Hi All,
Figured I'd better get this trip report posted before I get too lazy!!! Our trip was from April 30th through May 7th.
We flew US AIR out of Chicago O'Hare Airport on Saturday April 30th. We had a 45 minute layover in Charlotte, NC. Then flew from Charlotte to Cozumel. No problems with the flights. We got our flights free with our dividend miles. When we got to the airport in Chicago we were offered the opportunity to upgrade the first leg of our flight to first class for a hundred bucks. It was totally worth it!!!
We arrived in Cozumel to a warm, windy, sunny 90 degrees. Customs was no hassle and we headed out to the shuttle vans. Got to sit up front with the air conditioning.
From this point in my trip I'm going to split it up...the hotel and the diving:
The Hotel: THE OCCIDENTAL GRAND
The grounds are just beautiful!!! Our room was plenty big and the bathroom was huge! It was really nice having the tub and the shower separate (tub for gear...shower for us!) A two dollar tip to the maid each day ensured that our room was cleaned early and that we had our mini fridge re-stocked everyday. We were on the top floor of our building and our room had 2 beds (full size I think). If you want a king size bed you need to request the first floor I think. The hotel has 3 specialty restuarants for dinner (reservations required), 1 buffet place for dinner, and 1 pizzera place for dinner. Breakfast is a buffet that also includes made to order eggs. Lunch is a buffet outside (covered) by the beach. We managed to eat at each and every place! Breakfast was always good...fresh fruits (the pineapple was to die for), eggs, french toast, and all the usual buffet stuff. Lunch outside was also good...you just have to find what you like. Our favorite dinner was at La Hacienda. We had the chicken enchiladas in verde sauce. We also at at Sonora Grill (steak house) and Los Olivos (mediterranian). All in all, we were happy with the food. Now, as for the drinks...we thought they pretty much sucked. We stayed at Fiesta Americana 3 times last year (2004) and the drinks were much better there. We aren't big drinkers (especially with the diving) but every drink we ordered was bad (margaritas, amaretto stone sour, fuzzy navel, etc). After a few days we decided it was better to just stick to water and sodas (it's a pepsi place..no coke). There are two pools at the hotel. One is very active...the party pool. The other is quiet. Both are very nice. If you need it, there is internet access (when it's working) for 3.00 for 15 minutes. Checkout was a breeze. We called the front desk from our room and they sent a bellboy to come get our luggage and give us a ride on the golf cart to the lobby (it's a walk otherwise). We did go into town to eat at La Choza. Wonderful food, of course!!! It's one of our favorite places to eat. Now...on to the diving!
DIVING: Blue XT Sea
You've heard it before and you'll hear it again here. Christi's operation is wonderful! We called her on Saturday when we arrived and she told us that we would be picked up at the pier at 8:30 on Sunday morning. They were right on time. On Sunday the water was extremely choppy. It was a bit of a rough ride out to the first site...I felt a tad queasy but once I hit the water I was fine! My hubby is a bit of an air hog and Christi provided him with larger tanks (he was still the first one up most of the week!). When Rick (hubby) hit 700 psi, he was sent to do his safety stop with another person in our group...I got to buddy up with Pedro (divemaster) at that point. Well, 15 minutes later when I got on the boat...which was rocking pretty good with the waves I realized that Rick had been sitting on that rocking boat...and not feeling very well!!! We did our surface interval and went back out. He still wasn't feeling very well but hadn't gotten sick. Mago (captain) called Christi while we were on the dive and asked if he could drive us back to our hotel in a truck after the dives ended so that Rick wouldn't have to be on the boat any longer than needed. She, of course, said yes. Very nice as they didn't have to do that! After that first day the water started calming down and the rest of the week was great. My octo (mine...not rented) started leaking early in the week (monday or tuesday) and Pedro (divemaster) offered to take it in and have it fixed where he gets his gear serviced. I figured it was going to be big bucks...not so! 25.00 for the part...5.00 for the labor. I won't go through all the dive sites we visited as you've all heard about all of them before. We did 10 dives on this trip. My longest dive was an hour and three minutes. Saw eels, turtles, sharks, two squids mating (interesting!), and all the usual beautiful fish. Our surface intervals were always at a pier and/or beach and always lasted at least one hour...many times longer. We were given water, juice, cookies, crackers, pretzels, muffins, and trail mix. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we got to dive with Jay from Scubaboard! Great guy!!! Hey Jay...we enjoyed diving with you! On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we got to dive with Rick Inmann (nothing like having 2 Rick's on the same small boat!). Hey Rick...great diving with you (hope you found your batteries in town!).
It was a wonderful week and we are already starting to plan our next trip. We are trying to decide which hotel we like better...Occidental Grand or Fiesta Americana. Both are great to me. They both have their specific qualities and it's hard to choose between them!
I'm still working on my pictures and I'll post them as soon as we have them all back! If anyone has any questions please ask away!
