Travelers Info
Air Travelers
Cruise Passengers

Cozumel Island
About Cozumel
Holidays & Events
Getting There
Cancun to Cozumel
Weather
Exchange Rates

Accommodations
Hotels
Vacation Properties
Bed & Breakfast
Rentals Online
Dive/Hotel Packages

Water Activities
Scuba Diving
Scuba Dive Shops
Snorkeling
Deep Sea Fishing
Reefs
Beaches
Marine Park Rules

Adventure Tours
All Adventure Tours
Jungle Jeep Tours
Horseback Tours
Snorkel Tours
Scuba Diving Tours
Deep Sea Fishing
Jungle Bike Tours
Jungle Trek Tours
Tarzan Tours

Tours/Sight Seeing
Special Attractions
Tours/Excursions
Island Tours
Day Excursions  

Island Guides
Beaches
Nightlife
Restaurants
Shopping
Food

Mayan Ruins
Chichen Itza
Tulum
Coba

Ecological Parks
Chankanaab
Crococun Crocodile Park
Tres Rios
Xcaret
Xel-Ha
Cenotes
Xpu-Ha
Sian Ka'an Biosphere
Punta Laguna
Garrafon

More Services
Specialty Services
Car/Vehicle Rentals
Getting Married
Real Estate
Travel Agencies
Tour Operators
Emergency Info
Great Links

Travel Essentials
Travel Tips
Packing List
Taxi Fares
Ferry Schedule
Spanish Lessons
Photo Gallery
Consulates

About Travelnotes
Contact Us

Rentals

Online Hotels

Discount Car Rentals

Adventure Tours

Scuba Tours

Cozumel Trip Report
Submit a Trip Report

Posted by Dogood on 08/26/03

click for photos & discounted rates

Trip report Day 1...+

Preface:  This report will be long and detailed.  I will give the highlight/highpoint of
every day in the beginning. : ) D

Highlight: Friendly People—Friends in foreign places

Day 1:
Well the flight out was easy and uneventful.  Arrived in Coz at 11:15 on Continental,
took the advice and walked to the road for a cab.  We always have a package that includes
the transfers so we always take the van with a million people crammed into an 8-seater.  
Not this time.  What a breeze.  I do think my husband was a bit worried about this move,
but after it went so smoothly, I think he trusted all my decisions on the trip.  As he
should! Checked into the Coral Princess, but the room wasn’t ready, so off to Chedruai
for the essentials: XX, chips and diet coke.  When we returned to the hotel, Pedro greeted
us at the taxi and said, “Hello, Donna.  So nice to see you again.”  Now I’ve got to tell
you that I’m sure he didn’t recognize me from my last visit since I now have very short
hair, but it didn’t matter.  I mentioned him by name in a reservation request, and I’m sure
they passed the favorable comments on to him.  He made a point of finding out when I
was arriving and what I looked like before we returned so that he could greet me properly.  
That is the type of reception that I appreciate in a hotel and the type of personal service I
enjoy.  From the beginning it was like a friend had returned for a visit.  And I had.

He took our groceries and told us he would come get us when the room was ready.  We
went to the pool bar for our first of many enjoyable meals and cocktails.  One thing that
my husband(Barry) and I enjoy, is the beginning of a trip to Mexico when you take off
your shoes and put your feet in the sand.  It has become something of a tradition for us.  It
indicates that all time has slowed down.  We are able to breathe the fresh air, feel the
breeze from the ocean., look at the beautiful water and realize how lucky we are to have
the experience.  Isidro fixed us right up with ceviche, chips, guacamole and margaritas.  
We’re definitely on vacation now.  Isidro, was a spectacular waiter/bartender.  Anyone
that stays here will make quick friends with him.  He always greeted us by our first name.
The room was ready at 3:00p.m., while in the lobby, we ran into Christi and her mom.  
Christi  was bringing us our paperwork.  She was off to take her mom to the airport.  It
was great to see another familiar face in Coz.  We were set up for a refresher dive with
Raul in the morning.  Since Barry and I don’t dive regularly, we like to refresh our skills.

