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In eager anticipation of our trip to Cozumel, I awoke early Saturday
morning.  My dive gear and suitcase already packed in the car as well as my
dive buddy's, whom  was going to ride with me to the airport.

Flights were via U S Airways the entire way, which made it easy to check our
luggage for the entire trip instead of having to pick it up and connect with
a different airline.  US Airways was prompt getting us to Charlotte,
however, the aircraft taking us to Cozumel had a plumbing problem in the aft
lavatory and after determining they could not fix it in a reasonable time,
they brought out another aircraft, loaded our baggage and we were delayed by
only an hour.  After a 3 hour flight we arrived and checked in through
Mexican customs with no hassles or delays.

There were large vans near the airport and we negotiated a price to take our
group of 12 to the Reef Club Resort.  After loading all of dive gear,
luggage and passengers, we took a 20 minute ride through the side streets of
San Miguel to the resort.  The Reef Club immediately presents a neat, well
maintained appearance of stucco and adobe type structures.  There is a
covered area as you arrive, just outside the main desk area, with several
soft upholstered chairs and love seats, all under a grass canopy type roof.
The door to the main desk is left open with only natural ventilation and a
few ceiling fans to keep the air moving.  Hotel staff is friendly and
plentiful.  However, when we arrived, we found they did not have our rooms
ready.  We were invited to wait in the covered area outside and enjoy free
beverages at the nearby bar.  The Reef Club is a combination of
Condo-Timeshare and Hotel type resort.  There are 3 swimming pools.  One for
the timeshare visitors,  and two for the hotel visitors.  The large main
pool was empty when we arrived on Saturday and the timeshare pool was being
filled.  The smaller pool in the hotel part of the resort was full.  This
pool was relatively shallow but featured a bar where you could swim up and
partake of the all inclusive beverage  feature of the resort.

I had been warned in advance not to drink the tap water in Cozumel.  I was
quite careful in this regard using only bottled water from a sealed
container to brush my teeth with and consumed only soft drinks  and bottled
water from sealed containers.  No one from our group suffered any sickness.
I don't know how safe the tap water is at Reef Club but I didn't hear of
anyone having any problems.

Reef Club is a large facility.  I measured it about ? mile from end to end.
There are labyrinth  of walkways the wind their way through the resort.  The
resort features 2 restaurants and 3 lounges, live entertainment each night,
a gymnasium and a tennis court.  I found the room we had to be rather
Spartan and somewhat cramped for two divers, two sets of dive gear, and our
personal luggage, but we were comfortable.  The room is air-conditioned and
had a ceiling fan from the high vaulted ceiling.  There was a TV in a wooden
hutch that offered around 6-8 channels, half of those were Spanish speaking
only, including the National Geographic channel.  Those channels not in
Spanish, had Spanish sub-titles on the screen.

As mentioned, there are two restaurants on the premises.  The La Casana
restaurant is a buffet style with plenty of food, a spacious dining room,
and an open air style with ceiling fans providing somewhat of a breeze.
Neat the swimming pool and beach area is a bar where adult libations and
soft drinks flowed freely.
Across the open area of the pool, was another restaurant.  An enclosed, air
conditioned, 'sit-down" type facility.  However, they had a "dress code" for
entry and required "long pants" (as in no shorts) to be seated.
When I was packing to visit the 20 deg latitude location in the middle of
June, in never occurred to me to bring long pants so I never saw the inside
nor enjoyed any of the cuisine that was offered there.  Nor did anyone in
our party, so my suggestion is, if you plan on staying at the Reef Club and
wish to experience the "nicer" dining facility, make sure you pack long
pants.  Just an additional note, they also require reservations to dine
there.

Next to the bar near the large swimming pool, is a snack bar/grill type
facility that offers hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and nachos and cheese.  The
bar/swimming pool/ snack bar area has small table through out the area that
have small grass canopies similar to the roof materials of the La Casana
restaurant and the covered pavilion area near the front desk.  The biggest
problem with trying to eat in this area were the flies.  They made dining in
this area practically impossible and at best miserable.  Some in our group
got their food and took it back to their rooms.  The La Casana restaurant,
being "open air" also had this same problem.

As I walked around and explored the resort, I noticed some beach erosion
along the quarter mile stretch.  I later learned this was caused by a
tropical depression storm which had visited the area a week earlier.  This
was also the reason the large main pool was empty.  There was apparently
some damage from the storm surge as water reached a level of 4 feet inside
the live entertainment facility and damaged some ground floor rooms.

I have to give credit where credit is due.  While this large main pool was
closed when we arrived on Saturday and all day Sunday, Monday morning,
workers were quite busy making repairs to the underwater lighting and some
tile work.  One of the members of our group is a swimming pool contractor by
trade and I mentioned I estimated the pool to hold around 100,000 gallons of
water.  He said he wouldn't argue with that estimate.  I mentioned that it
was unlikely the pool would be open by the time we left figuring they would
pull a garden hose or something to fill it up.  Tuesday the work was
complete and water was flowing from a small source in the side of the pool
in the shallow end.  I figured it was flowing around 20 gpm and even at that
rate, the pool would not be open any during our stay.  Later, I saw a large
tanker truck pull up. I figured it held about 3000 gallons of water and it
started pumping water into the pool.  Trucks continued to shuttle water into
the pool until about 10:30pm.  On Wednesday, the pool was open.  The resort
certainly made the extra effort to return the pool to service as quickly as
possible.

