Annual Cozumel Adventure

The video (best viewed landscape) is 7:30 minutes long.

My annual trip to Cozumel, Mexico was a week later than normal this year. Earlier in the year when I was booking this trip, I could not find ANY flights from Minneapolis to Cozumel even with connections. Our local air carrier, Sun Country, scheduled direct flights starting Saturday, December 7 and when I found out that worked for my travel companion, Jenny, then the deal was done.

It was Sun Country's season inaugural flight not that they did anything special. But two really nice things were it is direct flight, and it wasn't full, so we had plenty of room.

Jenny and I arrived on Saturday before check-in time so headed to the pool/beach for a welcome to Cozumel beverage. No need to go into any details because we pretty much did our usual stuff.... snorkeled every day, ate delicious food, relaxed, worked crossword puzzles, and did I say we snorkeled every day(?).

The one new adventure as renting bikes for the week. We went to actual bike rental place in town instead of using the hotel bikes. These were way more comfortable and cheaper! We rented from Monday to Friday for $60 each! For reference we rented from Best Bikes Cozumel. The business is owned and run by a guy from Canada. While the website says your bike needs a license plate and his has them, apparently you do not and his don't 🫤

Cozumel is very bike friendly. There are marked bike lanes on most of the streets and a dedicated separate bike lane south of downtown. We had anticipated riding to the east side of the island but it was very windy most days and decided we didn't want the extra effort. We did take advantage of the bikes and only took a cab on the days we didn't have them. We also biked to a two nice beach clubs for snorkeling adventures.

Money Bar Beach Club

Cozumel 2023

This might be my favorite photo.
These are just very common Bermuda Chub
but the photo composition of color and light
represents the feel of being there.

One of these days I'm going to start editing the photos and writing the blog during vacation so that it doesn't come out so much later than the actual event. One of the good things about being slow to putting this together is that I get to revisit the fun and beauty all over again while working on the story.

The video is long this year. Jenny and I are getting better at taking the underwater photos and this year there were so many things to photograph. But I get ahead of myself.

There were more guests this year for the week after Thanksgiving. Jenny B., JT, Ellen, and Dave M. joined me. Jenny stayed another few days of the second week before I finished out the second week by myself.

It was more humid this year than I remember this time of year. For those that don't know, I have a timeshare at Coral Princess on the island of Cozumel, Mexico. Coral Princess has been around for a long, long time. The accommodations are not top-of-the-line but I enjoy it. There is a kitchen, living room, massive bedroom and stunning balcony. Dave had his own room and JT and Ellen their own suite.

But the best part is the Coral Princess staff. The same staff have been here for years, and they always treat me and my guests with such care. There is so much laughter.

The snorkeling this year was amazing. Even though I've been going to Cozumel for years, I still see things that are new to me. This year we saw Southern Sting Ray, Scorpion Fish, Porcupine Puffer Fish, and Jenny saw an Octopus! The water was crazy clear though a few days there were tiny jellyfish that gave little stings.

On land we saw and interacted with Mapachi, a small raccoon.

We went to our usual restaurants - Pancho's Backyard, The Mission, Guido's, and, of course, Casa Dennis. We also did more "homecooking" which made it feel even more comfy cozy.

It kind of goes without saying, but I look forward to this trip every year. It is a good way to hang on to summer before diving into a Minnesota winter. It is also a great way to spend time with friends.

Click here to watch the video. It is 8 minutes long (there were LOTS of fish 😊) and best viewed in landscape.

Cozumel March 2022

 

After boasting about getting these posts and videos out faster, I've procrastinated on this one. 

Cozumel with friends Bud and Dave. Also got to meet up with friends Adrienne and Shirley. And all the people I've met over the years (decades) of visiting the island of Cozumel.

This video does really cover this trip, click here. Best viewed landscape.

And the underwater photos are with my little Olympus Tough digital camera.

Cozumel snorkeling

Here are the snorkeling photos for this year. My old Olympus Tough was working this year. Yay! It takes much better photos than the Sony underwater camera that I bought at Costco last year.

The new Olympus Toughs are expensive but I am sure better than the cheap Sony camera.

Most of these are right off from the Coral Princess where I stay. Some of the fish photos are from The Westin up the road. The Westin is a beautiful new property. It has a walk in beach area and long pier that you can jump in from.

Cozumel 2018 - a few photos

The weather turned a bit sour yesterday with major rain and wind on the afternoon through evening. Up to then, it has been pleasant with mostly sunny skies.

Haven't really done much which is fine by me. Snorkled and eaten seafood every day. The perfect island vacation.

Dave took the resort scuba class. I got a fantastic massage. Those are the most structured things that have happened.

Smiling fish

Dave learning to scuba

Sunset clouds

Vacation selfie

The new chapel

Cozumel vacation in photos (2) swimming with fish

We only snorkeled off the hotel but it is all we needed to see big and small fish, coral and amazing sponges.

One of my favorites - angel fish.

Jill swimming with the fish.

A pair of green moray eels.

A very large snail eating a starfish.

A man-made reef.

The 'wall'. So many different colored sponges.

Jill swimming with fish.

A tube sponge.

Cozumel

I've put the Cozumel photos on Shutterfly. Hopefully this works. Cozumel photos

Was joined this year by Dave again, Jill who hasn't been down since my 50th birthday and new folks, Jay and Penny (Jill's brother and sister-in-law) and Jill's dad, Dave. That made two Dave's.

The Taylor's had a last minute cancellation. They were very much missed.

For the first time we went to watch the swimming to cycling transition of the Cozumel Ironman, it was awesome.

We hit all the good spots... Casa Denis and Martin the best waiter ever, Casa Mission, the east coast beaches and fresh fish, shopping, snorkeling, Chankanaab and more.

My new favorite fish

This is an actual fish, actually one of many, that was swimming around me while snorkeling today. It is black as velvet with these two white neon lines where the upper and lower fins connect to its body.  It propels itself with those upper and lower fins.  It doesn't have side fins.

I have done nothing to enhance the picture other than crop to this size. 

There were many of these guys along with other kinds that stayed around me. 

Today, I joined a family that were taking a diving lesson. I snorkeled while they dived with the instructor.  We boated to a reef just south of the international pier.

Vacation started

Arrived a bit late.  There was a problem with the airplane's radio on the flight from Atlanta to Cozumel.  Had to change to a different plane. 

I missed happy hour but I still made it in time to do a little snorkeling.

This is a lion fish that was lying on the sea floor.  I don't recall actually ever seeing a real lion fish in the wild.  Supposedly they are very dangerous.

It hadn't gotten very cloudy so I thought the sunset would be a bust. Instead it was quite the opposite. This picture was taken several minutes after the sun had gone below the horizon.