After unpacking I went down to do some snorkeling.  I saw an octopus and a few eel in
about 15 minutes time.  For those that only snorkel, I would say that CP has some of the
best directly in front of the hotel.  The Presidente has good snorkeling too, but not at
$67.20/night.  Yes, you saw that right.  I paid $470.40 for 7 nights, ocean view at Travel-
Center.com.  Yes, I was very pleased with myself.  I will share more info. about this when
I get to the time share presentation.

Anyway, we headed to town for dinner and went to Sonora Grill.  I had the garlic shrimp
and Barry had the grilled grouper.  We both enjoyed our meals.  The salsa was very hot,
but good and the margs were very tasty.  The whole meal and drinks was $35.  That will
end up being one of our best meal values on this trip.  We stopped in and met the
Glassman on our way to Tony Rome’s.  Wow, what beautiful things he has.  I am an
underwater art enthusiast.  We have an area in our house dedicated to fish, manatees,
dolphins and whales all in different art mediums.  While I didn’t make it back to his place
this trip, I will definitely get something next time.  I finally met Tony!  What a guy!  He
was just the nicest person.  When I walked in he said, “Wait, I know you, you’re
Dogood!”  Apparently Christi had been in earlier looking for me.  He has got to be the
friendliest man I have ever met.  We had yet another margarita and chatted with Tony and
some other guests for awhile.  If you don’t feel comfortable at his place, I’m afraid you’re
out of luck anywhere.  What a great day we have had and still more to come.  : )

Trip Report Day 2, first day of diving...+

Highlight:  Feeling special and special feelings

Sunday, August 17, 2003
Ahh!  Our first wakeup in Cozumel.  I walked out on the balcony in time to see 2 black rays of some sort scouring the ocean bottom.  It was so great to just watch them coast through the water so effortlessly.  Went down to continental breakfast which consists of a few pastries, fruit and coffee.  This is included with all rooms at CP.  Met Christi, Raul and Mago(sp?) at the Caletta.  Did our refresher dive with Raul at Paradise and had no problems.  Saw some lobsters and a sting ray.  We are ready to go now.  Barry hasn’t been diving since 1996, so he was very happy to get reaquainted with it.  We went to Plaza Las Glorias to pick up the other divers; David and Heather from the Dallas area.  We had a great dive at Palancar Caves.  There is a lot of beautiful coral and we saw a pipehorse, some barracuda and a fire worm.  I love to see little creatures.  They are so fascinating to me.  Now I was having some serious problem with my inflator hose/tube.  My BCD kept inflating on me without even doing anything.  Since I sometimes have difficulty with my weight, Christi just thought I was messing with it, until she watched me for a bit and noticed it inflating on its own.  So she just detached it, and I was fine.

We did our surface interval at Palancar beach.  We had some good nachos and wonderful chocolate
birthday cake that Christi had dropped off earlier.  I have to tell you that she really is a thoughtful person, she had made special arrangements one other time when I was there for my birthday.  This time there was another birthday, Texrob, who was at the beach with some friends catching some rays.  Everyone sang Happy Birthday and we enjoyed a nice dessert before our next dive.

Second dive was at Tormentos.  Neither dive we did today had much current which was a plus for us, being inexperienced.  The BCD problem had been fixed so I had no problem with buoyancy.  We saw a bunch of lobsters, peacock flounder, anemone shrimp, spotted eel and a very large cowfish.  I love the trunk and cowfish the best.  It amazes me how this box swims with such ease with little bitty fins.  Those fins just move so fast and the fish moves so slowly.  I laugh underwater every time I see these guys.  Now my goal this trip is to work on my breathing.  So I was happy to come to the surface with 500psi.  I'm usually the one ascending first because I'm low on air.  We head back to PLG on this very sunny day and I enjoy the breeze from the front of the boat.  I didn’t think anything of the short ride back until I got back to the hotel and realized I had scorched my back during the trip back.  I tell you that tropical sun is harsh.

We all got off at PLG and Barry and I decided to stay for Happy Hour.  That day 2 for 1 at PLG was not a bargain, $7 for two XXs.  Now I may have been taken, but we enjoyed it just the same.  A little note about PLG...It was about 4:00p.m. and the pool was hopping.  Lots of people and lots of partying.  We sat in some lounge chairs near the water and away from the pool, but there is still alot going on everywhere at this place.  I’m not sure that we would stay there because that really isn’t what we are looking for, but for those who
need at bit more going on, this is the place for you.  Their facilities are nice and the pool is certainly inviting.

