LimitedSlip7
Contributor
Just got back a few days ago from our 2nd trip to Coz! We planned this trip as a dive specific trip as I managed to talk the GF into getting her OW cert a few months ago and this was her reward. It took me a while to talk her into it at first but once she tried it a few times she picked it up really quick. Big thanks to Columbus Scuba for some excellent training! After the first couple of dives in Coz she calmed down and looked like a natural. By the end of the trip she was using less air than me (not that I'm easy on the air, but still).
We scored Delta flights to Coz out of Cleveland for $370 each, with a quick stop in Atlanta. Flights went off without a hitch and I'm glad we didn't fly through Texas like last time as many of those flights were canceled due to weather. Several people on the boat lost a day due to the last minute flight cancellations.
I decided to do the Tres Pelicanos/Casa Mexicana combo due to it's popularity on here and my experience with 3P from our last trip. Very easy to set up with Jeanie. Casa Mexicana turned out to be a nicer hotel than I was expecting. Everything was very clean and in good shape. My favorite part about this place? The beds! Very comfortable, especially compared to the rock hard slabs at Hotel Coz. I slept great every night. The breakfast was decent, pretty much exactly what I was expecting. We ate breakfast every day at 7am sharp and didn't have any issues getting a table, food, or getting to the shop on time. The only thing I really didn't like about the place is the gauntlet of very aggressive vendors you had to go through every time you wanted to go to the parking lot or the dive shop. I did kind of miss the ease of water access we had at Hotel Coz though.
I rented a car from ISIS for the week although it was mostly a waste. Only ended up using it 4-5 times. Burned about 6 liters of gas. Would probably just skip the car if we stayed at CM again. Everything went smoothly this time with the car. It was about $250 for the week with gas.
Food:
Quatro Taco - Good margaritas and tacos. No complaints and would eat here again.
El Moro - Best meal I had this trip. Last time we had that giant fish platter and it was decent, but this time I got some kind of thin marinated steak combo with chicken mole enchiladas. Damn it was good. Wish I would have gone back and had it again. Coconut ice cream was a must for dessert.
Colores Y Sabores - Tiny little restuarant right around the corner of CM. Actually ended up eating here 3 times. Everything was good and the owner was very nice.
Los Otates - Had some tacos al pastor that were great. Cheap eats.
Kondesa - Unique place. Good food and exceptionally friendly cat named Dexter. He hopped up on the GF's lap as soon as we sat down and took a nap for a bit. Neat atmosphere and food presentation but don't forget the bugspray.
Diego's Tacos - Had fish/shrimp/Diego's tacos. I liked the shrimp and Diego's tacos but feel like they might be a little overrated compared to others that I had this trip. I think they would be better if they were a bit crispier. That garlic habanero sauce is amazing though. I would have bought a bottle of it if they sold it.
La Cocay - Ate here last time and everything was really good so we tried it again. That bacon wrapped chicken with goat cheese/apple stuffing is something special. The apple/pear crepes for dessert was on the opposite end of the spectrum and probably the worst crepes I've ever had. Everything else was good.
Marquesita/Churro street vendor - Why have these never been mentioned on here before?! After the disappointing crepes I paid 5 bucks for (and didn't eat most of), we stopped at a cart and got the best dessert on the island for less than $2. I tried a marquesita with cheese/caramel and the GF got churros. If you haven't had one of these it's like some kind of waffle cone batter they put cheese (kind of tastes similar to fresh grated parmesan) and your choice of carmel/nutella/jam/etc. Then it gets rolled up into a crispy tube and stuffed with more cheese/topping. If I go back to Coz I'm getting one of these every day. The churros were really good too.
Diving:
Started the week off by picking our rental gear up from 3P and heading to Hotel Cozumel for a shore dive to get us weighted and acclimated. Noticed the current was stronger than the last time we were here. This ended up being the case the entire week unfortunately. I'm not sure if we just caught a break the last trip or if it is stronger in September but the current was definitely more noticeable than before. There seemed to be more particulates in the water as well. We saw all of the usual suspects and some new ones, including a large seahorse, several small pipehorses, and a couple of eagle rays. I finally got to go on a night dive here and it was incredible! Many octopus, a school of large squid, crabs, lobsters, slipper lobster, etc. I got in 16 dives total this trip and another great experience with 3P.
Baby Turtle Rescue:
This is definitely worth trying at least once if you are in Coz Sept-Oct! There is a $25 per person donation to help but I think that is the only source of income the program has as there is no government funding available. Jeanie is very involved with this and gave us all of the details. We met Jeanie and the turtle ecology guys on the East side on Tuesday at 3:30 for an instructional class then headed down to a preselected beach to start digging. The sites are marked and chosen by the ecology group in advance. You have to carefully dig down between 2-4 feet before you reach the nest then start pulling out all of the hatched egg shells. There is also the occasional rotten egg that you want to be really careful with not to break open. The first nest we dug was just empty shells (a good thing) but the 2nd and 3rd nests both had a live turtle in them that we stealthily placed in a bucket (don't let the birds see them!) for later release. Some nests had as many as four live turtles still stuck in the bottom. After we had dug all of the hatched nests up and the sun had started to go down a bit, we gathered around a nest that the ecologists had found that was going to be hatching that night. Apparently the turtles hatch out of their shells then spend a few days digging up to the surface where they wait just below the top of the sand until they feel it start to cool off at night. When the time is right, one of the guys carefully clears this layer of sand away from the top of the nest then gently agitates the nest to wake the turtles up. They all wake up together and immediately start hauling ass to the water! The turtles we pulled from the other nests are released at the same time, with everyone standing around the corridor to the water to keep the birds/crabs away until they all make it to the water. It was definitely a really cool experience!
