Overall, the trip was great, with a couple of caveats:
There was a pretty strong SE wind blowing the whole time we were there. Early in the trip we went south as far as Colombia Deep, but it was challenging getting back on the boat because of the chop and the viz was not as good as we are accustomed to. We didn't go that far south again, so we missed diving Colombia Shallows, one of our faves.
The "white plague" on the hard corals, especially brain corals, is getting pretty bad. I didn't see all that many brain corals that were unaffected. There is much speculation as to what is causing it but sunscreen can be pretty much ruled out since reefs as far south as anyone dives are as affected as the more northern reefs.
The sargasso in the water and washed up on the SE facing beaches is much worse than I have ever seen it. That SE wind, I'm sure, is contributory. We went around the island like we normally do, but no one got in the water over on the "wild side". At Chen Rio it was especially bad, and there was virtually no one there, which is very unusual for a Sunday. On the fishing boat they told us that there were a lot of people on the west beaches of Cozumel who had fled Playa del Carmen because the beaches over there were unusable.
The fishing the three days we went ranged from just OK to downright lousy. The sargasso made for a long day for the deckhands; they were constantly bringing in and unfouling the baits. I'm sure it was a factor in the poor fishing. The one bright point was the nice blackfin tuna my bro-in-law caught. We took it to Chalo's in Hotel Villablanca and they cooked it in 1-1/2" steaks very rare seared on one side only; it was some of the best tuna I have ever eaten.
But on to the good stuff...
The dives: Palancar Bricks and Yucab, Colombia Deep and Francesa, Palancar Horsehoe and Dalila, Cedral and San Francisco Wall, Cedral Wall and San Clemente, Santa Rosa and Tuniche, Palancar Gardens and Tormentos, Dalila and Paseo Cedral, Tuniche > Tormentos and Cedral > Santa Rosa. We also did night shore dives from Blue Angel South to Blue Angel and out from Blue Angel as well as an afternoon shore dive from Blue Angel. We saw all the usual suspects EXCEPT that we did not see a single nurse shark the whole trip! My wife was very disappointed at that; they are her favorite photo subjects.
The accommodations: We always stay at Blue Angel but there was a snafu with our reservations, so we stayed the first four nights at Villablanca. VB was fine; the rooms were spacious and clean and the staff at Chalo's was fantastic. Our only complaints were the lack of a dresser in the rooms and that there is no light in or near the closet by the door. The bathrooms are great! Blue Angel was great as always.
The food (dinnertimes): La Perlita, La Choza, Chalo's (the tuna!), El Moro, 'Ohana, La Mission, Casa Mission, Buccano's, Blue Angel, Pancho's, Blue Angel, Kondesa, El Moro, and La Perlita. All were very good to excellent.
It was, as always, a family vacation plus friends. My 91 years young mom fished all three days with us and it was windy and rough. We took her snorkeling down at Playa Corona. She is my role model!
So, to wrap it up, we had a great time! United was fine, mostly. Almost home, we had to sit boarded at the gate for an hour in Houston while they offloaded excess fuel that they had accidentally loaded, but I had a good book and a live Grateful Dead show (Red Rocks sometime in 1978) on my mp3 player, so it wasn't too bad.
We already have our plans in motion for April 2020!
There was a pretty strong SE wind blowing the whole time we were there. Early in the trip we went south as far as Colombia Deep, but it was challenging getting back on the boat because of the chop and the viz was not as good as we are accustomed to. We didn't go that far south again, so we missed diving Colombia Shallows, one of our faves.
The "white plague" on the hard corals, especially brain corals, is getting pretty bad. I didn't see all that many brain corals that were unaffected. There is much speculation as to what is causing it but sunscreen can be pretty much ruled out since reefs as far south as anyone dives are as affected as the more northern reefs.
The sargasso in the water and washed up on the SE facing beaches is much worse than I have ever seen it. That SE wind, I'm sure, is contributory. We went around the island like we normally do, but no one got in the water over on the "wild side". At Chen Rio it was especially bad, and there was virtually no one there, which is very unusual for a Sunday. On the fishing boat they told us that there were a lot of people on the west beaches of Cozumel who had fled Playa del Carmen because the beaches over there were unusable.
The fishing the three days we went ranged from just OK to downright lousy. The sargasso made for a long day for the deckhands; they were constantly bringing in and unfouling the baits. I'm sure it was a factor in the poor fishing. The one bright point was the nice blackfin tuna my bro-in-law caught. We took it to Chalo's in Hotel Villablanca and they cooked it in 1-1/2" steaks very rare seared on one side only; it was some of the best tuna I have ever eaten.
But on to the good stuff...
The dives: Palancar Bricks and Yucab, Colombia Deep and Francesa, Palancar Horsehoe and Dalila, Cedral and San Francisco Wall, Cedral Wall and San Clemente, Santa Rosa and Tuniche, Palancar Gardens and Tormentos, Dalila and Paseo Cedral, Tuniche > Tormentos and Cedral > Santa Rosa. We also did night shore dives from Blue Angel South to Blue Angel and out from Blue Angel as well as an afternoon shore dive from Blue Angel. We saw all the usual suspects EXCEPT that we did not see a single nurse shark the whole trip! My wife was very disappointed at that; they are her favorite photo subjects.
The accommodations: We always stay at Blue Angel but there was a snafu with our reservations, so we stayed the first four nights at Villablanca. VB was fine; the rooms were spacious and clean and the staff at Chalo's was fantastic. Our only complaints were the lack of a dresser in the rooms and that there is no light in or near the closet by the door. The bathrooms are great! Blue Angel was great as always.
The food (dinnertimes): La Perlita, La Choza, Chalo's (the tuna!), El Moro, 'Ohana, La Mission, Casa Mission, Buccano's, Blue Angel, Pancho's, Blue Angel, Kondesa, El Moro, and La Perlita. All were very good to excellent.
It was, as always, a family vacation plus friends. My 91 years young mom fished all three days with us and it was windy and rough. We took her snorkeling down at Playa Corona. She is my role model!
So, to wrap it up, we had a great time! United was fine, mostly. Almost home, we had to sit boarded at the gate for an hour in Houston while they offloaded excess fuel that they had accidentally loaded, but I had a good book and a live Grateful Dead show (Red Rocks sometime in 1978) on my mp3 player, so it wasn't too bad.
We already have our plans in motion for April 2020!
