My wife and I just got back from Cozumel and Cancun a few days ago - so here are my impressions. First, the Cancun portion of our trip was simply a concession to my wife: Leeza, she has always wanted to see it. In a nutshell, there is not much to see (IN MY OPINION - PLEASE NO FLAMES). Wa-a-ay too commercialized to my liking, lacks charm or character - even Nice was somewhat better, IMNSHO. Cozumel, on the other hand, is a relatively small island. With a population of about50,000, it has an unlimited supply of both character and charm.

TRAVEL AGENTS

This is shameless plug for my travel agents - and they deserve every byte of it.

I am cursed with the necessity to travel on business. On the other hand, I am blessed with having the Bronits as my agents. Larry arranges my business travel, and his wife Colleen arranges my recreational travel.

It is impossible to over-estimate their merit as travel agents. Both are extremely diligent people, with one objective in mind: to make your trip the way you need it. Oh, one more insignificant detail: they know all details, all nooks and cranny's of travel. As you understand, even the same person may have different objectives for different trips. Take airfare for example. On business trips, one is mostly concerned with getting "there" on time, with minimum time in transit - and price may not necessarily be very important. On vacation, especially if one is traveling with a family of three or more, and an extra leg may save you US$500 per ticket - you want to at least know about such a choice. Same with the hotels. On business, you want the hotel closest to your place of business that is within your company's price range - period. On vacation, one's mileage may vary: some want hotels close to something, some want cheaper ones, some - nicer ones. I happened to want my hotels to meet all three. Bronits makes it possible - time and time again.

To make a long story short, if you do not have an excellent agent and want to have one, call Colleen Bronit at Nutmeg Travel at 860.739.3491. They will make all arrangements for you. They will make sure that your itinerary fits your needs and then they will FedEx your tickets to you. DO NOT tell them that I sent you - I don't care. They have my respect and affection, and they know it.

FLIGHT

We flew USAir to MIA and then - Mexicana (MX) to COZ. I did not have any problems flying MX - although I have my own SOP to never fly airlines whose names I do not recognize off the bat. Nonetheless, MX is one of USAir's partners, and I was assured by USAir PGP service center that they were OK. So, we went with MX - and the flight on their B727 was rather uneventful. The service was good, the drinks in coach - they do not have first class - were free, and the staff was eager to please.

LAND (and other) TRAVEL BETWEEN CANCUN AND COZUMEL

There are two options for getting from CZM to Cancun: by the ferry to Playa Carmen and by the AeroCaribe (sp?) plane. The ferry costs about US$3.50. You will have to take a van to the ferry (about US$3.00). The van part will take about 3 minutes, the ferry - about 45 minutes. The pier is not located in Cancun, it is in Playa Carmen. A taxicab ride from the pier to the hotel zone is about US$25.00-30.00 (NP200.00) for about 50 minute long ride.

A plane ride will cost you about US$30.00 per person, the cab from Cancun airport to the hotel zone - about US$10.00 - 20.00 and a 15 minute ride. AeroCaribe runs small, commuter-type aircraft about every hour and a half . Judging by the size of the aircraft, approximate capacity should be 8-10 passengers.

So, the time and cost of getting from CZM to Cancun (and vice versa) via ferry is about an hour an a half to two hours at US$40.00 for two people. Plane will cost you about US$70.00 for the same two people and about an hour and a quarter.

We opted for the ferry - just because my wife will not fly anything smaller than B737. However, I am sure that a puddle jumper would have provided terrific sightseeing.

CANCUN (in brief)

In Cancun, we stayed three nights (Dec 4 - Dec 6) at Fiesta Americana Cancun (FAC). It took some arm twisting to get our reserved ocean view room. The process resulted in us getting a wonderful room right on the beach. FYI: FAC has a horseshoe shape. The outside of the arch of the horseshoe overlooks the main street of the hotel zone, the ends of the horseshoe wind up on the beach, and the inside of the arch overlooks the ocean and the pool. If your agent will not specify "ocean view", you may be SOL.

