Does anyone do trip reports anymore? Here's a long one for you as I look at the 12" of snow in our yard with the thermometer reading 18 degrees F.
A bit of background.... My wife and I have been to Cozumel diving about 5 times while our kids stayed home being babysat by our parents. We have about 150 dives each. We took the kids to Bonaire last year to get certified, so around the end of November, as the weather starts getting colder, my wife says "we should take the kids to Cozumel this year". A check of the bank account, a few nights to sleep on it, and three days later, we had a trip booked.
Our kids are comfortable in the water but only had 18 dives prior to this trip. I was hopeful, but wary of all the things that can go wrong on a trip like this. Maybe one kid has ear-clearing problems, another could feel sick, the other might be bored, etc. Bonaire and Cozumel are quite different in that respect. Dropping off a boat in 60' of water with current is a bit different than wading into a sandy beach at your leisure! Luckily, we didn't have any issues at all!
FLIGHTS
I really don't like flying anymore. Everything from parking at the airport to TSA to the airlines... they all have a chance to screw up a trip, and when it all works, it seems a rarity. Our 1st of 2 flights on United left 50 minutes late. That didn't leave much room for our 52 minute layover in Houston. Luckily, we made up time in the air, RAN to the connecting gate, and boarded our 10 am flight at 9:59. Surprisingly, the flight from IAH to CZM was only about 1/2 full. Score. Return flight from Coz was fine, but our bags didn't make it with us home to Denver. United handled it OK, and we should have them today.
HOTEL
We normally stay at Blue Angel, but with 3 kids with us, they didn't have room. Aldora Villas availability didn't line up with our dates on the islands, so we found a VRBO at Palmas Reales, and booked it. The price was about 50% less than the other (sparingly available) places, and I couldn't figure out why. About $180/night including taxes. 2 BR condo on the water up North. When we arrived, I figured out why the cost was low. In a hurry to book, I didn't do my usual analytical research. The condo was great, but had a jungle (not ocean) view. Aside from that, it was great. Location was fine (we did get a car, though, as it's a bit far to walk downtown). Very nice pool, ladder to the ocean, good snorkeling, friendly security (24/7), good working a/c, washer/dryer, etc. We probably wouldn't choose that exact unit again (B units face the jungle), but it worked our perfectly fine for this trip and saved us about $2,000.
DIVE OPERATION
With our hotel being a few blocks North of Aldora, plus their excellent reputation, we decided to dive with them. Dave personally answered a few of my questions (via email and phone), and communication was very good. Upon arrival, we went to their shop downtown, and were checked in by Memo. We dove Barracuda with Memo about 2 years prior, so as soon as I recognized him, I said "Memo! High-Voltage diving!!!". He is always enthusiastic, professional, and a great communicator - both in english and Spanish. My kids (16/15/13 years old) are all taking Spanish in school, and Memo took pleasure in teaching them the finer points of the Spanish language. Like rrrrrrrolling your rrrrrrrrs. Everyone had a great laugh at that.
Memo, and everyone at Aldora, seem to be a notch above when it comes to details. They checked our gear carefully as they packed it in the mesh duffle bags that they deliver to the boat. Memo even correctly guessed our kids' fin sizes just by looking. All our interactions with Aldora had an air of precision, competence, and efficiency coupled with genuinely nice and friendly people. We were very impressed.
Our divemaster for the week was Dario and we had 3 different boat captains. Most of the time, it was just our family of 5 (as Dave told me it would probably be) with one trip with a single diver. Dario is a chill guy. Good English, professional, nice pre-dive briefing, and he kept our dives at 60 feet based on my request to keep it fairly shallow considering we had a 13 yr old with us. He seemed to genuinely enjoy teaching the kids how the creatures live (conch, hermit crabs, heart urchin, sea cucumber, etc. etc. etc.). Our kids are pretty enthusiastic about diving - the experience of being underwater, plus the chance to see all the wildlife, and Dario made it a perfect mix of an enjoyable dive with some teaching mixed in. He uses a slate and that was very helpful. He found the usual shy creatures (toadfish, green moray, spotted drum, etc. etc. etc.), but also a dragonfly fish. I thought he was kidding when he had us lay on the sandy bottom and wrote "wait 5 minutes" on his slate. Sure enough.... 4 minutes, 45 seconds later, a weirdo little fish pokes his head out of a rock. Looks around..... comes out a little further... flaps his wings, then pops back in his rock.