Barry had decided to do something really nice to celebrate my birthday so we went to La Veranda.  What a beautiful place.  The garden was so nice.  When we got there the place was empty, but by the time we left it had a few large tables of guests.    As for dinner, it was very unusual.  We started with Roquefort quesadillas and smoked fish with caramelized orange sauce and our free margarita.  I’m one of those people that prints out all the coupons from the internet and brings them with them.  The margs were very good.  We
had fish with lobster sauce and pablano pepper stuffed with seafood and goat cheese.  Both were good, and expensive.  The attention to detail with your food, the environment and the excellent service  is certainly worth what you are spending here.  We had a very nice wine with dinner called Vino Gato Blanco from Chile and a great bananas flambe for dessert.  They also give you an after dinner drink of Kahlua and cream which is nice to end the evening on.  We would definitely return to this restaurant, but just remember this is
a very special occasion type restaurant.  A guitar player by the name of Ube(sp?) performed all during dinner.  He was amazing.  He had a great combination of rock and classical music for acoustic guitar. As we sat there in this lovely garden listening to the beautiful music, I thought about how special it felt to do exactly what I enjoy on my birthday.  Great dives, great company, great food—how lucky am I.  We will come back to this special place.  We have another early morning, so we return to the hotel for a good night’s rest.  D

Day 3...My interesting dive experience...nm

Highlight: Controlling and overcoming an irrational fear

Day 3: We had an early start with a larger than normal group of divers. Chris from D.C. and Randy from Virginia joined the us today.Chris was just certified and very excited about diving.  It was nice to finally meet him after reading so much about his troubles with his trip.  It was great that Christi was able to work him in because she was leaving town and time was tight.  Now for our dive at Palancar Bricks.  We got down and my buoyancy was under control, however, my mental state was not!  I don’t know if it was the
sight of the vast black ocean as we descended or my growing issue with the thought of lack of oxygen or an escape route, but I was having an anxiety attack.  Now before you envision an out of control diver flailing around under water, let me paint the picture.  I was as controlled looking as you could possibly be.  I was
breathing slowly, moving with the current with ease, and indicating to Christi that all was well.  Imagine a duck on the surface gliding along smoothly yet underneath he's paddling like hell.  There were no outward signs of a problem, but inside I began to feel like I wasn’t getting enough air.  I felt like every time I took a breath that it was getting more difficult and that I couldn’t get enough into my lungs.  I began to feel nauseous from fear and all I could think of was, “I have to go to the surface and Oh my god I still have to do a safety stop.  I’ll never make it.”  My tension increased to a point where I thought in just one more second I’m going to have to go to the top.  No, “let’s discuss this at 80ft., No, “let’s do our safety stop; just, “get me to the top so I can breathe.”  Now I will tell you that this was all in my head, but its affect was completely physically debilitating.  I thought to myself that if I go up now, I will never go back down, ever!  So in a matter of minutes from start to finish of this episode, I began trying to gain control of my
fears.  I tried to breathe and exhale steadily.  I started mentally talking myself through this.  “Focus on the sandy bottom,  don’t look to far ahead, keep your eyes on the reef, the coral, the fish anything that keeps me from looking out to far and beyond what is going on right here in front of me.  Breathe in slowly, breathe out slowly.  It was a very methodical, detailed few minutes of just staying in control.  And then, as quickly as it came on, I began to feel it subsiding.  When it started to get better, I noticed it immediately.  The fear went away.  Then I began to physically feel better and then I felt relaxed again.  And I finished the dive without incident.  I saw 3 turtles, lots of barracuda and a very large Black Grouper. I even ended this dive with 900PSI.

When I told Barry and Christi what had happened they both said, “Why didn’t you say anything?”  My answer, “because I felt that if I drew attention to my anxiety it would have only worsened.  I didn’t want to have an underwater communication with signs and motions that would have taken up valuable time in my process of getting under control.  In my mind, there were only a matter of moments between control and
complete hysteria.  I was so pumped when I got on board Shamu.  I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to know that you can gain control of such a situation.  It made my day.  I felt that I had really achieved a great accomplishment.  I don’t know what exactly you call my experience, maybe claustrophobia, maybe even agoraphobia, but the anxiety brought on by the experience is completely debilitating.  I now have a better
understanding and compassion for those who suffer from such fears.

We did our SI at Nachi-Cocom.  The chicken soup is awesome.  We did our 2nd dive at El Cedral.  I had no anxiety about this dive whatsoever.  Chris decided to dive with us since the other group were doing all sorts of swim-thrus.  I don’t do swim-thrus, caves or anything that I can't see a large opening at the other end, nope not me.  Now you know why.  There was a strong current on this dive but it was very manageable.  We saw a nurse shark that some other divers were chasing.  Why do people do that?  Like the shark is going to
stay there.  I saw a blue/violet colored anemone that I was fascinated with.  It’s hard to explain the special feature about something that you are pointing to when you’re underwater. They look at you like, “yeah, it’s an anemone, so what.”  Anyway, when we surfaced, I explained and Christi did say they’re not as common as the pink/orange anemone.  That was a great dive: lots of current, fish, anemone and No signs of claustrophobia.

We hung out at the pool at CP, then got cleaned up and went to Christi’s.  We met “Emma” her cute little poodle, and I fell in love.  She is quite the little rascal.  Christi’s house is lovely, though she may have already outgrown her office/garage area.  We went to Mexico en los siglos and it was closed.  Note to self,
closed on Mondays.  We were walking through town and ran into Raul.  He and his wife, Heather were
cycling back from the movie.  I really appreciated them stopping to talk.  He could have just kept going.  They really seem to be a nice couple.  They told us how to get to Especias and off we went.  This is a very small quaint restaurant on the corner of Calle 5 and 10th Ave.  Adrian was a sweetheart.  The food is
Argentine, lots of beef and sausage.  We started with the melted cheese and chrisarro(sp?).  It’s melted cheese with sausage and it is magnificent.  I would come there just to eat that and the bread.  Yum!  I  had shrimp & garlic and Barry had the muscles.  The meal was good but the appetizer was the best.  The meals were reasonably priced, but I would have to say the margaritas were a bit pricey at $6.00 each.  The real selling point of this restaurant is the owner.  Adrian was delightful.  He chatted for a long time with us and was as equally friendly with the other guests.  I would highly recommend this restaurant as a must do on your next trip.  We turned in early as we have had a long day.

Day 4 with img.  Finally!  I hope?...+

Highlight: Exploring

Day 4: We went down for breakfast by the pool and I had Chilaquilas.  They were very good.  If you
haven’t had them they are yummy, made of tortilla chips, chicken, red or green sauce, melted cheese, crumbled goat cheese and a spoon of sour cream on top.  One of the best hangover cures ever.(not that I’ve ever had a hangover, mind you—-hehehe)  Barry went back up to read and snooze, so I went out to do some reconnaissance work.  I walked to Villa Princessa and Villa Maya to check them out.  Both are ok, but neither was in great shape.  Villa Princessa seemed more spacious since it is multi leveled but was showing signs of wear.  Villa Maya had a beautiful waterfront area but the rooms were very dark and musty.  The central gathering area was nice at Villa Maya and I understand that the couple that takes care of the place are wonderful.

We made arrangements to meet someone at my friends house that we were also interested in possibly staying.  Casa La Roja which is just a few blocks behind Chedruai on 20Ave b/w 13th and 15th.  It was a nice place with 2 kitchens and several bedrooms, but no pool.  It certainly is a possibility, but I’m spoiled now. I like having the water right there for snorkeling and a pool to rinse of in.  From there we headed for the chicken place.  Asadero del Pollo across from the Ace Hardware store is great.  We bought a half of a chicken, 2 cokes and all the fixins for 55 pesos.  We sat inside and ate at one of the three tables.  I tell you what this place was jumpin’.  During our lunch, I would say thirty people came in and picked up chicken.  It was the best!  A must do on every trip from now on.

