Trip date: March 5-10, 4 days 2-tank & 2 night dives.
Flights:
From Bloomington, IL to Coz w/layover in Atlanta (2 hr on the way there, 3 on the way home). This was the best schedule out of three trips so far. Fare: $338 Delta. My other two trips were from Peoria, IL to Coz on AA with a next day layover in Dallas on the return flight, and the Cancun/ADO/Ferry route, both of which were cheaper, but not worth the savings.
Hotel: Villa Blanca.
I should preface any negatives by saying this was a great value at $50/night including breakfast. Blue Magic had the best deal; equal to the best rate I found online, but with breakfast included.
Breakfast: the food was good, but the coupons for the included breakfast only covered $4. There were two menu items that could be bought for that; a Continental or an American (2 eggs, toast, a few potatoes, and a dab of refried beans, juice & coffee). It was always good except for the toast was cold & dry. The $4 coupon can be applied to other items, which we did one day, and it was excellent. Very friendly staff & quick service. We were usually done in less than a half hour.
Grounds: a compact resort with beautiful grounds including pool, hot tub, tennis court. Well maintained and kept very clean. Pool was not heated, but the hot tub was warm. There is a rinse tank for gear, but it was never filled, and the wimpy sprayer was slow going. We only had to use it after our last dive, and we dunked in the pool first.
Room: Since this was a father/son trip, we rented a standard room with comfortable twin beds. It looked like we were in the oldest part of the hotel. The room was nice enough, and spotlessly clean, but several days we had a strong sewer smell at times. Looking out our back window, I could see 4 vent stacks that terminated at or below our window. It would be easy to either install vent valves or extend the stacks above roof level to eliminate the problem. We were on the second floor, room B9. B8 would have had the same problem, and possibly the two rooms under us. We looked at a Superior Room in case I bring my wife back in the future; they are newer and very nice, well worth the extra money. Some are next to the street, so I don't know if there would be much noise.
Safe: The safes are located in the lobby wall, and are small; $5/stay.
General: Villa Blanca was a quiet place that seemed pretty secure, and after a few days we didn't worry about leaving stuff in the room. Our room was toward the rear of the property, and the only real noise I noticed was the constant ring of tanks from the dive shop across the street. Pleasant sound, that. The friendly staff provided bottled water (1 l. ea) that was refilled for free, so I assumed the tap water wasn’t purified. Pool towels required a deposit which was refunded at checkout. It’s a long walk to town, but we did it a few times, once from downtown (pretty far), and a couple of times to Mega & Prima Tarattoria, (nice walk).
Diving:
We dove with Blue Magic again. Same great service; they took care of our gear between dives; water, towels & fruit on fast boats. They picked us up at the Villa Blanca pier each day around 9:00 AM. The Dive shop that operates from that pier charges $2/head per day - night dives were included in the morning fees. We knew that going in, but the OP, Dive Paradise, was pretty rude the first day. After that they were fine, and by the end of the week they were pleasant to deal with. Two other OPs use the next pier south: Papa Hogs & Scuba Mau, but I don’t know if that pier is an option. The DP pier is all concrete and is probably preferable to the other one.
Sites included (might butcher the spelling here) Palancar Horseshoe, Gardens & Bricks, Cidral Pass & Wall, San Clemente, Tormentos, Francesca, night dives at Villa Blanca and Paradise. The first night dive was only the two of us, so we just went out from our pier to Villa Blanca Reef. It was ok, but the ripping current kinda spoiled it for me. Huffed too much air trying to back up to see what my light almost missed. Saw squid, crab, shark, and lobster, one as big as a dog. Our last dive of the trip was at night on Paradise; it was my 60th dive, and I’d never seen an octopus. I told Pumba he wasn’t doing his job unless we found one, and we did! Took some great video! My son and I were pretty evenly matched on air consumption all week; we dove our air, our computers. We were usually last to come up, but on one dive with Gabriel we outlasted him, and had to come a few hundred pounds early. It looked like we had run out of good reef anyway.
Ten dives, mostly on popular sites, and we only saw one lionfish, which Pumba captured. I would assume the less frequented sites would have more, but maybe they’re making a dent in the population? I dunno, hope so. We had good weather every day. We were a little worried, having read about all the port closings this winter. We wanted to dive every day since it was such a short trip; air fares were much higher during spring break, so my son skipped 3 days of class, but couldn’t miss Thursdays.
Dining:
My wife usually snoops around SB for restaurant ideas, and since she wasn’t along, we just ate at some previous favorites. Prima Trattoria, Guido’s, Money Bar, and Kinta, our #1 pick. We bought cheese, crackers & cold cuts at Mega for lunches. We averaged around $25/day each for food. We spent about $60 for cabs and airport shuttle for the entire trip. Always paid in Peso’s; cabbies sometimes only give 10:1 exchange rate. Fare between Villa Blanca & town was 70 Pesos.
The whole trip cost under $1100 each, including tips for the DMs. Not bad for 4 two-tank & 2 night dives with top-notch service, a nice place to stay, and great food. Cozumel, I think, is the best value available to me. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Keys, but I think that trip costs more than this when you add car rental, and the diving wasn’t as good, nor was the service. I’d like to go back to Bonnaire someday, but that trip cost me double what this one did. Hmmmm… twice as many trips for the same money? Gotta start planning!
