Beeeach, Please! Western Caribbean Cruise - Day 4

Today was a return to Cozumel, Mexico for us. We came here a couple of years ago (pre-blog) on a short Royal Caribbean cruise from Tampa as well. At that time we took a snorkeling trip to see sea turtles in their natural environment over off the mainland near Playa Del Carmen which was great. This time we thought we would spend some time on the island of Cozumel itself. After some internet research and reading some good reviews, we opted for the Nachi Cocom Beach Club. Fifty bucks per person gets you all you can drink, a 3-course meal and private beach and pool access. Sounded like a good deal to us. Amy and Jeremy opted out of this excursion and explored the port area instead. Boy, did they miss out!! This place was great!!

We took a cab from the port for about a 10-minute ride first dropping off some other folks at Paradise Beach Club which looked very nice. A few minutes later when we turned down the little gravel road between two high chain-link fences laced with vines and undergrowth, we were starting to think maybe we should have booked the Paradise as well. We still had our doubts as we got out of the taxi and a lady greeted us and asked us to put some dingy-looking sombreros for an entry picture (uh oh). But after that, we stepped around a corner and into utter bliss. The place was beautiful, very clean and had everythingwe could want. They got us two comfortable beach chaises under our own little tiki with an unencumbered view of the beautiful beach and water. Two Coronas were ordered up immediately and brought to us quickly. This process repeated itself many, many times during the day. The food was superb as well and served up to us beachside. The oceanfront was perfect for swimming with the water getting deep quickly from shore. They also had snorkeling, sea-doos and other water activities available as well for additional fees. Their pool was crystal clear and best of all you could swim up to the bar as well. Another great aspect of Nachi Cocom was that it is limited to 50 people per day, so we never felt crowded. At the aforementinoed Paradise Beach Club we saw that many people just milling around the entrance. Who knows how busy the beach was there. It clouded up early in the afternoon and a brief little shower came through, but we were snug as bugs under their large tiki-covered patio restaurant until it quickly passed. Ashlee got a nice beachside massage as well for a much more reasonable price than they were offering on the cruise ship. We hated to leave this great place late in the afternoon but cruise ships wait for no one.

We would definitely return here if given the chance again, and highly recommend it to anyone heading down Mexico-way in the future.