Cozumel with Cozumel Palace & Blue XT Sea

[Atlaua]

I'm saving the best for last so the diving is at the end, if you're only intersted in the diving then skip down a bit.

The Travel
This was the worst part of the trip. In order to save money (3 tickets this time) we booked a charter flight into Cancun with a tour operator. The flight times were less than ideal. We didn't get into our room on Coz until 10:30pm the day we arrived. Going back we had an 11:00 flight. There was no 6:00am ferry and the hotel who paid the transportation (more on this later) didn't want to push it to the 7:00am so we had to be in the lobby at 4:30am the day we left. Audrey won't sleep on planes anymore so the flight both ways is 3 hours of "keeping her amused". Next time she's going to grandma's .

The Lodging
The first time I ever did the AI thing was at the Wyndham Sugar Bay, St. Thomas, USVI. It was fantastic and it is the yardstick I have held AI's up to ever since. This trip was our 3rd time to do AI (4th if you count SCC, but I wouldn't) in Mexico. Every time we have been unimpressed: Paradisus' website promised an "extensive wine list" which we learned was "red or white". Bahia was huge and sprawling with long hikes in no shade just to get to food or pool, etc. Both made it an ordeal to eat anything other than the buffet and in both cases the food was mediocre at best. If it were up to me I'd never have booked another AI, but Rita wanted to do so with Audrey.

Cozumel Palace, however, has restored my faith in AI's. The hotel was very nice and very clean. The staff was always friendly. They always remembered us (probably because we had a 20 month old charmer and made a point of tipping). The room was almost perfect. It came complete with a nice sized shower, a king bed, a stocked mini-bar as well as: a fith each of Tequila, Scotch, Rum and Brandy (all call brands) and a bottle of wine. Unlike other AI's I've been to the mini-bar/liquor cabinet was included in the AI price, as was room service. The mini-bar was stocked every day and the transportation to/from the airport was included (even doing Cancun, they paid the shuttle, ferry and taxi).

Breakfast was buffet style and quite good. Lunch was a choice of the buffet or the pool grille, again good. Dinner all a la carte, no buffets! Choices were Chinese, Mexican, Italian, or Steakhouse. All were good but the Chinese was (not surprizingly) the worst of the bunch.

The bars had quick service (unlike Paradisus) and had good brands (Tanqueray, Don Julio, etc) and didn't watter down drinks, like both MX AI's I'd visited before.

The pool was nice and the pier was convienent. All it all it's a great AI and I would go back in a heartbeat, though if I'm batching it, I'd still save the $$$ and go to Caribe Blu.

The Dining
Seeing as how we'd shelled out so much money for the AI and we're trying to save right now, we opted to eat almost every meal at the hotel, even though that is a Cardinal sin IMHO on Cozumel. We did however get out for two meals, one was at Especias.

Especias was fantastic. I had a shrimp dish that I don't recall the name of but it was fantastic! Rita had fish (snapper or maybe grouper) with a cilantro sauce. It was good but my shrimp was the clear winner. We also had a couple of empanada's and some queso. Even better than the food as Adrian who was a hoot. He declared Audrey the honorary manager for the evening and took her with him to every table to greet the folks.

The other meal was at one of my favorite "wild side" haunts: Chen Rio. Guillermo's been there for at least a decade and always takes good care of us. A little snorkling, a little cerveza and the seafood platter for two: 4 lobster tails, a whole fried snapper, shrimp galore, more fish, fries and grilled hamburger buns with soo much butter their dripping. Not really possible to eat it all so you have to be choosy.

We also managed to hit Coconuts and Mezcalito's for beer and salsa before hand but after Chen Rio Audrey was ready for a nap. Coconuts had a nice scrapbook of pictures of Emily and Wilma damage wich leads me to:


The Storms
You can definatly tell topside that Cozumel got hit by a couple of nasty ones last year, if you've been there before or you know where to look. Around the square, you'd never know except that some things look a lot newer (especially the eagles) and the palms are a lot shorter. Take a look at the Punta Langosta Pier or the waterside buildings there and and it's clear that they were heavily damaged. Whatever was between there and the Navy base is completely gone and the Navy base less than a shell.

Despite reports to the contrary, Barracuda seems just fine and all the hotels between there and the lighthouse are in good shape. Temptations, the restraunt above Dive Paradise is just walls and a roof. I used to walk there from Caribe Blu for lunch. The international pier is also still damaged and the Puerta Maya pier is completely gone. The Presidente looks, at first glance, like an abandoned shell, but there are people there working on it and the've even gotten some glass in which means they are probably closer to opening than they look (they don't look close at all).

I didn't recognise Playa Corona from the boat so wedrove over to check it out. You can take the cutover to it from the highway but the shore road is completely gone! It doesn't look like itself from shore either.

Chankanaab looks like it's a long way from opening. From there south everything looks normal from shore, but the Reef Club looks a lot different, can't put my finger on why.

The road on the east side is about 2/3rds old road and 1/3rd new. Each new section you can see where they've had to rebuild the sholder on the ocean side, I lost count of how many places it had been washed out and repaired.

I know it sounds bad from the descriptions, but if you'd never been there you'd hardly know it had been hit. Finally:


The Diving
The diving was, as always, incredible, if not different. I've seen a lot of bad reports about the diving since Wilma, so here's the bad stuff: I only saw one eagle ray and from a distance. I didn't see a single shark, not even a nurse, until the last dive where I saw a small blacktip. There are no gorgons at all, and since that's where I always find the tougues, I didn't see any of them. Yes there is some sand on the reefs, there always is but it's a little more than usual. It's worse on the shore side of the reefs and all the "walls" it's hardly noticeable. Pedro was happy because he'd finally seen a seahorse about 2 weeks before.

