Hi All,
Well, we are back in Indiana (and not happy about it!!!).
Here's our big trip report!!! The link to our pictures is at the end of the report!
Saturday February 11th:
Flew out of Chicago (on time!) and landed in Charlotte on time. We had a free pass to the US Air Club and we totally enjoyed being in there during our layover! Headed over to the gate and got upgraded to First Class for the Charlotte to Cozumel leg of the flight. Then we started looking for Lou and Nancy (loudives). He told us to look for a fat balding guy and a white haired lady. Do you have any idea how many big balding guys there are in the airport!!!??? We finally found them and we became instant friends! Our flight to Cozumel from Charlotte was hassle free and it was awesome sitting in first class. Landed in Cozumel on time and made it through customs without a hitch. Bought two tickets for the shuttle (total of 16.00) and headed for Caribe Blu. We were given room 305 at Caribe Blu. It had 2 double beds, a fridge, a nice bathroom and great air conditioning. One of the guys at the hotel carried our luggage up the 3 flights of stairs (NICE!!!). John (jmps) stopped by our room and introduced himself...once again we made an instant friend! Once we were settled we walked to town to touch base with Christi at Blue XT Sea. Got everything settled with her and then we walked over to Chedruai (sp?) Grocery Store. Spent 6.00 (two 2 litres of Coke, some bananas and some chewy oatmeal bars. From there we headed over to Casa Denis for dinner! One of our favorite places to eat when we are in Coz. I had the pork tacos (3) and Rick had chicken fajitas (you will see as the report goes on that chicken fajitas is his favorite meal). We both had the tortilla soup and we each had a bottle of coke. Total bill for dinner was 26.00. By this time we were beat so we headed back to the hotel and we were sound asleep by 8:00pm.
Sunday February 12th:
Woke up at 5:30am. The wind was howling and the waves were big! Called Christi at 6:30am and woke her up (sorry about that Christi!!!). She called back a little later and let us know that the diving was cancelled due to weather. We got dressed and walked into town for breakfast at Rock N Java. Rick had something called Chilaquileas (sp?)...he said it was like a chicken enchilada with cheese and a sweet green sauce over it with 2 eggs over easy on it. He said it was good but he'd pick something different next time. I had the Johnny Lee Cowboy Breakfast...AWESOME! It was two biscuits with scrambled eggs over the top of them and two pieces of bacon over that and then the whole thing was covered in gravy. It came with potatoes, too. I had a can of Pepsi and Rick had coffee. Total bill was 15.00. After that we walked through town (not much was open but it was a nice walk...although it was very windy). Spent most of the rest of the day lounging around and chatting with Lou and Nancy. Dinner tonight was with the Scuba Boarder's at Sonora Grill. What a wonderful evening! Lou, Nancy, John, Rick and I grabbed a taxi and headed to the pre-arranged meeting place (Vista Del Mar hotel). The others joined us shortly! If I have it right, there were 12 of us: Lou & Nancy (loudives), John (jmps), Sally (coz sally), Bill & Lynn (valwood1), Marg & David (MMM), Bruce & Jeanne (akbpilot), Rick and myself. Sally talked to the people at Sonora Grill when we got there and she scored us one round of drinks for FREE!!! Way to go Sally! Dinner was awesome at Sonora Grill. I had the Mexican Platter (a cheese quesadilla, a chicken enchilada with mole sauce (didn't like the mole sauce), a chile relleno, and a skirt steak) and I had the tortilla soup. Rick had the chicken fajitas and the tortilla soup. Our total was 31.00.
Monday February 13th:
Breakfast: We ate in our room...bananas and oatmeal bars.
