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Cozumel Trip Report
Posted by Roland on 03/24/01
First trip report - first timers
Allegro
Resort Cozumel
First off I would like to say that ya'll were a great help in planning our first
trip to Coz. A tremendous amount of information was passed on too us. Thanks a
bunch!!
We flew out of San Antonio on the morning of March 8, through Houston, and
arrived in the paradise of Coz by 11:30 am. Customs was a little slow, but they
were just being freindly and talking with eveyrone. I certainly wasn't in a
hurry, and I would have reminded anyone near me that was bothered about the wait
to think about "WHY" they were there. Anyway, we both had green
lights, and it was a go. We were staying at the Allegro, and I was surprised at
the effeciency of the people waiting for us at curbside. They seemed to know
more about what we were doing than we did! They almost seemed to be waiting for
us. A quick taxi ride, and we were at the resort in 20 minutes tops (including
the mid day traffic in downtown San Miguel, if that's what you call it. LOL). We
chose an AI because our 12 year old son was going to come with us. A week before
we left, due to 2 slowly lowering grades at school, we decided per a previous
agreement with him, that he was not going to join us. We felt really, really bad
about the whole thing for about 5 minutes after we arrived. Then got into
the spirit of things, and let it go. Check in was not until 3:00 pm, so we
checked our bags and had a drink beachside. We requested a room in the 4000 -
5000 block as recommended too us by several perple on the this board, and ended
up getting room 2811 by 2:00 pm, second floor, facing the smaller pool.
Personally, I think this was a great room. The afternoon sun came right between
the westward rooms, and landed right on our balcony, which made a great place to
for sun lovers to wind down a busy travel day, and settle in.( Well, half a busy
travel day at least) I did find the public beer tap at poolside with both Corona
dark, and light. The limes were right near by. You got to admit, that's pretty
cool. No waiting at all. Not that the regular bar had any wait. It just
simplified things. We settled in for a while, soaked in the sun, looked over the
general tourist things available too us, and decided to make our own plans. We
were obviously to late to get a reservation for either of the 2 restaurants, so
we had dinner at the "Buffet". It wasn't too bad. A little Generic and
unspicy for my tastes,( We are from San Antonio you know, and have great Mexican
food here) After dinner, we watched the kids program from the upper floor of the
main building that they had on the resort stage below. The entertainment
staff knew all the kids names, and had 100% participation from them. Boy! Too
bad my kid blew it. He would have had a great time. We drifted back to the room
and were asleep by 10 pm. Next report to follow.
First timers Day 2
Sorry. My first trip report had no paragraph breaks. That makes for though
reading.
Day 2....I woke up a 6:30 AM like I was going to work. @#4%&*#. Habits
are tough to break. I walked out on the dive pier, and the water was perfectly
glassy. The only other person up was a lady from Wisconsin, and she had some
bread to feed to the fish. The fish were waiting for us, so this is
obviously somthing they look forward too.
I enjoyed the quiet for a while, and then woke up the wife. We had breakfast at
the "Buffet". Which was exellent by the way, and caught a taxi to
town.
We strolled around San Miguel and talked to the locals as much as possible. I
believe this is the best way to totally absorb the culture. It's a beautiful
little city if you get out and really look around. We walked, listened to the
sales pitches, and got a general lay of the land.
We met a local gal from the Mexican Environmental board that was documenting the
unbeaching of the XEL-HA that's beached north of the ferry pier. The boat was
wrecked in a collision about 6 years ago with another tour boat, and has started
leaking grease and oils from the rusting machinery aboard. Why this wasn't dealt
with several years ago, I don't know, and she didn't want to discuss this. Law
suits and all, ya know what I mean! When we happened upon this, they were hand
carrying cement into the hull to ready it for removal from the rocks.(Just a
side note for anyone wondering what that was all about, and of course this is
second hand that's been tranlated from yours truly)
At midday, we stopped at Sally's Mini
Golf. We weren't ready to play yet so
Sally recommended Sonora's Grill for lunch. (One block North of Sally's)
Fantastic fajitas and quesadillas.