Sunday was our first day of scheduled diving, but due to  some scheduling
problems, we did not go out I the morning but did dive in the afternoon.
Diving is scheduled through Sand Dollar Sports, who's shop and boats are
located and the north end of the resort.  The dive shop has very little in
retail scuba gear but does offer a large selection of shirts, hats, etc.
They have a rental shop but I did not see the amount or type of equipment
they had.  The boat dock is about a 200 ft walk along a dirt footpath
through a canopy of tropical trees.

All of our dives were drift dives and I have to admit to being a bit miffed
on our initial dive briefing when the dive master told us we had to stay
with him.  Being used  to jumping off the dive boat, exploring with your
buddy, and then returning in an hour, made it seem we were being treated
like new inexperienced divers.  However, after a few dives, I can see why
they use that system.  They obviously deal with many divers with a wide
variety of skill and experience.  Had we not stayed with the dive master, we
would have most certainly scattered over a wide area, making it difficult
for the boat to pick us up.  This was by far the best and safest way to run
the dives.  Besides, the dive masters knew where all the neat underwater
marine life lived and were constantly pointing it out to us.

I have to mention something about our dive masters.  Julio and Gabriel were
great.  They had a great sense of humor and made our dives as pleasant as
possible.  Gabriel is a second generation dive master.  His father recently
had to give up diving after having been bent for the *11th* time.  One
member of our group had been to Cozumel about 2 years ago and recommended
Julio to us.  I am not sure whether we got him by chance or by request but
by the end of the week, I knew we had gotten a good dive master.

Our boat, the "Roman Holiday" was rather small and cramped for 11 divers,
two dive masters, and the captain.  It looked like it was slightly larger
than a "6-pack".  The boat was equipped with a VHF marine radio but I saw no
fire extinguisher or indication it was equipped with a DAN O2 kit.  I
noticed some of the other boats did have fire extinguishers and stickers
indicating they had O2 on board.

I as told in advance that all of the dives were drift dives.  My first
encounter with the current was not while diving, but on Sunday morning as I
ventured for a snorkeling swim  into the large roped off area off the beach.
I was kind of surprised to feel the current that close to shore,

Our first dives brought us to Palancar Gardens with a depth of  78 feet.
Our second dive was on Tormentos Reef.

I was quite impressed with how healthy the reefs were.  Abundant marine life
and more French Angels, Queen Angels, and Gray Angels than I had ever seen
assembled in one location before.  Some of the Angel fish were quite large.
Larger than any I had previously encountered.  I am certain that much of the
health of the reef can be attributed to the current in this area.

The rest of the week took us to a  variety of dive sites with a wide variety
of underwater topography.  Palancar Caves featured  virtual canyons of coral
formations with many swim throughs.  The absolute worst visibility we
encountered was about 100 ft.  Most of the time it was far better than that.

Wednesday might offered an optional night dive for $35.  I was quite eager
to do this dive.  What I did not anticipate though was the extremely strong
current.  I would guess it was around 4-5 knots.  They dropped us on a site
and our group stayed on one side of this coral ridge, while another group
stayed on the other side (I could easily see the glow from their lights).  I
was able to encounter and photograph several large lobster and a crab, but
the strong current made it quite difficult to frame and get the shot.

Thursday was our last day of diving and, I guess it was appropriate to save
the best for last.  It cost an extra $10, but the dive was well worth it, as
we went South to Punta Sur and dove the site known as "Devils Throat".  This
was an advanced dive and not at all suited for a novice diver. Fortunately,
the water was crystal clear and the current was light.  Devils Throat is a
series of caves in the coral that start at around 80 feet and wind their way
out to a wall at 135 feet.

Isn't that a great dive!  I had about 120 on exit, but then my computer died
ten minutes later.  We actually did the dive twice.....with a long SI
(computer started working again, and died again...yes it has since been
relpaced).  It really was worth doing twice.  Came up through Cathedrals,
with black coral inside, saw lots of rays after coming out.

Interestingly, there is a coral formation in the shape of a cross located
on one of the cave walls.  I asked our dive master to point that out to me
when we approached it.  I got a photo of it and continued the dive.  I knew
my time would be limited on that dive.  As we exited "Devils Throat", as per
dive plan, we re-entered another "cave" and worked our way to where it
exited at around 60 ft.  This was truly a magnificent dive and one to
remember.  Our second dive that day was at "Columbia Shallows" where we
encountered some of the largest parrot fish I have ever seen.  These were
the size of a small grouper.  We were visited by several sea turtles and
then a spotted eagle ray glided overhead as our dive and  diving on this
trip ended.

