Can intrepid travelers with a yen for the exotic find happiness at a Mexican beach resort? That's the question we asked ourselves as we contemplated a one-week getaway to Cozumel in mid-March. My husband, Ken Stern, and I had planned to visit northern India last December with our 4-year-old son, Jack, but canceled the trip as the war in Afghanistan began. We stayed home for the holidays and wondered if our days of adventurous foreign travel were over. By late winter we were looking for destinations where we wouldn't have to worry about our safety. We decided on Cozumel, off the northeastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, where Ken could dive, I could snorkel and Jack could enjoy the beach. We also hoped to soak up a little Mexican culture. As we drove through San Miguel, Cozumel's only town, on the 15-minute trip from the airport to our hotel, my heart sank. Avenida Rafael E. Melgar, the thoroughfare that runs along the water, consisted largely of souvenir shops and jewelry stores. It was a relief to get to our hotel, the Presidente Inter-Continental, in a serene botanical setting in the southwestern part of the island. And by late afternoon I was snorkeling on the reef in front of it. Below me, delicate lavender-colored sea fans swayed in the waves and an electric-blue parrotfish chomped on coral. The sea on the western side of the island is almost totally calm, a narrow strait sheltered by the Yucatán Peninsula. And it was teeming with life around our hotel. Snorkeling before breakfast was like being in a tropical fish tank. Schools of black-and-yellow butterfly fish eyed me curiously, while angelfish seemed indifferent. Small surgeonfish, their upturned mouths reminiscent of the smiley faces of Pepperidge Farm goldfish, foraged for their morning meal. Nearby a silvery needlefish, a long thin body with pointed fin, darted about. Our spacious room was on the first floor of the hotel's five-story main building. One door opened into the lobby and the other onto a patio nearly as large as the room. The room had whitewashed walls and a granite floor, and was furnished with simple pine furniture. A picture window looked out on the Presidente's lush gardens of hibiscus, bougainvillea and mangroves. Although our room was centrally situated, even the most far-flung quarters were no more than a five-minute walk from the hotel's facilities: a pool, a fitness center, tennis courts, a massage hut and two restaurants. The two-story marble lobby, furnished in Mission style, needed a face lift -- upholstery on the furniture there and in our room was a bit worn. Fortunately, the weather during our stay was generally cooperative, and we spent little time indoors. The half-mile-long beach was delightfully uncrowded, and we never had trouble getting a palapa to shade us from the blazing sun. Although the beach is artificial, it is well situated on top of a reef. Guests can enter the water at one of two small inlets, or climb down the ladder on one of five docks. There are dozens of dive operations in Cozumel; Ken dove with Scuba Du, which has a concession on the hotel property. Scuba Du's five fiberglass boats, ranging from 27 to 37 feet, left each morning and afternoon from the Presidente dock with a group of divers. Some guests did shore dives on the reef where I snorkeled. The boat dives Ken took were carefully monitored. Before each dive the dive master, who spoke fluent English, told participants what they could see at the site, the depths to which they would go and the length of time they would spend there. Divers went down in groups of six, each led by a dive master. And Cozumel has three decompression chambers, another element in the emphasis on safety. In four full mornings of diving, Ken was able to visit almost half of the 17 sites nearby, none of which took more than an hour to reach by boat. Dives at Palancar Caves, Colombia Wall and Punta Sur gave him the experience of swimming through natural tunnels, lined with barrel sponges and vivid soft coral. Along the 125-foot descent through one of these tunnels, called devil's throat, at Punta Sur, there was a large piece of coral on the wall, naturally shaped like a crucifix. At San Francisco Wall, divers saw parrotfish, angelfish and groupers. They spotted eagle rays and moray eels at San Juan Wall, a 90-foot dive north of the town. Here and elsewhere, there were few big fish -- the area isn't known for them -- even though I saw a small barracuda while snorkeling around the hotel. While 60,000 divers reportedly visit Cozumel each year -- nearly doubling the island's population of 65,000 -- water quality seemed unspoiled, at least on the western side of the island where Ken was. Despite the heavy traffic from cruise ships, he found that the water was not oily or polluted. Underwater visibility during our stay ranged from 40 to 100 feet. We were less enthusiastic about the food at our hotel. After a disappointing first meal at the open-air Caribeño restaurant -- the ceviche I ordered was made of frozen fish, some of which hadn't fully thawed -- we began taking taxis five miles into town ($5 each way) for dinner. But so many of the restaurants in the immaculately kept colonial town cater to tourists