Trip Report: Caribe Blu and Blue Angel

[SBP Studios]

Spent 4 days Diving with Blue angle last week. I hate extensive trip reports simply because I rarely have the time to write them so ill just do a good and bad and anyone is welcome to ask any questions.

HOTEL

THE GOOD: Cheap $90 per night

Cable

Location is right next to Dive shop, Pool

Front desk guy is very helpful, got us mopeds delivered in an hour (wanted $60 each per day, negotiated for $30).

Definately rent mopeds here and tour the Island!! Great fun.

THE BAD:

BUGS (spiders and ants everywhere in our room), we ended up with about 10 bites total from god knows what while we slept.

No refrigerator (they said they are working on getting them in every room but cant afford it right now),

NOISE...if you do stay here make sure you dont get a #01 room, its right next to the Dive shop and you will be woken up at 4am everyday by the tanks getting unloaded (VERY not-cool)

4 floors and no Elevator! try doing this with enough gear for 2 people. Kinda blows.

INternet only works on first and second floor. It would cost them $90 to add a router for the 3rd and 4th floor. Guess they are serious penny pinchers. We had to use the lobby for wireless access.

BLUE ANGEL DIVE SHOP:

The good:

DM Pablo was awesome, cool guy to talk to and extremely helpful every day. We asked for him for each of our dives, only 1 dive did we not get him. Not to mention his underwater videos he will do for you are excellent.

Fast boats> none of them seemed to belong to Blue Angle though, all were rented from other Dive shops.

Food right upstairs>the mixed Chicken and Beef Chimichangas are awesome after a 2 tank dive!

Full size Dunk Tank

THE BAD:

DM Jose> I heard good stuff about this guy. I traveled with a red haired friend who is fluent in Spanish and they did not know it. I look Mexican but am Italian. Come to find out Jose called me a GAVACHO to one of the other guys when I was getting out of the water and said "dont take that Gavachos gear" I guess a Gavacho is a term for someone who is Mexican but does'nt speak it. Anyway this guy was kinda rude. Not to mention when we were diving with him he would go off on his own and spend like 5 mins inspecting 1 thing and we would literally all have to wait for him since no one knew were we were going. (no one on my boat liked this guy)

The owner> I know this lady just had breast cancer and has a big compression contraption on her arm but she is REALLY in a bad mood and is not friendly at all. I guess we are not used to being yelled at when we go to the counter and ask about a certain dive we heard was awesome. Her reply "no, its too far, im not sending the boats there anymore, i cant afford it!" :11:

The Fills> 2700psi in almost every tank we got.

The Captains> "Go lady, hurry up lady go" kinda rubbed my wife and her friend the same way. I even told him to relax and he was still an ***. Each one of the captains we ended up having was contracted and not a Blue Angel employee.

Open Water Scene> Our very last dive! Columbia SHallows. It started raining as soon as we hit the water. 50 min dive later we surface right over the wall, we just hovered it. 6 Divers and 1 DM (Pablo) "where is the boat"? 15 min later, he finds us...a bit nerve racking but we all had a laugh about it while we were all floating. If it was Hawaii or Bahamas I would have pissed myself no doubt. haha


All in all, we loved the Diving experience itself of Cozumel and not so much the Dive shop or HOtel, we cant wait to try another operator next time as this one came via a reccomendation of this forum. I think the glaring reviews were a bit misleading. I can assure you this one is very accurate.

Pics to follow soon!!

G&H

 

[Firefyter]

I think the glaring reviews were a bit misleading. I can assure you this one is very accurate.

Pics to follow soon!!

G&H

I can assure you that my experience with them has never been like yours, so your assurance that your review is very accurate doesn't carry a lot of weight.

1. Never heard of or met Pablo, so no experience with this one.

2. Fast boats. Yes, they do own their own boats. Several of them. I don't know why or how all of the ones you were on could have been rentals, but if you say so.......

3. DM Jose. I have dove with Jose several times, and he has never even approached being rude to me or anyone else in my presence. He's always been consistently polite and helpful. I guess anyone could have a bad day, though.

4. The fills. Almost every shop on the island gets their fills from the same place, so this can't hardly be BA's fault. I'm not saying you're wrong, just realize that there's not much BA could do about this one. It would be the same with almost any shop you dove with there.

5. The Captains. The contract Captains must have been because of the rental boats. Every Captain I've ever dealt with has been a BA employee, and has been very good as well as courteous. Understand, though, that sometimes their English is limited, and they may have a hard time communicating with you. If the current is fast, and you need to do a quick descent, he may not know how to tell you nicely that you need to get in the water quick and go down.


I'm not trying to bust your chops, as obviously you did not enjoy the experience, and perception is reality. I'm just saying that the glowing reviews came from a lot of people that felt a lot different about their experience than you do. Their reviews were no more misleading than yours, it's just that they had different expectations and were happy with the way it turned out. That's the wonderful thing about Coz. There are a LOT of different ops and hotels to choose from, you just have to find one to meet YOUR expectations. It sounds like BA was not a good fit for you, but for me, they're perfect.