I did not enjoy Cancun much, so my assessment is negatively skewed, but we did find:

• Most restaurants we were at to be lousy, with two notable exceptions: one was the restaurant at the Hyatt, the other - kind of reggae place Tango Mango
• My wife believed that shopping is no better than in New England
• The beach is terrific
• The water was unbelievably blue and clean, about 82F
• The sand on the beach was nice, clean and raked every morning
• The service at the hotel and the two restaurants I mentioned above was impeccable.

We stayed three nights at FAC at $US132.00, excellent buffet breakfasts included.

FROM CANCUN TO PLAYA CARMEN FERRY

On the morning of the 6th, we took the reciprocal heading and got back to Cozumel. Of note here, the hotel offered an alternative to a cab. They called a company that took me and my wife the ferry in an air conditioned Suburban for NP250 (less than US$7.00 difference with the cab) - much more comfort than the non-air conditioned Nissan Sentra taxi.

COZUMEL ACCOMMODATIONS

In Cozumel, we stayed at Fiesta Americana Cozumel Reef (FACR). We liked the hotel very much, however, in all fairness, it has some drawbacks as well. All of the hotel's rooms are ocean view, however, the room we first got, was very close to the elevator, and had a view partially obstructed to the north. It took a US$10.00 propina ("tip") to get the room that made my wife delighted. The hotel has a pretty good size pool, bar that is not "poolside", but "pool inside" - one of the bars faces the pool, with barstools situated inside the pool. The buffet breakfasts, included with the room rate of US$112.00 are excellent - in fact, better than at FAC - and were served right on the beach by the pier. On the down side, the hotel is a US$4.00 cab ride south from downtown San Miguel - and there is not much going on in the area of the hotel.

COZUMEL RESTAURANTS

There are plenty of souvenir shops in the downtown area, as well as bars and restaurants. Among the restaurants that we liked were La Choza - admitted by the locals as having the best Mexican food on the island, La Mission, almost as loved by the locals for excellent Mexican food, Pizza Prima - an Italian restaurant, owned and run by a Texan, and a restaurant at Intercontinental Hotel - more "continental" type of cuisine. The restaurant at FACR was pretty good as well as some other places we ate at, but the four mentioned above were best. BTW, Frommer's on Cancun and Cozumel was right on the money regarding the restaurants in Cozumel, but inadequate on hotels, especially smaller ones.

DIVING (long)

Disclaimers:

1. My opinions on certain operations follow. These opinions are mine and are not endorsed by anyone but my lovely wife. I received no promotions, price brakes, or other perks from anyone I mention, whether in positive or negative way. I paid in full for all services I received, including hotels, airlines, food, and diving - BUMMER!!! :-(

2. The photographs I use are shamelessly taken off appropriate Compuserve fora. I had no time nor desire to immerse in the art of photography. If the lawful owners of these photographs want me to remove them, they should e-mail me at milsh@cybercom.net and, grudgingly, I will remove the photos.

1. My Choice of Dive Operator

I came to CZM with the objective to complete my open water dives for PADI certification. Having fun would have been a great collateral bonus From information and reviews available on the web, I considered two operations: Aldora Divers and Dive Paradise. Since Aldora was available on the Internet, I touched base with David Dillahey, the owner of Aldora, via e-mail. David appeared to be very thorough in his responses, took time to type comprehensive answers and explanations to all my questions, and was not at all heavy on the sales (for example, he took time to explain why they were a great operation - but never pushed it any further). So, I chose Aldora and advised them of the date of my arrival and the hotel I was going to be staying in.

Of note, I also considered a small (one-person?) operation with whom I maintained e-mail correspondence for a few weeks. This person was extremely helpful in providing me some valuable information on the island and such. The only reason why I decided to look further was that the person was a dive master, and not an instructor, so I would have to do my open water dives elsewhere.

