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I stayed at Caribe Blu and dove with the in-house shop of Blue Angel. Both are top notch operations and after 3 tries I've now found both a hotel and op in Cozumel that have gained my loyalty and guaranteed return. I really owe a big thanks to parrotheaddiver, Christi and Gordon for recommending it.
The rooms at CB are superb. Good size and laid out very conveniently. Great views and as long as you are not on the main floor a nice secure place to hang your suit to dry. Beds are comfortable which is rare on Coz. Only complaint would be the lack of refrigerator, which I understand the owner is in the process of rectifying. I just wasnt lucky enough to get one of the rooms that already had one.
There is a decent little place above the dive shop that serves breakfast and lunch.
Blue Angel was great. Fast boats and a true willingness to try to meet the requests of the divers. All of DM and captains I dove with were very friendly. I had absolutely no hassles at all and the free shore diving is a great plus. Nice little reef right at the hotel where I was able to find, among others, a squid, a seahorse, many eels and rays. I never made a night dive but Im sure there would have been plenty of octopi around if I had. If I had to find something to complain about it would be the cost of the nitrox: $10 per tank.
Day 1:
Arrived in Cancun and bussed/ferried down to Coz in plenty of time to get in an afternoon shore dive to double check weight and make sure my new camera case didnt leak. Nice pleasant little dive with lots to see. Headed downtown in a nasty little rainstorm to have dinner at Casa Denis, which is always a favorite and lived up to its usual standards.
Day 2:
Walked down to Papa Hogs for a nice breakfast then hit the boat with Ramon. Did Santa Rosa for the first dive. One of the guys on the boat wanted to do the wreck for the second dive which was a little unfortunate because that put him too close to deco and we had to end the dive sooner than I would have liked, but I had done C-53 before so no big deal. Did lunch at Ernestos and another shore dive where I found a rather large seahorse. Back to town for dinner at La Morena. This was my first time at La Morena and I was very impressed. Great salsa and the Fish Veracruz was wonderful.
Day 3:
We had Mat as the DM for the day. Mat is on a 2 month vacation from Alberta while he does his DM internship, what a tough life. Real friendly guy we had two great dives starting with Palancar Gardens. I love the Gardens for the large coral formations and the fact that it ends up about 30 feet so you can do a nice scenic 20+ minute safety stop. Second dive was Yucab where the currents were a little quick that day but the dive was nice and our fairly new DM managed to spot a Splendid Toadfish. Tried lunch at the little place above the shop and did dinner a Pepes. I was very unimpressed with Pepes which surprised me because I had heard good things. Very little fish on the menu so I went with the specialty: Ribeye. Suffice it to stay that for the same price I can get a better steak at any of dozens of good restaurants in any city in the states.
Day 4:
A guy on the boat from the day before wanted to do Devils Throat so thats where we headed with Ramon again. My first time doing Devils Throat and I was thoroughly impressed. Its a gorgeous dive and unfortunately short because of the depth. Thankfully no one on board had a Suunto or it would have been shorter Second dive was El Cedral. Walked back down to Papa Hogs for lunch and then did another shore dive. I waded out slipped on the fins and dropped down. To my surprise there was a small squid not five feet away from me. Headed back to town for dinner at La Choza so I could pick up some sauce to take back. A couple of La Chozas stiff margaritas and I was able to find a bar showing the Tech/OK game. Being from Atlanta and having attended Tech I thoroughly enjoyed harassing the owner who was from OK and threatened to double the price of my beers J. (We wont discuss last nights game.)
Day 5:
Headed out with Jorge back down to Punta Sur to do Cathedral. Another gorgeous dive we were able to stay down longer on this one. Second dive was French Reef. The visibility was not good on this dive for some reason and the reef is too short, we ran out of reef long before we ran out of air. After the dive I showered, said my goodbyes and headed back to Cancun so I wouldnt have to deal with the ferry/bus the following morning before my flight. This was a mistake I will NEVER make again. I have absolutely nothing nice to say about Cancun so Ill just keep my mouth shut and in the future, should I happened to get another last minute deal that lands me in Cancun, Ill just stay in Coz and do the morning ferry/bus thing or take a puddle jump from the Cozumel airport.