Diving: Blue XT Sea - Divemaster: Javier - Captain: Pedro (Mago had the day off): 1st dive was Santa Rosa Wall (75 feet). I won't bore you with what all we saw on our dives...it's all the usual wonderful stuff!!! Our surface interval was VERY COLD!!! I have NEVER been cold while diving in Cozumel so this was a new experience for me. Thank God for Christi's lined windbreakers...they were wonderful. During our surface interval we heard that the diving for the rest of day might get cancelled again so we headed out before they closed it. 2nd dive was Paradise Reef. 39 feet for 1 hour and 6 minutes. I didn't really get warm on the surface interval so I was a little chilled on this second dive. When we came up from the 2nd dive and got on the boat I was freezing!!! The water was very choppy and Pedro took us to the Caletta instead of to our hotel. They got us a taxi (there were 4 of us on the boat) and we got a warm ride back to our hotel (Blue XT Sea paid for the taxi! THANKS CHRISTI!!!).
Lunch: We decided to eat at the hotel. Headed up to the little place they have at the hotel...it's outside so it was rather windy (and I was still cold!) so we ordered our food and took it back to our room. I had the chicken tacos and Rick had a chicken Chimichanga and we had 2 cans of coke. Total bill was 14.50. It was good...nothing spectacular but it was good.
Dinner: La Choza...our very favorite place to eat!!! Lou and Nancy joined us for dinner. I had the Shrimp Fajitas and Rick had the Chicken Fajitas and Tortilla Soup and we each had a bottle of coke. Total bill for us was 35.00. I believe Nancy had the Beef Fajitas and Lou had a Chicken Breast. Oh, Nancy got a Margarita and she loved it! We couldn't figure out why it was orange in color instead of lime. She asked and found out that they put a shot of Orange Juice in their margaritas! She said it was awesome! Stopped at Chedraui Grocery Store again on our way back to the hotel and picked up more bananas, coca cola and oatmeal bars (bill was 8.00).
TO BE CONTINUED.....
Oh...link to our pictures:
http://www.photoworks.com/share/shareLanding.jsp?shareCode=A480CA2C03F&cb=PW
You might need to copy and paste the link. If the address doesn't work just let me know and I'll get it fixed.
Michelle & Rick
Well, we are back in Indiana (and not happy about it!!!).
Here's our big trip report!!! The link to our pictures is at the end of the report!
Saturday February 11th:
Flew out of Chicago (on time!) and landed in Charlotte on time. We had a free pass to the US Air Club and we totally enjoyed being in there during our layover! Headed over to the gate and got upgraded to First Class for the Charlotte to Cozumel leg of the flight. Then we started looking for Lou and Nancy (loudives). He told us to look for a fat balding guy and a white haired lady. Do you have any idea how many big balding guys there are in the airport!!!??? We finally found them and we became instant friends! Our flight to Cozumel from Charlotte was hassle free and it was awesome sitting in first class. Landed in Cozumel on time and made it through customs without a hitch. Bought two tickets for the shuttle (total of 16.00) and headed for Caribe Blu. We were given room 305 at Caribe Blu. It had 2 double beds, a fridge, a nice bathroom and great air conditioning. One of the guys at the hotel carried our luggage up the 3 flights of stairs (NICE!!!). John (jmps) stopped by our room and introduced himself...once again we made an instant friend! Once we were settled we walked to town to touch base with Christi at Blue XT Sea. Got everything settled with her and then we walked over to Chedruai (sp?) Grocery Store. Spent 6.00 (two 2 litres of Coke, some bananas and some chewy oatmeal bars. From there we headed over to Casa Denis for dinner! One of our favorite places to eat when we are in Coz. I had the pork tacos (3) and Rick had chicken fajitas (you will see as the report goes on that chicken fajitas is his favorite meal). We both had the tortilla soup and we each had a bottle of coke. Total bill for dinner was 26.00. By this time we were beat so we headed back to the hotel and we were sound asleep by 8:00pm.
