Trip Report June 23rd thru June 29th.

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Mawg

Contributor
Messages
605
Reaction score
8
Location
Clear Lake, Tx.
# of dives
200 - 499
The first 2 nights of our trip we spent on Isla Mujeres. We had never been and were wanting to check it out for some time now. I.M. is so laid back that it barely exists. And it seems significantly hotter than Cozumel but then so does Cancun. I guess that is what happens when you build on top of a sandbar surrounded by a very salty sea. We rented a golf cart and in a relatively short amount of time we had seen all of the island. The golf carts dont go very fast so you will constantly have cabs,trucks,Mopeds carrying a family of 4 and bicycles on your butt trying to pass. It gets annoying.
I.M. has beautiful beaches and beautiful water. I ate some VERY good fish tacos. We ate at Jax,Bally Hoo and Miramar restaurants. All were excellent restaurants BUT, one of them gave me something that wasn't on the menu. Good thing I carry imodium. First time I've gotten sick in 15 years down there. I got to it quick and it wasn't too bad. Only lasted a couple of days. I've NEVER gotten sick while in Cozumel.
In summary, I.M. was not for me. It was too small, under developed and hot. I know there are people who love it and that is great. I'm not one of them.

We left I.M. on wed. morn. and headed for Cozumel. Ferry to Cancun, car to Playa and ferry to Cozumel. It was one of the roughest ferry rides to Cozumel I have been on in 15 years. Never seen them pass out barf bags before. They are lavender colored by the way.Grabbed a cab and headed to the Presidente. We got there just as my brother, his wife, son and nephew were arriving. Son and nephew were recently certified and headed out with Elizabeth and I in the morning for their first ocean dives. Short trip, leaving on sun., so we only dove 2 days and my brother fished for 2 days.

FISHING: I set up the 2 days of fishing thru Ocean Tours. If you pay in cash, it was $400.00 for a 4 hour trip. Boat was a 37 foot cabin cruiser, 12 foot beam and according to my brother, very nice. Picked them up, I was diving, at 8:00 a.m. and came back at noon with nothing. My brother said that the crew was excellent and did their very best. Captain told my brother I'll pick you up tomorrow at 7:00 a.m., an hour earlier. Hang on Gordon, you're gonna like this one. The first fish they caught was a 4 foot Barracuda. They didn't keep it. The second fish, according to the Capt., was a 40 pound Blackfin Tuna. Nancy fought it but was unable to land it when after 35 minutes it made a run directly at the boat and she was unable to reel in the line fast enough before it turned and was able to get away. The next fish was a 37 inch Dorado that my brother landed and we ate that evening for dinner. It was now around 10:00 a.m. and the Capt. told my brother he could see a large billfish not too far away and did my brother want to try and catch him. He said yes and off they went. They were about 4 miles off Punta Sur southwest. In no time at all, my brother hooked the fish and fought him for the next 45 minutes. Long story short, they got him to the back of the boat and the Capt. said he was 11 feet , just shy of spanning the beam. He estimated his weight at 230 pounds. It was my brothers second fishing trip to Cozumel in as many years and his first Blue Marlin. DAMN! Wish I'd been there.

DIVING: On thurs, the 4 of us dove Palancar Bricks and Punta Tuniche. And on friday we dove Palancar Caves and Cedral. The vis on Caves was,thurs., just spectacular. I loved it. I first dove it in 1993 on my first ever OW dive and I thought it was even more spectactular now. The coral never looked more vibrant. It is one of my more favorite dives in Cozumel and I would say that it is in the top 5 of dives I've made in all of the Caribbean. Tuniche and Cedral had currents of 3 and 3.5 mph which was fine with me. Who wants to kick? We saw turtles in abundance both days,all Hawksbills. On the second day, on Cedral , when we were coming up, I saw a HUGE Barracuda in the distance, approximately 20 yards. The current was at least 3.5 knots then and he was just swishing his tail gently over the reef and maintaining his position. Over the years, I've seen lots of big Cudas. I estimate that his length was 7 feet, the biggest I've ever seen. The DM, Alberto agreed with me. He was simply huge. In all, the diving was as good as it gets. Vis was great, saw lots of turtles and we all had a great time.