2. Foreplay

On the night of our arrival and before my first open water dive I received a call from Claudia of Aldora. She stopped by at the hotel to take a look at me and to assess my equipment needs. Our conversation took about five minutes, Claudia told me when and where to meet the boat - and we parted. While I was still in the U.S., David explained to me that such a meeting would take place, in an effort to make sure that on the boat I would have the right size gear.

3. First Day (Certification Dives One and Two)

The next afternoon at 2:30, the "Aldora II" boat with the instructor and a captain arrived at the pier by my hotel to pick me up. There were no other divers on the boat. We headed South towards Palancar Reef. On the way, the instructor - Daniel Martinez Alva - explained what exactly needed to be done, and how. He made a point to make me comfortable, and to explain that there was no rush to do anything - we would take the time to do everything required for the certification. Upon arrival, since it was the first time I saw the equipment that Daniel brought for me, I took the time to figure out what was were, and how it worked. Once again, nobody rushed me - ever. After I donned the gear, Daniel suggested that it would be easier to back roll off the boat. Since I had uneasy feeling about the prospect of banging my head, I opted for the giant stride - which was done. Dives one and two went easily, and were not limited to exercises: on each dive, we had time to swim around and see a lot of beautiful fish and coral. The site that Daniel chose was very nice, with almost no current - and that was important for my enjoying the first dive. On the slate he had with him, Daniel would write names of anything I would point my finger on. He would also draw my attention to some pretty amazing things I did not see. When we surfaced after the dive, my instructor commented on the dive, explained what needed to be done the next day, and delivered me back to my hotel's pier.

4. Second Day (Certification Dives Four and Five)

The next day, Daniel again picked me up at my hotel's pier, as I requested. When we arrived at the dive site, I was not entirely up to dive (mentally). Maybe, the surf present at the time was the reason, maybe something else - I still do not know. Nonetheless, I did not give my instructor any indication of my being uneasy and back-rolled of the boat right after him for dive number four. After having descended only about ten feet or less, I panicked again, for no apparent reason - and bolted out. While on the surface, I saw my instructor hovering 3-4 feet below: not descending any further, but not aborting the dive either, rather, waiting for me. When we finally arrived at the bottom, 35 feet below the surface, Daniel wrote on his slate "Take as much time as you need, get comfortable, and then we will continue". After a few minutes my heart rate fell below 300 and we were able to successfully complete the set of exercises. Due to the fact that I guzzled air during that dive, we had only 10-15 minutes left to look around after the exercises. Dive five was uneventful, with lots of time left to see marine life. At the end of the day, Daniel told me that I did meet the certification requirements.

Of Note: both days, I was one on one with my instructor and had his undivided attention.

5. First dive after certification (Day Three)

On that day, the "Aldora II" with Daniel and five other divers picked me up from my hotel's pier at 8:16. We headed to another area of Palankar and had a beautiful dive. Again, Daniel was always there to point out interesting things that I would otherwise miss. Of note here, the captains of the boats are also very eager to help the divers (but won't bother ones who do not want help) and to double-check your BWRAF. They were also there to help us get out of the water, etc..

After the leisurely surface interval, the second dive of the day was as beautiful as the first one, with plenty of fish, fabulous coral and crustacea seen.

6. Surface intervals

For surface intervals, every day we were taken to Playa Sol. We had an early lunch/late breakfast there. They serve decent food and are safe: no one had any gastrointestinal problems that I knew of. Our surface intervals were long, about an hour and a half - plenty of time to have some food, water, warm up and get some rest. In comparison, I twice saw Blue Bubbles' boat spend only about 30-40 minutes at the beach and leave.

There is also a small zoo on Playa. It has an alligator, two crocodiles, a monkey, some birds, tiny deer, rabbits, and an anteater-like local animal - the species name escapes me - quite cute.