Flights:
From Bloomington, IL to Coz w/layover in Atlanta (2 hr on the way there, 3 on the way home). This was the best schedule out of three trips so far. Fare: $338 Delta. My other two trips were from Peoria, IL to Coz on AA with a next day layover in Dallas on the return flight, and the Cancun/ADO/Ferry route, both of which were cheaper, but not worth the savings.
Hotel: Villa Blanca.
I should preface any negatives by saying this was a great value at $50/night including breakfast. Blue Magic had the best deal; equal to the best rate I found online, but with breakfast included.
Breakfast: the food was good, but the coupons for the included breakfast only covered $4. There were two menu items that could be bought for that; a Continental or an American (2 eggs, toast, a few potatoes, and a dab of refried beans, juice & coffee). It was always good except for the toast was cold & dry. The $4 coupon can be applied to other items, which we did one day, and it was excellent. Very friendly staff & quick service. We were usually done in less than a half hour.
Grounds: a compact resort with beautiful grounds including pool, hot tub, tennis court. Well maintained and kept very clean. Pool was not heated, but the hot tub was warm. There is a rinse tank for gear, but it was never filled, and the wimpy sprayer was slow going. We only had to use it after our last dive, and we dunked in the pool first.
Room: Since this was a father/son trip, we rented a standard room with comfortable twin beds. It looked like we were in the oldest part of the hotel. The room was nice enough, and spotlessly clean, but several days we had a strong sewer smell at times. Looking out our back window, I could see 4 vent stacks that terminated at or below our window. It would be easy to either install vent valves or extend the stacks above roof level to eliminate the problem. We were on the second floor, room B9. B8 would have had the same problem, and possibly the two rooms under us. We looked at a Superior Room in case I bring my wife back in the future; they are newer and very nice, well worth the extra money. Some are next to the street, so I don't know if there would be much noise.
Safe: The safes are located in the lobby wall, and are small; $5/stay.
General: Villa Blanca was a quiet place that seemed pretty secure, and after a few days we didn't worry about leaving stuff in the room. Our room was toward the rear of the property, and the only real noise I noticed was the constant ring of tanks from the dive shop across the street. Pleasant sound, that. The friendly staff provided bottled water (1 l. ea) that was refilled for free, so I assumed the tap water wasn’t purified. Pool towels required a deposit which was refunded at checkout. It’s a long walk to town, but we did it a few times, once from downtown (pretty far), and a couple of times to Mega & Prima Tarattoria, (nice walk).
Diving:
We dove with Blue Magic again. Same great service; they took care of our gear between dives; water, towels & fruit on fast boats. They picked us up at the Villa Blanca pier each day around 9:00 AM. The Dive shop that operates from that pier charges $2/head per day - night dives were included in the morning fees. We knew that going in, but the OP, Dive Paradise, was pretty rude the first day. After that they were fine, and by the end of the week they were pleasant to deal with. Two other OPs use the next pier south: Papa Hogs & Scuba Mau, but I don’t know if that pier is an option. The DP pier is all concrete and is probably preferable to the other one.
Sites included (might butcher the spelling here) Palancar Horseshoe, Gardens & Bricks, Cidral Pass & Wall, San Clemente, Tormentos, Francesca, night dives at Villa Blanca and Paradise. The first night dive was only the two of us, so we just went out from our pier to Villa Blanca Reef. It was ok, but the ripping current kinda spoiled it for me. Huffed too much air trying to back up to see what my light almost missed. Saw squid, crab, shark, and lobster, one as big as a dog. Our last dive of the trip was at night on Paradise; it was my 60th dive, and I’d never seen an octopus. I told Pumba he wasn’t doing his job unless we found one, and we did! Took some great video! My son and I were pretty evenly matched on air consumption all week; we dove our air, our computers. We were usually last to come up, but on one dive with Gabriel we outlasted him, and had to come a few hundred pounds early. It looked like we had run out of good reef anyway.
Ten dives, mostly on popular sites, and we only saw one lionfish, which Pumba captured. I would assume the less frequented sites would have more, but maybe they’re making a dent in the population? I dunno, hope so. We had good weather every day. We were a little worried, having read about all the port closings this winter. We wanted to dive every day since it was such a short trip; air fares were much higher during spring break, so my son skipped 3 days of class, but couldn’t miss Thursdays.
Dining:
My wife usually snoops around SB for restaurant ideas, and since she wasn’t along, we just ate at some previous favorites. Prima Trattoria, Guido’s, Money Bar, and Kinta, our #1 pick. We bought cheese, crackers & cold cuts at Mega for lunches. We averaged around $25/day each for food. We spent about $60 for cabs and airport shuttle for the entire trip. Always paid in Peso’s; cabbies sometimes only give 10:1 exchange rate. Fare between Villa Blanca & town was 70 Pesos.
The whole trip cost under $1100 each, including tips for the DMs. Not bad for 4 two-tank & 2 night dives with top-notch service, a nice place to stay, and great food. Cozumel, I think, is the best value available to me. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Keys, but I think that trip costs more than this when you add car rental, and the diving wasn’t as good, nor was the service. I’d like to go back to Bonnaire someday, but that trip cost me double what this one did. Hmmmm… twice as many trips for the same money? Gotta start planning!
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