One of the things I enjoy about trips such as this, aside from the diving,
is the socializing with your traveling companions and exploring the area
away from the resort.  Our group ventured into San Miguel several nights to
shop and look around.  We had dinner at the Capi Navigante restaurant.
Great food at a good price.  Sunday night, we were told, is when the locals
come out for "Festiva" (?).  There is a large square in town that features a
stage and a clock tower that reaches 75-100 feet into the sky.  On Sunday
night, they have a band that plays and people can dance in the area in front
of the stage.  The nearby streets are lined with souvenir shops. Restaurants
and bars. This part of town is extremely clean and well kept and is quite
popular with the tourists.  Nearby is a "Hard Rock Caf? "and a "Fat
Tuesday's" bar.  Fat Tuesdays featured a selection of frozen adult libations
served in what looked to be an oversized,  laboratory flask graduated with
various levels of completion until you reach "Dain Bramaged" at that bottom.
I partook of one of these that was labeled "190 Octane" and it certainly had
its effects, much to the amusement of my dive buddies.

Thursday night, we returned downtown were we dined a "Carlos and Charlies".
This is a high energy bar and restaurant where the waiters and staff are
constantly pulling pranks on unsuspecting patrons.  One of the routines is
the "Tequila Girl".  Being the na?ve and trusting nature that I am, I was
unaware my dive buddies had set me up.  All of the sudden, the "Tequila
Girl" comes up behind me, blowing on a whistle, pours a shot of tequila in a
glass, pours it down my throat, then starts twisting my head back and forth,
and  finishes by reaching around and giving me a double nipple twist.  All
this while my dive buddies are rolling on the floor laughing.  To think, I
trusted them enough to dive with them...whew!!!  Some of the waiters had
fake bugs and rodents.  Their favorite trick was to approach an unsuspecting
female, thrown the bug on the table near her plate and then with a
practically invisible string pull the bug or rodent towards the unsuspecting
victim.  When the poor victim saw it, she would inevitably scream and jump
from her chair much to the delight and amusement of the others.  There was
one fellow at Carlos and Charlies that apparently worked there, but did not
wear the regular waiter uniform.  Instead, he wore bib overalls, with the
ankle rolled up high.  When he would pull his "bug trick", he would move the
victims plate and write a 1 or 2 or however many times he had successfully
pranked the poor victim.  One victim at our table got all the way up to 5.
Since Thursday was our last day of diving, we invited our dive masters to
Carlos and Charlies for dinner.  They met us and we all had a good time,
said goodbye and departed back to the resort.

Friday was a non-diving day.  Several of our group went off the resort and
participated in a "Swim with the Dolphins" adventure.  For $125 you were put
in an area with some dolphins and able to play with them.  The dolphins were
quite well trained and one of the things they would do is come up behind
you, put their noses in your feet.  As you locked your knees, they would
actually push you through the water enough to launch you in the air.  They
would also pull you through the water while holding their dorsal fin.  My
roommate and dive buddy had a picture of the dolphin giving him a kiss on
the cheek.  My comment , "Damn, those things will kiss anyone" earned me a
smack upside the head.  Friday afternoon, we rented a Jeep and went
exploring a bit.  We drove to the southern tip of the island and then along
the East coast.  The East coast of Cozumel is quite a bit different from the
West coast.  Very few buildings and the waves are much higher than the
practically flat seas of the West Coast.  One place we visited was an old
Mayan temple near El Cidral.  One of the locals came out and told us some of
the history of it and showed us a burial mound nearby.  He said the burial
mound was only for the high priest and his wife.  There were two species of
a large trees at the top of the mound grown and intertwined together.
According to legend, this was supposed to represent the high priest and his
wife.  The fellow at El Cidral point out another Mayan ruin location.  This
was along the east coast near the northern tip of the island.  He told us
the paved portion of the road would end, but the dirt road would take us to
the ruin.  He inquired as to what vehicle we were driving and we told him a
Jeep.  He said that or a 4-wheeler would be the only thing that would get us
there.
When we arrived at the junction of the dirt road, there was a bar and a few
other buildings there.  We inquired as to whether that road would take us to
the Mayan ruin and we told it would.  The old saying goes, "Hindsight is
20/20" could not have been truer.  I hesitate to call this path a road.
Those of us in the Jeep were bounced a banged around like 5 bumble bees in a
mayonnaise jar as we slowly made our way through the jungle like overgrowth.
We had to stop at one point  so we could get the Jeep through some thick
sand and we were immediately attacked by swarms of mosquitoes.  Oh???  Did I
call those blood sucking parasites mosquitoes??  I think they could qualify
as livestock.  Mistake number 2, left the bug repellent in our rooms.
(Mistake number 1 was taking the road to begin with).  We finally arrived at
the Mayan structure which was constructed of stone block, rather small in
size and without a roof.  Somewhat of a disappointment after enduring the
savage beating the road..er I mean path gave us, not to mention the two
quarts of blood we collectively gave the insect population of north Cozumel.

Saturday, we departed Cozumel and arrived back in Charlotte airport with a 4
hour layover.  This gave us plenty of time to clear Customs and Immigration,
grab a leisurely dinner and take the last leg home to a land where you can
drink the tap water and rinse your toothbrush under the faucet in the sink.
+

Thanks for the report.  Definitely a keeper.

George