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 Cozumel Trip Report
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Posted by Patti on 03/04/02

Plaza Las Glorias
 

Hello, we are Hans and Patti from Red Deer, Alberta.  This is our third trip to Cozumel and thought you might like to hear the highlights of our trip.  Warning - we were there 14 days so I hope it doesn't get boring for all of you.

We left at 7:00 AM from Calgary on Continental Airlines - it took about 30 minutes to clear customs and security at the Calgary airport.  Flew into Houston where we changed planes.  We were unable to see the Gulf of Mexico as it was cloud covered.  Arrived in Cozumel early 4:40 PM.  Took the shuttle van (80 pesos each) to the Plaza Las Glorias (PLG)as this was the closest hotel to the villa we rented (Casa Deju Blue - in behind the Chedraui).  Walked with our luggage to to our villa and quickly unpacked and changed into lighter clothes to go and watch the Carnival parade.  As we were leaving to walk into town, I realized I couldn't find my purse with all our money, credit cards and passports in it. After tracing our steps I realized I had left it on the seat in the shuttle van from the airport.  We quickly went to the PLG to see if they could phone the airport. This is when I met my guardian angel Lorenzo.  He is the bus boy at the PLG.  He had remembered us getting out of the shuttle and knew the driver.  By this time, I was crying and very upset.  He told me not to worry he would get it back for me.  He called the airport every ten minutes and they found it!  He arranged for Hans to go in a taxi to the airport to pick it up.  There was nothing missing from it and from this day until we left, Lorenzo became someone to spoil!  If you see him at the Plaza, please give me a big hug for me.  If you are staying at the PLG, give him a tip for carrying your luggage. After I had settled down, we went to watch the parade.  The floats and costumes were amazing.  The children are all so beautiful and always smiling. There seemed to be all 65,000 residents at the parade and it was so exciting to be part of it.  After watching the parade, we went to Casa Denis for supper.  Their margaritas are very strong so sip them slowly. We had chicken and shrimp fajitas.  There were excellent as usual.  The people watching at Casa Denis was very good this night because of the carnival.  A hectic day so we walked back to our villa and said good night to paradise.  Day 2 will come tomorrow.

Trip Report Day 3 February 14, 2002

Happy Valentine's Day! Went to do my open water certification at the Barracuda with Pico. He is a very patient man.  I did my 2 open water dives and was finished by 12 noon.  The water was very clear and calm and there were tons of fish.  I saw an octupus, trumpetfish, parrotfish, sargeant majors, grunts, seahorses and a huge barracuda. We warmed up and then walked into town.  Did a quick tour through the new mall Punta Lagosta. We would rather experience the shops in town as all of the shops in the mall we can experience at home. We spent 1 hour sitting by the taxis at the ferry terminal watching people get off and on the ferry. It is total chaos but great to watch.  Slowly walked back to our villa taking in all the sites, changed and had a Valentine's dinner at PLG.  Gave Lorenzo some chocolates for his children.  After dinner, sat in the lounge chairs by the ocean and looked at the stars.  Doesn't get any better than this.  My left ear was plugged so I decided not to do day 2 of my open water certification tomorrow.

My ear was stilled plugged - no pain, just feels like there is a big plug on the inside of my eardrum.  Pico and decided I would try tomorrow.  Had my hair braided by Elizabeth at the Barracuda. She did a really good job (not too tight - even though I could use a facelift!).  It is nice to keep your hair out of your face since you are in the water so much. Saw some nice trunkfish when we went snorkeling today.  Walked to the Chedraui to get some pesos out of the ATM.  There is a really good internet cafe in the same strip mall as the Chedraui - right across from the PLG.  20 pesos for up to one hour.  It had quick connections and was always very busy.  After checking email we decided to start walking (just like Forest Gump) and ended up walking all the way to La Ceibe Hotel.  We snorkeled out to the sunken airplane.  It is about 30 - 40 feet down and had some nice fish swimming in and around it.  One the way back to shore something bite me on the arm (?jellyfish).  It felt like a hot needle and formed a bump but went away very quickly.  Decided to keep going and took a taxi to Dzul Ha.  There are three beach clubs in the area and all serve great food and awesome Pina Coladas.  The Hotel across the road is closed but the restrooms are still available to use (here is an opportunity for all of you entepreneurs).  The snorkeling at Dzul Ha is excellent.  The coral continues to look healthy and lots of fish including a spotted eel.  After all this water in one day, we decided we should treat ourselves to 2 for 1 drinks and PLG and watch the sunset.  The sunset this day was 8 out of 10.  Too tired to walk into town - so ate at PLG, watched the stars and to bed early.  Another excellent day in paradise.