All in all it was a fabulous trip except Cancun. Cant wait to get back again.
James
The rooms at CB are superb. Good size and laid out very conveniently. Great views and as long as you are not on the main floor a nice secure place to hang your suit to dry. Beds are comfortable which is rare on Coz. Only complaint would be the lack of refrigerator, which I understand the owner is in the process of rectifying. I just wasnt lucky enough to get one of the rooms that already had one.
There is a decent little place above the dive shop that serves breakfast and lunch.
Blue Angel was great. Fast boats and a true willingness to try to meet the requests of the divers. All of DM and captains I dove with were very friendly. I had absolutely no hassles at all and the free shore diving is a great plus. Nice little reef right at the hotel where I was able to find, among others, a squid, a seahorse, many eels and rays. I never made a night dive but Im sure there would have been plenty of octopi around if I had. If I had to find something to complain about it would be the cost of the nitrox: $10 per tank.
Day 1:
Arrived in Cancun and bussed/ferried down to Coz in plenty of time to get in an afternoon shore dive to double check weight and make sure my new camera case didnt leak. Nice pleasant little dive with lots to see. Headed downtown in a nasty little rainstorm to have dinner at Casa Denis, which is always a favorite and lived up to its usual standards.
Day 2:
Walked down to Papa Hogs for a nice breakfast then hit the boat with Ramon. Did Santa Rosa for the first dive. One of the guys on the boat wanted to do the wreck for the second dive which was a little unfortunate because that put him too close to deco and we had to end the dive sooner than I would have liked, but I had done C-53 before so no big deal. Did lunch at Ernestos and another shore dive where I found a rather large seahorse. Back to town for dinner at La Morena. This was my first time at La Morena and I was very impressed. Great salsa and the Fish Veracruz was wonderful.
Day 3:
We had Mat as the DM for the day. Mat is on a 2 month vacation from Alberta while he does his DM internship, what a tough life. Real friendly guy we had two great dives starting with Palancar Gardens. I love the Gardens for the large coral formations and the fact that it ends up about 30 feet so you can do a nice scenic 20+ minute safety stop. Second dive was Yucab where the currents were a little quick that day but the dive was nice and our fairly new DM managed to spot a Splendid Toadfish. Tried lunch at the little place above the shop and did dinner a Pepes. I was very unimpressed with Pepes which surprised me because I had heard good things. Very little fish on the menu so I went with the specialty: Ribeye. Suffice it to stay that for the same price I can get a better steak at any of dozens of good restaurants in any city in the states.
Day 4:
A guy on the boat from the day before wanted to do Devils Throat so thats where we headed with Ramon again. My first time doing Devils Throat and I was thoroughly impressed. Its a gorgeous dive and unfortunately short because of the depth. Thankfully no one on board had a Suunto or it would have been shorter Second dive was El Cedral. Walked back down to Papa Hogs for lunch and then did another shore dive. I waded out slipped on the fins and dropped down. To my surprise there was a small squid not five feet away from me. Headed back to town for dinner at La Choza so I could pick up some sauce to take back. A couple of La Chozas stiff margaritas and I was able to find a bar showing the Tech/OK game. Being from Atlanta and having attended Tech I thoroughly enjoyed harassing the owner who was from OK and threatened to double the price of my beers J. (We wont discuss last nights game.)
Day 5:
Headed out with Jorge back down to Punta Sur to do Cathedral. Another gorgeous dive we were able to stay down longer on this one. Second dive was French Reef. The visibility was not good on this dive for some reason and the reef is too short, we ran out of reef long before we ran out of air. After the dive I showered, said my goodbyes and headed back to Cancun so I wouldnt have to deal with the ferry/bus the following morning before my flight. This was a mistake I will NEVER make again. I have absolutely nothing nice to say about Cancun so Ill just keep my mouth shut and in the future, should I happened to get another last minute deal that lands me in Cancun, Ill just stay in Coz and do the morning ferry/bus thing or take a puddle jump from the Cozumel airport.
All in all it was a fabulous trip except Cancun. Cant wait to get back again.
James