We scored Delta flights to Coz out of Cleveland for $370 each, with a quick stop in Atlanta. Flights went off without a hitch and I'm glad we didn't fly through Texas like last time as many of those flights were canceled due to weather. Several people on the boat lost a day due to the last minute flight cancellations.
I decided to do the Tres Pelicanos/Casa Mexicana combo due to it's popularity on here and my experience with 3P from our last trip. Very easy to set up with Jeanie. Casa Mexicana turned out to be a nicer hotel than I was expecting. Everything was very clean and in good shape. My favorite part about this place? The beds! Very comfortable, especially compared to the rock hard slabs at Hotel Coz. I slept great every night. The breakfast was decent, pretty much exactly what I was expecting. We ate breakfast every day at 7am sharp and didn't have any issues getting a table, food, or getting to the shop on time. The only thing I really didn't like about the place is the gauntlet of very aggressive vendors you had to go through every time you wanted to go to the parking lot or the dive shop. I did kind of miss the ease of water access we had at Hotel Coz though.
I rented a car from ISIS for the week although it was mostly a waste. Only ended up using it 4-5 times. Burned about 6 liters of gas. Would probably just skip the car if we stayed at CM again. Everything went smoothly this time with the car. It was about $250 for the week with gas.
Food:
Quatro Taco - Good margaritas and tacos. No complaints and would eat here again.
El Moro - Best meal I had this trip. Last time we had that giant fish platter and it was decent, but this time I got some kind of thin marinated steak combo with chicken mole enchiladas. Damn it was good. Wish I would have gone back and had it again. Coconut ice cream was a must for dessert.
Colores Y Sabores - Tiny little restuarant right around the corner of CM. Actually ended up eating here 3 times. Everything was good and the owner was very nice.
Los Otates - Had some tacos al pastor that were great. Cheap eats.
Kondesa - Unique place. Good food and exceptionally friendly cat named Dexter. He hopped up on the GF's lap as soon as we sat down and took a nap for a bit. Neat atmosphere and food presentation but don't forget the bugspray.
Diego's Tacos - Had fish/shrimp/Diego's tacos. I liked the shrimp and Diego's tacos but feel like they might be a little overrated compared to others that I had this trip. I think they would be better if they were a bit crispier. That garlic habanero sauce is amazing though. I would have bought a bottle of it if they sold it.
La Cocay - Ate here last time and everything was really good so we tried it again. That bacon wrapped chicken with goat cheese/apple stuffing is something special. The apple/pear crepes for dessert was on the opposite end of the spectrum and probably the worst crepes I've ever had. Everything else was good.
Marquesita/Churro street vendor - Why have these never been mentioned on here before?! After the disappointing crepes I paid 5 bucks for (and didn't eat most of), we stopped at a cart and got the best dessert on the island for less than $2. I tried a marquesita with cheese/caramel and the GF got churros. If you haven't had one of these it's like some kind of waffle cone batter they put cheese (kind of tastes similar to fresh grated parmesan) and your choice of carmel/nutella/jam/etc. Then it gets rolled up into a crispy tube and stuffed with more cheese/topping. If I go back to Coz I'm getting one of these every day. The churros were really good too.
Diving:
Started the week off by picking our rental gear up from 3P and heading to Hotel Cozumel for a shore dive to get us weighted and acclimated. Noticed the current was stronger than the last time we were here. This ended up being the case the entire week unfortunately. I'm not sure if we just caught a break the last trip or if it is stronger in September but the current was definitely more noticeable than before. There seemed to be more particulates in the water as well. We saw all of the usual suspects and some new ones, including a large seahorse, several small pipehorses, and a couple of eagle rays. I finally got to go on a night dive here and it was incredible! Many octopus, a school of large squid, crabs, lobsters, slipper lobster, etc. I got in 16 dives total this trip and another great experience with 3P.
Baby Turtle Rescue:
This is definitely worth trying at least once if you are in Coz Sept-Oct! There is a $25 per person donation to help but I think that is the only source of income the program has as there is no government funding available. Jeanie is very involved with this and gave us all of the details. We met Jeanie and the turtle ecology guys on the East side on Tuesday at 3:30 for an instructional class then headed down to a preselected beach to start digging. The sites are marked and chosen by the ecology group in advance. You have to carefully dig down between 2-4 feet before you reach the nest then start pulling out all of the hatched egg shells. There is also the occasional rotten egg that you want to be really careful with not to break open. The first nest we dug was just empty shells (a good thing) but the 2nd and 3rd nests both had a live turtle in them that we stealthily placed in a bucket (don't let the birds see them!) for later release. Some nests had as many as four live turtles still stuck in the bottom. After we had dug all of the hatched nests up and the sun had started to go down a bit, we gathered around a nest that the ecologists had found that was going to be hatching that night. Apparently the turtles hatch out of their shells then spend a few days digging up to the surface where they wait just below the top of the sand until they feel it start to cool off at night. When the time is right, one of the guys carefully clears this layer of sand away from the top of the nest then gently agitates the nest to wake the turtles up. They all wake up together and immediately start hauling ass to the water! The turtles we pulled from the other nests are released at the same time, with everyone standing around the corridor to the water to keep the birds/crabs away until they all make it to the water. It was definitely a really cool experience!