Trip Report Day 5 February 15, 2002

My right ear was still plugged.  I tried decongestant, lightly blowing my nose, standing on my head, yawning, burping etc.  Cancelled my second day of open water certification.  Walked into town and tried to fight for space with the cruise people.  Walked further in from the main street and had more room to walk.  It started to rain very lightly, so we nipped into the Zermatt bakery for a snack.  We ate outside under the umbrellas and watched an older man making hammocks in his shop.  He had his radio playing very loudly and we enjoyed the music.  A Madonna song came on and we laughed when he very quickly put a tape in his radio and changed to Mexican music. We window shopped when the rain stopped and walked back to PLG.  Did some snorkeling for awhile until we saw a big weather front coming in from the mainland.  We packed up our stuff and sat outside in the bar while it poured and the wind howled.  While we were sitting waiting we met Karen from Ontario who had just arrived.  Our daughter is arriving from Edmonton tomorrow and her daughter was arriving from Vancouver as well.  Since we each were going to be a set of 3 we talked about going scuba diving together (if I ever get my certification!) We took down her room number at PLG and will connect with them on Monday.  Walked back to our villa, cleaned up and walked back into town (all this walking is probably the reason we both didn't gain any weight on our trip!).  Walked to La Mission in town and had a great dinner of lime soup, garlic shrimp and red snapper.  The prices seem to have gone up since last year.  The service was very good and we listened to the live music.  We walked through the square on the way back.  They are putting in new cement throughout the plaza and they are working very quickly on replacing it. We think it is going to look good.  Walked back to our villa.  Saluted the navy boys as we walked by and again said does it get any better than this.  Cozumel is a magic place!  Until tomorrow ...

Took the 9 AM ferry to Playa Del Carmen (PDC).  We are picking our daughter, Sara, up at the Cancun airport at 2 PM. It was very quiet walking into town as it is Sunday.  No cruise ships but alot of people standing in line at the post office waiting to vote for mayor (presidente).  You can't buy any alcohol until 8 PM today because of the voting.  Even the jewellery stores were closed!  A smooth trip to the mainland.  We set up shop at the public beach and watched a soccer game going on.  There were alot of families on the beach along with the topless tourists.  We had only been in PDC briefly twice before, so walked around for awhile and bought some fresh pineapple from the women in the market (it is safe to eat as it is peeled). Walked to the new bus terminal and bought tickets for the bus to the aeropeurto.  It leaves at gate 7 and cost 75 pesos one way. The Riveria bus was brand new and very comfortable.  It dropped us off in front of terminal 2 (the trip took about 45 minutes).  I asked the driver where it leaves from and he said right here where he dropped us off.  You can also buy tickets for this bus at the Cozumel ferry terminal at the Riveria counter.  This counter also has all the times that it leaves.  After some confusion about which terminal Sara arrives at, we find her at terminal 1.  We rush over to terminal 2 and catch the 3 PM bus back to PDC.  We bought our tickets right from the driver.  Sara changed on the bus as she had all her warm clothes on.  Since we couldn't get any of the Olympics on the tv in our villa - she brought us up to date.  Just a side note - Sara went to high school with Jamie Sale (figure skater) in Red Deer where we live.  We were very happy to hear they were awarded the gold medal. Sara couldn't wait to get into the water so when we arrived in PDC back into the water we went.  Finally we were able to get her out and haul her onto the ferry (5 PM) back to Cozumel.  The sunset while crossing back was beautiful.  Walked back to our villa, changed and walked back into town for dinner.  Went to Casa Denis and finally were able to order their very strong margaritas.  Dinner was great as usual.  Walked to the square to watch the evening festivities.  The children were all dressed in their finest clothes.  What strikes me, is that you don't see their children crying, yelling or  being naughty.  They are so well behaved and loved by their families.  I gave out some hersey kisses I had left over from Valentines Day and each one of them said gracis. Listened to the live band that was playing.  There was a lady dressed all in white who tried to get everyone to dance but she didn't have much luck. Walked back to Casa Deju Blue and said good night.