If you are up to it, you can rent a jet ski there as well, or spend time paragliding.

I believe, perhaps like most other people, that it is beneficial to divers to have longer surface intervals in order to safely enjoy their next dive. I was glad - again - that I chose Aldora.

5. Second dive after certification (Day Four)

Again, Daniel and five divers on "Aldora III" picked me up at my pier . We had two fabulous dives at another area of Palankar with a long and leisurely surface interval at Playa Sol in between.

Unfortunately, that was my last day of diving on that trip.

6. Aldora's staff and equipment

The company is owned by David Dillahey and is incorporated in Texas. It is also fully licensed to operate on Cozumel. I had the opportunity (by my choice) to dive with one instructor only - Daniel. After the first dive, I was so impressed with the guy that I specifically requested that he be assigned to me the following day as well, and Mr. Dillahey accommodated my request.

On the photograph below are the Aldora staff (left to right): Memo, Diego, David, Elvis, and Daniel. Memo and Daniel are both instructors, Diego and Elvis are boat captains, and David just happens to own the company. Daniel, as well as Memo Mendoza are both marine biologists. I did not have the opportunity to dive with Memo, but Daniel demonstrated excellent knowledge of marine life - that is on top of being a very, very nice, very pleasant, and a very good person. Elvis was always very helpful with everything, a very pleasant person with a terrific smile. As an added bonus, Elvis with his boat always were there when we would surface. As I indicated above, Aldora's staff did everything to make my first diving experience a memorable one. For what it's worth, they did very well.

For analog means of contacting them,their phone numbers un the U.S.A. are 713.334.3003 or 713.334.3103. In Cozumel, the numbers are 011.529.872.4048 or 011.529.872.2067

Aldora has four boats, one of which was being fixed at the time I was on Cozumel. The three boats I saw, are all pretty new, and in great shape. Each boat is equipped with a pair of Yamaha 150 motors. I would dare say that the boats may be the fastest I saw there: in the four days I was there, no boats passed us - but we passed plenty - if that matters..

By specific customer request (e.g., a group), they can accommodate up to eight people per boat. Otherwise, they will not take more than six people per boat. In David's opinion, doing otherwise would compromise customers'; safety and comfort.

All BCDs I saw, were either Zeagle Ranger, or Oceanic (don't recall the model) BCDs, all pretty new. I used the Ranger for all my dives: I liked the integrated weights better than the weight belt. I decided to buy a Ranger for my next trip.

All regulators I saw were Oceanic Delta Two's - again, pretty new. It was my first time using one and I liked it a lot. I decided to buy the Delta Two.

If you are going to dive with Aldora, get ready to dive with a computer. Aldora provides all customers with computers - unfortunately, I did not even take a look at the brand name - and you are expected to use it. For example, the safety stop is usually not over until your computer "says" so. Their computers were a snap to learn. Unfortunately for my budget, I am afraid I will buy one, too.

I also rented a shortie - brand name was Oceanic, I believe (but I am not sure) - in essentially new condition. I later saw people rent masks, fins and snorkels - all in pristine condition. There were also plenty of dry jackets to keep people warm after the dives - at no charge!

David has mentioned to me that they sell their slightly used rental gear at a very good to extremely good price. I did not have a chance to check it out, but so far, all he had said turned out to be true. I do not know if they ship.

7. Off the diving path

Daniel is very fluent in English, and is very hospitable, in the best sense of the word. So, Leeza and I spent a couple of evenings with Daniel, his wife Laura, and their two cute kids. We had a dinner together, spent Sunday night on the main plaza of San Miguel dancing, had some drinks, etc. They showed us some nice places in town, and we were going to go to the eastern side of the island together - but it did not work out because my wife came down with flu.

8. Diving - Conclusion

I have only good things to say about David and his people. He promised that I would enjoy diving with Aldora. I did immensely enjoy the diving - and after-diving activities. I am planning on returning to Cozumel and diving with Aldora again.