dbezaire
New
I'm just back from a wonderful Cozumel dive week from December 3 thru December 11, and I wanted to pass along a few of the highlights to everyone.
Diving
I arranged with Christi of BlueXTSea Diving to get my Advanced Open Water, Nitrox, Deep Diver and Peak Performance Buoyancy certifications. We were blessed with good weather, wonderful dives and all that Cozumel typically offers including magnificent walls, fun swim-throughs and fast drifts. Especially breathtaking was a flight of 4 Spotted Eagle Rays that swam toward us thru a pass at Columbia Deep, then stayed around for another minute or two making graceful turns in front of us! The only bad thing about their display was that it distracted us from finishing our viewing of two nurse sharks that we'd just spotted 10' deeper. Darn! :10: Also notable was a 7' Moray eel swimming between coral heads with a couple of large Angelfish in formation alongside his head, and playing with an octopus on a nite dive in front of the Caribe Blu hotel.
All the usual accolades apply to BlueXTSea Diving: I felt well pampered diving on a very professionally operated boat with a maximum of 3 to 5 others, and appreciated that safety was stressed at all times while still allowing us to dive to limits of air and/or computer NDL time. In addition, some indicators of incredible service include:
BlueXTSea seems to attract a fun group of repeat customers who have begun to develop friendships among themselves, which a bit of extra icing on an already scrumptous cake! Which brings us to.....
Eating
I went down armed with Christi's restaurant list which you can find on the board by clicking here. I had very good meals at every restaurant I tried which included Rock-n-Java, Casa Denis, El Moro, Especias, La Choza, Mesa 17, Coco's, and Manati's. Especially notable were:
Lodging
Caribe Blu was a pleasant little no-frills hotel. Only 22 rooms, adequate though sparse, but a good value at $60 per nite. Location was great for me, with an ocean view and a pier so the boat could pick us up right in front of the hotel, and I enjoyed the 25-30 minute walk to downtown San Miguel each evening for dinner. Only downside was a bit of noise from the traffic on the coast road.
For added safety I decided not to dive the day before my flight home, which gave me time to really explore the museum. It was a delightful 3 hours that really gave me some insight on the geology and peoples of Cozumel, as well as an appreciation for the intricacies of the delicated coral life-cycle. Highly recommended!
Do you detect a bit of excitement in my report?? You should, because I'm full of gratitude for a wonderful week of diving and can't wait for my next opportunity to get back down for more! I wish you all well and hope your travels are just as satisfying.
Dave
Diving
I arranged with Christi of BlueXTSea Diving to get my Advanced Open Water, Nitrox, Deep Diver and Peak Performance Buoyancy certifications. We were blessed with good weather, wonderful dives and all that Cozumel typically offers including magnificent walls, fun swim-throughs and fast drifts. Especially breathtaking was a flight of 4 Spotted Eagle Rays that swam toward us thru a pass at Columbia Deep, then stayed around for another minute or two making graceful turns in front of us! The only bad thing about their display was that it distracted us from finishing our viewing of two nurse sharks that we'd just spotted 10' deeper. Darn! :10: Also notable was a 7' Moray eel swimming between coral heads with a couple of large Angelfish in formation alongside his head, and playing with an octopus on a nite dive in front of the Caribe Blu hotel.
All the usual accolades apply to BlueXTSea Diving: I felt well pampered diving on a very professionally operated boat with a maximum of 3 to 5 others, and appreciated that safety was stressed at all times while still allowing us to dive to limits of air and/or computer NDL time. In addition, some indicators of incredible service include:
- Without anyone having to make a request, they added a 2nd divemaster one day to work with a "nervous" diver so the regular divemaster could dive with 3 of us who were more confident
- Christi strapped a backup computer to my BCD for the deep dives "just in case"
- Plenty of water and juice on the boat, and sandwiches between dives
- Jackets for everyone after the night dive
- Surface intervals between dives were at comfortable beach clubs -- a fun way to maximize bottom time and safety
BlueXTSea seems to attract a fun group of repeat customers who have begun to develop friendships among themselves, which a bit of extra icing on an already scrumptous cake! Which brings us to.....
Eating
I went down armed with Christi's restaurant list which you can find on the board by clicking here. I had very good meals at every restaurant I tried which included Rock-n-Java, Casa Denis, El Moro, Especias, La Choza, Mesa 17, Coco's, and Manati's. Especially notable were:
- Breakfast: go to Coco's for Enfrioladas
- Lunch: go to Rock-n-Java for Marinated Chicken with Kiwi/Mango salsa
- Dinner: to to Manati's for Grouper with Ginger and a surprising House Salad
Lodging
Caribe Blu was a pleasant little no-frills hotel. Only 22 rooms, adequate though sparse, but a good value at $60 per nite. Location was great for me, with an ocean view and a pier so the boat could pick us up right in front of the hotel, and I enjoyed the 25-30 minute walk to downtown San Miguel each evening for dinner. Only downside was a bit of noise from the traffic on the coast road.
For added safety I decided not to dive the day before my flight home, which gave me time to really explore the museum. It was a delightful 3 hours that really gave me some insight on the geology and peoples of Cozumel, as well as an appreciation for the intricacies of the delicated coral life-cycle. Highly recommended!
Do you detect a bit of excitement in my report?? You should, because I'm full of gratitude for a wonderful week of diving and can't wait for my next opportunity to get back down for more! I wish you all well and hope your travels are just as satisfying.
Dave
