Trip report / review: Blue Magic and Casa Suzana

[mstevens]

This is a belated review of a new-to-us operator in Cozumel and a rented house where we stayed during the last week of February, 2009. It's taken me this long to catch up with work.

The operator: Blue Magic (Diving in Cozumel - Blue Magic Scuba) is a relatively new operator. They appear to have purchased equipment and premises from Scuba Staff Divers, but the management is completely new. We chose them, quite simply, because our favorite DM Sandro moved from his previous shop to become the manager at Blue Magic. We're glad we did, even though we only got a few dives with Sandro. Incidentally, the shop is in close proximity to some of my favorite restaurants including Kinta and Camilo's. If you're driving yourself, I suggest parking in the lot across from those restaurants and walking around the corner.

Email communication with Joyce, one of the co-owners, was quick and easy. She answered my questions and anticipated several of them. She also followed up, which was nice because I'd gotten bogged down at work and let things slide a bit.

Once we got to the island, getting to the shop was a bit of a challenge due to Carnaval parades. We'd also had unexpected issues with getting cellphones and email working so didn't get the messages Joyce had left for us until after we'd already gone by the shop. We had a nephew with us who would be completing his referral for OW and needed to get fitted for rental gear. That process went smoothly and quickly. The premises are clean, bright, and orderly.

We needed to get the nephew by the shop for his beach dives the next morning, so we all went expecting to have to get ourselves to the caleta. As it turns out, Joyce got a cab for all of us, which was pretty handy. This is the first time we've not stayed at the Presidente and we've always been picked up at the dock. Our rented house in Corpus Christi was nowhere near a dock, and we'd rented 2 cars for our family specifically so divers could drive to the caleta and non-divers could explore town. I got the strong impression that if we hadn't had a car, Blue Magic would have picked us up at the house every morning.

Blue Magic's boats are fairly standard Cozumel "6-pack" style fast small boats with good sun protection. I think the most divers we had on any dive was 7 plus the DM. One of the owners was along for most of the dives. They had first aid kits and oxygen as well as oxygen analyzers for nitrox divers. 100cf aluminum cylinders and nitrox (but not nitrox 100's) were available for what I think is a nominal extra fee (notwithstanding a recent thread to the contrary). They had plenty of cold water available as well as very nice fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, bananas, papaya, and occasionally mango). Dry towels were available. Surface intervals were appropriate. We were able to leave most of our gear on the boat to be rinsed and brought for the next time out. I can understand hesitating to let life-support gear out of one's own control, but in this instance it was a nice service and meant for much less hauling and rinsing of gear every day.

We spent our first morning diving with Sandro at Palancar Bricks for 45 minutes, where we saw a nice hawksbill, and Paseo del Cedral for 55 minutes. Joyce was along for those dives. My son's new camera came off his wrist and sank as he was boarding the boat after the second dive, and mine flooded on the first just enough that the LCD quit working permanently. It was camerageddon. A night dive that evening at Paraiso went fine but pictureless. We saw the largest spiny lobster I've ever seen chasing one that was merely huge.

On the second day we had our nephew along for his open water dives, so we were on a boat with beginners and Gabriel, who was the nephew's instructor and acted as DM. The first dive at Tormentos for 45 minutes and the second at Paraiso for just over an hour were fine, although my family finished up each quite a while after everyone else was back on the boat. Gabriel found us some lovely seahorses and juvenile Spotted Drum at Paraiso, and we saw a Splendid Toadfish mostly out in the open. The other co-owner Mark was on those dives with us.

We spent the following day at Tulum and in Playa with my parents. It was agonizing to drive right past Dos Ojos, but at least we got to stop at Taco Paco and Tacos el Arbolito, and the beaches were great.

Our third day of diving was also on the "beginner boat" with Gabriel. We spent 40 minutes at Palancar Caves where we saw the smallest Hawksbill I've ever seen and another 40 at Punta Tunich. My family again had tons of gas (over 1,000 psi each) at the end of the dive but Gabriel wanted everyone back on the boat at the same time, possibly because of significant current. That night we had a night dive with Sandro at Chankanaab for an hour. We heard plenty of toadfish, but didn't see any. There were some great octopus and squid. I'm a fan of night dives to begin with, but this one was really magical. There was no moon at all, nor any current. It's the first time I've been able to see bioluminescent organisms slowly drifting downwards as far as the eye could see, much like stars. I think the nephew is now thoroughly hooked on night dives, as well.

This is the least diving we've ever done on a trip to Cozumel, and the 4th day was our last. We were still on the beginner boat, this time along with a Canadian actor and his snorkeler wife, who were interesting company and very enthusiastic. We spent 40 minutes at Palancar Caves, which really impressed my nephew with several turtles and other goodies in addition to the impressive formations and swim-throughs. Our final dive was an hour at la Francesa, which as usual was a neck-snapping profusion of life including multiple turtles and sharks.

Later that afternoon we went by the shop to settle up. It was really nice to be able to pay via PayPal - no traveler's cheques to fool with, no wads of cash, and no credit card fees. It was almost painless.

I would definitely dive with this company again, but I'd push harder to dive with Sandro. It's mostly a personality thing. Gabriel is animated and a little silly and possibly perfect for those who like to get swept up with the spirit of things. I will note that he was somewhat different (more formal and reserved) on the day with my nephew's training dives. He's more "hands-on" with the wildlife than I'm happy with. Sandro is cheerful and good-natured but quiet. On a dive, he can be serene. I've never seen him molest the fish. Overall, a much better personality fit for me.

