Hi All,
We went to Cozumel for the 3rd time in 2004 from December 4th - December 11th (we were also there in May and in February). Pics will be at the end of this report!
Flew Continental from Chicago O'Hare with a very short stopover in Houston. We arrived in Cozumel at 11:28....right on time. No problems with baggage or customs.
We stayed at the Fiesta Americana on the All Inclusive Plan. We love being able to get off of the boat and walk right into the lunch place and grab something to eat and then head back to the boat if we want to. The food at fiesta americana ranges from decent to great depending on day/time. Breakfast was always awesome....made to order omlets and eggs, french toast, fresh fruit, juices and a fruit smoothie bar. For lunch we tended to order from the menu (no one will come out and tell you that you can order from the menu instead of having the buffet). This guaranteed us hot food, made to order. For dinner, sometimes we did the buffet and sometimes we ordered from the menu. They also have a special restuarant...we went there on our previous two trips and the food was awesome...it was closed during our trip this time but it was only closed for that week. If you stay at Fiesta, make sure to go there! That's where you get the filet mingon's, etc. My other report of food at local places will be later in the report.
Okay...on to the diving! We did a total of 17 dives in 5 days (stayed 7 nights). Didn't dive on the Saturday we arrived or the day before we left. 15 of the dives were with Dive House (the on site operator) and 2 dives were with Blue XT Sea. We've always done all of our dives with Dive House and once again we were not disappointed. Great variety of sights, creatures and walls. I can't say enough about dive house. Don't think twice about using them if you are staying at Fiesta. As for Blue XT Sea and Christi's operation.....one word.....AWESOME...okay, another word....AMAZING!!!
We were booked to dive with Christi on Sunday for a 2 tank afternoon dive. We had tried to book that dive with Dive House and were told that they were booked (this was MONTHS IN ADVANCE). So, we arrive in Cozumel on Saturday and as per Christi's instructions we tried to call her when we arrived. She was experiencing severe internet problems and was on the phone (so it was busy!). Not knowing any better we jumped in a cab and figured we would just head to her shop. We had an address. We should have known something wasn't right when we had to ask 3 different taxi drivers if they knew where it was. I felt so bad for Christi when we got there! The address I had was her HOME!!!! Christi....if you get to read this...we are so sorry for invading your privacy! ATTENTION EVERYONE...do NOT try to go to Christi's shop!!! Just call her! She was rather shocked to see us but She was soooo nice to us! Also, it turns out that pretty much no one dives on Sunday afternoons in Cozumel...only mornings. When I booked with Christi she didn't realize that it was a Sunday. However, she said NO PROBLEM...WE TOLD YOU WE WOULD TAKE YOU AND WE WILL DO IT. We were picked up at the Fiesta Americana pier on Sunday afternoon by Mago and Divemaster Javier (aka Have a Beer...according to him it's easier to remember Have A Beer than Javier). For the first dive we were the only two divers on the boat! It was totally awesome!!! Javier asked what we wanted to see. Well, being that we had never seen the famous Splendid Toadfish and this being our 3rd trip without a sighting, we told him that's what we were looking for. He said No Problem at all. We back rolled into the water, dropped down and within 2 minutes he found one! Also saw tons of other stuff. They took us back to Fiesta Americana for the surface interval...we sat on the dock and had snacks and juice and got to see the famous magic show by Mago. For the second dive we had a 3rd diver (a single diver from the morning trip). The second dive turned out to be a Twilight Dive...started out while it was still daylight but when we were done it was pitch black outside! Totally amazing! We were also given warm fresh towels after each dive. Christi...you and your crew get our highest recommendations! We are hoping to return to Cozumel in April and we'll definitely be booking with you! You guys are amazing!
Food Report at local places! We only ate in town twice this time. With 17 dives we did most of our eating very quickly between dives at the hotel. As reported earlier, we ended up at Christi's house not realizing what we were doing. While we were there we asked about a good place to eat. She told us of a Seafood place off the beaten path. Said it was great for Seafood Tacos and not expensive. We walked there! It's about two blocks north from the main square (north of the square) and I believe one block (maybe two) east of the main drag. I think it was called Carmello's (maybe Christi can say if I'm wrong...). We each had 2 shrimp tacos (total of 4) and we each had a bottle of Coca Cola. Grand total bill....6 bucks! Tacos for a buck a piece and cokes for a buck a piece.
The other place we ate was Aquario's (sp?). It's approximately 2 blocks south of Carlos-n-Charlie's on the opposite side of the street (waterfront). We both had the Lobster Tail....AWESOME!!!! HUGE!!! We had a beautiful ocean view from our table. We sat inside because we wanted the air conditioning but they also have seating outside right by the water...would be very romantic for a sunset dinner! This place is more expensive but for a lobster dinner not too bad. I believe our total bill was about 65.00 USD. Two Cokes, One Nacho Appetizer, 2 Huge Lobster Tail dinners. They also have a tank outside where you can pick your own live lobster if you want to. Those suckers are huge! Not sure on the price.
PICTURES!!! I have a Canon s500 Digital Elph Camera with a WP-DC800 Housing. This is a link to the pics I took:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGTVo4auGrkY
Hope the link works! If anyone has questions about the report...ask away!
