Snorkeling At Playa Corona: Review

[jbark]

I thought I should post a review/report of our day in Coz and our snorkeling trip.

I decided to go to playa corona in the end, the taxi driver tried to sell us on going to sky reef instead. He even had a ring binder with a shiny promo card for sky reef in his cab. My guess is he gets s kickback for each passenger he brings??

Anyway, we arrived at Playa Corona around 1 pm and there were about 5 other people already there, plenty of tables and hammocks to choose from. It was fairly sunny so we grabbed a small table under some coconut palms and were greeted shortly by the waiter (owner?), ordered some cokes and got around to go for a snorkel.

The entry was easy, with sand bags to walk on if needed, tide was going out I figured out later. There was a pretty good current running north to south so we had to stay in close go north and then drift back south out in the deeper areas.

The sea life there was amazing to me and kristy. We saw a wide variety of sea fans, sponges, hard corals, soft corals, feather dusters, polyps, sea urchins, a sharp tailed eel, many fish (easily 50 different kinds). This was absolutely the best snorkel spot we had ever seen and there was far more to see than I expected.

The big sightings/highlights:

• two huge black sea urchins with spines around 6 inches long nestled in among the base of some sea fans
• A large school of what I believe were king mackerel swimming north along the drop off. 100 or more?
• A very large barracuda, 4 feet plus based on it's length compared to mine.
  
• A spotted eagle ray that I swam with for around 4 minutes as it made it's way around the shallow part of the Sky Reef area. Amazing to swim with a few feet of this awesome fish!

Obviously for me the snorkeling at Playa Corona gets a 5 star rating. I did drift down the the Sky Reef area and found that that area had more small colorful reef fish than up at corona (corona area has more sea fans , sponges and corals) but they are close so you can easily go down there and see them. I was down there twice once at slack tide once again as the incoming was starting and there were many more fish out on the slack, so plan accordingly if you can.

Other aspects of playa corona:

• everyone working there was polite and friendly
• No music playing, quite and peaceful (a plus for us); we like music and loud is fine just not while relaxing at the beach.
• The food was good, food and drink prices are comparable to small town restaurants where we live.

The only negative is that the restrooms are a bit rough, NOT dirty, just rough. They were fine for me, kristy did not complain but I know she would have preferred better. Again, just to make sure : they were clean, just in rough condition.

All in all we had a great day at Playa Corona and we both enjoyed the snorkeling. I even took home a souvenir sunburn!!

Thanks for the recommendations,
Jerry

 

[ggunn]

Other aspects of playa corona:

• No music playing, quiet and peaceful (a plus for us); we like music and loud is fine just not while relaxing at the beach.

Something that bugs me a little is the loud Norteamericano music that is always blaring at many Cozumel establishments. They do it, I guess, to make the gringos feel more at home, but if I wanted to feel at home I'd have stayed there. Play Mexican music!

Playa Corona is a great place to snorkel. BTW, those bags are usually cement bags. Throw one in the water and it turns into a rock.

 

[BRT]

We dove Playa Corona once. There are caves along the shore that are interesting to look into and some of them go under the island a long way. Not speaking from personal experience.

Why is it we can go to a little restaurant and sit down, be the only customers there and they right away turn on the music for our listening pleasure. If we ask to have it turned back off they get kind of offended and often refuse. They didn't have it on before we came so it can't be them that wants it. We are the only customers there so we know it is not the customers that want it. Is it a signal to the next restaurant that THEY now have customers?

 

[sharky60]

I have a special place in my heart for Playa Corona. On our first trip to the island, 20 years ago now, we stayed at the Sol Caribe (now the Park Royal).

the place was over half closed up due to renovations and the AI buffet's were awful. Canned fruit and stale cereal for breakfast and unidentifiable meat for lunch and dinner ... bad. And my wife and are not picky eaters at all.

by the second day we were exploring the island's wonderful restaurants and realized AI is NOT the way to go.

we decided to find a beach, jumped in a cab and asked the driver where to go, he suggested Playa Corona. This was way before Wilma, so the pier was still there.

the service was good, the guys working there were fun, the food was good, the snorkeling was very good for Coz and overall a very good day.

Other than I got sunburned on my shoulders from being in the water so much. But that worked out too, because we ended up doing the "fly tour" to Chechen Itza the next day, which was a life long dream.

we try and get back on most trips for if nothing else, than just to stop and have a cold one and some snacks. If I ever hit the lottery big, I'd buy the place, rebuild the pier and bring it back to it former glory ...

 

[cvchief]

I really like Playa Corona's snorkeling. I do love to eat at Sky Reef though.

 

[captnpat1982]

Dang, you gave away our secret, quiet place to snorkel and relax. LOL

Their Guacamole and pico is great.

Did the waiter show you the eels under the steps?