Days 1 and 2
Just got back from the best vacation ever at Cozumel. My wife and I stayed at Villa Blanca from Feb16th to the 23rd. Very basic but very nice hotel. No problems at all. The grounds are very nice with lots of greenery and the hotel is fairly close to town. We walked it one time, then we stuck to the cabs. Theres a restaurant by the pool which was nice to have breakfast at before our days of scuba. Nancy, who runs the restaurant, is great and is a world of info. The first day and a half we were there a norte was moving through which brought wind and rain. We just did some bar hopping and snorked in front of our hotel. The rain couldnt bother us in the water. We stopped by PapaHogs to get some drinks and dry off. We meet a group from Canada there that was a lot of fun. They were all divers bummed about no diving for the day, so they all decided to drink. Sounded good to us, so we joined in. We met ScubaTony and Encarna at Adrians for dinner. What a nice man Adrian is. By the time we found his restaurant, we were soaked from the rain. He gave us a couple dry t-shirts when we walked in. Thank you Adrian and the food was great. The rain quit the next day and the rest of our week there was PERFECT!!! About 85, no wind, and water temp 79-80.
Day 3
Ok, enough of the small stuff, we came here to get our scuba certification. We chose ScubaTony as our instructor. Tony had a lot to do with making our vacation very enjoyable. We couldnt be happier with the service we received and cant thank you enough. We will be back, and looking forward to doing our AOW with you.
Of course, beside every good man is a great woman, Encarna. Not only was Tony a great instructor, but the 2 of them together made for a lot fun in the evenings.
Because of the rain and wind the first day, the ocean wasnt a great place to start our training. We wanted to get things going, so Tony got the use of a friends pool. After training, we went to this house for lunch where they serve you food in their back yard. Food was great and man that flower tea is good. My Aunt arrived today so we decided to go to dinner and get her drunk. :0) Had dinner at Tony Romes. His ribs and margaritas are great. Then he sang a few songs, hes a really good singer. Was also neat to see the web cam we had been looking before comming. Then we went to Carlos and Charles and Senior Frogs. Those places get pretty crazy and my Aunt, well, lets say she didnt drink the rest of the vacation.
Day 4
Wake up in the morning, have a quick breakfast with Nancy, then off to meet Tony for more training.. We saw a live sand dollar during this dive. Very neat, only saw the ones in the stores before now. After diving we headed for downtown. We went 6 or 7 streets in town to get away from the crowds and high prices. Found a little taco place were we each had a couple tacos, salsa and chips, and 2 cokes. Total cost, 45 pesos. WOW!! My wife understands little Spanish and I know about 2 words of it. Even with this gap, and no one to translate, the people there helped us to get what we wanted, and we felt very comfortable being there, even though we were the only Americans around as far as we could see. Anyone traveling to Cozumel, take at least one day and get away from the tourist areas. You wont regret it and the locals seem to be great people. Just before sunset, we headed to the south side of the island to watch the sunset. Found a little beach bar down a dirt road. I wish I could remember the name. They catch the fish and lobster right in front of the place. Very good food! The sunset was beautiful and the sun seemed to just melt into the ocean.
Day 5
We did our last 2 dives of our certification at Paradise reef. Did more diving skills and then got to explore some more of the reef. Here we saw lots of discovery scuba classes going on. Sad to see a few of them not paying attention to the reef. :0( We headed into town to meet Tony for lunch and our final test. Man I hate tests. We both passed, WOOHOO!!! We decided to do a night dive at Villa Blanca reef. Got some instructions and headed for the water. Scuba at night time is totally different. Very calm and relaxing. Tony found an octopus pretty quickly which didnt mind at all that we were following and watching him. I reached to touch him and he grabbed my finger, which freaked me out at first, but he was just checking me out like I was trying to do to him. Then we headed to a sandy area, turned off our lights, and just laid at the bottom at about 25 of water for about 20 min. This may not sound very exciting, but let me tell you, it is very peaceful to lay there at night in the dark and have the ocean rock you back and forth. There is also something called bioluminescence that sparkle when you move fast at night. While the wife and I laid there, Tony did a few fast circles in the water to get them shining. Its something you have to see. Its like magic.
