Cozumel trip report
5/8-22/05
Well, it was another wonderful Cozumel trip, and at 14 days, it's our longest stay so far. We stayed at Caribe Blu, where we have been staying since 1981, when it was La Perla, and through the short time it was Lorena. Needless to say, it is very much a home away from home for us; we have sort of a mini family reunion there every spring. Jeanie and Alejandra took really good care of us. We dove with Blue Angel.
The sequence of events:
Sun 5/8 (Diving) Shore dive on Villablanca Reef
Mon 5/9 (Diving) Tortugas y Tarpons (mainland) and Paradise
Tues 5/10 (Diving) Dos Ojos
Wed 5/11 (Diving) Palancar Horseshoe and Paseo de Cedral
Thurs 5/12 (Diving) Francesca and Yucab
Fri 5/13 (Diving) Colombia and Cedral Wall
Sat 5/14 (Diving) Punta Sur Cathedral and Tormentos
Sun 5/15 (Diving) Two shore dives on Villablanca - one daylight, one night
Mon 5/16 (Fishing) One dorado, one barracuda, one blackfin tuna
Tues 5/17 (Excursion) Day trip around the island
Wed 5/18 (Fishing) Six sailfish, one dorado
Thurs 5/19 (Diving) Palancar Bricks and Dalila
Fri 5/20 (Fishing) One sailfish, eight dorado, saw a 460 lb blue marlin in the Caleta
............(Diving) Villablanca at night
Sat 5/21 (Diving) Punta Sur Devils Throat and Punta Tuniche
Sun 5/22 Departed Cozumel
Diving high points:
5/9 Tortugas y Tarpons - Tons of turtles but no tarpon; others the next day saw 50 or more. New dive for us.
5/10 Dos Ojos Another new experience. Our DM (Mateo with Blue Angel) is a very experienced cave diver, so we were well escorted. It was a little spooky at times, but overall a very enjoyable experience.
5/14 Punta Sur Cathedral - Very close encounter with an eagle ray. I was last in line, and I saw the DMs signal and the ray swimming upcurrent toward us. I drifted over into the rays path and held very still; it passed less than a meter from me.
5/20 Villablanca at night At least 7 octopus, and a school of about 15 reef squid.
5/19 Dalila another eagle ray, this one snuffling in the sand.
5/21 Punta Sur Devils Throat I stand corrected! I never had much interest in doing this dive, but thats only because I had an erroneous preconceived notion of what it was about. It was a beautiful dive, lots of life there, and we saw the sponge cross on the way out.
Whats new since last year:
The renovation of Plaza las Glorias appears to be nearly complete, and at least the street face of the new building next to it is just about done. The dolphin experience place (I will not editorialize) between Acuario and Servi Playa is finished and open for business, as is the Tequila bar between it and Acuario.
There are at least 5 new traffic lights on the island.
Joes Reggae Bar is officially defunct.
Food prices are up considerably. Thank goodness for the ATMs.
The new gas station down south of La Ceiba/El Cid is open.
They were tearing the roof off of the bar in the old Morgans building on the northeast corner of the square the last couple of days I was there; I dont know if they were tearing down the building, reroofing it, or adding a second floor to it.
The repaving of Melgar is complete. They set images of flying swallows into the concrete, which looks real pretty but generates a lot of road noise.
ScubaBoarders on Cozumel:
The survey tape worked great; I found Rick and Ron that way. I met Scott and his wife at the hotel, and a group of us met at La Choza on Sun 5/15, though I had a night dive scheduled and had to leave before dinner. It was an amiable group, although I confess to have a very bad brain for names, so although I remember all of you well, I cant recall all your names. Mawg came by the hotel and waved some survey tape at my wife, but I was out fishing and missed him. I met Sharky60 and his wife at Hollys camera shop (and Holly, too). We rented a camera from her; we got some great shots and some great pointers from her as well. Thanks, Holly! And Christi, of course congrats on your new shop, its really nice.
The food:
New to our list this year is Especias; we ate there twice. Adrian (the owner) is a real cutup, and a most gracious host. The Indian Shrimp makes my mouth water just thinking of it. We hit most of the rest of our faves Panchos, Prima, Sonora, Capi Navigante, El Moro, Los Gavilanes (sp?), El Moreno, La Choza, Costa Brava, La Perlita It was all good. We were disappointed to find Santiagos closed down again. We had wanted to try Mesa 17 and the French Quarter, and youd think that with two full weeks there wed have time to do everything. Think again.
The weather was for the most part really good, except that the one gray day happened to be the day we picked to go around the island. It rained on us briefly a couple of times, but twas no biggie.
Well, thats about it. It was wonderful, as always, and we are already blocking out dates for our next trip. This aint the real world, THAT is.
(A link to photos will follow.)