 

[SBP Studios]

Sidenote:

Caribe Blu and Blue Angel are currently for sale so this could very well be the reason our experience there last week was not the best.

 

[ggunn]

Sidenote:

Caribe Blu and Blue Angel are currently for sale so this could very well be the reason our experience there last week was not the best.

I have heard that as well, but that can be misleading. In Mexico it's not unusual for real estate and businesses to be "for sale" for years without ever being sold. Many times such things are just feelers to see if anyone will come in and bite on a high ball amount. Everything is for sale when you get down to it, and that rumor, even if true, does not necessarily mean that Alexandra and her partners are actively seeking a buyer.

DISCLAIMER: I do not have any inside info on those particular properties.

 

[driftin' by]

I'm just saying that the glowing reviews came from a lot of people that felt a lot different about their experience than you do. Their reviews were no more misleading than yours, it's just that they had different expectations and were happy with the way it turned out.

Very well put.

I think the glaring reviews were a bit misleading. I can assure you this one is very accurate.

It's difficult to turn a blind eye toward 100 glaring reviews. I'm sorry but I take that a bit personally as I recently gave a glaring review of Blue Angel a few months ago and I assure you that everything I said was accurate. You for some reason instigate that the SB community led you awry by giving inaccurate, glaring reviews of both Caribe Blu and Blue Angel as if the review writers were used car salesman. Caveat Emptor! Don't put it on us or dismiss it because they're rumoured to be for sale. I'm not sure your gonna find any hotel/dive op reviews that are more in dept, unbiased and accurate than your gonna find here.

But in the end, you're entitled to your opinion and it's been duly noted. The bugs, lack of refrigerator, lack of elevator and lack of Internet access on certain floors are no surprises.... I've never stayed at Caribe Blu and I know about these issues. Also, I wouldn't think anyone would be surprised to get 2700 psi in Cozumel based on many discussions about it in this forum. Doesn't mean it should happen but you can't blame BA for it. I thought BA only rented Sea Robin's boat and again, I'm not sure why anyone would complain because it's a new boat. Nevertheless, you imply that since they rented all their boats that none of their own boats are fast as other's have reported in the past. Well, I've dived 3 of their own boats and I assure you and anyone else reading this that they are indeed fast, lest anyone think otherwise. Abrupt/assertive Captains? They're the captain and responsible for everyone's safety, just do what they say. I sounds like an issue of things being lost in translation... other dialects have no words for sugar-coat that things they say.

 

[SBP Studios]

You for some reason instigate that the SB community led you awry by giving inaccurate, glaring reviews of both Caribe Blu and Blue Angel

Not at all. Just giving my review. Judging by the PMs ive gotten on this already it appears as though the "flaming" for not talking good about BA was to be expected.

I honestly dont care. We dive 4x a year and if I dont like the operation, I will share my feedback. If you dont like it, tough!

Happy diving everyone.

 

[fishballer]

jose is a bit distant. he's a good dm, knows his stuff, but he's not trying to be your best friend (at least not to me, the 2 trips i've been on). I don't mind that at all, but maybe some would prefer dms that are a bit more cheerful?

other than that, caribe blu and blue angel, IMHO, are fine that way they are

 

[driftin' by]

If you dont like it, tough!

Actually I appreciate an objective review that isn't necessarily in good light to see how people with different perspectives experience the same things I have. Yours wasn't objective and half the things you complain about are known to be expected. I mean, it's kinda like complaining that it was hot there or that you got wet while diving. I was fine with it until you attacked the credibility and honesty of so many people on this board that have given 'glaring' reviews to Blue Angel and Caribe Blu when I believe the real problem to be unrealistic expectations, international insensitivity and buyers remorse.

Sorry you didn't enjoy yourself.

 

[ggunn]

Not at all. Just giving my review. Judging by the PMs ive gotten on this already it appears as though the "flaming" for not talking good about BA was to be expected.

Flaming? I didn't see anything remotely like flaming. Disagreement, sure; we all have our own opinions and some happen to differ from yours. NBD (no big deal). That's why it's good that there are so many choices on Cozumel; different folks have got different desires and expectations when it comes to diving and hotel experiences. That's a good thing.

It so happens that Caribe Blu and Blue Angel are an excellent fit for me and my group. Not for you? That's OK with me; no hard feelings.

 

[cheesehead]

Thanks for your report, it is informative. Don't get bent out of shape with the replies, they are only doing what you are doing, defending an opinion.

Perspective is interesting, $90 a night sounds expensive compared to Casa Mexicana or other down town hotels. Mopeds, by most views, are the most dangerous item on Cozumel. But thats my view vs yours.

In general everything that enjoys a run up on the internet seems to hit a rash of "what where those guys thinking" posts. The singular exception being Blue XT Sea. This month its Blue Angle, Aldora and Caribe Blu. Maybe next month it will be Casa Mexicana and Cowboyneal can get off the popcorn and fire up.

Tim