|
Users viewing this topic: none
|
|
Login  | |
|
Tomas y Crunch Cozumel May 2010 Trip Report - 7/30/2010 8:38:43 AM
|
|
|
crunch
Posts: 25865
Joined: 2/23/2005
From: Dreaming of my next vacation to paradise......
Status: offline
|
Finally the day has come. Shockingly, no major disasters occurred before the trip.
Yeah, right! Maybe not major to you, but stressed me out.
However, I did get a brand new battery for my car when my car wouldn’t start, and I did make it to work to shut things down, and more importantly my eyebrow waxing appointment. Too bad I ended up with huge dark brown caterpillars for eyebrows! Never try something new right before a trip.
Anyway, I digress………
We had of course packed the weekend before This is just my stuff!:
1 day prior Tomas takes me to my hair appt so I can have beautiful long blond straight hair instead of my usual gray streaked curly frizzy totally out of control long kind of blond hair.
Sadly, my hairdresser who is normally a really nice lady and neighbor, got a little PO’d because I have utterly neglected to see her for the past 7 months. In revenge she grabbed my hair and hacked off 5 inches. Holy moly!
So in the pictures I am the one with the short blond hair and Beetle Bailey eyebrows.
Tomas is the other one.
Off to lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants:
Here is what we had for our yummy lunch:
Here is what Tomas had:
After lunch we packed the dog:
Ok, actually we took her to the vet along with her bed, rug, toys, and snacks. Always feel like a jerk, but know she will have the best of care.
May 22, 2010 Dia Uno:
Off to the airport. Tomas actually decided to drive instead of me. I guess even my little blue pill was not modifying my maniacally paranoid & stressed affect.
On the road at 0722 for our 11:20 AM flight because we couldn’t sit around the house any more. Traffic was light and we made it to DFW by 8:00 AM. Check in at the kiosk. Offered us 1st class upgrades for the outbound trip for 300 bucks. Hmmmmm, 2.5 hours? We already paid way over the usual this year. I don’t think so. No problems at security and just hung at the airport. This is a picture of my foot impatiently waiting at DFW:
Flight left 5 minutes early at 11:15 AM – a miracle for AA! Our 3rd seat dude is a very nice guy named Jack who neither hogs the arm rest nor makes any weird sounds – a treasure! Here we are so happy to be enroute at last:
We land a Cozumel 5 minutes early. Use the new style tourist card and through Customs & immigration in 14 minutes – a record!
We hauled our bags through the airport and out to the main road and catch a taxi within 5 minutes. By now we are dripping with sweat, but it was a great way to do it! Arrive at Isis about 5 minutes & 30 pesos plus a 20 peso tip later. As usual car rental with Margarita at ISIS is a breeze:
And here is Quatro:
10 minutes later we arrive at Miramar condos. Grab our key from the lock box and we are in. Throw our bags down, program the safe, and off we go to Sedona for ice and essentials. Cocktail hour (or so!) at the condo while we unpack and start the chilling process. Here are some condo pics:
The view:
Master bedroom upstairs:
Master bathroom ( 1 of 3, 2 up & 1 down):
The stairs:
The safe:
The back balcony view off the 2nd bedroom:
At the appointed hour of whatever…….we amble down the street to the Coral Princess to have a lovely dinner. Started with a lovely Margarita:
Tomas had the shrimp, and I had the grilled fish:
I think we had some ice cream too.
800 pesos with 2 margaritas each and a healthy tip for our wonderful waiters.
Here is the mens bano:
Ready to work off our dinner we decided to play air hockey. It was fantastic! Except there was no air………LOL!
Ambled on home under the moonlight and drank some water and nighty night…….
May, 23, 2010 Dia Dos:
Up bright & early & feeling fine. I made Tomas some gourmet microwave quesadillas with Jamon, cebolla, y queso for breakfast & we ate on our lovely balcony where the only thing you see is ocean, ocean, and ocean:
Then we are off to Mega for supplies. We love Mega!
