Cozumel – Days 1 – 3
We got back from Cozumel about a week ago and I am finally getting around to putting the trip details up on the site. I have included days 1 – 3 in this post and will finish the other days at a later date (we were there for a total of 9 days). The pictures (for all days) are also up in the gallery!
Cozumel Day 1
The flight was great and uneventful – I could not ask for more given all of the stuff going on at the moment. The only complaint that I have is that I had to throw away a grande Americano due to the no liquids on a plane rule, I would gladly pay to see someone make an explosive out of espresso and hot water. The Cozumel airport is pretty small but they seem to get the job done, it’s only one runway and launches right into the ocean so I hope our takeoff goes well!
We arrived at our hotel and quickly realized that we did NOT get what was bargained for. The outside looked great – a beautiful garden and nice pool, but the room was another story. I was not there long enough to snap pictures but I believe that the following word will do it justice: Crap. The shower was a giant, tiled hole in the ground (I don’t know why) and the main room had bugs! Andrea and I were covered with bites – I immediately called Travelocity (Not knowing that the call would end up costing me $100.00) and was able to resolve absolutely nothing. I asked for a refund at the hotels main desk but was told I would have to work with Travelocity to get my money back, I have tried to resolve this over the phone with them several time (from our new hotel using Skype VOIP calling service) but have thus far accomplished nothing – I will deal with them when I get home.
We moved to a new hotel (Casa Del Mar) just a few blocks from the old one (Villa Blanca Garden Beach Hotel) and are VERY happy with the room and staff – I will defiantly stay here again on future diving trips. The food is great here too – very good enchiladas and out of this world salsa, Andrea loves the guacamole too!
Cozumel Day 2
Our first full day on the island! We rented a Chevy Tracker (Small SUV) with air conditioner (a VERY rare thing over here!) and explored the island or at least the part of it with roads! There are a lot of secluded beaches and wonderful areas where you can relax, it’s like nothing I have ever seen before – miles upon miles without a person or structure on the beach! We also got to visit the “other side� of the island where the islanders live, this was a lot of fun for both Andrea and myself. They live in crudely constructed homes build out of mortar, they are however very colorful. There are several pictures of the “village� in the photos I posted. Most of the locals (and a lot of the visitors) get around using mopeds and small motorcycles, so far the most people I have seen on one bike is 5 (none of which were wearing helmets and 2 were children). While tempting, I am doubt we will rent a moped – they are just too dangerous. There are also several “Nacho Libre� style carts – we have a few shots of these in the photos.
On the way back from our island drive, we stopped to see a Myan Ruin named El Cathedral, it was somewhat small but none the less interesting – there are pictures of it in the album. We also stopped to swim at one of the popular beaches here appropriately names “Paradise Beach�, the water was nice and the aquatic life was wonderful and the visibility is no less than 100 feet – I saw a stingray and many tropical fish.
My first dive will be tomorrow and I am very excited, I just wish I had someone to dive with!
At the end of the day we headed to the local food / goods store named “Chedraul�, this place is basically a super Wal-Mart – they have just about anything you can thing of! We stocked up on Water, juice, snacks and pan dulce (Sweetbread) and a few other pastries.
Cozumel Day 3
I woke up at 7am to head out for my first dive! I scheduled it with Dive Paradise yesterday thinking they were a dive company that my dive instructor had recommended to me, it turns out it was the wrong place but I was VERY impressed with the service and dive – I will continue to use them for the remainder of my trip. I opted for a 2 tank boat dive, the boat picked me up at 8:30 at a local pier and we headed out to sea! After a 30 – 45 minute boat ride we arrived at our first dive location “Palancar Pinnacle�. This was an 80 foot dive that would last 30 minutes, being my first ocean dive after getting certified I was a little nervous but I just thought back to my training and focused on safety and everything went wonderful. I saw a huge green sea turtle, thousands of fish (I am still looking up their names!) and a giant barracuda! We also got to swim through a huge coral formation and saw a ton of beautiful coral growths on the bottom – a truly amazing experience.
During our service interval (break) we had some great homemade sweet bread, I also ate an apple and some cookies that I brought along – diving makes you HUNGRY! Our second dive took place in 55 feet of water for 45 minutes. This location is known as “Cedral Pass� and was again a huge coral reef with a ton of sea life. I saw more barracudas and a lot of beautiful coral however we did not see any sharks which is something I was looking forward to (Cozumel is known for it’s nurse sharks) hopefully I will see a few in during my next few dives. I was paired up with a guy from New York named Gary for these dives, he was a good partner and all around nice guy – too bad he is leaving the island tomorrow, it would have been nice to have a partner that I had already done a few dives with for my next few trips.
After diving Andrea and I grabbed some lunch at the hotel, we both got fried fish not knowing that it really is a fried fish – the whole thing, check out the photo section for a few shots of our crispy catch! After lunch we decided to head over to Playa del Carmen on the ferry, it’s an $11.00 charge to go across (per person) however the boat is air conditioned and the ride is nice, it takes about 45 minutes to get across. We were both a little shocked at how Americanized this place was! There were a ton of fast food places and the whole place basically catered to (American) tourists – they even have a super Wal-Wart. We both agreed that our island is much better and way more secluded, this also lead to us canceling our trip to Cancun that we were going to take in a few days.
After getting back to Cozumel we ate at McDonalds (one of the only fast food places on the island) there a few pictures of this place in the photos I posted – it is much nicer than any McDonald’s locations I have ever seen and offers and awesome view of the water. After eating we caught a cab (the rental car was turned in this morning) and headed back to the hotel for a swim in the pool.
