Fun in the Sun

Fun+in+the+Sun

As the last exams are turned in and students rush out of school excited for a break from school, many students head to the airport and jet off to exotic locations. Some flock towards colder weather, others to warmer. For my family, we fled the chilly Dallas weather and embraced the tropical weather of Cozumel, Mexico.

After a short two and a half hour direct flight, I landed in the sunny island paradise of Cozumel. After customs, our bags were checked by an excited labrador looking for contraband fruits and vegetables and then it went through yet another baggage check. As soon as the officials were absolutely positive that all of the passengers from DFW were not smuggling in contraband from the US, we were free to leave and head to our hotel. After a 15 minute shuttle, we arrived at the Cozumel Palace, an all inclusive resort hotel. When we arrived, I was greeted by a smiling staff and handed a flower, the hotel really has first impressions down to a science.

The hotel was beautifully thought out. The lobby of the hotel was spacious and very open, with large glass windows and a marble bar on one side and a giant gingerbread house made of real gingerbread. We were given purple and yellow wristbands, purple for the minors and yellow for 18 and up, signifying that they are of the legal drinking age in Mexico. I believe that they were very adamant about the checking the band’s color to avoid any lawsuits they could receive by accidentally serving minors. The hotel had six restaurants, ranging from casual to formal with very diverse cuisine. There were many things to do without leaving the hotel, hotel guests have a $1500 credit to use for hotel sponsored activities. Swimming with dolphins or stingrays, visiting the spa, scuba diving, and eating at the restaurants on the property are all possibilities for using credit. People could also snorkle in the ocean, participate in resort activities such as pool volleyball and aerobics, and enjoy the live entertainment that went on every night, such as caribbean dancers, live singers and couples games. I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone traveling to Cozumel because it was so easy and fun to do everything. Everyone in the hotel was so nice, I made a lot of new friends and participated in a very intense three day pool pool volley ball championship competition.

There are many things to do in Cozumel since the town is very tourist based. The town  center is right off the pier where cruise ships dock, and there is TAGhuer, Cartier, Rolex, Balenciaga, and many nice restaurants located right off the dock, targeting tourists coming off the cruise ships.

For the more adventurous traveler, there is a dive shop on almost every street corner. My personal favorite was Aldora Dive Shop, located across the street from a dive hospital equipped with several pressure chambers. I was fortunate enough to dive with the man who owned the hospital, and several more around the world. Before he brought the chambers to Cozumel, the nearest one was in Corpus Christi, so in case of emergency the patient had to be airlifted to treatment. The pressure chambers save many divers lives, and prevent paralysis if anything goes wrong during a dive.

My first dive was on Santa Rosa Wall, a reef located on the edge of a wall. Our dive guide, Rachel decided that we were going to start shallow. It had been awhile since the last time I dove, so I was nervous at first. The hardest part of the each dive is submerging and surfacing, this is the part where the most things could go wrong. If you have a sinus infection or stuffy ears you won’t be able to equalize your ears and result in an excruciating pain and you won’t be able to dive, this is where I have had problems before. But to my surprise, it was easy to get to the 40 feet. This reef was beautiful, and there was an abundance of sea life. As Rachel pointed out the sea life with different hand signs for each sea creature. We saw 6 foot long lobsters and giant crabs and different species of rays and groupers that probably weighed 400 pounds.

Cozumel is well known for diving, it has an abundance of sea life and many different reef structures and natural sea walls, and it is also a really safe town where people feel very comfortable. The locals are nice and if you ask around you can find many really good local restaurants that aren’t populated by tourists. I recommend this destination for your next tropical vacation because it is a really fun place to travel to.