After a hard morning of shopping we really needed to relax so we jumped in Quatro and drove down the street to one of my favorite places. Playa Azul beach club:
Shrimp ceviche to share & then we both had delicious grilled fish fillet con ajo:
With 2 beers and 4 margs it came to 900 pesos with a generous tip. Please note that we had the beers before lunch when we were laying around on the loungers in the sun so this was actually a 3-4 hour time period! Gawd, I love a long lunch with drinks on the beach…………
Leapt back into Quatro and threw ourselves into the ocean at our condo for a little post lunch snorkeling:
Met some of the condo owners and chit-chatted at the pool for a time - how do you like this hair?:
This is may favorite pool buddy:
Sadly, 4:00 pm rolled around so we had to leave them & return to the condo to begin happy hour. Mustn’t be late!
This is what we do during cocktail hour:
We called a taxi & had them take us to another favorite for dinner. Casa Denis:
Felipe, A local musician who will have you laughing your butt off played a beautiful rendition of “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd (including the wind effects) & “Stand By Me”. Really funny guy who insisted on playing us a bunch of extra songs beyond what we paid him for:
For dinner we shared the Mexican Seafood Platter. All the seafood you could ever wish for. Seafood platter for 2 along with 4 delicious margs & 2 shots that were free & they forced us to drink was 90 bucks US with an appropriate tip:
Since it was “Sunday in the Square” this will be our only late night of the trip. We went to Mozaicoz for some to go margs. We met the owner last year & she is really cool so we enjoyed a chance to visit her again & chat this year. Somehow she remembered us. That really blows me away. I thought all us tourons looked the same! Anyway, we sat in the square sipping margs & listening to the band & watching all the action:
Took a taxi home, drank some agua, hit the sack. It was almost 10:30 pm – waaay past our bed time!
May 24, 2010 Dia Tres:
Woke up feeling refreshed and ready to roll. Ate our microwave quesadillas on the balcony with our favorite view:
It is fun to watch the cruise ships roll in each day.
On a mission to take a donation of collars & leashes to the Humane Society this morning. Jose & Marvin were very gracious & are so good to the animals. We left our donation & tried to leave, but we had stowaways! About 10 cats had invaded Quatro. Shoed most away, but 1 refused to leave. I had to make some serious threatening moves to get that feline out of the car. Apparently she had head via the grapevine that Tomas & I are total suckers, but we eventually outsmarted her.
When we drove away we were both kind of depressed. The Humane Society of Cozumel has a great facility & the most wonderful, hard working, caring group of volunteers & employees, but the amount of dogs & cats this time was just overwhelming. They had 50 dogs & at least 1.7 million cats. I just do not know how they do it. Monica & Andrea are angels to sent watch over the animals of Cozumel. If I ever win the lottery they will get a cut for sure!
Ok, perk yourselves back up, road trip to the wild side of the island!
We are off to Punta Sur because the only time to climb a light house is when it is 100 degrees out with 100% humidity. We always like to show up the young folks so we act totally unchallenged after we race them to the top. It is fun to make them think they must be really out of shape! The view was totally worth it:
For the record it is 133 steps and totally not that difficult – je je je!
Next stop down the very slow going sandy pot holed road is the Crocodile lookout. Those things are sooo scary & primal looking:
Ok, we are hot & have had a lot of sun. Let’s hit the beach! It took another sooooo 30 minutes or so, but then we came to this beautiful beach.
The reef is about 200 yards away & this gentleman offered to take us out in his kayak for a tip & he would also show us the best of the reef. Such a deal! Off we went & had a fabulous snorkel tour of the reef:
This picture is just gross. I was having a blast so i have no idea why I have that horrd look on my face!:
We saw Turtles:
Saw many barracuda, 3 squids, starfish, and a dead lobster being consumed by many brightly colored fish. Our lovely host Peter took us back to shore & seemed delighted when Tomas gave him 50 bucks US. It was what Tomas felt was a fair price for the value. We would consider coming back & spending a whole day here.
Hitting the road again and off to Chen Rio for lunch. Shrimp Ceviche to share and Grilled fish con ajo for each of us with 4 margs was 90 dollars with the tip:
Service was great, food was great, and ambiance was great.
After a long leisurely lunch we hit the road again. A sudden downpour deluged us on the transversal road & we had ourselves quite the laughing attack as the water poured down on us. It lasted about 10 minutes & was never heard from again.