Cheers,
5/8-22/05
Well, it was another wonderful Cozumel trip, and at 14 days, it's our longest stay so far. We stayed at Caribe Blu, where we have been staying since 1981, when it was La Perla, and through the short time it was Lorena. Needless to say, it is very much a home away from home for us; we have sort of a mini family reunion there every spring. Jeanie and Alejandra took really good care of us. We dove with Blue Angel.
The sequence of events:
Sun 5/8 (Diving) Shore dive on Villablanca Reef
Mon 5/9 (Diving) Tortugas y Tarpons (mainland) and Paradise
Tues 5/10 (Diving) Dos Ojos
Wed 5/11 (Diving) Palancar Horseshoe and Paseo de Cedral
Thurs 5/12 (Diving) Francesca and Yucab
Fri 5/13 (Diving) Colombia and Cedral Wall
Sat 5/14 (Diving) Punta Sur Cathedral and Tormentos
Sun 5/15 (Diving) Two shore dives on Villablanca - one daylight, one night
Mon 5/16 (Fishing) One dorado, one barracuda, one blackfin tuna
Tues 5/17 (Excursion) Day trip around the island
Wed 5/18 (Fishing) Six sailfish, one dorado
Thurs 5/19 (Diving) Palancar Bricks and Dalila
Fri 5/20 (Fishing) One sailfish, eight dorado, saw a 460 lb blue marlin in the Caleta
............(Diving) Villablanca at night
Sat 5/21 (Diving) Punta Sur Devils Throat and Punta Tuniche
Sun 5/22 Departed Cozumel
Diving high points:
5/9 Tortugas y Tarpons - Tons of turtles but no tarpon; others the next day saw 50 or more. New dive for us.
5/10 Dos Ojos Another new experience. Our DM (Mateo with Blue Angel) is a very experienced cave diver, so we were well escorted. It was a little spooky at times, but overall a very enjoyable experience.
5/14 Punta Sur Cathedral - Very close encounter with an eagle ray. I was last in line, and I saw the DMs signal and the ray swimming upcurrent toward us. I drifted over into the rays path and held very still; it passed less than a meter from me.
5/20 Villablanca at night At least 7 octopus, and a school of about 15 reef squid.
5/19 Dalila another eagle ray, this one snuffling in the sand.
5/21 Punta Sur Devils Throat I stand corrected! I never had much interest in doing this dive, but thats only because I had an erroneous preconceived notion of what it was about. It was a beautiful dive, lots of life there, and we saw the sponge cross on the way out.
Whats new since last year:
The renovation of Plaza las Glorias appears to be nearly complete, and at least the street face of the new building next to it is just about done. The dolphin experience place (I will not editorialize) between Acuario and Servi Playa is finished and open for business, as is the Tequila bar between it and Acuario.
There are at least 5 new traffic lights on the island.
Joes Reggae Bar is officially defunct.
Food prices are up considerably. Thank goodness for the ATMs.
The new gas station down south of La Ceiba/El Cid is open.
They were tearing the roof off of the bar in the old Morgans building on the northeast corner of the square the last couple of days I was there; I dont know if they were tearing down the building, reroofing it, or adding a second floor to it.
The repaving of Melgar is complete. They set images of flying swallows into the concrete, which looks real pretty but generates a lot of road noise.
ScubaBoarders on Cozumel:
The survey tape worked great; I found Rick and Ron that way. I met Scott and his wife at the hotel, and a group of us met at La Choza on Sun 5/15, though I had a night dive scheduled and had to leave before dinner. It was an amiable group, although I confess to have a very bad brain for names, so although I remember all of you well, I cant recall all your names. Mawg came by the hotel and waved some survey tape at my wife, but I was out fishing and missed him. I met Sharky60 and his wife at Hollys camera shop (and Holly, too). We rented a camera from her; we got some great shots and some great pointers from her as well. Thanks, Holly! And Christi, of course congrats on your new shop, its really nice.
The food:
New to our list this year is Especias; we ate there twice. Adrian (the owner) is a real cutup, and a most gracious host. The Indian Shrimp makes my mouth water just thinking of it. We hit most of the rest of our faves Panchos, Prima, Sonora, Capi Navigante, El Moro, Los Gavilanes (sp?), El Moreno, La Choza, Costa Brava, La Perlita It was all good. We were disappointed to find Santiagos closed down again. We had wanted to try Mesa 17 and the French Quarter, and youd think that with two full weeks there wed have time to do everything. Think again.
The weather was for the most part really good, except that the one gray day happened to be the day we picked to go around the island. It rained on us briefly a couple of times, but twas no biggie.
Well, thats about it. It was wonderful, as always, and we are already blocking out dates for our next trip. This aint the real world, THAT is.
(A link to photos will follow.)
Cheers,