Off ‘splorin’ again.  Walked around the square and stopped in at Fat Tuesdays for some people watching and of course a few daiquiris while it rained.  It was very nice to rest and watch.  It was like a river in the square, there was no question as to which direction the water flows.  To the ocean!  After the rain we went ‘splorin’ again.  Stopped at the sports bar at Ave #2 and Ave #5 and met Ross, one of the owners.  I think
he said he was from Minnesota.  We talked about the travelnotes people and he said he gets quite a crowd when any Minnesota or Wisconsin sporting event is happening.  He likes your business, so keep it up.  After some beer, guacamole and chips, we headed out again for the championship playoffs at mini-golf.  This was Barry’s first trip to this mini-golf course and he loved it.  He couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.  Oh and of course, we had to take a break at number nine and order some more sangria to quench our thirst.  It is a very tough course and the tensions were high, but my HOLE-IN-ONE clinched it for me.  I won by 2 strokes, and Barry is the golfer.  He of course chalked it up to the fact that I’ve played the course before. HA!  We walked to Riley’s Tavern because Ross from the sports bar mentioned it.  He said they had a very good inexpensive breakfast.  IMO this place was ok, but I don’t think they have much business.

Off again, but this time to Tony Rome’s.  On the way, we ran into Chas.  I’ve never met Chas, but I just knew that this very tan, thin, tattooed man was Chas.  I leaned into Barry and said don’t be alarmed but I am going to say hello to this man.  He was like, “ok,” with much reluctance in his voice.  See I have thing thing for faces and I recognize people everywhere.  Barry is always a bit worried about me aproaching strangers.  But I haven’t been wrong yet.  I explained that I thought this was someone from Travelnotes, so I said hello and introduced ourselves.  It was in fact, Chas!  He was very nice and said that he would probably see us later at Tony’s.  As we walked off, Barry said, “Wow, dear.  You’re just a regular, chatting with all the locals.”  HaHa  We had a fantastic time at Tony’s.  Once again, we met lots of nice people.  Chas showed up and we visited with him for awhile.  Chas, it was great to finally meet you.  Tony put on a great show with all my favorites from Frank Sinatra to Richie Valance.  He really works hard to please his visitors/friends.  We had a nice meal of ribs and grilled fish.  Then we tried not one, but two pieces of pie.  Can you say Oink, Oink?  I have to say that the mango was my favorite, but the avocado wasn’t to far behind.  After trying to type my post to Travelnotes(it was late and I had many margaritas), we said our goodbyes.

Just a note to all who haven’t yet made it by to see Tony,  you really need to make the trip.  He was gracious, accommodating and very interested.  By that I mean, when he asks you a question it isn’t rhetorical.  He really wants to know your answer.  He seems to be the type of person who is genuinely interested in people and life, and wants to share that with everyone.  Thanks Tony for a great visit!  Sorry these images are so big.  I haven't mastered that yet.

Barry, Donna and Tony

Day 5&6, hopefully with smaller pics...

Highlight: Just Hangin’

Day 5 :  We went to a the time-share presentation for breakfast and were done by 9:40a.m.  We agreed to do this for Pedro at his request, who gets credit for our attendance.  He is always so helpful,so I thought I’d help him out.  I told him ahead of time that I was not interested in a time-share and he said that was ok.  So we have this meeting with a retired military man who tells us he does this between the hours of 8:30 and 1:00.  Not bad hours if you ask me.  Right away he says that we aren’t his typical client based on the questionnaire we filled out.  So at least he knows we probably are interested.  He goes through his routine and I can tell he is thinking this is a waste of time.  The Coral Princess time-share area is very nice, and it
wouldn’t be a bad place to have your time, but we just don’t need that kind of vacation planned for us.  I can see why people find it appealing though.  All the guy kept saying to me was, “You got your room for how much?  That’s a great deal.”  I do a lot of research about places I’m going to and hunt for good prices and interesting facts about the destination.  We sometimes travel on the spur of the moment or plan months in advance, so having it all planned out every year is not our kind of thing.  It also seems like a bit more work than they let on, having to trade and submit requests about travel times and dates.  But at least Pedro got credit and it wasn’t a hard sell tactic either.

Coral Princess pool bar
We hung out at the pool, snacked, drank and snorkeled.  Ahh what a day! The fish were abundant today: very large Spotted Moray, Green Moray, baby Moray, Red Lipped Blenny, Spotted Drum and a huge Balloon Fish that had taken up refuge with the Spotted Moray.  Went to Playa Azul to check it out before dinner and thought that it looked very nice.  The beach area entry into the water was very tranquil.  We went to dinner at The Lobster House.  Lobster of course was our meal, and it was very good though a bit peppery tasting.  I thought that the margaritas were good and strong.  For those of you who haven’t been, this is a very, very dark restaurant.  In fact, I really think it’s too dark.  I couldn’t see what I was eating.  I like ambiance, but I want to make sure I don’t eat too many bugs that might have landed on my food.  Tehetehe  It was expensive but you’re eating lobster, what do you expect.  Dinner was about $90/2 which is much less than it would have been in the states.  They give you a nice banana liqueur drink at the end which was very tasty.