Went back to Sally's and played a round of PutPut. Beautiful layout. Can't
say enough about the hospitally of Sally, Scott, and sunshine (I forgot to bring
a biscuit for Sunshine, sorry S&S) The course is absoultly beautiful. We
took their advise and took our time, as well as the radios they give us for
requesting drinks. We played as slow as our fast paced city slicker atitudes
would allow, and it didn't take long to adjust.
About half way through, we met a young couple from Ohio that were behind us. We
were playing a little slower then them, and for some reason. they refused to
play thorugh us. We just sat there...and so did they. In San Antonio, that means
a party. They were great people. So are Sally and Scott. Their were very
attentive to us, and I would list this as a "MUST STOP" visit when you
get to cozmel.
Caught a taxi back the the resort, soaked some sun, had a few beers from from
the free tap, and were in bed by 9:30 pm.
More to follow.
First Timers, First trip report Day 3
Sorry for the delay in finishing this report. In the real world, I actually
have to work.
March 10, Day 3...I again woke up at 6:30 am (I'm trying to break this bad
habit)It was goin to be another perfect day weather wise. I layed by the smaller
Allegro pool and waited for the wife to get up. We eventually had breakfast in
the buffet again, and went for a walk on the beach towards the Iberostar, which
is about a mile away. We stopped at the little deserted building about halfway,
and sat under a coconut tree and soaked in the quiet.
We decided to take one of the resort snorkeling trips. It left at 1:00pm, and
there was only 10 people including us. They said bring nothing but a towel. We
went on thier Trimaran, and it took about 30 minutes or better to get to a place
they called Hollywood Reef. It's about 8'-10' deep, and only has a small
outcroping of coral. Of course, the water was warm, clear, and full of fish. We
only stayed there about 15-20 minutes to make sure all the gear was working
correctly.
We then motored to a reef called Columbia. Here the water was a little
cooler, and about 20'-30' deep. It's a much larger reef, and full of much larger
fish. Don't let anyone tell you that those little, cheap, disposable
underwater cameras don't take great pictures. Their good to about 9'-10', and
you don't need to go any deeper to take fantastic pictures. The water's just to
clear with the sun overhead. My pictures came out fine with at least 30' of
visibility. We swam around for another 20-25 minutes, and climbed aboard the
boat.
They served all the drinks and food that you could possibly absorb (included in
the price)and we layed in the sun for a while and rested. Then it was off
the the Palancar Reef, which took all of 2 minutes. This is the reason everyone
comes to Cozumel. I was surprised at the fact that you can see the bottom.
But when I jumped off the boat, I realized that the bottom is about 80'below.
I'm hooked, and plan to get my divers cert before my next visit. I'll
probably do the open water in Coz.
We drifted in the current, and the boat drifted with us off to the side. Juan,
who was our snorkel coordinator, and a really nice guy, snorkeled with us at
each place. The crew on the boat never took their eyes off us the whole time we
were in the water in case something happened. (or they were looking for sharks,
LOL) Either way, no one was eaten, and we drifted for at least 30 minutes. The
water was much cooler here, and we were ready to get back in the boat when they
sounded the horn to leave.
By unanimous vote, they raised the sail and we headed back to the resort. We had
some cocktails, fresh fruit, and layed in that great carribean sun. We arrived
back at the resort in time to catch the sun set. Well worth the $38 per person.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the resort snorkel trip, but we both found the
crew very professional, safety oriented, and always willing to get you anything
you wanted. I recommend this to anyone staying at the Allegro. Even if your not,
it's worth it. We had an early dinner, decided to go the the mainland the next
day, and fell asleep by 9:30 pm.
First timers, First Trip Report Day 4
March 11th Day 4... Again, I got up early. Today, we decided
to take the Tulum-Xel-Ha tour. I personally didn't want to go to Xel-Ha, but
being first timers, I thought it would be easier than coordinating it ourselves.