 

[mstevens]

The house: We were travelling with my elderly parents and a nephew for a total of 6 people, half divers and half not. My folks are cheap^H^H^H^H^frugal and didn't want to rent multiple hotel rooms. We considered a waterfront condo, but didn't relish hauling gear up and down the elevator. After deciding to go with a house for this trip, I eventually found Cozumel mexico vacation rentals - villas, homes, condos where there is a range of properties of different sizes, amenities, and costs. Our first choice was already rented by early September for our week at the end of February, so we went with our second.

Arrangements were fairly easy to deal with by email and mail. We had to mail in a cheque for the deposit and half the rental to confirm the reservation, and the remainder a few weeks prior to arrival. The deposit was returned by mail a couple of weeks after we returned. Things couldn't have been much simpler. Email communication was through and informative.

Casa Suzana Cozumel vacation rentals-Casa Suzana-Cozumel Mexico is located in the Corpus Christi neighborhood. The street is relatively quiet, even during carnaval, except early in the morning when the propane truck comes by blaring its jingle. It has one bedroom on the first floor and two on the second. Each has an en-suite bathroom with shower (no tubs), and there's a half-bath on the first floor. There's a large living room with a big TV (for some reason, my dad loves to watch TV while on vacation) and each bedroom has a smaller TV. A large number of VHS tapes was supplied. There were also quite a lot of books. There's a sizeable dining room

The kitchen is quite decent and stocked with cooking equipment and crockery, including a microwave, coffemaker, blender, etc.. The fridge was stocked with a 6-pack each of Coke and Sol and had a large number of full ice trays in the freezer, and there was a basket of snacks on the counter. A gas grill is provided outside, though we didn't use it. There's a large dispenser for purified water and pitchers in each bathroom for the same. We're restaurant people when on-island, but it would easily be feasible to feed a whole tribe by cooking in the kitchen. We made micheladas, pina coladas, mojitos, etc. every evening and there was plenty of bartending equipment (except for a muddler for mojitos, but where have you ever seen one in a rental place?) including a lime juicer and shot glasses.

There was a fairly complete, hotel-style binder with house instructions, local information including restaurants, etc. A very nice touch was a stack of laminated cards with a picture of the house and its address and phone number which were handy for showing cab drivers until we memorized the address. Beach towels were supplied as well as bath towels. There's an electronic safe. The house has one phone and a wireless broadband router. The living room and each bedroom has a mini-split air conditioner, all of which worked well.

The house is nicely decorated with artwork. The paint and ironwork are in good condition, and everything was spotlessly clean. Water pressure was quite good, and we never ran out of hot water for showers.

Outside, there's a nice pool, an outdoor shower, and several lounges as well as a table and chairs near the pool. A dunk tank for scuba gear is provided, as is locked, ventilated gear storage with a PVC drying rack. There are several coconut palms with ripe coconuts (Pro tip 1: when buying a machete at the local hardware store, buy a file to sharpen it as well since they come dull as heck. Pro tip 2: a dive knife takes almost as long to hack through a coconut as a dull machete.) Each of the upstairs bedrooms opens onto a balcony that overlooks the street. There's also a large upstairs patio. Perfect for topless sunbathing or whatever.

There's daily maid service. For people who want to do laundry on their vacation, there's a washer and dryer. I'll bet the maid would do some personal laundry if you asked nicely and tipped well.

There's on-island staff for issues that need to be addressed in person. We had an issue with the phone and he came by to work on it. At the end of the stay he also helped us get "checked out" and got us set up with a cab.

My parents really liked the house, and they're the ones who spent the most time there. We liked it, too, but for our family of 3 the place would be way too big. We'd definitely consider renting a smaller place from the same management company.

 

[mstevens]

Final thoughts: Cozumel during Carnaval is, basically, a pain. I'm apparently too old to enjoy the party, and all the parades meant Melgar was closed off nearly every time we needed to use it. This included when we arrived on the ferry, so we had to hump our luggage for several blocks to the main taxi offices instead of catching a taxi right at the ferry landing. It also meant we couldn't pick up our rental cars when we'd hoped since their office and parking are on Melgar. Shopping at the Mega and Chedraui were similarly ruled out until mid-week.

We didn't have much choice of time since we traveled during "February vacation" week from school (a northern New England tradition) and had to go when the kiddo was out of school. Given a choice, we'd certainly avoid Carnaval. If you're more of a party person, you might want to go then.

 

[ScubaSuzy]

As the owners of Casa Suzana, we would like to thank you for your trip report and review of our home. It makes us happy to know that you and your family had a good time, and felt at home in our casa. By the way, the muddler is on it's way there! Very nice photos of your dives. We have had a lot of good ones over the years, and the reefs continue to amaze us.

 

[mstevens]

You should know that my entire family is very jealous of you. I'd love to have a house like that on the island!

 

[mstevens]

I need to change a few things about my review of Casa Suzana.

The more I've thought about it, the clearer it's become that it would not be too large for my family of 3. We've tended to take various grandparents or cousins with us, anyway.

We would certainly not rent any of the other properties represented by the management company, either.

Why the changes in my opinions? Well...

[happydance]

It's because we bought the house!

[/happydance]

We closed a couple of days ago and now officially have our own house on Cozumel. My parents went in on it with us. Every single house we looked at ended up being compared to Casa Suzana, especially by my parents, so eventually we just decided to buy Casa Suzana and get the house we really wanted.

Like the previous owners, we'll be offering it for rent. However, the management company they used won't be doing vacation rentals after next week, so I'll be building a website.