Trip Report Day 7, February 18, 2002

Did some snorkeling at PLG but the ocean was murky from the wind.  Today we rented a car from Less-Pay (at the Hotel Barracuda).  A brand new red mini car.  It cost $25 a day plus mandatory $13 per day insurance.  It was nice to have a car that locked.  Drove to Dzul-Ha for lunch, shrimp nachos and cheese quesadillas plus their great pina coladas.  The snorkeling here is great - alot of coral and fish.  Saw a spotted eel, trunkfish, angelfish, parrotfish etc.  Back to our villa, cleaned up and since we couldn't find Primas, ate at La Mission again.  Hans and Sara arranged for a dive with Dive Safaria tomorrow (my ears are still plugged).  Nighty-night until tomorrow.

My husband and daughter went diving with Dive Safari and I sat at PLG and read a book as my ears are still plugged.  The equipment they rented was very old but functional.  There were 3 dive boats going out.  They went out on Ocean 4 which had 10 divers and 2 divemasters.  Ran into Karen and Peter from Ontario that we had met previously.  The dive boat went past the International Pier and then the Iberostar on their way to the Palancar Gardens.  At 75 feet they went through massive coral arches and long canyons.  The second dive was at the Tormentos Reef.  They saw a huge eagle ray at the end of the dive.  I met them at the dock and was very disappointed to not have finished my open water certification yet.  But it is better to be safe than lose your hearing.  In the afternoon we drove to Mr. Sancho's beach club.  The beach is very nice at the club - sandy and the water was very calm.  We went for a walk along the beach until we reached Playa Sol.  We picked up some garbage on the beach on the way back.  Aqua Safari had done a video of their dive so we went to preview it.  The video turned out really well so we ended up paying US $55 for it which is about $75 Canadian.  We found Prima's and had a graat meal (we highly recommend it) even though it is quite expensive.  I asked the roaming live entertainer to sing his favorite song as I think he was tired of playing La Bomba.  He sang the most beautiful Mexican song and this will be one of the highlights of my trip.  Drove home and said hi to our villa's resident cat, Puddles (they found him after a hurricane).  Another fantastic day in the magic world of Cozumel.