Back home we took a refreshing dip in the pool and wallowed until time for cocktail hour:
It’s 4 o’clock somewhere!
Dinner tonight was at La Cocay:
It was really good, but not as great as some of our other favorites:
The bathroom was interesting For some reason Tomas wanted this picture.....:
We each had shrimp pasta & 2 margs each, and ice cream. Yum. 70 bucks US with tip:
Home to drink some water, read our books, and drift off to sleep by 9:00 pm…….
May 25, 2010 Dia Cuatro:
Today is a beautiful 3 boat day (cruise ships). We spring awake at our usual 6:00 am time and lay around in bed watching for the 1st of the morning cruise ships sail by. About an hour after we awake we finally manage to pry ourselves out of our very comfy bed & start the day.
Our main mission of the morning is to buy Tomas a new snorkel. His brand new very expensive (44 bucks) dive shop dry snorkel leaks like a sieve. This is not what he calls a dry snorkel. I am tired of him coughing and strangling & making all these “save me I am drowning” motions when I am trying to get my snorkel jones on!
So off we go to Mega. 28 pesos later Tomas has a new snorkel and we are off to spend the day at Chankannab ecopark:
We buy 2 passes that are good for 7 days at Chankannab, Punta Sur, Discover Mexico, & Del Museo. A great deal at 35 bucks US each.
We find a sweet spot to set up our stuff:
And off we go to snorkel. Just as I am getting in the water and already seeing fish I once again hear an agonized snortling, snarfling, glugging sound from Tomas. Are you freaking kidding me? I am starting to think the dude has brain damage & doesn’t remember how to snorkel or something. My bad. Bad wife, bad wife. The new snorkel leaks even worse than the other one.
Off Tomas goes to the equipment rental hut & they let him have a snorkel to use for 2 bucks. Pay us later. The new snorkel works great and here is some of what we got to see:
If it ain’t broke do not fix it is our motto. So Tomas promptly makes a deal to buy the rental snorkel for 10 bucks. Deal! Yep, Mr & Mrs germ phobic are embracing the new rental snorkel that may have had the saliva of millions on it. Beats drowning!
After a hard morning of snorkeling we stroll down the beach to our favorite restaurant La Laguna. We share shrimp Ceviche, each have the grilled fish fajitas & 2 margs each, also a couple waters:
A long leisurely lunch later we were gobsmackingly happy & content and happily forked over 75 dollars US including the tip. Even with 3 ships in the park did not seem the least bit crowded.
After a little chilling we are back in the water & snorkeling our little hearts out. SHIITE! Ouch! I got stung by a nasty little jelly fish on my upper thigh. Never even saw it. Hustled my booty out of the water fast. Burns like a *&(!* Off to Mega for a banana & the burn just goes on and on and quite the huge welt too. A very nice employee helps me find some vinegar. Score! Start pouring it on as soon as we return to the car because no way am I letting Tomas whip out & pee on me. I don’t care how effective that might be!
Normally skeeters hate me & despite the fact that I am practically bathing myself in DEET several times a day I have collected quite a collection of bites. Oh well, trouble in paradise, a price I am willing to pay the price of admission. Back to the casa to chill & have cocktail hour in our beautiful casa.
Call for a taxi & we are off to Sonora grill:
Tonights view:
The Platter:
This is tonight’s seafood platter:
Even we couldn’t eat it all! With 2 margs each we pay. 70 bucks US with the tip.
Night, night, yawn………………………………………..must be 9:00 pm cause my eyes cannot stay open.
May 26, 2010 Dia Cinco:
Another 3 cruise ships pull in this morning. We love watching them stream by. Big beautiful boats on a lovely big ocean. Then the fishing boats, dive boats, and various birds all join the fray for our viewing pleasure.
This morning we head out in Quatro and as we do every morning we stop by Cantamar condos where we stayed last year to give our friend Freeda the dog her morning treat:
After that we motored on to El Coz I and check out a room for possible future stay. Normally we would never consider an AI like this, but airfare is so high this year that we know we might have to do a package trip to in the future. The room was actually very nice, but when you are staying in a 2 level 3 bathroom 2 bedroom condo well………..