Day 6
Meet Tony at La Cieba hotel for discover scuba for my Aunt and her boyfriend. My wife and I get to do our first independent dives together as certified scuba divers. Tony starts instruction with my Aunt and her boyfriend while my wife and I gear up. We wanted to do our dive with them after they finished the discover scuba, but my Aunt just couldnt get her mask to clear. The wife and I decide to start our dive and meet up with Tony and my Aunts boyfriend along the way. As soon as we approached the plane wreck, I noticed something coming right for us. He appeared to be flying and as he got closer we figured out that it was an Eagle Ray. WOW!! Absolutely incredible. I scrambled to get my camera, and did get a couple pictures of him. He came about 10 from us. That was the one thing I wanted to see while I was there and this Ray was nice enough to give us a close up look. Thank you mister Eagle Ray. We meet up with Tony and Aunts boyfriend after awhile and finished our dive with them. The wife and I did 1 more dive in hopes of seeing the eagle ray again. No eagle ray but there was a topless snorkeler above us which my wife was nice enough to point out. :0) Great dive buddy. We headed into town to fart around and have dinner. Those little taco stands are good. Meet up with Tony and Encarna to go to the Carnaval Parade. We stood right in the center of the road and had the parade on both sides of us. Watching the colorful floats and the kids involved was great. They also have a few stages for live music. Tony really knows how to get people partying. He got a dead dance floor going at this one bar. By the time he finished his Pole Dancing, the floor was filled.
Day 7
This is our last full day here and we are ready for some more diving. ScubaTony set up a boat trip for us that was probably our best diving yet. The reef formations and looking off into the blue was awesome. We did some swim-throughs which was just like swimming through paradise. No words can describe the peacefulness and beauty of these reefs. We saw a sea turtle just hanging out on the reef. During one of our swim troughs, we came across a lobster that was pretty adamant on us leaving. He was pretty cool the way he stood his ground, so we honored his wish and moved on. There was a point that the current pulled us right in between the reef walls and all we had to do was direct ourselves. Thats the coolest feeling. Very effortless diving. On our last dive of the boat trip came the finale to our vacation. Tony noticed one of the biggest Eagle Rays he had ever seen. We took off for it, and man was he big! About 6 . I had to cut off my pursuit of him due to running low on air but Tony was able to make it to him and see him eating. What a perfect way to end our weeks diving. Went into town to do some shopping. Things get cheaper the further into town you go. We headed for dinner and watched the Carnaval parade with Tony and Encarna. The sadness of leaving the next day was starting to set in. We said our goodbyes then headed back to the room to pack.
Cozumel was the best vacation of our lives. We got our certification in paradise. Yep, we are addicted to Cozumel.
Just got back from the best vacation ever at Cozumel. My wife and I stayed at Villa Blanca from Feb16th to the 23rd. Very basic but very nice hotel. No problems at all. The grounds are very nice with lots of greenery and the hotel is fairly close to town. We walked it one time, then we stuck to the cabs. Theres a restaurant by the pool which was nice to have breakfast at before our days of scuba. Nancy, who runs the restaurant, is great and is a world of info. The first day and a half we were there a norte was moving through which brought wind and rain. We just did some bar hopping and snorked in front of our hotel. The rain couldnt bother us in the water. We stopped by PapaHogs to get some drinks and dry off. We meet a group from Canada there that was a lot of fun. They were all divers bummed about no diving for the day, so they all decided to drink. Sounded good to us, so we joined in. We met ScubaTony and Encarna at Adrians for dinner. What a nice man Adrian is. By the time we found his restaurant, we were soaked from the rain. He gave us a couple dry t-shirts when we walked in. Thank you Adrian and the food was great. The rain quit the next day and the rest of our week there was PERFECT!!! About 85, no wind, and water temp 79-80.
Day 3
Ok, enough of the small stuff, we came here to get our scuba certification. We chose ScubaTony as our instructor. Tony had a lot to do with making our vacation very enjoyable. We couldnt be happier with the service we received and cant thank you enough. We will be back, and looking forward to doing our AOW with you.
Of course, beside every good man is a great woman, Encarna. Not only was Tony a great instructor, but the 2 of them together made for a lot fun in the evenings.
Because of the rain and wind the first day, the ocean wasnt a great place to start our training. We wanted to get things going, so Tony got the use of a friends pool. After training, we went to this house for lunch where they serve you food in their back yard. Food was great and man that flower tea is good. My Aunt arrived today so we decided to go to dinner and get her drunk. :0) Had dinner at Tony Romes. His ribs and margaritas are great. Then he sang a few songs, hes a really good singer. Was also neat to see the web cam we had been looking before comming. Then we went to Carlos and Charles and Senior Frogs. Those places get pretty crazy and my Aunt, well, lets say she didnt drink the rest of the vacation.
