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Cozumel Trip Report
Posted by Criss on 01/05/01

Trip report...finally

Where do I begin?  Well....my name is Criss, and I confess, I am a Cozaholic!!  I took my two teen sons to Cozumel for Christmas.  I have traveled several times to the Caribbean, but this was my first time to Cozumel.  We left Minnesota on December 23rd with 10 below zero and the beginning of a major storm front.  We arrived in Coz 4 hours later with 78 degrees and scattered showers.  Between those showers was glorious sunhine!  It rained almost daily at some point, but who cares! We were usually wet anyway, and if not, rain and high 70's is much better than what the midwest was having!  Even with the rain, we still had plenty of sunshine!!! Unfortunately, the tan lines are already fading!

We checked into our hotel, Coral Princess, and found it was full.  I had reserved a studio for the three of us and was hoping to upgrade to a one bedroom, but no luck.  No problem, we didn't spend that much time in the room to get into each others way.  They just brought up an additonal roll-a-way and we were set.  The room was nice.  Bottled water was provided every day, although the hotel water in bar and restraunt were fine.  Beach towels and an in room safe were also provided.  The staff was great!  Especially Humberto and Pedro, the bellmen.  The waiters really went beyond the definition of customer service.  And the food....fabulous!  There is a very nice exercise room, which the boys used every day.  Not me...I'm on vacation!  The hotel also had an in house masseuse, Raoul.  If Raoul would have fit, he would have come home in my luggage!  He provided the most delicious oceanside massage! It was heavenly!  Raoul has very strong hands!  Needless to say, he was tipped well.  After 1 1/2 hours with the sound of the waves (real waves not a CD) occasional ocean spray and warm breezes blowing across my body while Raoul did his magic, I floated back to my room, (there was no way I could possible walk after that!) And all of this for only $50 USD!  

The day we arrived, we went into town and acquainted ourselves.  It is very easy to get around, especially with the Cozumel Can-Do map.  We happened to stumble on the mini-golf course and stopped in to meet Sally, Scott and Sunshine.  (Hi guys!)  We had every intention to go back and play some golf later in the week, but somehow time got away from us.  Sorry, next time, I promise.  The course looked beautiful. There are 3 banks right on the edge of the Plaza that have ATM machines.  That worked really well.  I seemed to only be able to take $1500 pesos per day out and couldn't seem to get US dollars at all.  The one machine that did dispense USD said you needed a local bank card to access USD.  No problem, I preferred pesos anyway!  We stopped at Carlos and Charlies for dinner that evening, the boys REALLY enjoyed it!  The food was great, try their BBQ shrimp.  

The next day we had a Tarzan buggy tour planned.  We were the only ones participating that day, so Omar, our guide took one buggy and the boys and I took another.  Guess who got the back seat!  It was a great day.  It rained off and on, but just added to the adventure.  The boys discovered if they hit the puddles just right, it would splash into the back seat all over guess who!  They are so clever! Omar really catered to us.  Munchies and refreshments all day, stopping to point out interesting things along the way.  We even met the 6 military guys posted out on the north end of the island.  They and Omar seemed to be good friends, and they seemed very happy to see people, even though we couldn't speak Spanish.  It was Christmas eve, so we left them each with a cerveza and went on our way.  The small ruins we saw were very interesting and Omar provided some history along with it.  He fixed us an awesome beach lunch and we tried to get out to the reef to do some snorkeling, but the water was just too rough.  He and the boys had fun riding the waves on his Hobie board anyway.  The water was soooo warm!  I highly recommend this tour.  It started at about 10:30 in the morning and we were back about 4:00 in the afternoon.  They even took us back to the hotel.  I reserved it online in advance and this seemed to work out great for me.  That night we had dinner at La Veranda.  It was excellent.  The service, food and ambience were impeccable.  It was raining very hard that night and the actual veranda was closed and they were busy.  We didn't have reservations, but they moved a sofa and overstuffed chairs from the bar area and set a table for us there! It was a little pricey for Cozumel standards, but for the quality of food and service, it was a bargain by US prices.  I had the shrimp margarita, my 16 year old had a seafood lasagna and my 18 year old had lobster prepared tableside.  With dinner drinks and tip, I spent about $65 USD, not bad!  