Next we head to Club Cozumel caribe Beach Club. This place is a huge derelict condo building known as the “Bates Hotel”:
it looks like it was wiped out by a hurricane long ago and you would think it was haunted by ghosts, but they have a thriving beach club & they have some condos that are actually very nice.
The beach club caters to “boat people”. However, Bosco told us it was good and he was right. Wonderful place with a great non-intrusive staff. Very nice facility. We set up our private slice of heaven:
And then they started bringing in the cruisers by the van load. You know what? The boat people were not half bad and great people watching! A resident of the condos told us the family that owned it has sold it & it will be torn down in 2011.
They had really good snorkeling and lunch rocked:
Throughout the day we had 2 waters, 2 beers, 3 margs, shrimp Ceviche, shrimp fajitas for Tomas, and shrimp quesadillas for me. Total price for a great day of pleasure? 67 bucks US with tip. Grrrr………………
OH, great people watching at lunch when they seated a 20 strong cruise boat Italian family for lunch. Loving madness!
Back home we took a dip in our ocean & our pool & then chilled at our palapa. Waters were free from our condo & the waitress (me) was hot! LOL!
Feeling sufficiently relaxed & happy we had a private ceremony to release our beloved dog “Crunch” to the beautiful blue water he loved so much. Ok, we didn’t throw the dogs body in there, just his ashes!:
Back to the condo for cocktail hour, laundry (so cool to have your own washer & dryer & fun to mess with the maids head by finishing the sheets & towels and folding them & putting them away). Why do I love doing laundry in Mexico, but not at home?
We wanted to walk to dinner tonight & we had heard of a restaurant at the marina “Puerto Abrigo”:
After a long hot walk we arrived to find out that they no longer serve food. Only alcohol!
So we grabbed some waters, hailed a taxi, & headed out to Abuelo Gerardos:
Fantastic food, great service. This is a really cool locals place for the most part, but a few lucky travelers who do their research are also welcomed in. 1 beer, 1 mar, 2 waters, 2 orders of steak & lobster for 57 bucks US including tip. Heck Yeah – we will be back:
On our way home from dinner our taxi driver slowed down because the locals were out with buckets. Whole families. They were helping the mating blue crabs back to the ocean because biology & the moon were conspiring to make them cross the busy streets in a hormonally induced frenzy. I think the guys will all understand this – LOL! Mate! Another really special only in Mexico moment.
May 27, 2010 Dia Seis:
Aaaah. Another 3 big boat day. Bliss.
Today we hit Playa Palancar. We hear they have good snorkel tours so we are on it. I don’t really care for the ambiance here because everything is crowded to close together, but the peacocks are cool.
We paid 60 bucks US for the snorkel tour for the 2 of us. We waited about 30 minutes for them to find another 4 peeps to make it worth their time. We tanked up on some water & chilling & then we went. Our companions were 2 young buff blondies from Holland & 2 sweet young things from a cruise ship who were going off the grid. Texans from Houston. They were honeymooners & all 4 were doing the diving thang.
A very short ride out & we all jumped in. The divers did a 2 tank dive & we did the guided snorkel trip right above them. Very cool & totally worth the bucks: Sadly, more trouble in paradise, a very aggressive fish (suspect was later ID’ed as a spanish grunt) bit Tomas’s finger – the dive master thought he was joking. Uhm not:
Great reefs! Saw sharks & all the other cool stuff!
After that we headed to the wild side again in Quatro to have lunch at Coconuts:
Please note that I kept my top on & Tomas paid for my margs (free marg if you remove your top – I don’t think so!).
Fabulous view & lunch:
Ceviche, 2 margs each, grilled fish fillet for me & shrimp fajitas for Tomas. 69 bucks US including tip. Headed back home & chilled in the pool after a rough day – ha ha:
Cocktail hour:
Tomas whistled up a taxi & we headed out to Especias for dinner:
Sadly, Adrian wasn’t there, but his 2nd in command was awesome. Bacon wrapped shrimp for me (of course y’all) and fajitas for Tomas plus a heavenly appetizer of spinach empanadas & 2 margs each for 57 bucks US including tip. Y’all, this place is the bomb! We ambled over to Bacios for ice cream just to make the fantasy complete 70 pesos.
