Dive Review of Blue XT~Sea Diving/Casa Mexicana in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

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Blue XT~Sea Diving/Casa Mexicana: "Cozumel Trip Report December 2020", Dec, 2020, by Gregory S Bruce, WA, US ( Sr. Contributor 24 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 11503 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	For the first time in 6 years, we flew directly into Cozumel instead of flying into Cancun, shuttling to Playa del Carmen and doing the bag drag and ferry across to Cancun. This was made possible due to the price drop in airfares as a result of the 2020 COVID pandemic. I do not like to do Red Eye’s, so instead opted for an easy 12:30pm flight out of Portland, OR on United to Houston on a Saturday and spent a comfortable night in the Airport Marriott Hotel. Got up and had breakfast and boarded the 10:20am flight to CZM and was there 2 hours later (3 hours with the time change). Immigration and customs went very smoothly. We were in first class and were among the first few people off of the plane and there were no other planes that had arrived just prior to us and we walked through Immigration in about 2 minutes. Our bags arrived about 7 minutes later. We cruised through customs and out the door and walked a few steps to the shuttle window to purchase our 2 tickets to get us to our hotel. We paid 50 pesos a piece, given our tickets and walked outside to a waiting van. The 12-passenger van ended up having the driver + 6 adult passengers and 2 young children. We left within a couple minutes and we were the first to be dropped off at our downtown hotel (Casa Mexicana). The only real change in this whole process is the need to fill out a 1 page and brief COVID health questionnaire. You can fill it out online and print it out ahead of time (United Airlines sent us a link)- or you can get the forms on the plane and fill them out while filling out your customs and immigration forms. We had intended to stay at Hotel Suites Colonial (sister hotel to Casa Mexicana). We like it because it has suites with kitchenette’s for doing some meal prep and it is less expensive than Casa Mexicana. However, after booking online, we were informed that they have temporarily closed Suites Colonial due to lack of occupancy across the 3 hotels in the chain and they had moved us to Casa Mexicana for the same price. In spite of the loss of a kitchenette, Casa Mexicana has some advantages. Bathroom has a shower/tub and not just shower (nice for soaking dive gear). Water pressure is better here and it has a balcony for drying things. Also, no need to walk the 5 blocks for breakfast. We got unpacked and then headed out to look for some food and see what was open and what wasn’t. We settled on a little hole in the wall place that we like and filled up on plates of rice, black beans, guacamole and a stack of corn tortillas for $3 US each. Did some walking and then back to the hotel to chill. Due to COVID health concerns, the normally expansive and stellar buffet breakfast at Casa Mexicana has been replaced with a sit down and place an order process. Most, if not all that you would get from the buffet was available, you just ordered it and it came out pretty quickly and plated to your table. The whole process was quite smooth. For those staying here and diving with Aldora (7:30am meet time at their pier), you will want to place your order the night before so that it is ready for you to eat right at 7am. You will also want to get down and find a table about 6:50am, as they are in short supply and fill up fast at 7am. Currently, the breakfast is in the reception level adjacent to the pool and bar. They are remodeling/repairing the upstairs dining area. We dive with Blue XT Sea and were down at the boat promptly at 8am to be greeted by old friends (Captain Edwin and DM Pedro Pablo) and were pleased to encounter some folks diving with us on the boat that we have enjoyed being with on past Blue XT Sea trips. Off we headed down south to Palancar Gardens for dive 1. The ride down was smooth and quick. We had 6 divers + Captain and DM. Water temp was 82. Visibility at the Gardens was a little milky, but a solid 65+ feet. After a nice surface interval, we went to Punta Tunich and visibility was 100+ and water super clear. Water temps varied between 78 and 80 the rest of the trip. We were there for 10 days, but lost 2 days of diving to strong north winds on Xmas day and the day after. We had some big upwellings of colder water from the deep that also brought thousands of non-stinging jellies that were mostly pretty to look at and seemed to hang around in the 5-45 feet range of the water column. Never found them to be a nuisance or distract from the diving. The reefs were much healthier than a year before when the Stony Coral Tissue Disease was wreaking havoc. I really did not notice the after affects of the disease on the hard corals. Pleasantly surprised. We had numerous turtle and spotted eagle rays throughout our 21 dives. Most restaurants were open for inside and outside dining with social distance measures in place for the most part and everyone masked up unless eating or drinking. The entire island felt very safe and our hotel was very much on top of sanitizing and maintaining a healthy and clean environment. It was a pleasure to not have all of the cruise ship masses. Things were much more quiet, but in a very pleasant way.
Websites	Blue XT~Sea Diving
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Cozumel, Thailand, Vietnam, Channel Islands, So Cal Coast, Pacific NW, Monterey-CA, Grand Cayman, Bonaire, Belize, Philippines
Closest Airport	CZM	Getting There	Fly to Cancun and shuttle to Playa del Carmen and ferry to Cozumel or fly directly into Cozumel
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive the limits of your tank. Come up with 500 psi. For own safety, stick with group or be competent to release a surface marker buoy from depth and follow it up.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By Craig A Wood in PA, US at Jan 07, 2021 09:22 EST

Nice review, glad you enjoyed your trip. I'm jealous

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Dive Review of Blue XT~Sea Diving/Casa Mexicana in Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan

Blue XT~Sea Diving/Casa Mexicana: "Cozumel Trip Report December 2020", Dec, 2020,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Blue XT~Sea Diving/Casa Mexicana in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan