Hi Jackie...

Posted by Angie in Dallas on October 06, 1999 at 15:52:30:

In Reply to: what do i take on my first visit to cozumel? posted by jackie on October 05, 1999 at 23:59:28:

I'm assuming that you are staying at the Reef Club? If so, I dove with their dive shop, Sand Dollar Sports when I went to Coz. I did my open water checkout dives with them and was very happy with my experience. They are very flexible on scheduling and they are good about grouping divers according to experience. We dove with Ruben who is an instructor, so I can't comment on the rest of the DM's. We were very happy with Ruben--he was very safety conscious, but allowed us freedom to explore and he showed us some cool critters.

As far as multi-day dive packages, I would wait to schedule your diving until you get down there. You don't know what the weather will be like and you don't want to commit too many days--since it's your 1st visit, you'll probably want to explore. If you dive with Sand Dollar, you can go to them the day before or even that morning to schedule your diving.

I wouldn't recommend trying to dive with your glasses on--most dive masks aren't roomy enough for that. I would get a prescription lens for your mask--if you ask at your dive shop, they can probably recommend someone who does RX lenses for dive masks.

Cash: I stayed at the Paradisus, which is also an all-inclusive and I took $300 spending money and so did my boyfriend. I bought quite a few souvenirs, we ate out, we explored the east side of the island and had beers and snacks at most of those little bars--and we still didn't spend all of our money. It depends on if you're going to want to eat in town or if you're a big shopper. Don't forget to save enough money to get home from the airport!

A lot of the bigger merchants and restaurants will take credit cards, but you may get ripped on conversion rates. It's best to take cash--merchants will offer discounts with cash and it's just easier. If you're going to take credit cards, VISA is the most commonly accepted, although I think a lot of places also take MC. I would book hotel, airfare, tours and rental cars with a credit card and buy souvenirs, food, beers, etc. with cash.

I used sun block when I was on the beach. When I snorkeled at Chankanaab, I wore a t-shirt. I had my Polartec full suit when I went diving, so I didn't need sunblock. Sand Dollar's boats all have shaded areas to sit under, if you choose to use them.

Please ask if you have more ?'s.

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• Small addition Judy from Texas 20:13:32 10/07/99 (0)

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