Again, our taxi slowed for the crab rescue operation. The Cozumelenos know how to care for what they have!
May 28, 2010 Dia siete:
It’s a 4 boat day today kids!
Tomas was the breakfast chef today & this morning we enjoy fried egg &manchego cheese sandwiches on our balcony while watching the morning boat show drift on by.
Ran our tuschies all over town this morning in search of USA Today/ It was like a very cool scavenger hunt with much input from the locals as we followed every tip & clue. Finally we found it at “Farma” near the Zocolo. Come to find out they also carry it at Coral Princess a scant block away from our condo.
After that adventure we headed off to the Money Bar beach club to while away the hours:
Lovely snorkeling, met some very nice “boat people”.
Over the course of the day we had 4 waters, 2 beers, 4 margs, a large Ceviche, & grilled Mahi Mahi x 2. 940 pesos, plus a 200 peso tip:
Even with 4 boats in the beach club was only at about 1/3 capacity. & only a couple young screamers & they were pretty cute.
Finally head home in Quatro.
Stop & take a dip in our pool & enjoy the beautiful view:
You guessed it – cocktail hour has arrived!
Tonight we grab a taxi to Kintas. This is our car, but we leave it parked every night & do taxi's instead - drinkie no drivee:
Very romantic garden setting, but bring your bug dope!:
This one is for Gato & BB - the Kinta cat:
3 margs, 1 beer, 1 water, Grilled Mahi Mahi for me & shrimp pasta for da man. 700 pesos with tip.
Then we hoofed it around town for a little exercise & accidently found a place with ice cream. Ah well….we didn’t want Turdle to think we were idiots so we forced ourselves to have some in her honor.
I had to tell Tomas I was in no mood for a movie!:
Once again our taxista slowed down in honor of the crab rescue operation. Too cool & what a great way to end a perfect day.
May 29, 2010 Dia Ocho:
Gird your loins, kids – it is a 6 boat day today!
Judging by the water on the balcony table it must have rained overnight, but it sure didn’t wake us. Every day so far has been sunny & perfect. Today we are heading out to spend the day at El Cozomeleno AI. Yep, day passers! Spies!
We check in & are issued bracelet:
They kind of seemed a little crabby  :
We hit the breakfast buffet & it is almost exactly like ABR’s. Hmmmmmm. No bacon for me. Lesson learned long ago!
We snagged one of the 11 palapas. Wow, they could really use more than 11 palapas in a place this big. This north side of the beach is quiet & serene.
The south end where the main pool and bars are is somewhat less then serene. Annoying music, screaming kids. We are too old for that stuff. We fully availed ourselves of the included drinks:
It is really weird though. No matter how many I had I never got the slightest buzz. Hmmmmmm. AI drinks. No matter, I am blessed out from snorkeling & having my toes in the sand every day all day. Tomas asked the bartender “do you have any Canadian Whiskey?” & the reply is “no, only Crown Royal” Ooookaaay. That works! Still no buzz though. Hmmmm….. It was mixed with Coke Light, but I wonder if there was extra water included? Whatever, hydration is important!
They did have beach service which was very nice. This awesome young lady brought us all drinks & I was glad to see she was well rewarded for her hard work:
Oh Poop! That is me! Here is who I was really talking about:
Not only was she efficient, but she had the sweetest personality. They ought to promote her to the front desk which is not exactly warm & friendly.
The AI chow hall:
Main pool area:
Doing what we do best:
For lunch we ate out by the pool and beach. The buffet looked pretty pitiful. The nice thing is that you can order off the menu which I prefer anyway. Grilled fish fillet for me, fajitas for Tomas, and shrimp Ceviche. It was all fine, but very bland. I ordered salsa verde, & the waiter brought us this stuff that burned your lips off. Love it! Kind of counteracts the blandness. I think I would be very bored though by this food after a week, but who knows. If I had to I could deal. So we ate, drank, chilled, snorkeled (good snorkeling), repeat, repeat, repeat….. Oh, and they had an ice cream machine with itsy bitsy cones. Perfect! Finally our bracelets started smoking & we took that as our clue to leave. Times up!
