Love Hotel - but had trouble with rental dive gear
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 4/26/09
We just returned from Cozumel, Intercontinental Presidente. Had a Reef Room Deluxe, paid over $ 5000 just for the room (ocean front). My 4th stay in this hotel shows, that I really like it - it is just a very supreme property, peace full and quiet - the staff is very friendly and we must have had a cleaning team keeping up with our room 6 times/day. All in all I liked it very much again, but took notice of the fact that the restaurant prices from 5 years ago had doubled. My husband loves to sit outside in the evening and look over the ocean/ hear the ocean (this was the main reason why he wanted this room this time and why we paid that much). We both got so bitten up by little flies around our ankles that we had to give up the sitting outside on the patio after the 2nd evening. The hotel should have fogged the terraces. The room came with "butler service" - only, we never saw a butler. One item we needed was a different glass pot for the coffee machine in which we could heat up some water for our tea that didn't smell like coffee - and we asked - but the hotel staff was unable to bring a such pot. The room was definitely not worth the price.
Last time I was at this resort was before "Wilma". The shore dives were just beautiful then - the reef along the beach at the hotel are severely damaged but are coming now back a little bit.
I liked the dive center "Scuba Du" all these years. But this trip we had 3 episodes with their regulators: 1) just when ready to start our beach dive, my husband couldn't use his rented regulator: In the mouth piece - the left pronge was completely missing and he had to go back to the dive center to exchange for a better one. 2) On his 2nd and third dive a few days later - his newly rented regulator was not working 100% properly (letting sometimes less air thru). 3) On my last day of diving (my husband didn't go diving that day) - and I have done over the years altogether at different dive locations approx. 160 dives - I was with the group down at 80 feet. We were about 10 Min. into the dive and my regulator made this noise - then gave very little air out. I tried to make it going again. No luck with that - couldn't get my reserve octupus out - tried to catch attention from anybody incl. dive master - no good luck with that - they were about 15 feet in front of me and moving further away. While working on my regulator, making signals to them, trying to get the reserve regulator out I lost time and my regulator stopped working completely - 10 seconds later (which seemed to be an eternity - I decided to go up - slowly. I still tried to get it going again - over and over. My reserve so tucked away that I couldn't reach it and I started to forget about it. I did let the air out of my lungs while going slowly up - not knowing whether I would pass out any moment and possibly loosing my life. But I stayed alive and made it back to the boat. - I decided to go later on the 2nd dive with the group with a new regulator, a lady was willing to lend her 2nd one to me. That went well. (I didn't want to leave Cozumel on a such loosing experience on my previous dive). In reference to the dive master: I only would go with one of their mexican ones with lots of years of experience.
Back home, my right ear gave me trouble - infected - now under control with antibiotics - it will heal also the hole in my ear drum. I informed the dive center of their inferior equipment (which I think, has not been properly maintained lately). Possibly reason: the income losses after "Wilma".
Nevertheless: I decided not to rely on their rental equipment anymore. I buy our own regulators and BC's (and I bought already some aluminum rings - the one you use possibly as a key ring - which we will put into our BC pockets - with those - banging at my tank - I could have gotten the attention from s.o. in our dive group). I love diving very much and still will have many dives. I'm certainly happy and thankful to be still alive.