Reef Club Cozumel Trip Report

[Canard]

Trip Report: Reef Club Cozumel – Nov 23-30 2006

We had a delightful time in Cozumel celebrating our 21st anniversary. The information that we are able to glean from message boards and trip reports prior to departure always helps to enrich our trips and we hope that you will find our scribblings of use in planning your trip.

We may plan ahead, but we book last minute. We like to think that this leads to bargain travel, although perhaps it just lets us spend more once we arrive. It is quite a challenge to get a good price on “air only” from Toronto so we book AI packages. This time the best available deal was 7 days AI at Reef Club Cozumel for $1680 for two. ($1472 USD). Since we live 2 hours from Toronto the trip amounts to 12 hours door-to-door, which isn’t too stressful. [For those of you who fly from Pearson: we use SkyParx – just $47 for the week]

We knew that Cozumel had been really clobbered by Wilma so we didn’t know what to expect and while there are signs of construction everywhere there is nothing to inconvenience the tourist. If you are thinking of visiting Cozumel then just go, you will not be disappointed. Our arrival in Cozumel went off without a hitch; quick through customs and immigration and then we were whisked to our hotel. There are a few “time sharks” circling at Cozumel airport but if you’ve been through Cancun you may actually find yourself laughing.


The Reef Club was closed for 6 or 7 months following Wilma. The Sand Dollar Dive pier was destroyed, the mature vegetation removed and 10+ m of beach simply disappeared. Travellers who had visited previously commented on the changes but as first timers we were very impressed. As a consequence of the storm damage it seems as though everything is either brand new of completely re-furbished. – it is as though you are staying at a new resort.


The Reef Club complex consists of the main hotel, which entails 240 standard rooms in 2 or 3 story villas; we stayed in an ocean front standard and it surpassed our expectations. To the north there is the Reef Regency Suites, which are 75 junior suites available as time share and also through the rental pool. I believe that Reef is an RCI affiliate. To the south they are building a condominium complex with only a very few units occupied. The hotel and suites more or less share their facilities but the condos are quite separate.


I am not much use in reporting on pools as I don’t use them. There were several. I did take a drink at the swim up bar – I think that’s the trick actually, if you want me in a pool then serve drinks. There was also bar service on the beach, which is a feature that I appreciate and thus tip accordingly.

The beach is under repair. A huge quantity of sand was torn away and it exposed the underlying ironstone common to much of Cozumel’s coast. The hotel was building a series of booms about 10 m from shore in preparation for pumping sand back into the beach. I understand that they will be using a technique similar to that which was employed successfully at Cancun.

Restaurants: At the time of our visit only three restaurants were operational. La Isla is the buffet restaurant and it was just what you would expect from a 3.5 star hotel. El Marinero is billed as a snack bar but had a more extensive menu that includes rotisserie chicken and terrific ribs in addition to the standard fare. La Vista was the a la carte restaurant and as the name suggests the view is a key feature. We thoroughly enjoyed the quality of the food and service and the setting was simply breathtaking. Taking all those factors together this may be the best resort restaurant we have enjoyed. There was also Robertos, an Italian restaurant that was closed during our stay but they offered the menu through La Vista so that there was a much broader selection than you usually encounter at an AI a la carte. We ate there three times.


Bars: If you sat in one spot for any length of time someone would stop by to offer you a drink. It was pretty standard stuff: draught beer, national brand liquor and rather unpalatable wine. The principal bar was an open air affair overlooking the beach, there was also a lounge bar, Bar Azul, which closed mid-week for further renovations. In addition to the restaurants there was also the swim up bar and a “members-only” bar for the Regency Suites. We have a hankering for good tequila and that was satisfied by the on-site tienda. The store is the first operating in what will be the Reef Plaza. We found that the prices compared very favourably with those in San Miguel (downtown Cozumel) and offered a broad selection.


Beaches: As mentioned earlier, the beach is under repair and so it was a little awkward getting into the water. We had brought water shoes, which made all of the difference as you clamoured across exposed stone. We walked south several kilometres and passed through the beach clubs “Paradise” and “Playa Mia”. My, were they crowded! The clientele seems to be mostly “Cruzers” and they were packed in cheek by jowl. Not our scene but it looked as though folks were having fun with all the attractions. The beaches are in fine shape down this way. Speaking of cruise ships: on day during our stay there were 7 in port at the same time including the QE II. At the time of writing there are no ships in on Sunday so this would be your best day to plan a excursion around the island.


Snorkelling and Diving: We had planned this vacation primarily to snorkel but we ended up doing our Open Water scuba qualification with Sand Dollar Sports at the resort. If we had planned to do this I would have taken the classroom and pool portions of the course at home and then just done the open water dives in Mexico. That said the experience was excellent and thoroughly professional. Sand Dollar has a proper dive tank pool on site, which allows them to offer a comprehensive program. Now that the dive bug has bitten I am sure there is no turning back. We did manage to snorkel in front of the resort and it was pretty good. The destruction of the old pier by Wilma has created all sorts of new fish habitat. It is amazing how quickly the debris has been colonized by vegetation and coral and it will likely provide good snorkelling for years to come. Immediately in front of the resort is the San Clement reef and throughout the day snorkel tours stop to visit. As tempting as it might be to swim out there it is 75 m or so beyond the marked swimming area and there is constant boat traffic at high speed. One gentleman tried to swim there and before he had gone far a staff member materialized on a JetSki to order him back for his own safety. We saw a wide variety of interesting species within the defined swimming area, including nurse shark (harmless folks, relax) and spotted rays. Because we were taking the diving course we did not pursue any off site snorkel trips but there was a small trimaran that sailed from the resort with a maximum of 10 passengers, which in my estimation would offer a great trip. Our dives were at San Clemente, Yucab, Santa Rosa, San Francisco and Cardona.

[bemarshall]

Congrats on obtaining your dive certification.

We are heading to Coz for five nights early next year. Have been there many times, but have only logged one dive on the island. We plan to change that in March.

Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a great time!