Headed home & chilled in the casa after a rough day – haha ! Tonight we have our taxista take us to Albinos:
What a great place! Jorge was our waiter. I don’t know if he is the owner or not, but he rocks! What a nice dude:
The seafood platter for 2 was Mas Fina!:
The restroom cracked me up. Yep just grab that seat from the corner if you want one!:
With 2 margs, 1 water, and tip the total was 700 pesos. Love this place!
May 30, 2010 Dia Nueve:
No boats today. Sunday is the island’s day of rest.
Today we plan to cook at home. Be very, very afraid. In the morning we hit Zermatts wonderful bakery for bread. We parked at Isis next door. Convenient!
Then we went & checked out Cozumel Palace:
Very gorgeous high end AI. Here is the room we looked at:
They had very high end hair & body potions in the bathroom:
Then we hit Mega for provisions:
Thank you LGer Zazz for your wonderful recipe that even I couldn’t screw up! While going up the escalator thingie we had the very good luck to meet a couple of LGers. Eight Day & her esposo. What really nice and cool people. Also, aren’t they cute?
We took the groceries back to the casa & were very surprised to find water all over the floor. Apparently the water cooler decided to implode or something. No problema. We mopped it up with the 2 bazillion towels provided in the condo & then threw them in the washer so the Camarista wouldn’t be PO’d at us. Then we headed out to Chankannab to snorkel, chill, and repeat. Sadly our Sea Life Eco Shot camera ruptured a seal & took on water. So now we will have to try the “dry and try” method. Another awesome lunch at La Laguna:
Fish fajitas x 2, 1 order fries, Ceviche, 6 margs (they are little!), & 2 waters & a priceless day for 78 bucks US plus tip.
Back to the casa to chill & put the towels in the dryer. Then we cooked:
Microdyning the ingredients:
Cocktail hour appetizer - microwave nachos:
The crazed cooks:
The final result:
Shrimp pasta, garlic bread, & a total stupid vapid movie. Heaven!
May 31, 2010 Dia Diez:
It is a boat day kids.
We head off to get a little culture at Del Museo. We were saving it for a rainy day, but apparently we aren’t going to get one. Yipee! Very interesting little museum. Next stop was Discover Mexico. Also on our rainy day list, but time is running out & every day is perfect so off we go. We get assigned a guide with a couple other early arrivals. He is very long winded, & we are very short attention spanned. As soon as the cruise ship people arrive we slip away from him in the crowd & do our usual no guide short attention span tour. A cool place. We were a little worried about this guy conquering the city:
There was also a horrible accident  :
Ok, it’s hot. We are educated as much as we can stand. Gotta snorkel. We motor on down the road to Playa Corona:
Ah, nice snorkeling & great laid back ambiance:
2 waters to pay for our snorkel access & hit the road again to the wild side of the island.
Stop at Rasta bar for the 2nd cerveza of the day:
A little LG plug in Cozumel:
Is he the cutest thing you ever saw?
Could she look any happier?:
2 waters & 2 beers for 10 bucks including tip. Love to just sit & chill with great tunes at this wind swept beach.
Chen Rio again for lunch:
Ceviche, 4 margs, 2 grilled fish platters for 80 US with tip. Gotta love a 2 hour lunch in heaven! Great food & service again:
On the ride home we stop at Mezcalitos for a couple waters to go. 5 bucks. Hit the pool to chill. Aaaahhh.
While chilling during cocktail hour we see a very ugly storm over at PDC. Oh well, none of that here!
Taxi summoned and we are ready to go to dinner:
Tonight we go Winston’s Prima:
This is a very high end place. Best view on the island:
Started out with this table:
As people left Tomas insisted on moving closer and closer to what we consider the best spot:
However, they treat middle class hicks like up pretty good. If you order carefully you can afford a splurge here. I had seafood pizza:
Tomas had shrimp pasta (the other menu items are way out of our budget). And it was all great. With 4 margs & 3 strategic table moves to get the best balcony table (thank you Prima staff for your patience!), the cost was 58 bucks US plus tip. It actually rained for 20 blessed minutes, but the way it is designed we never even got wet. Yet half a mile away at our condo they were getting deluged. Gotta love an island!