Now the good. I saw more big groupers than I've ever seen there. I saw more black coral than ever, though I think this is because the gorgons are not hiding them . What is really cool is all the juveniles! Baby fish everywhere! I even saw a flounder about 2 inches long. Tons of turtles but not too many lobester. Got a nice picture of a pipefish.

It may not be the Cozumel you're used to, but it's still the best place I've ever been diving. Best dive of the trip was Cathedral, don't ever let anyone talk you into Devil's Throat over Cathedral unless you have time to do both!

Vis was 80+feet, except for Tormentos which was around 60'.

I dove with Chrisi at Blue XT Sea. Here operation is top notch. They picked me up each morning at the Palace pier and kept my gear so I never had to lug it again until the end of the week. First day was on her new boat Bandida II and the rest was on Shamu. I know Christi's proud of her new boat, but I liked Shamu a lot better. Both are great boats though. Mago's a great captain and very helpfull. Arturo and Pedro are great DM's. Arturo let's you dive your air to 500. Pedro is a little more safety minded and sets a time limit and a 700psi air limit. As a DM/Instructor, hats off to Christi for allowing her DM's to set their own rules, but I do prefer to dive my air. In Pedro's defence, however, his time limit was long enough to never be a factor, except on the last dive. Rita had a big enough leak from the tank that we had Mago make a quick adjustment and we got down a few minutes later than the rest. This was the only dive were we were stopped on time.

Christi is all about customer service and she excells. She even managed to do some rearranging with two full boats to get us to Punta Sur on Thursday. I'd highly recomend her to anyone going to Cozumel.

Here are the profiles:

5/27 - Santa Rosa, 78', 50 minutes
5/27 - Yucab, 56', 65 minutes
5/28 - Columbia Pinacles, 82', 62 minutes
5/28 - Tormentos, 55', 75 minutes
5/29 - Palancar Horseshoe, 76', 61 minutes
5/29 - Las Palmas, 69', 64 minutes
5/31 - Palancar Caves, 87', 56 minutes
5/31 - Dalila, 69', 70 minutes
6/1 - Punta Sur - Cathedral, 101', 45 minutes
6/1 - End of La Francesa, start of Paso del Cedral, 58', 63 minutes.


I'll post some pictures when I have time to PhotoShop the blue out...

James

[nauifins73]

Sounds like a great trip! I have made some notes as I have only been there once. I'm wondering about the hotel where we stayed - can't remember the name. It was above a carpet store and had an esclator to it.

Thanks for the report.

[steve2281]

Nice report. Thanks for writing it up. How does the "Hotel Cozumel" look??? I haven't been there in about 3 years; need to go back.

[Atlaua]

Originally Posted by steve2281

Nice report. Thanks for writing it up. How does the "Hotel Cozumel" look??? I haven't been there in about 3 years; need to go back.

If you can give me an approx location I can tell you more. If it's in town near the square, it's probably in great shape.

[steve2281]

Originally Posted by Atlaua

If you can give me an approx location I can tell you more. If it's in town near the square, it's probably in great shape.

Hotel Cozumel has had a number of names over the last few years. It was Costa Club for a while and Fiesta Inn before that. It is a little south of SCC and sits across the street from Dive Paradise (not the main DP location). It's not on the ocean side of the street.

[Atlaua]

Hmm, sorry, I can't say for sure then. I spent a lot of boat time looking at shore buildings and only did driveby's on the others.

In the area you are desribing there are two bulidnings that "look gutted". Both are tall. One has been there for a number of years and I've seen it many times. It was a new project that went bankrupt and had been taken over by jungle. In the post Wilma days, someone has taken it over and is contiunining the contruction. Next to it is another new building that I think is going condo.

Not sure of your hotel, call them and find out, but if it's not ready yet, consider Caribe Blu. Same area and a great place...

James

[theskull]

Sounds very nice.

I plan to dive Cozumel for my first time next spring.

The theme is "deep dark and cold" for this year.
Next year I'm going for "easy colorful and warm".

Balance is a good thing in the universe.

theskull

[Atlaua]

Originally Posted by theskull

I plan to dive Cozumel for my first time next spring.

Let me make a couple of suggestions from a 5 time Cozumel vet to a Coz novice:

1. The CanDo Map: http://www.cancunmap.com/. This is "THE MAP" for anywhere QRoo. Not only will you get a great map of the island but the insites are fantastic. Best part: The send it to you free, if you feel it's worth the money you pay them after. Trust me, this is a must have!

2. The Cozumel Dive Guide and Log Book: http://www.cozumeldiveguide.com/. Another must have. This has only been out a couple of years but it is fantastic. It gives a description and photo of each site along with a fold out dive map of each site. It's a must have.

Trust me on both of these, and if you don't PM me and next time we are in the same spot I'll loan you my copies.

James

[theskull]

Thanks for the tips. I bookmarked both sites.

theskull

[Atlaua]

P.S. My trip had a great side benifit. Met up with a great guy, Rufus Gonzales, if you will belive. A very personable guy out of Houston (70% of Coz visitors are from HOU). Rita, myself, Rufus and his lovely wife chatted post diving at the hotel pool bar on their last day.

He was so enthralled with my muck diving stories that he's sending me his barely used drysuit. If I like it, I'll send him a check for $100, if not, I'll send him the suit back. Got an email today that it's on it's way along with pictures of his kids. You meet some great folks in Coz!

James