Staying and playing in Cozumel

Our most frequently visited cruise port is also the place which we have most frequently stayed . And while we will be reviewing our recent dive trip , restaurants , and fun things to do , what are your favorite things to do here ?

Please feel free to share with us and others . :) :D

WE have done the following while in Coz-hung out all day at Playa Palancar, visited the east side of the island, gone to the San Gervasio ruins, walked around the downtown area. For our December 2016 there, we have a car rented and are going back to the east side.

WE have done the following while in Coz-hung out all day at Playa Palancar, visited the east side of the island, gone to the San Gervasio ruins, walked around the downtown area. For our December 2016 there, we have a car rented and are going back to the east side.

The other side is beautiful and mostly deserted with some of the nicest beaches .

It's usually rough there but in the Winter months like December , it can be calm with a West or North wind . Hopefully , it will be calm when you visit . We will also be there twice on a B2B cruise . :) :D

My first visit to Cozumel was with some of the guys that I worked with in 1998 . We were Rescue Divers on the Dade County Fire Department in Miami and we are required to make a number of dives both on duty and a number of dives off-duty . The trip to Cozumel was a chance to pick up 6 off duty dives and meet some new people from the airport and Air Rescue Divisions , where I would soon be undergoing training as a flight medic . Part of the qualifications in addition to being a Firefighter/Paramedic and SCUBA diver is a different skill set for things like diver deployment .

Here's a department video clip of a diver deployment :

Our helicopters can also medivac patients from cruise ships and here's a video showing a training operation with the Port of Miami fire boat playing the part of a cruise ship .

The flight medic in the video is Terry King who was in the same training class as me and also took this photo of me back in 1999 during our training class .

Finally , here's an actual medivac from the NCL Getaway .

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsuPEhHBlgvtDw1O8tE64IQ

Note that the Flight Medic goes along for the hoist up .

I enjoyed my first dives in Cozumel so much that I wanted to take my wife and some friends down on my trip . We got a golden opportunity with a half priced cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy , in December of 1998 . It had a fire in July of 1998 and they were having trouble filling the ship in the wake of the incident resulting in a fire sale .

This was our first cruise and we got to dive in Cozumel together . Thus Scuba + cruiser X (times) 2 = scubacruiserx2 was born . :) :D

Cozumel means many different things to people , but mostly eating , drinking and beaching .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cozumel

We include SCUBA meeting friends here which was the purpose of our recent trip . Our 1 hour and 15 minute flight began in Fort Lauderdale and ended in the spacious new Cancun arrivals wing .

We have been here many times and this was by far , the fastest processing into Cancun which we have experienced . At this point , we used to take a bus to Playa del Carmen on the mainland , and then a bouncy ride on a Ferry - about a 3 hour trip .

But with some extra money to burn , we opted for the 15 minute flight on Maya Air .

We reached Maya about 2 hours ahead of our 6 pm flight , and were able to hop on the 4 pm flight for $ 25 extra each . It's a cozy plane !

Video clip :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqxDv2OzhvE

Soon we we were flying over the Riviera Maya .

Video clip :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5ZXgK0SfOQ

Turning from the mainland , we cane see a couple of ferries beneath us making the crossing in this video :

The Northern hotel zone on the final approach

Switching to video , we can see the reefs in the clear water below , before landing :

We made it !

COZUMEL - Spelled out in bricks 20' underwater

After getting our luggage we hired a ride to take us where we would be staying for the next 10 days .

Ours was the lower level

Beneath the Palapa

The view from the second story

The living area

Drinking water and a welcome basket !

Bedroom and bath room # 1

Bed room and bathroom # 2

The grounds of where we stayed were scented by the heavenly smell of the native Plumeria , which are commonly used in Hawaii to make a lei .

Another common flower in Cozumel is the Bougainvillea .

Be careful of this one as it is thorny and used to discourage people from climbing over entrance walls .

We heard some loud music in the distance and set out to sign up at the dive shop for our dive trips beginning in the morning . There was a stage being set up at the Parque Quintana Roo .

video clip :

We found out that is was for Biker Fest .

A new mural in town

On the street you will see swallows on the pavement

And on a garbage can outside of the supermarket MEGA

The Mayan "Cuzamil" or "Ah Cuzamil Peten" in full, which means the island of swallows (Spanish: Isla de las Golondrinas). wikipedia

Our destination , Dive Paradise - for diving

And , next door , Rock and Java - our favorite place for salads on the island

While waiting for our dinner the sun began setting so I ran over for some photos at the Hotel Barracuda

This is our meeting point to board our dive boats

And after dinner we shopped at Mega where we saw sugar skulls for the upcoming Day of the Dead holiday .

http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/support/dodhistory.html

Our main purpose of this trip was diving with some friends and Sunday , October 23rd was our first dive day . Cozumel is Catholic in religion and on Sunday their are no ships in port and people spend time in church and with family . This also makes for a perfect day to dive . We first pack our equipment bag with a last in , first out mindset .

This makes for and easy set up on the small dive boat . The yellow bag with the underwater camera will not go on the first day . Breakfast is light , usually fruit , cereal and yogurt .