Memo told me that Dario is a soccer/futbol fan and call himself "Messi of the Sea". After seeing that dragonfly fish, I can see why!
All the boat captains (Leno, Alex, and ..... can't remember) keep everything ship shape (Aldora has some nice boats!) and take an active role in helping. They almost seem disappointed if you lift your tank yourself!
(edit: we also did a little checkout shore dive on our first day with Steve at Aldora. Steve's a Texan and was excellent as well. Swam to the marina entrance and back, got to the surface and he says "want to do that again?" The kids all said "YES" and Steve enthusiastically went with us even though I said we were fine if he wanted to leave us to ourselves.)
RESTAURANTS
I've always said that we'd vacation on Cozumel just for the food. Our kids are fairly adventurous eaters, and the we all enjoyed La Choza, Blue Angel, Los Otates, Ohana, Cielito Lindo, and El Moro. We went to El Moro twice as it's always such a nice friendly experience. I'll save all the details, but the food on Cozumel is such a draw to us!
We shopped at Mega and the highlight is the bakery. The kids thought it was so cool to pick your baked goods, bring the to the lady, and she prices everything as she puts the in a bag. We also found a cute bakery near Calle 15 and about 3 Sur. Open late and great baked goods. Cheap, too!
MISCELLANEOUS
Here's a great testament to Cozumel.... at dinner on our last night, my 15 year old daughter said to me: "Dad, why are people so nice to us here?" Isn't that great? It really says so much about the people of Cozumel and what makes it a special place to vacation, dive, and eat!
A bit of background.... My wife and I have been to Cozumel diving about 5 times while our kids stayed home being babysat by our parents. We have about 150 dives each. We took the kids to Bonaire last year to get certified, so around the end of November, as the weather starts getting colder, my wife says "we should take the kids to Cozumel this year". A check of the bank account, a few nights to sleep on it, and three days later, we had a trip booked.
Our kids are comfortable in the water but only had 18 dives prior to this trip. I was hopeful, but wary of all the things that can go wrong on a trip like this. Maybe one kid has ear-clearing problems, another could feel sick, the other might be bored, etc. Bonaire and Cozumel are quite different in that respect. Dropping off a boat in 60' of water with current is a bit different than wading into a sandy beach at your leisure! Luckily, we didn't have any issues at all!
FLIGHTS
I really don't like flying anymore. Everything from parking at the airport to TSA to the airlines... they all have a chance to screw up a trip, and when it all works, it seems a rarity. Our 1st of 2 flights on United left 50 minutes late. That didn't leave much room for our 52 minute layover in Houston. Luckily, we made up time in the air, RAN to the connecting gate, and boarded our 10 am flight at 9:59. Surprisingly, the flight from IAH to CZM was only about 1/2 full. Score. Return flight from Coz was fine, but our bags didn't make it with us home to Denver. United handled it OK, and we should have them today.
HOTEL
We normally stay at Blue Angel, but with 3 kids with us, they didn't have room. Aldora Villas availability didn't line up with our dates on the islands, so we found a VRBO at Palmas Reales, and booked it. The price was about 50% less than the other (sparingly available) places, and I couldn't figure out why. About $180/night including taxes. 2 BR condo on the water up North. When we arrived, I figured out why the cost was low. In a hurry to book, I didn't do my usual analytical research. The condo was great, but had a jungle (not ocean) view. Aside from that, it was great. Location was fine (we did get a car, though, as it's a bit far to walk downtown). Very nice pool, ladder to the ocean, good snorkeling, friendly security (24/7), good working a/c, washer/dryer, etc. We probably wouldn't choose that exact unit again (B units face the jungle), but it worked our perfectly fine for this trip and saved us about $2,000.
DIVE OPERATION
With our hotel being a few blocks North of Aldora, plus their excellent reputation, we decided to dive with them. Dave personally answered a few of my questions (via email and phone), and communication was very good. Upon arrival, we went to their shop downtown, and were checked in by Memo. We dove Barracuda with Memo about 2 years prior, so as soon as I recognized him, I said "Memo! High-Voltage diving!!!". He is always enthusiastic, professional, and a great communicator - both in english and Spanish. My kids (16/15/13 years old) are all taking Spanish in school, and Memo took pleasure in teaching them the finer points of the Spanish language. Like rrrrrrrolling your rrrrrrrrs. Everyone had a great laugh at that.
