cozumel in march- accomodation and dive operators

hi,

i'm planning a one week (5 days of diving or so) budget vacation to
cozumel later this month and am looking for advice mostly on where to
stay and who to dive with, as well as for any general tips (where to
eat, what to see, what to avoid, etc.).

for accomodations i'd like something relatively quiet but that is
within walking distance or at least convenient to restaurants, beach,
other stuff to do.

for dive operators i'm looking for a divemaster who is fairly cautious
since i'm relatively inexperienced. i will also only be bringing
light gear, so i guess i'm also looking for a good deal on rental
equipment, and since i'm not renting a car i'd also like someone who
provides transportation from the hotel to the dive site or boat.
also, are any shore dives worth renting/lugging gear?

the hotel/dive packages i've found so far are hog town or villablanca
with papa hogs, or caribe blu with blue angels-- has anyone stayed
at/dived with any of these and have opinions?

last thing is whether people recommend flying into cancun and taking
the ferry over versus flying in directly.

thanks for any advice!

emily

emsilly6 wrote:
>
> hi,
>
> i'm planning a one week (5 days of diving or so) budget vacation to
> cozumel later this month and am looking for advice mostly on where to
> stay and who to dive with, as well as for any general tips (where to
> eat, what to see, what to avoid, etc.).
>
> for accomodations i'd like something relatively quiet but that is
> within walking distance or at least convenient to restaurants, beach,
> other stuff to do.

I have some info at
http://www.jumpstartmusic.com/CozTrav2000/index.html that may be of some
assistance to you.
>
> for dive operators i'm looking for a divemaster who is fairly cautious
> since i'm relatively inexperienced. i will also only be bringing
> light gear, so i guess i'm also looking for a good deal on rental
> equipment, and since i'm not renting a car i'd also like someone who
> provides transportation from the hotel to the dive site or boat.
> also, are any shore dives worth renting/lugging gear?

Most of the ops on Cozumel are adept at "newbie wrangling" (but be
absolutely honest about your experience level), and most hotels have a
dock where the dive boats pick you up; the boat transportation is
included in the price of the dive. As to gear rental, with most ops
it's about a $10 add on to a 2 tank dive for a BC and reg, but if you
want to shore dive as well, you might want to look into renting from
your local dive shop instead. You'd be using the same gear every day,
too, and maintenance of it will have been done by someone that
(hopefully) you know and trust.

> the hotel/dive packages i've found so far are hog town or villablanca
> with papa hogs, or caribe blu with blue angels-- has anyone stayed
> at/dived with any of these and have opinions?

I and my family have been staying at Caribe Blu (when it was Lorena and
before that when it was La Perla) for over 20 years. We love it. I
haven't stayed there yet under the new (Caribe Blu) regime, but I will
in May. Blue Angel gets high marks, but I've not used them. Maybe this
year.

> last thing is whether people recommend flying into cancun and taking
> the ferry over versus flying in directly.

Fly direct if you can, but the Cancun option is not too bad and worth
doing if the savings justify it. If you take a bus or van from the
Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen and the ferry to Cozumel, it will
cost you about $30-40 and 2-3 hours extra travel time each way.

Gordon in Austin

"emsilly6" <emsilly6@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:cd9f032e.0403012250.4c3cfd48@posting.google.c om...
> hi,
>
> i'm planning a one week (5 days of diving or so) budget vacation to
> cozumel later this month and am looking for advice mostly on where to
> stay and who to dive with, as well as for any general tips (where to
> eat, what to see, what to avoid, etc.).
>
> for accomodations i'd like something relatively quiet but that is
> within walking distance or at least convenient to restaurants, beach,
> other stuff to do.
>
> for dive operators i'm looking for a divemaster who is fairly cautious
> since i'm relatively inexperienced. i will also only be bringing
> light gear, so i guess i'm also looking for a good deal on rental
> equipment, and since i'm not renting a car i'd also like someone who
> provides transportation from the hotel to the dive site or boat.
> also, are any shore dives worth renting/lugging gear?
>
> the hotel/dive packages i've found so far are hog town or villablanca
> with papa hogs, or caribe blu with blue angels-- has anyone stayed
> at/dived with any of these and have opinions?
>
> last thing is whether people recommend flying into cancun and taking
> the ferry over versus flying in directly.
>
> thanks for any advice!
>
> emily

You might also look into Scuba Club Cozumel - this includes 3 meals daily,
is close to a large supermarket/Wal-Mart type of store, is only about 10
minute ride to town and has its own dive shop and boats leave from its own
pier. Some great divemasters that are willing to work with novices and more
experienced alike.