Wanted a little post dinner walk & ambled through Margaritaville. 8:30 pm and they had about 3 thousand little screaming little kids in there. Hmmmm.
You can get free ac though:
Grabbed a little ice cream instead of the free AC on our walk, again in honor of Turdle the Dessert Mistress! Grabbed a taxi home and like every other night we were asleep by 9:30 PM. Nighty night.
June 1, 2010 Dia Oncey:
Today is a 1 boat day.
This morning we head out to check out Hotel Fontan for future consideration. Basically it is a Mexican version of Motel 6:
but in a great location:
Back at the casa we jump in the ocean to snorkel down to the Coral Princess. The current was too strong though. We decide to “go with the flow” and walk up to Coral Princess & snorkel back to our place. They don’t mind at all if you come in & jump in the water from their entry. It is really pleasant & easy snorkel from there to our place.
Just as I grabbed the Ladder with one hand a rogue wave came out of nowhere. My one handed hold on the ladder allowed it to whip me around & slam me into the coral wall. The good news was that I still had on my mask & snorkel so despite the fact that the wave was so high & forceful that it went all the way up the spiral staircase, I never swallowed a drop. The bad news is that the coral burn stung like heck! Youch! The burn just goes on & on. Luckily, we still had vinegar up in the condo. Sweet relief! Also, once again, I am happy not to be peed on by my husband in an effort to stop the burning! Here is what it ended up looking like:
Here is Tomas's injury:
It lasted for weeks, but got progressively better over time. After that we did walk up to CP and had a wonderful and easy snorkel back to our place.
Next we headed out in Quatro to Playa Azul beach club for lunch. Really bad music today, but great food, sevice, and ambiance:
3 margs, 1 water, 1 order Ceviche, 1 grilled fish fillet & o1 order of shrimp fajitas cost 80 dollars US with tip. After lunch we jumped in the water and snorkeled to an area north of Playa Azul. An awesome spot with tons of stuff to see. More chilling & snorkeling ensued and before you know it we have to head back to the casa or risk being late for cocktail hour.
We headed out in a taxi to Casa Mission at the appropriate time and had a wonderful meal again:
This place has incredible food & service & ambiance for a really tasty price!:
3 margs, 1 water, 2 orders of surf & turf which is Lobster & Steak, & ice cream for dessert cost 50 bucks US plus a 10 dollar tip. The best value of the trip!
June 2, 2010 Dia Doce:
A 3 or 4 boat day today!
Last full day. Oh no!
Today we head out to Club Cozumel Caribe (aka The Bates Hotel) to spend our last long lazy beach club day:
We got there at 9:00 am & set up our little spot:
The waiters never bother you or press you to order anything. Soooo relaxing. At 10:30 am the cruise shippers start showing up. A large family with southern accents made their arrival known to us, but in our quiet little area it was still mucho relaxing. We had an awesome snorkel to the north, but did note that there was a little current around the pier that you had to power through. Later one of the boat people floated down there & had to be rescued by the jet ski/boat rental guys because she couldn’t swim hard enough with the current. Scary, but great rescue by the staff. After snorkeling, chilling, snorkeling, chilling….we ambled over to the restaurant for lunch.
A looong lunch of 6 margs (they are small – LOL!), 2 beers (those were had at 11:00 at our beach chairs this is much later, I order Ceviche, & 2 orders pecan crusted Grouper fillets, & 1 order fries was 92 bucks US + tip. Sounds pricey, but keep in mind that was the bill for the whole day. We were there for over 7 hours:
After lunch we walked south & did the drift snorkel back. It was so fun we did it again!
We dropped our car off at ISIS & they dropped us back at CP who let us rent one of their computers so we could check in for our flight & print our boarding passes. Thanks CP!
Tonight we walked over to CP again for dinner. We discovered some anything things along the way. Do you think this was caused by hot farts? :
What the?????????????????:
2 margs, 2 grilled fish fillets, & 2 ice creams under the stars at the edge of the ocean. Priceless! Ok, it was 32 bucks US + tip. A great value for a gorgeous spot & good food & service:
Who cares about your freaking diet when you are on vacation? Not me obviously!:
June3, 2010 Dia Trente:
We must leave today. Sad, but ready. Need to see my dog. We do a morning snorkel & then sit around waiting to leave. When it is time to go I just want to go. Hate waiting around. Taxi was 140 pesos for a ride to the airport.