Day 6:  Had breakfast at the museum, which is always good.  I like to sit at the edge and watch all the goings-on down on the street.  As we shopped the square it began to rain very hard.  I actually felt sorry for all the cruise ship passengers because they couldn’t do much but walk through the pouring rain.  We stopped at Fat Tuesdays to get out of the rain and the cruise ship folks were just streaming in to grab a seat
and a drink while they waited.  It was good business for them, that’s for sure.  I have found one good advantage to the huge groups of cruise ships.  Most stores will have some loss leader to bring the shoppers into their stores and if it is something you want you get the benefit.  I ended up buying some beautiful matching sets of necklaces and bracelets that were in the front of the store.  It was a very large, very nice store closer to Cinco Soles than the square.  It may have been called the Silver Shop, but I got some deals.  Hung out at the pool after the weather improved.  I was of course exhausted from all my shopping.  Haha! Did alot more snorkeling as well.  We went to Mexico en los Siglos for dinner.

Mexico en los Siglos
We had a tangerine margarita and a peach margarita.  Both were very good. The sauces they serve as an appetizer are wonderful.  The tomatillo sauce and the red tomato sauce were our favorites.  I had the shrimp platter prepared in different ways.  Barry had the beef filet.  The food preparation is amazing. The dishes are all
beautiful. The cream of cilantro soup was good but IMO not great, but the tortilla soup was very good with little pieces of Chicharron(fried pork skins).  It was a nice touch of crunchiness.  There must have been a storm in the area because the lightening was horrible.  It was very scary, feeling so exposed in the open air restaurant, but it subsided after awhile.  We used our 10% off coupon for the meal that I printed off a
website.(I'm not proud)  Which they gladly accepted.  They were having problems with the credit card machine because of the weather and just said that if we came back tomorrow they could charge it to the card then.  The table next to us opted to come back tomorrow and the owner wrote there name and hotel down.  I was very impressed with the owner trusting them to come back.  We decided to go get cash and pay tonight.  We did a little late night shopping on our way back.  I really like that aspect of the tourist areas because you can go when there are very few people.  All the cruise ships were gone so it was quite easy.  Off to bed early, tomorrow we have a big day planned in PDC.

A typical Coral Princess room

Trip Report, Day 7 spent in PDC...+

Highlight: Enjoying nature

Day 7:  We caught the ferry to PDC at 9:00a.m..  It was a very easy trip, $7/person each way.  Walked to a place for breakfast that I had heard of named Media Luna.  It was way down 5th @ 12th.  We had a very mediocre breakfast of egg quesadillas.  I loved sitting on the street watching all the activity, but you can do that at any number of places closer to where the ferry docks.  We haven’t been to PDC in 10 years, so as you would imagine things have changed.  This is really a lovely village-like city.  The streets are so quaint and relaxing even though there are vendors at every turn wanting you to go in their stores.

There is lots of shopping to be had, and there is even a variety from what you see in Coz.  Lots and lots of people, most of which appeared to be European.  We decided to head for the bus station to buy our tickets to Xcharet.  I should have listened to the little voice in my head when the tickets were $2/two.  They said that the bus would be there in a few minutes.  11/2hours later the bus arrived.  When we finally got to Xcharet, which was only a few miles away, I was very glad because this bus was some-kind-of-stinky.  While
I was unhappy that we didn’t just take a cab, I was happier to just get off the bus. Mental note: pay $8 for a cab to Xcharet.  And if you are going to Tulum, go on a tour bus or rent a car.  It’s just to far to go in that stinky thing we were in.