Okay, today I'm the designated driver (DD) for our contest to see who has the best margarita and pina colada on the east side.  Since we will be making 6 stops, we will alternate drinks.  Hit the road early and were at Mezcalito's before the bartender.  Caught some rays and watched the army boys with machine guns truck in to wherever they were going.  The surf was really rough so we were careful to not get to close to the waves.  They had their first margarita at 10:30 AM (oh well, you know the story .... it's noon somewhere).  The strength of them hasn't changed from last year (powerful!).  Hit the road - stopped at Punta Morena.  This place has old stone buildings, a bar and looks like it might have been a hotel in the very distant past.  Finally got to see Lola, a coatimundi, in the bar.  She is a Mexican racoon and is the sweetest thing you have ever seen.  She feels like a bristle brush and when you scratch her back, she puts her two front feet in her mouth, sucks on her thumbs and goes to sleep.  Cute, cute, cute.  We watched her eat an avacado. The bartender knew where Alberta is (where we are from) and we chatted about Banff and Lake Louise for awhile.  The almost loaded twosome ordered a pina colada at the bar.  We then went and sat on the beach.  The waves were really rolling and we watched 4 people in the surf (I couldn't watch because I didn't want to have to do any CPR on them when they got caught in the undertow) - very dangerous behavior!  We set up far back from the waves but a rogue wave rolled in and got everyone very wet.  It knocked over my daughter's pina colada (by the way, this place was voted the best pina colada by the twosome).  My daughter kept whining about half her drink getting split.  By the way, have you ever noticed that you get treated differently by staff when you have your 22 year old daughter in a bikini with you?  Side note - my husband works in the plastics industry and when we were picking up nothing but plastics off the beach he said maybe some of these big corporations could subsidize a recycling program in Cozumel.  Packed up, next stop Coconuts - we decided to have lunch here.  Of course, it was margarita's turn at this bar. The view from Coconuts is spectacular.  We ordered shrimp quesidillas and chicken tacos (yummy).  The margaritas here were voted best.  Off we go - next stop Chen Rio.  Pina Colada time!  The waves were still crashing so didn't go in the water.  Here we go again on our adventure.  Stopped at a beautiful beach on our way to Playa Bonita.  We watched the waves for awhile and since we have a friend in Aruba we waved to him (the other two actually thought he could see us - does this have something to do with all the drinks they have had?)  Off we go, Playa Bonita's beach was almost non-existent because the waves had pushed all the sand up.  Margaritas again!  We did some swimming here as it was sheltered (I did keep a real close eye on the other two however!)  Stopped at El Mirador and got some really spectacular pictures of the blow hole.  Next stop, Paradise Cafe - Pina Colada again. While were were sitting on the beach we met 2 people from Ontario who have just opened up the Temptation Cafe by Papa Hogs. They invited us to come over while we were in Cozumel -they said they have cheap breakfasts.  The sun was starting to go down, so we headed back.  Since the two had overdone it today, we decided to stay home and get a pizza and watch a video.  Rented a video from the Calling Station.  I couldn't find a Mexican pizza place so ended up ordering from Pizza Hut.  Does anyone know a good pizza takeout place in Cozumel?  Again, a terrific day.

Trip Report Day 10 February 21, 2002

My ear had finally cleared up so I had made arrangements to do day 2 of my open water certification.  I was at the Barracuda to meet Pico at 0930 hrs.  There was a communication problem and he didn't show.  I will try again tomorrow.  Decided to go to Playa Azul - now here is a beautiful beach - white sand and the beautiful clear water.  The snorkeling is quite good as well - there is coral close to the shore -we actually snorkeled too far and ended up in a current that would have taken us to Cuba.  We had to swim pretty hard to get back to shore (thank goodness for having to swim 12 lengths of the pool when I did my diving lessons in October).  While we were catching some rays my daughter and I couldn't help notice a very built (body-builder dude) with thong swimming trunks.  I unfortunately made a comment about going to check out his 12 to 14 inch snorkel and didn't realize his wife was standing right in front of us.  My daughter was mortified but I figure if you got it flaunt it! I was totally embarrassed but we laughed later.  Cleaned up at the Blue and then walked to Pancho's Backyard since we haven't done much walking since we rented our car.  Ran into Karen and Peter and their daughter Leah and the girls want to go to Carlos and Charlies tomorrow!  Made arrangements to meet at 6 PM.  Walked back home and to bed.  Watch for tomorrow's report on the scuba diving boat trip from hell.

