Just a few things to be advised about
concerning our trip. Cozumel is a major cruise ship port. More power to
them. It brings in millions of tourists a year. Keep in mind you are a
tourist. You will be regularly barraged with every imaginable street
vendor selling his wares. At first it was annoying then it became fun.
"For you my friend. Almost free"Allegedly it was a slow week. But still
one day we counted 7 ships in for the day. The cool thing is they leave by
nighttime and that is a good time to head down town.
A variant on the theme is the lure of freebies to take a dog and pony
show concerning time shares for the various resorts. Such as where we
stayed. El Cid. I was warned by the D2D scuba board about these so
when it arrived I was not surprised. But guess what. I took the tour. It
was actually sort of fun. You get to see some nice suites. We got
breakfast and two free 2 tank dives out of it. It was raining anyway.
Ever here of the term "island Time"? Its sort of like "Manana". You
know laid back. No big ting. Well I was just a little put off by the
diligence with which the island was being rebuilt after Wilma. Sure its a
year later but there were work crews everywhere going gang busters to fix
up broken stuff. The only reason I mention it. Is one of the broken things
being fixed up was the cruise ship dock a hundred yards from my pillow. So
now manana means. I am not making this up. Jack hammers every morning at 3
AM. The first night I was pissed the second night I was curious. The 3rd
night I was amused. A few day's in the tropics calms you down nicely. WOW!
So much for island time.
Some of the construction and noises from the cruise ships transfers
underwater at the El Cid shore dive site. At times it was maybe not
totally wonderful. But the Critters seemed indifferent.
I can't imagine the destruction that the hurricane must have caused.
Don't be put off. Go there and have a ball. Everyone we dealt with,
especially the cab drivers, were outstandingly friendly.