Our meeting point with the dive boat is the Hotel Barracuda , which is also where I first stayed with the firefighter group , on my first visit to Cozumel .

Our fast boat with our favorite dive master Matu is arriving . These photos were shot on Monday when I first took a camera and a Carnival cruise ship is headed to port .

Joining us diving are our friends Karen and Myrna . They were also staying upstairs where we were staying .

The race to the reefs is on !!

We stopped near the International Pier to pick up another diver .

The Liberty of the Seas was already in port

Flashing the surface signal , we're geared up and ready to dive .

But before descending into the briny deep , how about a gear check ? I'm sure that most of you good folks know most of our equipment , but how about a closer look at the life support equipment ?

The first is Pat's jacket style Buoyancy compensator or BC

A buoyancy compensator also called a buoyancy control device, BC, BCD, stabilizer, stabilisor, stab jacket, wing or ABLJ depending on design, is a piece of diving equipment containing a bladder which is worn by divers to establish neutral buoyancy underwater and positive buoyancy on the surface, when needed. The buoyancy is controlled by adjusting the volume of air in the bladder. The bladder is filled with gas from the diver's air tank or from the diver's mouth.

Wikipedia

This attaches to , and holds your air tank . As the air in the tank empties , you will float to the surface . Lead weights ( Pat uses 12 pounds ) are kept in pouches ( red arrow ) to prevent you from surfacing until you want to . The blue arrow allows you to fill the jacket will air orally or manually , to ascend or remain weightless . It also allows you to vent air in order to descend .

A diving regulator is a pressure regulator that reduces pressurized breathing gas to ambient pressure and delivers it to the diver. Wikipedia

This Animation from wikipedia shows a demand valve functioning during the breathing cycle .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_regulator#/media/File:Scuba_regulator_2nd_stage_animation.gif

The black hose is the Main breathing second stage mouthpiece . The yellow hose and mouthpiece is a back up or emergency air supply if you or another diver needs air . The console in the center show remaining air in your tank and has a dive computer which shows depth and other information , and also a compass for navigation underwater .

We will be going about 85 ' deep on our first dive and in order to take photos at that depth and pressure , ( 3 times greater than on the surface ) it requires a special camera . I couldn't resist buying this T shirt at Mega !

Color at that depth , especially reds , becomes very muted as you will see in the videos . The large strobe light will give a strong flash revealing the true colors in still photos . Is everyone ready ? OK , let's dive .

In order to reach that depth , you must equalize the pressure on your eardrums , like you do on a plane . In this video clip , I'm waiting for my DW to clear her ears as the other divers are about 30 feet down .

I followed a small turtle as it surfaced for a breath of air

The turtles here are used to divers and will allow you to approach quite close if you move slowly

They look like a bird flapping it's wings when they swim

We came here to swim through some caverns as seen in this video :

Here my wife has exited a cavern as another diver is following her

After doing a deep dive we ascend to , and stop at 15' for a mandatory safety stop . This allows some of the pressured air which we have been breathing at depth to escape from our bodies . Notice that they are all watching their dive computers for their depth and a count down clock .

And while waiting , we could see the bubbles of other divers as they were swimming through the caverns . And if you are not comfortable swimming through a confined area , you may just swim above the other divers until they exit , as you see a diver doing in this video :

After a dive in general , and a deep dive in particular , a diver must perform a Surface Interval . A surface interval (SI) is the time that a diver remains out of the water between two dives. During this time, the nitrogen absorbed during the first dive continues to off-gas, or to be released from a diver's body. A diver has less nitrogen in his body at the end of a surface interval than at the beginning of it . There are several was to accomplish this . One is to spend an hour tied up

or at a beach .

Another is to head back slowly North to a dive site near to the Cruise port .

A third option is to do a very shallow dive like Columbia Shallows immediately , which is where the blue arrow points to . This is where we found Cozumel spelled out in bricks .

In the shallows you may find things that you don't see on deeper dives like starfish

or a small Yellow Stingray .

In this video clip a Nurse Shark scares a Yellow Stingray :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0k4ZtVTjiU

After diving and cleaning our gear , we usually have a quick lunch where we are staying . This is usually followed by a siesta . Dinner is our main meal , and with the arrival of another friend , Phil , we went somewhere special . Kondesa

We were dining under some large trees and it's very dark

and romantic

Our most frequently visited cruise port is also the place which we have most frequently stayed . And while we will be reviewing our recent dive trip , restaurants , and fun things to do , what are your favorite things to do here ?

 

Please feel free to share with us and others . :) :D

Enjoying your pictures. Your hotel looks very nice. Can you tell me what it's name is? Thankyou

Enjoying your pictures. Your hotel looks very nice. Can you tell me what it's name is? Thankyou

Yes , it's Casa Tomas . We did get to dive in Cozumel yesterday from the Regal Princess and we are scheduled to be in Cozumel next Thursday on the Caribbean Princess . Do you think that we love Cozumel ? :) :D

We are preparing to leave Belize on the Caribbean Princess and arrive in Cozumel tomorrow morning . This will be our second visit there in less than a week !