Michelle & Rick Hart
Figured I'd better get this trip report posted before I get too lazy!!! Our trip was from April 30th through May 7th.
We flew US AIR out of Chicago O'Hare Airport on Saturday April 30th. We had a 45 minute layover in Charlotte, NC. Then flew from Charlotte to Cozumel. No problems with the flights. We got our flights free with our dividend miles. When we got to the airport in Chicago we were offered the opportunity to upgrade the first leg of our flight to first class for a hundred bucks. It was totally worth it!!!
We arrived in Cozumel to a warm, windy, sunny 90 degrees. Customs was no hassle and we headed out to the shuttle vans. Got to sit up front with the air conditioning.
From this point in my trip I'm going to split it up...the hotel and the diving:
The Hotel: THE OCCIDENTAL GRAND
The grounds are just beautiful!!! Our room was plenty big and the bathroom was huge! It was really nice having the tub and the shower separate (tub for gear...shower for us!) A two dollar tip to the maid each day ensured that our room was cleaned early and that we had our mini fridge re-stocked everyday. We were on the top floor of our building and our room had 2 beds (full size I think). If you want a king size bed you need to request the first floor I think. The hotel has 3 specialty restuarants for dinner (reservations required), 1 buffet place for dinner, and 1 pizzera place for dinner. Breakfast is a buffet that also includes made to order eggs. Lunch is a buffet outside (covered) by the beach. We managed to eat at each and every place! Breakfast was always good...fresh fruits (the pineapple was to die for), eggs, french toast, and all the usual buffet stuff. Lunch outside was also good...you just have to find what you like. Our favorite dinner was at La Hacienda. We had the chicken enchiladas in verde sauce. We also at at Sonora Grill (steak house) and Los Olivos (mediterranian). All in all, we were happy with the food. Now, as for the drinks...we thought they pretty much sucked. We stayed at Fiesta Americana 3 times last year (2004) and the drinks were much better there. We aren't big drinkers (especially with the diving) but every drink we ordered was bad (margaritas, amaretto stone sour, fuzzy navel, etc). After a few days we decided it was better to just stick to water and sodas (it's a pepsi place..no coke). There are two pools at the hotel. One is very active...the party pool. The other is quiet. Both are very nice. If you need it, there is internet access (when it's working) for 3.00 for 15 minutes. Checkout was a breeze. We called the front desk from our room and they sent a bellboy to come get our luggage and give us a ride on the golf cart to the lobby (it's a walk otherwise). We did go into town to eat at La Choza. Wonderful food, of course!!! It's one of our favorite places to eat. Now...on to the diving!
DIVING: Blue XT Sea
You've heard it before and you'll hear it again here. Christi's operation is wonderful! We called her on Saturday when we arrived and she told us that we would be picked up at the pier at 8:30 on Sunday morning. They were right on time. On Sunday the water was extremely choppy. It was a bit of a rough ride out to the first site...I felt a tad queasy but once I hit the water I was fine! My hubby is a bit of an air hog and Christi provided him with larger tanks (he was still the first one up most of the week!). When Rick (hubby) hit 700 psi, he was sent to do his safety stop with another person in our group...I got to buddy up with Pedro (divemaster) at that point. Well, 15 minutes later when I got on the boat...which was rocking pretty good with the waves I realized that Rick had been sitting on that rocking boat...and not feeling very well!!! We did our surface interval and went back out. He still wasn't feeling very well but hadn't gotten sick. Mago (captain) called Christi while we were on the dive and asked if he could drive us back to our hotel in a truck after the dives ended so that Rick wouldn't have to be on the boat any longer than needed. She, of course, said yes. Very nice as they didn't have to do that! After that first day the water started calming down and the rest of the week was great. My octo (mine...not rented) started leaking early in the week (monday or tuesday) and Pedro (divemaster) offered to take it in and have it fixed where he gets his gear serviced. I figured it was going to be big bucks...not so! 25.00 for the part...5.00 for the labor. I won't go through all the dive sites we visited as you've all heard about all of them before. We did 10 dives on this trip. My longest dive was an hour and three minutes. Saw eels, turtles, sharks, two squids mating (interesting!), and all the usual beautiful fish. Our surface intervals were always at a pier and/or beach and always lasted at least one hour...many times longer. We were given water, juice, cookies, crackers, pretzels, muffins, and trail mix. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we got to dive with Jay from Scubaboard! Great guy!!! Hey Jay...we enjoyed diving with you! On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we got to dive with Rick Inmann (nothing like having 2 Rick's on the same small boat!). Hey Rick...great diving with you (hope you found your batteries in town!).
It was a wonderful week and we are already starting to plan our next trip. We are trying to decide which hotel we like better...Occidental Grand or Fiesta Americana. Both are great to me. They both have their specific qualities and it's hard to choose between them!
I'm still working on my pictures and I'll post them as soon as we have them all back! If anyone has any questions please ask away!
Michelle & Rick Hart
Well my wife and I were in that mass of people.