that we found it difficult at first to find authentic Mexican fare. Our favorite restaurant was Casa Mission, in a picturesque and exquisitely restored mission that has been a private residence for many years. We chose our dinner from the display of fresh seafood, which the restaurant cooks to order, although chicken and beef were available. Ken's red snapper and my shrimp were basted with butter and garlic and grilled to perfection. | | At the hotel we appreciated the tranquillity and mostly service-oriented staff. But the hotel's Chiqui Club, featured on the Presidente's Web site as a place where children are ''in safe and capable hands'' all day while parents relax, reminded us of child-care problems we'd had back home. Our first day there, Dominique, the staff member in charge, left Jack playing with another child while she disappeared. Although not one to suffer separation anxiety -- he has attended all-day preschool for two years -- Jack panicked and began to wander around the hotel grounds crying hysterically, until the chief concierge delivered him to me at the pool and apologized profusely. I was shocked when Jack asked to go back the next day -- apparently he liked the organized games, held mostly in a shady spot near the pool. Still, except for one rainy afternoon when we left him for an hour watching a video in the Chiqui Club with other children while we ran an errand in town, we made sure that one of us stayed nearby. Some of our pleasanter times were the two days we rented a car and explored the island. Most of Cozumel consists of a jungle interior, but there is a paved road that bisects the island and circles its southern half, a total distance of about 30 miles. From our hotel we headed south along this road, toward Punta Sur, then north along the eastern side of Cozumel. The land here is more arid, the surf rougher, and the coastline mostly craggy coral and uninhabited. We stopped for lunch one day at Coconuts Bar and Grill, a casual beach shack at one of the higher points on the island. From our table, near the edge of a coral cliff, we could watch the surf as we waited for our fresh fish to be grilled. On a cloudy day we visited Chankanaab Park, a 250-acre wildlife refuge near our hotel, and spent half an hour watching a group of six tourists swim with the dolphins in a marine inlet that served as a natural aquarium. With the help of a dolphin trainer, they coaxed the animals to dance, then took turns holding onto two dolphins' fins as they rushed through the water, and were propelled into the air off the dolphins' noses. By driving we got a glimpse of the more Mexican side of Cozumel. We bought sweet rolls at Panificadora Cozumel, a traditional Mexican bread shop in town. Following the recommendations of locals and looking for places that do a lot of business where the food is likely to be fresh, we also sampled street food. To do that, we got away from San Miguel's nine-mile waterfront, which is choked with tourists, and headed a couple of miles west into the commercial district. One afternoon we ate savory chicken tamales from a vendor who sets up her stand from 4 to 8 p.m. next to the San Francisco supermarket (corner of Avenida Benito Juárez and Avenida Pedro Joaquín Coldwell). Across the street, at El Pique, a taquería, we had our pick of more than 20 varieties of taco, including cheese, sausage, roast pork, beef and tongue. We weren't tempted by the tourist souvenirs: mostly gaudy blankets, painted ceramics, tacky T-shirts, and papier mâché fruits and vegetables. But we pursued the hand-blown glassware (vidrio soplado) with a blue rim, made in other parts of Mexico and used in many Cozumel restaurants. The maître d'hôtel at Casa Mission helped us track it down at a restaurant supply shop called Reyco, where a dozen water glasses and a three-quart pitcher came to $37. On our excursions we spent as little time as possible in San Miguel, where from January until June 20 to 25 cruise ships dock each week, disgorging thousands of people. Fortunately los cruceros (the cruisers), as the Mexicans call them, seemed to confine their activity to shopping in a small area around the pier. At El Turix (pronounced too-RISH), a small restaurant on the outskirts of town that specializes in Yucatecan cooking, which is influenced by Spanish, French and Lebanese cuisines, we felt as if we were eating in someone's home. Indoors, tables and chairs are right in the kitchen, where the owners, Maruca and Rafael Ponce, prepare the four or five items offered each day -- chiefly chicken and pork prepared various ways. After peering into the pots, we chose the chicken pipil, stewed with achiote (a Maya seasoning) and baked in banana leaves, then sat outside on the patio. Maruca served our main course with a basket of her chewy homemade tortillas. Bells at the nearby Corpus Christi church chimed each quarter hour, but no one rushed us. As we lingered over a piece of homemade coconut pie, our craving for foreign travel felt satisfied. Cozumel wasn't as exotic as many other places, but with a little effort we had been able to sample genuine Mexican hospitality and culture, even in this tourist mecca. SCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
