Paradise Found (Cozumel)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Cozumel
Date:	03/08/08 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Only a short trip from Playa del Carmen. Some of the beach clubs are great.

Disadvantages: Some of the beach clubs are less great.

Cozumel is an island about 30 mins ferry ride from Playa del Carmen. It is also a resort in itself, boasting various posh and not-so-posh hotels, and is on the stopping route for many Caribbean cruises. While staying in Playa, we spent a couple of weekends on the island, swapping our beach for theirs in an attempt to see if the grass is greener, or rather if the sand is sandier, on the other side of the bay.

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Trip # 1

At 9.30am we set off to catch the ferry to Cozumel. It's mega crowded so we sit inside instead of up on the deck in the sun. It takes half an hour to get there and then about 15 mins in a taxi to our destination - Uvas beach club. Taxis over here don't have meters, so you're supposed to haggle. We fail miserably, but then the price the driver says matches what our guide books told us to expect, so we just accept it. At the beach club we each pay 150 pesos (£7.50) for the snorkelling package, even me who has no intention of snorkelling, as it's the cheapest package. We get sun umbrellas, loungers, hammocks and 2 drinks included in that price, plus a snorkelling tour and unlimited snorkelling gear. There are some big blue mattresses stacked to one side so we bring them over to the loungers. They do not fit exactly but we squish them in.

While we are enjoying the sun, the masseur lady comes over touting for business. The rate is $1 US per minute (min 20 minutes) but if we go now she's throw in an extra 10 mins for free, i.e. half an hour for a tenner. The girls go off snorkelling and I go off for a massage. It is the longest half hour ever, and much less stressful being massaged by a pretty Mexican girl than my last massage from weird fugly Bulgarian bloke. The cabana is a little way from the beach and there is calming music and a fan as well as a breeze from the door I've said she can leave open - I figure it's a good advert for her to have someone on the table. She finishes with a head massage which feels nice but gives me seriously big, lavender scented hair.

After we're done I go back to our loungers and the henna tattoo man thinks I need someone to talk to. It's a really good chance to practice my Spanish as he asks sensible questions I actually know the answer to like where I'm from and what languages I speak. Just when it's starting to get a bit weird, the girls come back and I am rescued. We go for lunch in the beachfront restaurant (which is like 5m from our sun beds). We have our free drinks and enjoy the view of fugly, very burnt cruise-ship Americans gorging themselves on the all inclusive package we opted out of (an open bar and some mass produced carnivorous cuisine).

After lunch we realise the blue sun bed mattresses are actually lilo style things so we take them out to the water and float. We "get to know each other" as Margaret puts it, though it soon turns into your standard truth-game without the usual alcohol. The sea is amazingly clear, and warm. We are the only people in it apart from an oldish man wearing a thong Speedo - nice. We talk about going for drinks when we get back to Playa this evening.

When we start to feel a bit hot (despite being in water) we paddle to the side, dry off and hit the hammocks for a bit. It's so calming looking out at the sea, swinging in the shade that I could stay there forever, but about 4.30pm we start to make a move. In the most unlikely way there is a cab waiting outside so we get in and scoot back into Cozumel centre. We go in search of water, postcards, anti-sea-sickness medication and some more antibiotics for me since they only sold me enough for a few days on Thursday which is a bit weird since the prescription clearly said to take them for a week. Cozumel has a row of shops near the ferry port, but they are not especially interesting - exactly the same tat as Playa, except here the tequila glasses and ashtrays and t-shirts are emblazoned with "Cozumel".

We have just missed a ferry so we go for a wander and end up in Burger King where they are out of everything except the very plainest of ice cream cones. These cost 7 pesos or about 35p. This is not the cheapest I have ever had - that summer in Vienna I used to come home from work every day and stop at McDonalds in the underground to get a 30p cone before walking back to the flat. But still, it is cheap. We sit in the sun for a bit and then get to board the ferry - this time we want to sit inside because we've had enough sun. Doing nothing on a beach all day sure is tiring. We walk back along 5th Avenue to the Residence and flop into our respective rooms. We never do go for that drink.

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Trip #2: ** A Tale of Two Beach Clubs **

Back in Cozumel we plan to go to Paradise Beach which boasts, among other things, trampolines and a climbing ice berg. We get there easily and although entrance is free, we pay 110 pesos each for the all inclusive "toy" package - snorkels, lilos, kayaks and the aforementioned bouncy things. The place is slightly more Benidorm than Uvas was a fortnight ago, and completely full of cruise ship guests in town for 6 hours. We paddle a bit but the water is murky and there are so many rocks.

Then we have lunch - their ceasar salad comes with homemade bread sticks, parmesan and croutons, so I easily eat around the silly lettuce bits. After lunch we try to go floating but there are no floats - a few are on the sand but belong to some lardy Americans who won't let us use them. We ask the waiter for help and he tries to sell us the armbands we already bought - they're stuck round our bags to avoid tanlines. The man who took the money at reception did this, but Mr Waiter Man insists we need to wear them to go in the water. Things are not looking good, so we decide to cut our losses and leave. We are prepared to fight to get our money back but get it refunded so easily you get the feeling it is not the first time they've done it, and maybe not the first time today.

After haggling down the price of a taxi to take us 5 mins up the road, we haul ass to Uvas where we get a different deal from last time - 100 peso entry but we can use it as bar credit. For this we can also swim in the sea and the pool, float on the floats and enjoy the beach chairs and umbrellas as well as the showers, loos etc. It is hard to believe the difference - the water here is crystal clear and there are sandbags to help you get in easily, so you don't have to walk over the few rocks. There are far fewer people too, though there are still some from a cruise ship who keep talking about who is on Ecstasy. It's not until later that we realise that this is the name of one of the Carnival ships. They drink their Pina Coladas and smoke their cigars in the water, but soon depart back to the terminal to re-board the ship.

We order drinks and ice creams - they have the ones that come in carved out fruits, so I have a coconut one and Jenny has a lemon thing. We float out to sea, and then sit in the swimming pool for a while on the ledge, reading strategically held books. In the end they mess up our bar tab (perhaps deliberately) and claim 2 ice creams and about 7 drinks cost less than our total but they will keep the rest as a tip. This is absolutely fine since we never thought we would get change. And we like this place since they haven't made up their exchange rate like Paradise did (they said $10 or 110 Pesos, while everyone else works on 1:10).

We head back to catch the 5pm ferry but it departs as we are queuing up to board. Luckily there is another one right behind it (despite the advertised one per hour) so we get that and are home soonish.

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You can go to Cozumel for the day and not pay to enter a beach club, but everyone recommended that we take this approach since the public beaches have no facilities and are smaller than these private ones.

Two companies currently run ferries from Playa to Cozumel and you can buy singles or returns. However, they alternate their hours (i.e. one goes at 4pm, the other goes at 5pm) so it is wiser to buy singles since you may not know what time you want to leave, and could end up waiting 1hr 55mins for a certain company if you've just missed their ferry. Tickets cost 120 pesos each way, or 240 pesos return, and therefore the only slight advantage of buying a return is that you don't have to queue up twice to buy your ticket. However I'd rather do that than risk waiting almost 2 hours.

On board the ferries you can watch adverts for various companies in Playa and Cozumel. They also sell snacks and drinks on board.

Ferry schedule: http://www.cozumel.net/1maps/ferry.htm

Uvas Beach Club: http://www.playauvas.com/

Paradise Beach: http://www.paradise-beach-cozumel.com/

Summary: Go for a day, the weekend or a week, just go