Christmas day we went out to Chankanaab Park.  It was about $12 USD taxi from our hotel and $10 per person to get in.  Very much worth it.  The beach was beautiful, drinks cheap (food was kinda high though in comparison to town).  Showers, lockers, 3 or 4 dive shops and of course the dolphins.  The botanical gardens were fun to go through too.  I decided to let the boys try a test dive.  We had rented snorkel equpiment at home and brought it with us, but I wanted them to see what a difference it was diving.  After about a 25 minute mini class, they went on a 40 minute dive with the instructor.  Needless to say, they came up hooked!  That's my boys! They saw a couple large lobster, octopus, eel, the sunken statues and anchors, plus all of the fish and coral.  Mom didn't go along.  I just basked in the sun on the beach.  If anyone is curious about what diving is all about before getting certified, I would strongly suggest this option.  We used the dive shop furthest in on the beach.  The one with the big PADI sign on it. (I don't remember the name.)  Alberto, the instructor was very good and the cost was $50 per person.

Well, needless to say, I caved and the next day I did some inquiring about the dive shop at the hotel.  (Pepe's dive shop)  I got very good reports about the divemaster, the shop and the instructor, so I enrolled the boys in classes to be certified.  It sure beat doing it in a pool and murky waters in Minnesota!  The instructor, Luis was super.  There were two other people taking the class at the same time and he let me tag along on all of the dives for only $10 per dive.  (I am already certified)  The certification class was $300 per person and although they don't beat the book into you like I went through, (although they did read through it and go over it) I thought the actual diving experience and instruction provided was excellent. We only got to do shore dives (6 of them) but we saw so much.  A huge spotted eagle ray (She circled us 3 times.  I was beginning to wonder who was watching whom!), a 4 foot nurse shark, eels, small rays, and of course hundreds of different beautiful fish, coral and plants.  We had a reef dive scheduled for Friday morning, but the water was too rough and they postponed it until the afternoon.  That made it too close to our flight time on Saturday, so we had to cancel.  Bummer!!!  I was very disappointed.  I really wanted the guys to experience that.  Next time!  What we did was awesome all the same! It was defintely the highlight of the trip.

We rented a Jeep from National for a day.  I may have paid more there than I could have at other places, but I knew I would get a good vehicle and no hassle.  With tax and insurance it came to about $80 USD. I know that was steep, but the no headache factor was worth it to me.   After insisting on the top, side and back canvas in case of rain, (just tuck them into the back) we set out for the East side.  The waves were huge and it made for some beautiful scenery.  We stopped at Coconuts for a cerveza and burger.  The view from here is great!  That night we had dinner at Las Palmeras.  The food was good and resonably priced but they were very crowded.  My son had the garlic shrimp and ended up getting sick that night.  (both ends) He was fine the next morning after I pumped pepto bismal into him all night.  I think it was just a fluke that he got sick.  It seemed to be a very reputable place.  

Friday afternoon we took the ferry over to Playa del Carmen.  It was $122 pesos per person round trip.  Very plesant trip.  I would recommend it for an afternoon.  It had a little different feeling than Coz.  For one thing, there were no cars allowed on the two closest blocks to the waters edge.  This made window shopping much easier, different things to shop for there too.  There was also a MacDonald's and Burger King if you need your junk food fix.  By this time, my guys were going through withdrawal and were in desperate need! Mom just settled for a soda.  I don't like it at home, why would I want it in Mexico?  

Other things I could pass on to fellow newbies...it cost $32 pesos for 3 of us for a cab to town.  ALWAYS ask the driver how much to....BEFORE you get into the car.  We saw many people exchanging words with their drivers after the ride when the cost was not agreed upon before hand.  I wouldn't recommend taking one of those "cheap" car or jeep rental offers from the guys who want to sell you a time share or hotel offer for next year.  Everyone I spoke to who had done this to get a car inexpensively, were not happy with the condition of the vehicle.  Spend the extra $20 and go to a rental agency. After you pack, take out at least 1/3 of the clothes you put in.  You won't need them.  I had "Express Laundry" come pick up my clothes at the hotel, wash, dry and iron them and them deliver them back to the hotel for $12 USD.  I had about 3 loads.  I wish I could have done that after I got home!  Above all relax and have fun, use common sense and don't get discouraged if it rains a little.  It couldn't be the tropical paradise it is without the rain!  I have never felt more comfortable, safe and welcome in any other vacation spot.  I will defintely be back!

One last comment...thank you to all the veterans of this board.  If it had not been for you and your advice and stories you share, I'm sure our trip would have been much different.  I can't express how much more prepared and comfortable I was leaving for Cozumel after reading this board for a few months.  I am afraid I am addicted!   Thank you!