Returning to Cozumel in Feb. Any suggestions? All the Same?

[gotdogs?]

I have a friend who visited Cancun last month. She noticed a lot more stray dogs, children swarming her selling candy and even more aggressive time share salesman. I am not sure if Cozumel has the same issue. I am sure that the Mexican economy has been devastated by this pandemic, but I also want to enjoy my vacation without getting constantly hassles or tragic reminders of why I need a vacation in the first place. Have things changed that much in Cozumel?

 

[ChuckP]

I have a friend who visited Cancun last month. She noticed a lot more stray dogs, children swarming her selling candy and even more aggressive time share salesman. I am not sure if Cozumel has the same issue. I am sure that the Mexican economy has been devastated by this pandemic, but I also want to enjoy my vacation without getting constantly hassles or tragic reminders of why I need a vacation in the first place. Have things changed that much in Cozumel?

We're all good here - come and enjoy. It's like a Sunday without cruise ships every day!

 

[flyboy08]

We're all good here - come and enjoy. It's like a Sunday without cruise ships every day!

Yep...what he said

in Puerto Morals we had numerous vendors on the beach, but some of the food was a welcome surprise...and then there were the ladies looking like a Christmas tree with all sorts of things hanging off for sale. In Coz, one or two cigar salesmen on the beach if that...

 

[ChuckP]

If I was flying into Cancun, I'd at least call these guys and see what they have, things are fluid here, not really set in stone - just seen a link to their Facebook page. Going from Cozumel to Cancun isn't terrible bad on the ferry - it's getting here that seems worse.

Flights Cancún

 

[Guitarcrazy]

My wife and I will be heading to Cozumel the end of February as well and this will be our first time staying on the island. We are both proficient divers and would like to find a dive operator that caters more to experience divers versus newer divers. I am not sure if this exists but thought I would throw it out to the group.

I have tried a lot of ops in Cozumel, but have never dove with Aldora. I have heard lots of great things about them though. We have settled on Salty Endeavors. Henry is the owner, he is from Chicago, and has two smaller fast boats. His head instructor Raymundo is superb. My wife did her advanced training with Raymundo, and we enjoyed it so much we brought our kids over the next trip and had them train with him. I like the smaller groups, and we typically only dive with more experienced divers so not a lot of unexpected behavior from the rest of the group, which is nice.

I dove with Aqua Safari not too long ago, and they were fine. Boats are larger, more divers, and longer trips to and from the reef. We had some newish divers that were not always predictable, and a few shortened dives due to excessive air consumption by a few of them. I still enjoyed the dives, great crew, but much prefer the smaller boats and diving with Salty Endeavors.

 

[ggunn]

I have a friend who visited Cancun last month. She noticed a lot more stray dogs, children swarming her selling candy and even more aggressive time share salesman. I am not sure if Cozumel has the same issue. I am sure that the Mexican economy has been devastated by this pandemic, but I also want to enjoy my vacation without getting constantly hassles or tragic reminders of why I need a vacation in the first place. Have things changed that much in Cozumel?

So, you want to visit a country which has been ravaged by the pandemic more severely than a lot of the rest of the world, but you don't want to be bothered by the people who live there because you need a vacation? Wow.

 

[ontdiver]

So, you want to visit a country which has been ravaged by the pandemic more severely than a lot of the rest of the world, but you don't want to be bothered by the people who live there because you need a vacation? Wow.

Wow, indeed.

 

[SwampTiger90]

We have already bought our tickets. We don't have American or Southwest here, so no chance to take them. Only options are Delta, United, or Alaska, and only United is flying to Cozumel this year, and only on Saturdays. We aren't able to leave and return on a Saturday, so we are stuck.

United flies to Cozumel most days of the week now. Unless you meant direct flights from your airport. In that case changing planes or even overnighting, as others have suggested, seems just as safe if not safer than the bag drag.

 

[ReefHound]

So, you want to visit a country which has been ravaged by the pandemic more severely than a lot of the rest of the world, but you don't want to be bothered by the people who live there because you need a vacation? Wow.

Just because he doesn't see his vacation as a humanitarian mission doesn't mean he isn't charitable or the dollars he will spend aren't helping the economy. Would you prefer he (and his dollars) stay home? Also, the activity he describes is a good way to significantly increase your exposure.

 

[Guitarcrazy]

United flies to Cozumel most days of the week now. Unless you meant direct flights from your airport. In that case changing planes or even overnighting, as others have suggested, seems just as safe if not safer than the bag drag.

Unfortunately we in Montana aren't afforded the luxury of multiple flight schedules. Our only direct flights are SEA, MSP, SLC, and DEN. United will only sell a ticket to Cozumel if I book to leave and return on a Saturday. I tried, even calling to see about driving to another airport in Montana. Delta used to fly to Coz, but the flight left MSP before the inbound arrival from Montana, so we were never able to book that flight. My wife is a nurse, and while she gets a good amount of days off, she is not able to get a Saturday to Saturday for the next few months. with a 7 day break, we can get 5 days of diving in. If we were to book separate tickets and overnight somewhere on the outbound and inbound legs, we would only have 3 days in Cozumel. Hardly worth the time. Unfortunately it is either bag drag as usual, or skip the trip.

If it is still as bad on the ferry in February maybe we will change our plans and stay on Isla Mujeres instead. We have dove there once, and while not nearly as good as Cozumel, at least it is better than staring out the window at home.