DINNER: This is for you Gordon. We went to Chen Rio on Sat. to relax. What a great place to do just that. I loved jumping into the tidal pool with my nephews and cooling off. By the way, my nephews are aged 40 and 33 and they cracked everybody up on the dive boat and everywhere else we went. In honor of your recommendation Gordon, 3 of us ordered the Whole Fried Snapper. Let me say this; if you dont mind your supper giving you the hairy eyeball;then carry on. I did and it was EXCELLENT. Thanks Gordon for the recommendation. I have included a pic. of my dinner. Elizabeth and I would be pleased to answer any questions.
 

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Thnx for the report and I also love palancar bricks
 
Wonderful write up. Thanks for taking the time to share.
 
Congrats to your bro for his blue! Second Coz fishing trip, eh? Well, that's fishing luck for you; it took me about 45-50 trips to get mine!

Glad you liked the snapper at Chen Rio; it's definitely a high point on the trip for me.

Are you planning your next trip yet? ;^)
 
Congrats to your bro for his blue! Second Coz fishing trip, eh? Well, that's fishing luck for you; it took me about 45-50 trips to get mine!

Glad you liked the snapper at Chen Rio; it's definitely a high point on the trip for me.

Are you planning your next trip yet? ;^)

It's the batter on the snapper that makes it so good. I'll be back for seconds for sure. My wife had the fried shrimp and it was also very good. The batter had a sweetness to it that was unusual but very tasty. We're planning on going in early May next year. My brother wants to go fishing again and this time I'm going at least one day. I fished last year and we caught a lot of Dorado and 3 large Wahoo.

When they caught the Blue, they were in 5 to 6 foot swells off Punta Sur. Weather was semi stormy most of the time we were there. On the dive boat on thurs., we got hit by a rain storm that dropped the temp. 10 to 12 degrees. We all sat on the deck and reached for towels. Most unusual for late June.
 
Funny that you felt Isla Mujeres was underdeveloped.... we stopped going there about 10 yrs ago because we felt it had become too built up, too overrun by daytrippers and the stop for too many Cancun booze cruise boats. We used to go there a couple times a year from about 1990-1998 or 99. Isla used to be such a wonderful, quaint and sleepy little island. No big Ultramar ferries every 15 min, just a smaller one running every hour or so. If you missed it, pay a fisherman 10 pesos and he'd take you across (did that many times). I saw pictures of the island recently from someone who was there for a few days in May. Couldn't believe all the buildings, the traffic, the cars, etc. The most sad thing I saw in the pics was the condition and erosion of Playa Norte with all those sand bags. It used to be a really wide, beautiful beach. I've really been wanting to go back but it might be best to leave Isla as a happy memory.

Palancar Caves is on my Top 10 Dive Sites lists for the Caribbean (at least places I've been to so far).
 
It's the batter on the snapper that makes it so good. I'll be back for seconds for sure. My wife had the fried shrimp and it was also very good. The batter had a sweetness to it that was unusual but very tasty. We're planning on going in early May next year. My brother wants to go fishing again and this time I'm going at least one day. I fished last year and we caught a lot of Dorado and 3 large Wahoo.

When they caught the Blue, they were in 5 to 6 foot swells off Punta Sur. Weather was semi stormy most of the time we were there. On the dive boat on thurs., we got hit by a rain storm that dropped the temp. 10 to 12 degrees. We all sat on the deck and reached for towels. Most unusual for late June.

I forgot to mention and didn't want to forget that while in Cancun and on Cozumel, we used Rentadora Isas. I cant say enough good things about Margarita and Edgar. They are the best.
 

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