Just back from an awesome week at Blue Angel. Got room 103 again which is really beginning to be a home away from home. At this point I've spent about 3 months of my life in that room total and BA continues to be a great place for me to stay and dive. As always we met old friends, dove with the great BA crew who also have become friends and met new dive buddies who made this week even better with their commoradorie and love of diving.
I went with my dive buddy and we had a hot and sticky week with more mosquitos than I've encountered in other months of the year. The water was consistently reading 84 degrees and ocean conditions were beautiful with flat seas and very very mild currents with a few exceptions. The bleaching event of last October has seemingly recovered and I thought the reefs looked very healthy overall. Beryl has left a few trees down but generally you'd have no idea that anything had happened recently. Although the weather has caused chaos and cancelled dives for tons of people over the last year, we hit a week that was near perfection as far as dive conditions are concerned. Sites included Santa Rosa, San Clemente, Delilah, Yucab, Tormentos, C53, Palancar caves bricks and gardens, Columbia Deep and Maracaibo.
I did two shore dives at the Blue Angel and after not having done anything but a night dive there in several trips I'm reminded what a nice little dive it is and certainly a feature of the hotel and dive shop.
We did 18 tanks via boat and were able to hit sites from the far south all the way to Villa Blanca. Santa Rosa has been closed the lasts few visits so that was a nice return and a site I've loved for many many years. We saw lots of turtles, stingray, nurse shark, and tons and tons of juvenile fish ranging from almost too small to see up to large clouds of blue chromis hovering over the reefs. Night dives were lobster and octopus heaven and I found myself not filming them because my memory card was full up with clips of them by the 3rd night dive.
We only came across one green moray but had the usual assortment of spotted and other types. Also sighted was a single eagle ray at Columbia deep as well as a flyby from a giant loggerhead although the DM said it was not Charlie.
We ate a LOT of tacos and spent several meals at Noventa y Tres across from the Blue Angel where the owner Laura, her son and the crew put out some scratch made deliciousness that is also priced very well. It can take a moment to get your order but they are cooking from scratch and so it's worth it for us. We also ate at El Pique and Tacos Diaz and supplemented with meals here and there at the hotel restaurant.
Taxi prices to the places on 30th ranged from $150 pesos to $250 depending on direction and time of day. I never argue but will generally tip if I feel like it's the 'normal' price and pay the requested ammt if it seems padded.
We will keep returning to Cozumel and the Blue Angel since they continue to provide us an awesome experience.
I went with my dive buddy and we had a hot and sticky week with more mosquitos than I've encountered in other months of the year. The water was consistently reading 84 degrees and ocean conditions were beautiful with flat seas and very very mild currents with a few exceptions. The bleaching event of last October has seemingly recovered and I thought the reefs looked very healthy overall. Beryl has left a few trees down but generally you'd have no idea that anything had happened recently. Although the weather has caused chaos and cancelled dives for tons of people over the last year, we hit a week that was near perfection as far as dive conditions are concerned. Sites included Santa Rosa, San Clemente, Delilah, Yucab, Tormentos, C53, Palancar caves bricks and gardens, Columbia Deep and Maracaibo.
I did two shore dives at the Blue Angel and after not having done anything but a night dive there in several trips I'm reminded what a nice little dive it is and certainly a feature of the hotel and dive shop.
We did 18 tanks via boat and were able to hit sites from the far south all the way to Villa Blanca. Santa Rosa has been closed the lasts few visits so that was a nice return and a site I've loved for many many years. We saw lots of turtles, stingray, nurse shark, and tons and tons of juvenile fish ranging from almost too small to see up to large clouds of blue chromis hovering over the reefs. Night dives were lobster and octopus heaven and I found myself not filming them because my memory card was full up with clips of them by the 3rd night dive.
We only came across one green moray but had the usual assortment of spotted and other types. Also sighted was a single eagle ray at Columbia deep as well as a flyby from a giant loggerhead although the DM said it was not Charlie.
We ate a LOT of tacos and spent several meals at Noventa y Tres across from the Blue Angel where the owner Laura, her son and the crew put out some scratch made deliciousness that is also priced very well. It can take a moment to get your order but they are cooking from scratch and so it's worth it for us. We also ate at El Pique and Tacos Diaz and supplemented with meals here and there at the hotel restaurant.
Taxi prices to the places on 30th ranged from $150 pesos to $250 depending on direction and time of day. I never argue but will generally tip if I feel like it's the 'normal' price and pay the requested ammt if it seems padded.
We will keep returning to Cozumel and the Blue Angel since they continue to provide us an awesome experience.