We went to Cozumel for the 3rd time in 2004 from December 4th - December 11th (we were also there in May and in February). Pics will be at the end of this report!
Flew Continental from Chicago O'Hare with a very short stopover in Houston. We arrived in Cozumel at 11:28....right on time. No problems with baggage or customs.
We stayed at the Fiesta Americana on the All Inclusive Plan. We love being able to get off of the boat and walk right into the lunch place and grab something to eat and then head back to the boat if we want to. The food at fiesta americana ranges from decent to great depending on day/time. Breakfast was always awesome....made to order omlets and eggs, french toast, fresh fruit, juices and a fruit smoothie bar. For lunch we tended to order from the menu (no one will come out and tell you that you can order from the menu instead of having the buffet). This guaranteed us hot food, made to order. For dinner, sometimes we did the buffet and sometimes we ordered from the menu. They also have a special restuarant...we went there on our previous two trips and the food was awesome...it was closed during our trip this time but it was only closed for that week. If you stay at Fiesta, make sure to go there! That's where you get the filet mingon's, etc. My other report of food at local places will be later in the report.
Okay...on to the diving! We did a total of 17 dives in 5 days (stayed 7 nights). Didn't dive on the Saturday we arrived or the day before we left. 15 of the dives were with Dive House (the on site operator) and 2 dives were with Blue XT Sea. We've always done all of our dives with Dive House and once again we were not disappointed. Great variety of sights, creatures and walls. I can't say enough about dive house. Don't think twice about using them if you are staying at Fiesta. As for Blue XT Sea and Christi's operation.....one word.....AWESOME...okay, another word....AMAZING!!!
We were booked to dive with Christi on Sunday for a 2 tank afternoon dive. We had tried to book that dive with Dive House and were told that they were booked (this was MONTHS IN ADVANCE). So, we arrive in Cozumel on Saturday and as per Christi's instructions we tried to call her when we arrived. She was experiencing severe internet problems and was on the phone (so it was busy!). Not knowing any better we jumped in a cab and figured we would just head to her shop. We had an address. We should have known something wasn't right when we had to ask 3 different taxi drivers if they knew where it was. I felt so bad for Christi when we got there! The address I had was her HOME!!!! Christi....if you get to read this...we are so sorry for invading your privacy! ATTENTION EVERYONE...do NOT try to go to Christi's shop!!! Just call her! She was rather shocked to see us but She was soooo nice to us! Also, it turns out that pretty much no one dives on Sunday afternoons in Cozumel...only mornings. When I booked with Christi she didn't realize that it was a Sunday. However, she said NO PROBLEM...WE TOLD YOU WE WOULD TAKE YOU AND WE WILL DO IT. We were picked up at the Fiesta Americana pier on Sunday afternoon by Mago and Divemaster Javier (aka Have a Beer...according to him it's easier to remember Have A Beer than Javier). For the first dive we were the only two divers on the boat! It was totally awesome!!! Javier asked what we wanted to see. Well, being that we had never seen the famous Splendid Toadfish and this being our 3rd trip without a sighting, we told him that's what we were looking for. He said No Problem at all. We back rolled into the water, dropped down and within 2 minutes he found one! Also saw tons of other stuff. They took us back to Fiesta Americana for the surface interval...we sat on the dock and had snacks and juice and got to see the famous magic show by Mago. For the second dive we had a 3rd diver (a single diver from the morning trip). The second dive turned out to be a Twilight Dive...started out while it was still daylight but when we were done it was pitch black outside! Totally amazing! We were also given warm fresh towels after each dive. Christi...you and your crew get our highest recommendations! We are hoping to return to Cozumel in April and we'll definitely be booking with you! You guys are amazing!
Food Report at local places! We only ate in town twice this time. With 17 dives we did most of our eating very quickly between dives at the hotel. As reported earlier, we ended up at Christi's house not realizing what we were doing. While we were there we asked about a good place to eat. She told us of a Seafood place off the beaten path. Said it was great for Seafood Tacos and not expensive. We walked there! It's about two blocks north from the main square (north of the square) and I believe one block (maybe two) east of the main drag. I think it was called Carmello's (maybe Christi can say if I'm wrong...). We each had 2 shrimp tacos (total of 4) and we each had a bottle of Coca Cola. Grand total bill....6 bucks! Tacos for a buck a piece and cokes for a buck a piece.
The other place we ate was Aquario's (sp?). It's approximately 2 blocks south of Carlos-n-Charlie's on the opposite side of the street (waterfront). We both had the Lobster Tail....AWESOME!!!! HUGE!!! We had a beautiful ocean view from our table. We sat inside because we wanted the air conditioning but they also have seating outside right by the water...would be very romantic for a sunset dinner! This place is more expensive but for a lobster dinner not too bad. I believe our total bill was about 65.00 USD. Two Cokes, One Nacho Appetizer, 2 Huge Lobster Tail dinners. They also have a tank outside where you can pick your own live lobster if you want to. Those suckers are huge! Not sure on the price.
PICTURES!!! I have a Canon s500 Digital Elph Camera with a WP-DC800 Housing. This is a link to the pics I took:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGTVo4auGrkY
Hope the link works! If anyone has questions about the report...ask away!