Amenities include a medium-size pool, shore diving right out front into
about 20-25 feet of water that's nice for checkout dives, bar, etc. Rooms
are pretty basic, but clean and they provide free bottled water (dispensers
from 5 gallon containers scattered around the facility). I was there in late
October with a group and enjoyed the diving - going back later this year.
No room phones - suggest you get a prepaid phone card that works in Mexico -
I got one from http://1-877-phonecards.com/ that worked quite nicely - $.25
US/minute for calls from Cozumel to US for MCI Mexico Mundial.

Their web site is http://www.scubaclubcozumel.com

Some photos from 1999 trip from our LDS are posted at
http://columbiascuba.com/images/pict...zumel_1999.htm

Al

"emsilly6" <emsilly6@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:cd9f032e.0403012250.4c3cfd48@posting.google.c om...
> hi,
>
> i'm planning a one week (5 days of diving or so) budget vacation to
> cozumel later this month and am looking for advice mostly on where to
> stay and who to dive with, as well as for any general tips (where to
> eat, what to see, what to avoid, etc.).
>
> for accomodations i'd like something relatively quiet but that is
> within walking distance or at least convenient to restaurants, beach,
> other stuff to do.

Check out Baldwin House, a *great* B&B, but you can also get your own casita
on their property. It's a walk to the beach but near enough to everything
that we walked quite often. Cabs are inexpensive too.

> for dive operators i'm looking for a divemaster who is fairly cautious
> since i'm relatively inexperienced. i will also only be bringing
> light gear, so i guess i'm also looking for a good deal on rental
> equipment, and since i'm not renting a car i'd also like someone who
> provides transportation from the hotel to the dive site or boat.
> also, are any shore dives worth renting/lugging gear?

If you choose Baldwin House, Kathy and Dale (the owners) will help you out
in this regard.

(snip)

I've read good things about www.anitadiverscozumel.com in Coz. I'm going to
dive w/ Carietos Divers http://www.advanceddivers.com/ in Coz next month.

We just came back from Cozumel in January. Stayed at Reef Club - so-so
resort, but the dive operation was Sand Dollar Sports. Did a great job IMO.

http://www.sanddollarsports.com/

Have fun.

Randy
"chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message
news:olL4c.793421$X%5.120305@pd7tw2no...
>
> "emsilly6" <emsilly6@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:cd9f032e.0403012250.4c3cfd48@posting.google.c om...
> > hi,
> >
> > i'm planning a one week (5 days of diving or so) budget vacation to
> > cozumel later this month and am looking for advice mostly on where to
> > stay and who to dive with, as well as for any general tips (where to
> > eat, what to see, what to avoid, etc.).
> >
> > for accomodations i'd like something relatively quiet but that is
> > within walking distance or at least convenient to restaurants, beach,
> > other stuff to do.
>
> Check out Baldwin House, a *great* B&B, but you can also get your own
casita
> on their property. It's a walk to the beach but near enough to everything
> that we walked quite often. Cabs are inexpensive too.
>
> > for dive operators i'm looking for a divemaster who is fairly cautious
> > since i'm relatively inexperienced. i will also only be bringing
> > light gear, so i guess i'm also looking for a good deal on rental
> > equipment, and since i'm not renting a car i'd also like someone who
> > provides transportation from the hotel to the dive site or boat.
> > also, are any shore dives worth renting/lugging gear?
>
> If you choose Baldwin House, Kathy and Dale (the owners) will help you out
> in this regard.
>
> (snip)
>
>

On Fri, 19 Mar 2004 03:02:25 GMT, "RICHARD RICKS"
<richard.ricks@verizon.net> wrote:

>We just came back from Cozumel in January. Stayed at Reef Club - so-so
>resort, but the dive operation was Sand Dollar Sports. Did a great job IMO.
>
>http://www.sanddollarsports.com/
>
>Have fun.
>
>Randy

They are the operator for Carnivale. Was not terribly impressed with
the dive selection. Possibly because it was a cruise, but both dives
were mild and only moderately interesting. Great video, though.
--
dillon

Life is always short, but only you can make it sweet