Cozumel - August 2015
My second trip in 2015 was to Cozumel, Mexico. My group consisted of twelve seasoned divers. We stayed at Cozumel Palace where we were impressed by their high level of quality and customer service. The resort and grounds are always immaculate. It was refreshing to see hotel staff cleaning and maintaining the property at all times. The all-inclusive resort included four onsite restaurants and offered 24-hour room service. Needless to say, we were well-fed, even on the boat where there was always plenty of food and drink. The resort rooms were very clean, spacious and nicely appointed. The mini-fridge was restocked everyday with sodas, beer, and water. The drinkers in the group were pleased with the well-stocked liquor cabinet in each room. Did I mention food was abundant? Poolside service was spectacular! There was never a problem ordering food or drink while laying out by the pool. My son's wildest dreams had come true - all the food you could eat, 24 hours a day! The resort also has a full-service spa, which most of our group enjoyed almost daily, and a nice little gift shop.
The onsite dive operation is Aqua Safari. They have a little store inside the resort, offering a nice selection of dive wear and necessities. They also have classrooms, gear rental and dive lockers dockside. Each morning, after a plentiful buffet breakfast (loved the mini-waffles), we just headed down to the dock with our gear to await the arrival of our boat, Ocean 3. Our divemasters, Walter and Miguel, were friendly, knowledgeable and safety-conscious. Our deck hand, Beto, was the hardest working of the bunch - helping us in and out of the water, making sure we were hydrated and well fed at lunch. Because the resort is located close to town, the dive sites were a 45-60 minute boat ride each morning. That didn't bother me since the weather was so great each morning. We just sat back and enjoyed the ride. Once we got to our first dive site, we just dropped in and started our drift! We were blessed with mild currents this week. I found the underwater life to be lush and healthy. It was a bit different from my first trip to Cozumel in 2007, right after Hurricane Wilma, when the reef damage was quite evident. This time we found healthy sponges and corals, large schools of fish, tons of lobster and crab...and we saw the Splendid Toadfish on more than one dive! Special treats included the toadfish, garden eels, two large seahorses (one on the C53 wreck) and several teeny baby seahorses. We also saw a nurse shark and a large green moray eel taking up residence together (see photo below). Sea turtles are always popular, and we found 3 in one day munching on seaweed and algae. It's hard to list off all the sealife we saw, since every dive was filled with life and wonder.
On our last dive day, we dove Devil's Throat dive site. In this dive, you have to drop to 80 feet before the dive tour started through the swimthroughs. At one point, you pop out at approximately 130 feet, then you come back up to enter more swimthroughs, including the "throat". When we did this dive in 2007, the current was very strong and many of the divers burned a lot of air just getting down. This time, the dive was much easier and more relaxed. So much so that we thought, "let's do it again!" That sentiment was pretty much the general consensus of our group about the whole trip - let's do it again! We had such a great time. Cozumel did not disappoint and I hope to go back very soon!
*See my underwater video here https://youtu.be/URsB2C1Ksu0.
*See my trip slideshow here https://youtu.be/Cul38Ka_HRg.
My second trip in 2015 was to Cozumel, Mexico. My group consisted of twelve seasoned divers. We stayed at Cozumel Palace where we were impressed by their high level of quality and customer service. The resort and grounds are always immaculate. It was refreshing to see hotel staff cleaning and maintaining the property at all times. The all-inclusive resort included four onsite restaurants and offered 24-hour room service. Needless to say, we were well-fed, even on the boat where there was always plenty of food and drink. The resort rooms were very clean, spacious and nicely appointed. The mini-fridge was restocked everyday with sodas, beer, and water. The drinkers in the group were pleased with the well-stocked liquor cabinet in each room. Did I mention food was abundant? Poolside service was spectacular! There was never a problem ordering food or drink while laying out by the pool. My son's wildest dreams had come true - all the food you could eat, 24 hours a day! The resort also has a full-service spa, which most of our group enjoyed almost daily, and a nice little gift shop.
The onsite dive operation is Aqua Safari. They have a little store inside the resort, offering a nice selection of dive wear and necessities. They also have classrooms, gear rental and dive lockers dockside. Each morning, after a plentiful buffet breakfast (loved the mini-waffles), we just headed down to the dock with our gear to await the arrival of our boat, Ocean 3. Our divemasters, Walter and Miguel, were friendly, knowledgeable and safety-conscious. Our deck hand, Beto, was the hardest working of the bunch - helping us in and out of the water, making sure we were hydrated and well fed at lunch. Because the resort is located close to town, the dive sites were a 45-60 minute boat ride each morning. That didn't bother me since the weather was so great each morning. We just sat back and enjoyed the ride. Once we got to our first dive site, we just dropped in and started our drift! We were blessed with mild currents this week. I found the underwater life to be lush and healthy. It was a bit different from my first trip to Cozumel in 2007, right after Hurricane Wilma, when the reef damage was quite evident. This time we found healthy sponges and corals, large schools of fish, tons of lobster and crab...and we saw the Splendid Toadfish on more than one dive! Special treats included the toadfish, garden eels, two large seahorses (one on the C53 wreck) and several teeny baby seahorses. We also saw a nurse shark and a large green moray eel taking up residence together (see photo below). Sea turtles are always popular, and we found 3 in one day munching on seaweed and algae. It's hard to list off all the sealife we saw, since every dive was filled with life and wonder.
On our last dive day, we dove Devil's Throat dive site. In this dive, you have to drop to 80 feet before the dive tour started through the swimthroughs. At one point, you pop out at approximately 130 feet, then you come back up to enter more swimthroughs, including the "throat". When we did this dive in 2007, the current was very strong and many of the divers burned a lot of air just getting down. This time, the dive was much easier and more relaxed. So much so that we thought, "let's do it again!" That sentiment was pretty much the general consensus of our group about the whole trip - let's do it again! We had such a great time. Cozumel did not disappoint and I hope to go back very soon!
*See my underwater video here https://youtu.be/URsB2C1Ksu0.
*See my trip slideshow here https://youtu.be/Cul38Ka_HRg.