Day 4
Wake up in the morning, have a quick breakfast with Nancy, then off to meet Tony for more training.. We saw a live sand dollar during this dive. Very neat, only saw the ones in the stores before now. After diving we headed for downtown. We went 6 or 7 streets in town to get away from the crowds and high prices. Found a little taco place were we each had a couple tacos, salsa and chips, and 2 cokes. Total cost, 45 pesos. WOW!! My wife understands little Spanish and I know about 2 words of it. Even with this gap, and no one to translate, the people there helped us to get what we wanted, and we felt very comfortable being there, even though we were the only Americans around as far as we could see. Anyone traveling to Cozumel, take at least one day and get away from the tourist areas. You wont regret it and the locals seem to be great people. Just before sunset, we headed to the south side of the island to watch the sunset. Found a little beach bar down a dirt road. I wish I could remember the name. They catch the fish and lobster right in front of the place. Very good food! The sunset was beautiful and the sun seemed to just melt into the ocean.
Day 5
We did our last 2 dives of our certification at Paradise reef. Did more diving skills and then got to explore some more of the reef. Here we saw lots of discovery scuba classes going on. Sad to see a few of them not paying attention to the reef. :0( We headed into town to meet Tony for lunch and our final test. Man I hate tests. We both passed, WOOHOO!!! We decided to do a night dive at Villa Blanca reef. Got some instructions and headed for the water. Scuba at night time is totally different. Very calm and relaxing. Tony found an octopus pretty quickly which didnt mind at all that we were following and watching him. I reached to touch him and he grabbed my finger, which freaked me out at first, but he was just checking me out like I was trying to do to him. Then we headed to a sandy area, turned off our lights, and just laid at the bottom at about 25 of water for about 20 min. This may not sound very exciting, but let me tell you, it is very peaceful to lay there at night in the dark and have the ocean rock you back and forth. There is also something called bioluminescence that sparkle when you move fast at night. While the wife and I laid there, Tony did a few fast circles in the water to get them shining. Its something you have to see. Its like magic.
Day 6
Meet Tony at La Cieba hotel for discover scuba for my Aunt and her boyfriend. My wife and I get to do our first independent dives together as certified scuba divers. Tony starts instruction with my Aunt and her boyfriend while my wife and I gear up. We wanted to do our dive with them after they finished the discover scuba, but my Aunt just couldnt get her mask to clear. The wife and I decide to start our dive and meet up with Tony and my Aunts boyfriend along the way. As soon as we approached the plane wreck, I noticed something coming right for us. He appeared to be flying and as he got closer we figured out that it was an Eagle Ray. WOW!! Absolutely incredible. I scrambled to get my camera, and did get a couple pictures of him. He came about 10 from us. That was the one thing I wanted to see while I was there and this Ray was nice enough to give us a close up look. Thank you mister Eagle Ray. We meet up with Tony and Aunts boyfriend after awhile and finished our dive with them. The wife and I did 1 more dive in hopes of seeing the eagle ray again. No eagle ray but there was a topless snorkeler above us which my wife was nice enough to point out. :0) Great dive buddy. We headed into town to fart around and have dinner. Those little taco stands are good. Meet up with Tony and Encarna to go to the Carnaval Parade. We stood right in the center of the road and had the parade on both sides of us. Watching the colorful floats and the kids involved was great. They also have a few stages for live music. Tony really knows how to get people partying. He got a dead dance floor going at this one bar. By the time he finished his Pole Dancing, the floor was filled.
Day 7
This is our last full day here and we are ready for some more diving. ScubaTony set up a boat trip for us that was probably our best diving yet. The reef formations and looking off into the blue was awesome. We did some swim-throughs which was just like swimming through paradise. No words can describe the peacefulness and beauty of these reefs. We saw a sea turtle just hanging out on the reef. During one of our swim troughs, we came across a lobster that was pretty adamant on us leaving. He was pretty cool the way he stood his ground, so we honored his wish and moved on. There was a point that the current pulled us right in between the reef walls and all we had to do was direct ourselves. Thats the coolest feeling. Very effortless diving. On our last dive of the boat trip came the finale to our vacation. Tony noticed one of the biggest Eagle Rays he had ever seen. We took off for it, and man was he big! About 6 . I had to cut off my pursuit of him due to running low on air but Tony was able to make it to him and see him eating. What a perfect way to end our weeks diving. Went into town to do some shopping. Things get cheaper the further into town you go. We headed for dinner and watched the Carnaval parade with Tony and Encarna. The sadness of leaving the next day was starting to set in. We said our goodbyes then headed back to the room to pack.
Cozumel was the best vacation of our lives. We got our certification in paradise. Yep, we are addicted to Cozumel.