We caught the 8:00 ferry to Playacar. I'd forgotten all about flying fish until
I saw them on the trip over. The ferry seemed to be very punctual, and we
arrived in Playacar right on time. (about a 40 minute ride)
We had to get to the Continental Hotel next door to meet the bus. They came
about 25 minutes late, but it was far nicer than anything I've ever seen in the
states, and I'm not kidding about this. We lucked out again, and there was only
about a dozen people on our trip. Most of them from Cancun.
The trip down to Tulum was only about 45 minutes at the most. Once we got there,
we spent a couple of minutes getting everyone together, and jumped on the tram
to the ruins. The place is larger then I thought it would be. The tour guide
(another real nice guy named Beno) had us follow him around a bit so he could
tell us about the Mayan People, and the history of the city.
Unfortunatly, this took up more than half the hour we spent there. Next time I
would ditch him as soon as I got there, and meet the group back at the bus.
(They won't leave you there). The place is fantastic for it's location.
The view from the cliffs over the beach is something right out of
Carribean Magazine. The ruins are very impressive.
We walked out to the far south end of the walled city, and found that no one
ever goes over that way. There are huge Iguanas along the rock wall, so ignore
the little ones climbing on the ruins.
There were several hundred people there. I managed to take some beautiful
pictures of the ruins by carefully timing my shots. Not one tourist is in any of
my pic's. Personally, I'm proud of that! They rounded everyone up, and headed
for Xel-Ha.
It's only about 5 minutes from Tulum. It's an ecological preserve, and a little
over visited for my liking. I can see the appeal of the actual site. It's a
series of Cenotes (springs) mixing with ocean water. Lot's of restaurants,
shops, stuff like that. When you get into the head waters, you have to swim
through Mangroves out to the lagoon.
The water was cloudy from all the people. We met a couple on the bus that had
never been snorkeling in their lives. We took them under our wings and showed
them the ropes. They were like a couple of kids when they got the hang of it.
Great people.
We found a cove that's to the left side out in the main lagoon. There's a very
large Cenote pumping fresh water into the lagoon. Once I looked the area over, I
swam out to the opening and stopped people from comming in to let the water
clear. This was the best snorkeling of the day by far. You can see the
temperature inversion, as well as the salt/fresh water seperation. There's
distinct lines between the waters and temps. I've never seen this before, only
read about it.
We saw a very large turtle, HUGH parrot fish, and big schools of...Tetras, I
think. I recommend going very in the morning or late in the day to avoid
all the people stirring the water up.
We took the bus back to Playcar, and the wife and I made the 6:00 pm ferry with
about 30 seconds to spare. This particular nite, there was no 7:00 pm ferry. We
would have to wait until 8 for the next one.
The main square in San Miguel was busy for a Sunday nite.??? We took a
taxi back to the Allegro, and we're in bed by 9:30 pm.
More to follow.
First Timers, First Trip Report day 5
March 12th Day 5... Today, we did nothing. Just took advantage of
the all inclusive nature of the resort. Again, I got up early, and decided that
today, I would lay out by the pool, and work on my tan. About noon, the wife
decided that she would wait in line for reservations for one of the restaurants.
This little endevor, took her about 2 hours total, while I soaked in the sun for
several hours.
We had dinner in the Mexican restaurant by the pools with an older couple we met
from Wisconsin. They turned in early, so we headed to Fast Eddies Sports Bar.
Most of the Allegro staff hang here at nite waiting for their bus back to town.
I kicked the bartenders butt in a pool, and he had to return the favor in a game
of PfoosBall. The wife and I played ping pong, danced, and had a good time.
Went to bed after several flaming tequila's.
First Timers, First trip Report Day 6
We must have stayed up later than we thought. Didn't get out of bed until
11:30!!. We crawled over to a hammock under a breadfruit tree, and layed
in the shade for hours. Saw a couple of kids play a game of full contact chess
on the lawn chess board. Quite a site! "Bishop takes Pawn" yell's one
of the kids. And then you see a 2' high Pawn fly through the air. Great game.
Had an early dinner, and went to bed shortly after that. Tomorrow, we decided to
rent a Jeep and explore the island. More to follow.
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