Sunday February 12th:
Woke up at 5:30am. The wind was howling and the waves were big! Called Christi at 6:30am and woke her up (sorry about that Christi!!!). She called back a little later and let us know that the diving was cancelled due to weather. We got dressed and walked into town for breakfast at Rock N Java. Rick had something called Chilaquileas (sp?)...he said it was like a chicken enchilada with cheese and a sweet green sauce over it with 2 eggs over easy on it. He said it was good but he'd pick something different next time. I had the Johnny Lee Cowboy Breakfast...AWESOME! It was two biscuits with scrambled eggs over the top of them and two pieces of bacon over that and then the whole thing was covered in gravy. It came with potatoes, too. I had a can of Pepsi and Rick had coffee. Total bill was 15.00. After that we walked through town (not much was open but it was a nice walk...although it was very windy). Spent most of the rest of the day lounging around and chatting with Lou and Nancy. Dinner tonight was with the Scuba Boarder's at Sonora Grill. What a wonderful evening! Lou, Nancy, John, Rick and I grabbed a taxi and headed to the pre-arranged meeting place (Vista Del Mar hotel). The others joined us shortly! If I have it right, there were 12 of us: Lou & Nancy (loudives), John (jmps), Sally (coz sally), Bill & Lynn (valwood1), Marg & David (MMM), Bruce & Jeanne (akbpilot), Rick and myself. Sally talked to the people at Sonora Grill when we got there and she scored us one round of drinks for FREE!!! Way to go Sally! Dinner was awesome at Sonora Grill. I had the Mexican Platter (a cheese quesadilla, a chicken enchilada with mole sauce (didn't like the mole sauce), a chile relleno, and a skirt steak) and I had the tortilla soup. Rick had the chicken fajitas and the tortilla soup. Our total was 31.00.
Monday February 13th:
Breakfast: We ate in our room...bananas and oatmeal bars.
Diving: Blue XT Sea - Divemaster: Javier - Captain: Pedro (Mago had the day off): 1st dive was Santa Rosa Wall (75 feet). I won't bore you with what all we saw on our dives...it's all the usual wonderful stuff!!! Our surface interval was VERY COLD!!! I have NEVER been cold while diving in Cozumel so this was a new experience for me. Thank God for Christi's lined windbreakers...they were wonderful. During our surface interval we heard that the diving for the rest of day might get cancelled again so we headed out before they closed it. 2nd dive was Paradise Reef. 39 feet for 1 hour and 6 minutes. I didn't really get warm on the surface interval so I was a little chilled on this second dive. When we came up from the 2nd dive and got on the boat I was freezing!!! The water was very choppy and Pedro took us to the Caletta instead of to our hotel. They got us a taxi (there were 4 of us on the boat) and we got a warm ride back to our hotel (Blue XT Sea paid for the taxi! THANKS CHRISTI!!!).
Lunch: We decided to eat at the hotel. Headed up to the little place they have at the hotel...it's outside so it was rather windy (and I was still cold!) so we ordered our food and took it back to our room. I had the chicken tacos and Rick had a chicken Chimichanga and we had 2 cans of coke. Total bill was 14.50. It was good...nothing spectacular but it was good.
Dinner: La Choza...our very favorite place to eat!!! Lou and Nancy joined us for dinner. I had the Shrimp Fajitas and Rick had the Chicken Fajitas and Tortilla Soup and we each had a bottle of coke. Total bill for us was 35.00. I believe Nancy had the Beef Fajitas and Lou had a Chicken Breast. Oh, Nancy got a Margarita and she loved it! We couldn't figure out why it was orange in color instead of lime. She asked and found out that they put a shot of Orange Juice in their margaritas! She said it was awesome! Stopped at Chedraui Grocery Store again on our way back to the hotel and picked up more bananas, coca cola and oatmeal bars (bill was 8.00).
TO BE CONTINUED.....
Oh...link to our pictures:
http://www.photoworks.com/share/shareLanding.jsp?shareCode=A480CA2C03F&cb=PW
You might need to copy and paste the link. If the address doesn't work just let me know and I'll get it fixed.
Michelle & Rick
Like I said...I was already up...but barely...still gathering my bearings waiting for the harbor master report even though I KNEW what it was going to say 