Here is our ride home:
Our flight left 15 minutes late at 3:15 PM. Tomas notices a bent latch release on the strut cowling of engine #1, but says it is not a safety issue so we do not mention it.
Yes, we hate to leave, but we are now really excited to see our dog!:
The amazing thing is that from the moment we stepped off the plane to when we exited customs & Immigration .the total time elapsed was 8 minutes! Wow! That has never happened before & most likely will never happen again. That was important because it meant we got to the Vets with 32 minutes to spare & were able to pick up a very happy Isla. Happy to be home:
Since we had done all our laundry at the condo unpacking was super easy.
We end this trip the way we always do. A new sand jar added to the collection:
Random thoughts:
Watch out for pirates!:
Bugs were out in force. We quickly went through all our Deep Woods Off, but the Autan bought locally was great.
We were worried about the cruise ships, but whether there were 3 or 6 in town there was really no impact we felt. Cozumel can handle the load.
The grilled fish fajitas at La Laguna at Chankannab Park are fabulous & you should try them if you get the chance.
Our favorite dinner spots are Especias, Albinos, Casa mission, Sonora Grill, and Casa Dennis. All have great food, service, and ambiance.
Our favorite beach clubs are Club Cozumel Caribe, Playa Azul, & Money Bar. All have great food, service, snorkeling, and were relaxed, serene, and uncrowded.
ISIS rocks. They are just the best. The cars may be older & basic, but they are so easy to work with and truly care about their customers.
Humanitarian Awards: Andrea & Monica & all the staff, volunteers, & supporters of the Humane Society of Cozumel. They just do incredibly hard work and have really made such a difference for all the animals of Cozumel.
Injuries: Kim – jellyfish sting, coral burn, numerous bug bites. Tomas – Coral burn, bug bites, fish bite. We would go back in a second! When you are snorkeling several times a day in the ocean you are going to suffer the occasional injury, but it is well worth it.
Weather was fabulous the whole trip. The forecasts had rain & showers predicted many of the days, but only 10 minutes of rain 1 day, & it rained once overnight.
Condo – Mirimar 404 is awesome and a great deal. Just don’t book it when we want it!
And a special thanks to our lovely housekeeper:
< Message edited by crunch -- 2/21/2011 8:10:47 AM >
_____________________________
Nothing wrong with me that a margarita on the beach wouldn't fix.......................
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Tomas y Crunch Cozumel May 2010 Trip Report - 7/30/2010 12:30:03 PM
|
|
|
garciagirl
Posts: 973
Joined: 7/9/2006
Status: offline
|
YAY! Great trip report...really puts Cozumel on our map for the next Mexico trip. And crunch...I think your hair and eyebrows look fabulous!
_____________________________
While we may only be young once, it's never too late to be immature.
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Tomas y Crunch Cozumel May 2010 Trip Report - 7/30/2010 1:25:26 PM
|
|
|
Jamie
Posts: 2578
Joined: 3/10/2005
From: Southern California
Status: offline
|
Worth the wait, absolutely terrific report and pictures (especially the food pics)!
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Tomas y Crunch Cozumel May 2010 Trip Report - 7/30/2010 11:48:40 PM
|
|
|
SchnauzerDog
Posts: 6046
Status: offline
|
Awesome times Crunch and Thomas....
I'm starving after these pics! I've never been to Coz, this sure is intriguing :)
Crunch- I was expecting George Clooney eyebrows or something.... geeze what a letdown! ( I like the brows and the hair is gorgeous.)
Looking great Crunch!
< Message edited by SchnauzerDog -- 7/30/2010 11:50:16 PM >
|
|
|
|
 New Messages |
 No New Messages |
 Hot Topic w/ New Messages |
 Hot Topic w/o New Messages |
 Locked w/ New Messages |
 Locked w/o New Messages |
|
Post New Thread
Reply to Message
Post New Poll
Submit Vote
Delete My Own Post
Delete My Own Thread
Rate Posts
|
|
|
Printable Version
!!! 