Trip Report Day 11, February 23, 2002

Well the day has finally arrived that I dreamed about for 3 years.  I got my open water certification!  Three years ago, when I went snorkeling for the first time I was hooked.  Before this, I wouldn't go in water over my knees.  The first time we went to Cozumel, I couldn't believe the world that was below the water.  I snorkeled everyday and felt comfortable going on a snorkeling tour.  My husband and daughter had gotten certified on this trip.  The second time we went, my husband bought the video from a dive he did and I said, I have to do this.  I took scuba lessons for 8 weeks in October and finally completed it today - I can finally experience the beautiful underwater world with my family.  Pico was a great instructor (Dive Paradise) and thanks to dermadiver for telling me that he has a PhD in marine biology. One thing that did happen though - as I was doing a giant stride off the deck, I hit my head on the tank valve and split open a part of my scalp.  I had put my tank on too high and didn't hang on to my BCD when I jumped into the water.  I just hope there are no sharks nearby.  My open water certification included a free boat dive in the afternoon.  This is when the story get interesting.  I would like your opinion on what you would have done.  We left the Hotel Barracuda at 3 PM and picked up 12 more people along the way.  We were a boat of 15 divers and 2 dive masters.  As we were picking up people from other hotels we noticed that there were large clouds coming in from the mainland.  As we were heading to Paradise Reef, there was lightening nearby on the water.  One of the divers asked if we should go diving and the divemaster said no problem.  What is wrong with this picture - sitting with a metal tank on your back in a lightning storm!  The divemaster split us into 2 groups - 7 beginners and 8 advanced divers.  I was in the first group and my husband and daughter jumped in along with 4 others.  Just at that moment, the 8 advanced divers said no way were they going with the weather they way it was.  I decided not to go as I was nervous being my first dive and I'm also terrified of lightning.  By this time the lightning was even closer to the boat and there were six divers at the surface.  I signalled to my husband that I wasn't going in.  They finally descended as all hell broke loose at the surface.  Lightening, thunder, wind, waves and torrential rain.  I had to hold my fins in front of my face to protect from the weather.  I swear I saw a lightening bolt hit the Presidente.  I was losing control by this time as I didn't know how the boat would find the divers with the waves being so high and the lightning around us.  A really nice lady sat with me and talked to me to try and distract me from the situation (thanks again - you were wonderful!)  What I didn't know is that the second divemaster went in with the group and was carrying a very bright pool noodle(?) so we could see where the group was diving.  My husband and daughter said that each time  lightning hit, it lit up the coral and it was beautiful.  The group stayed down for about 40 minutes and we ended up picking up 3 other divers that couldn't find their boat.  When my husband finally got back on board, I cried with relief.  Once everyone was back on board, the boat driver said that the harbor master had just closed all craft from going out or being out on the water.  We had to dock at the harbor by the Presidente.  They called taxis for all of us.  We stood out in the storm waiting for the taxis looking like the group from Gillian's Island.  As we were driving back into town with the taxi, there were some roads that were flooded and inpassable.  What an adventure!  Went back to our villa, warmed up and headed to meet our new friends at Carlos and Charlies.  My personal opinion, I liked the old place better.  They had the plastic coverings over the front as it was still raining.  The crowd was really small, but they tried to give us the best time they could.  The two young girls (our daughter and the other couple's daughter) got lots of attention and had fun dancing and generally letting loose.  Personally, I had a couple of strong margartias to settle my nerves from our day's experience. Partied and then home.  What a day!  What would you have done - continued with the dive, tell the divemaster to turn back etc.?  Oh well, it was a memorable day to get my certification done but I won't be able to dive with my daughter now because she is leaving tomorrow.  I guess we will have to go back next year.

Trip Report Day 12,  February 23, 2002

Well just a few more days of reports (I hope you all haven't been too bored).  Just a small note about yesterday's post.  As a brand new certified diver, I don't blame anyone for what happened on our dive in yesterday's report.  There were many dive boats out not just the one I was on.  I know the lesson learned, is that when you are on vacation, don't leave your commonsense at home.  Go with your instincts and don't do anything you wouldn't feel comfortable doing at home.  
On to day 12 - This was our daughter's last full day in Cozumel so we let her decide what to do for the day.  We decided to go back to Dzul-Ha but realized when we got there were no boats out at all.  The harbor was still closed from the storm yesterday.  The winds were really blowing and the waves were unbelievable.  Dzul-Ha was closed for the day.  We drove back to Plaza Las Glorias.  The waves were hitting the shore so hard that you had to sit at least 15 feet back from the shore.  Mother nature was showing some anger today and some of the waves were 20 feet high!  Since today was not to be a water day we went shopping.  Bought a few things - some of the crafts the locals make are beautiful.  Lounged around most of the day, continued to talk about yesterdays adventure and packed it in early.

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