Memo, and everyone at Aldora, seem to be a notch above when it comes to details. They checked our gear carefully as they packed it in the mesh duffle bags that they deliver to the boat. Memo even correctly guessed our kids' fin sizes just by looking. All our interactions with Aldora had an air of precision, competence, and efficiency coupled with genuinely nice and friendly people. We were very impressed.
Our divemaster for the week was Dario and we had 3 different boat captains. Most of the time, it was just our family of 5 (as Dave told me it would probably be) with one trip with a single diver. Dario is a chill guy. Good English, professional, nice pre-dive briefing, and he kept our dives at 60 feet based on my request to keep it fairly shallow considering we had a 13 yr old with us. He seemed to genuinely enjoy teaching the kids how the creatures live (conch, hermit crabs, heart urchin, sea cucumber, etc. etc. etc.). Our kids are pretty enthusiastic about diving - the experience of being underwater, plus the chance to see all the wildlife, and Dario made it a perfect mix of an enjoyable dive with some teaching mixed in. He uses a slate and that was very helpful. He found the usual shy creatures (toadfish, green moray, spotted drum, etc. etc. etc.), but also a dragonfly fish. I thought he was kidding when he had us lay on the sandy bottom and wrote "wait 5 minutes" on his slate. Sure enough.... 4 minutes, 45 seconds later, a weirdo little fish pokes his head out of a rock. Looks around..... comes out a little further... flaps his wings, then pops back in his rock.
Memo told me that Dario is a soccer/futbol fan and call himself "Messi of the Sea". After seeing that dragonfly fish, I can see why!
All the boat captains (Leno, Alex, and ..... can't remember) keep everything ship shape (Aldora has some nice boats!) and take an active role in helping. They almost seem disappointed if you lift your tank yourself!
(edit: we also did a little checkout shore dive on our first day with Steve at Aldora. Steve's a Texan and was excellent as well. Swam to the marina entrance and back, got to the surface and he says "want to do that again?" The kids all said "YES" and Steve enthusiastically went with us even though I said we were fine if he wanted to leave us to ourselves.)
RESTAURANTS
I've always said that we'd vacation on Cozumel just for the food. Our kids are fairly adventurous eaters, and the we all enjoyed La Choza, Blue Angel, Los Otates, Ohana, Cielito Lindo, and El Moro. We went to El Moro twice as it's always such a nice friendly experience. I'll save all the details, but the food on Cozumel is such a draw to us!
We shopped at Mega and the highlight is the bakery. The kids thought it was so cool to pick your baked goods, bring the to the lady, and she prices everything as she puts the in a bag. We also found a cute bakery near Calle 15 and about 3 Sur. Open late and great baked goods. Cheap, too!
MISCELLANEOUS
- The exchange rate makes Cozumel a very good bargain right now.
- Restaurant exchange rates ranged from 16 to 20
- Mega sells Old Style beer. Weird. As a native Chicagoan, I was surprised to see Old Style so far from Chicago. We can barely get it in Denver (not that it's worth drinking, anyway!)
- Taxis all gave decent rates. It seems that taxi pricing is more consistent that I remember. No more negotiating (arguing?) with the driver.
- Margarita at Rentadora Isis is very accommodating - we had to swap cars, and she made it all work out. All hand-written paperwork at a rental car agency? Cracks me up.
- Reefs look very healthy to me. I don't recall seeing so many nurse sharks before. Plus, a lot of soft coral that I don't recall seeing in the past.
- Aldora matches your tank size to air consumption, and they remember who uses more and needs a bigger tank. My older son had a 100 and my younger had an 80 and we all finished with similar amounts of air. Our dives were almost all at 1:10 with one at 1:20.
- Our non-diving friends were on-island at the same time and staying at an all-inclusive. We visited a few times, but really don't jive with the vibe there. It's just a different vacation than we prefer. We did get them to venture out a few times, though.
Here's a great testament to Cozumel.... at dinner on our last night, my 15 year old daughter said to me: "Dad, why are people so nice to us here?" Isn't that great? It really says so much about the people of Cozumel and what makes it a special place to vacation, dive, and eat!
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