A courtesy bus picks you up where the stinky bus drops off and then takes you to the entrance of the park.  We had already purchased our tickets for $49/person at the bus station, so going in was easy.  They are very organized there.  Remember to bring environmentally friendly sunscreen, as they ask that you leave your sunscreen at the entrance to be picked up later.  From the moment I entered this place I was impressed.  It really was beautiful.  There are Macaws and flamingos as you enter.  It is much like a zoo that has beach and water access.  There is a river that winds through the park and ends up at the ocean.  If you take this, they give you bags for your belongings and then it is locked up and sent to the exit point for your retrieval.  This was again very organized and easy to understand.  They issue you a life jacket and off you go to the entry point.  It is very cool at first, but on a hot day it was very welcomed.  We went barefooted which wasn’t a
problem, but some people might prefer to wear water socks or booties.  Barry hates cold water, so I’m not sure if he liked the trip much but I thoroughly enjoyed the float.  Some recommendations:  don’t fight the water; just relax and float on your back through the caves and mangroves; you can bring a mask to see beneath you , but don’t wear fins; don’t bring anything that you don’t mind getting wet.  I found it totally relaxing.  When you exit the water, it feels great because it is so warm outside.  The area to retrieve your belongings is right as you come out.  You are now at the edge of the park and at the ocean.

There are several areas for lounging that range from very crowded chairs to some very quiet remote spots, of which we found and set up camp.  The lounge chairs are very comfortable, and it wasn’t hard to find a good spot with a palapa.  We were at a prime spot to watch the scuba divers, snuba divers and snorkelers.   Again this is a very well thought out place. They have menus on the palapa with your palapa number.  When you order from the waitress, she takes down your number and has your order delivered to you promptly.  It was all very easy, despite the huge crowds.  I decided to kick back for awhile and relax.



The food was pricey but good.  They’ve got a captive audience, so you just have to go with the flow.  I decide to snorkel a bit, but that was a mistake.  It was awful.  There are just too many people in the water kicking up stuff.  I did get a chance to watch the snuba people underwater during a fish feeding though.  That was amazing.  I’m not sure where the fish came from, but one second there were a few small fish swimming around and then the next second these very large fish appear out of know where for the feeding.  In a split second, it was a feeding frenzy.  Very cool!  Barry had to make some calls, so he
made them from one of the many telephone areas in the park.  We packed up our stuff and went to check out the rest of the park.  Everything is very clearly marked and the aquarium/turtle area is very nice.  They have several tanks of varying ages of turtles and a large pond area where the large turtles swim.  I just love these guys.  There were two very large nurse sharks in the same pond with the turtles calmly sit on the bottom enjoying the ocean water coming in through a passage way.  I could have stayed here a long time just watch the turtles come up for air.  They are absolutely beautiful.

We headed for the exit and saw a handler playing with a monkey in one of the exhibits. This man clearly had a bond with this monkey as he would pick up the monkey and throw it on the tree.  The monkey would then jump to the handler and the whole process would start all over again.  It really was a sight to see such totally different creatures interacting in such a loving way.  They were both so trusting of each other.  When the man tried to leave another routine started.  There was a board that the man needed to cross to get to the other side of the moat from the monkey’s habitat.  Every time the man would head for the board after throwing the monkey in the tree, the monkey would dart over to the board and
get between the man and the end of the board, preventing the man from leaving. I was rolling on the ground in laughter. That monkey did not want that man to leave.  After watching for 5 minutes, we decided to leave ourselves.  At the entrance to the park there is a shower area with Very Cold water.  We took very quick showers and changed for our evening in PDC.

Took an $8 cab ride back to PDC.  We went to the Dragon Bar at the Blue Parrot Inn and sat in the swings at the bar.  This hotel is right on the beach and had a wonderful view of Coz.  We enjoyed 2/1 happy hour and the people watching.  Drinks were $4/2.  Shopped a bit then stopped at the Tequila Barrel on 5th for some margaritas. They were very good, and we would go back there again.  The food looked good.   We enjoyed watching the people and their pets walking the streets.  There were quite a few purebred dogs for such a small area; we were surprised.  The streets became very still and hot, right after sun down.  It was very stifling.  We had dinner at La Parrilla and enjoyed the mixed grill and more margs.  The sausage and chicken are the best on the dish.  We will try the seafood grill next time.  We got to the ferry a bit early because it leaves every hour not half-hour.  It was very nice out at this time, so we just listened to the music coming from Senor Frogs/Carlos and Charlies at the dock.  We got back at 10:30p.m., so I’d say we had a full day.  We leave tomorrow, so I am already beginning to get sad.

Trip Reports

back to top