dropped into history. My husband tries to apply this rule to my clothes/shoes/furniture/yarn shopping. Sorry that this mod message lacks the usual banners etc. I am doing this on my phone from a tiny medieval apartment in France. Marg, SB senior moderator.

 

[mstevens]

And here I thought I was an obsessive trip-researcher and note-taker...

 

[Chocolady88]

Thank you so much for this research. I didn't know about Sudafed.
A question - Do you know if there is a way to find out which Scuba outfit a certain cruise line is using is there vendor?

 

[drrich2]

I don't know off-hand. I'd take a 2-step approach; 1st, ask in a new thread in the Cozumel forum. If that didn't work, I'd either contact the cruise line directly, or go to CruiseCritic.com and ask in their section on that cruise line.

Richard.

 

[Kimela]

I've been to Cozumel several times - stayed at three different hotels - and when I get time I will read through this thread completely (only made it through the first page). What a wealth of information. Thanks for posting this!

 

[Kimela]

A couple of personal notes:

1. For me, it's not the speed of the drift dive that keeps me from setting up for photos (most of the time I can get behind a rock and find something cool to take pictures of). Usually it's that when I find something I want to take a pic of, the group is already on the move. I'm adding this for those who may be afraid that the current goes too fast and may feel anxious as a result. Yes, there is current - but the dive ops are set up to keep you together as a group, enter and exit safely (but still, we are each responsible for our own safety, so...)
2. Whale shark snorkeling - we did this in 2017 with a couple who had done it the previous year. In that short amount of time their rules had changed quite a bit. We had two trips in the water and for a very limited amount of time (I think it was less than 5 minutes). Not worth the money for me. By the time I had an idea how to pace the critters I was done with my turns.
3. Scuba Club Cozumel is a great place for shore diving and the food is pretty good - the beds, however, were really uncomfortable - I think they're just a mattress on top of a concrete block. Because it's far enough south, the ride to the dive sites isn't so far. When I stayed at Sunscape Sabor it seemed like we were on the boat for 10 minutes and were at the dive site! That's pretty cool. Lately, we have been staying at Cozumel Palace and the ride to the dive sites is much longer - and you go past the docked cruise ships (which is very interesting to see up close). I have to say that the food is really, really good - the beds and resort are great - and it's nice to be within walking distance of the grocery store, liquor stores, restaurants and other stuff.

Richard, if you're not getting paid for this I gotta believe you're earning a boatload (pun intended) of good karma!!

 

[ggunn]

A couple of personal notes:

1. For me, it's not the speed of the drift dive that keeps me from setting up for photos (most of the time I can get behind a rock and find something cool to take pictures of). Usually it's that when I find something I want to take a pic of, the group is already on the move.

Generally this is not too much of a problem. Once you're done with your photo, just kick downcurrent for a bit and you will easily catch up with the group. Everyone is going the same direction.

 

[Dogbowl]

I seriously think you could start a blog with all your reports and research notes!

Very thorough. Thank you!