This morning we did get to go out for a dive. It was pretty hectic since no one had been able to dive for quite a few days. They had two boats go out. We had two groups on our boat (12 divers). The swells were definitely not even close to as bad as they were on Monday, but there were still definitely some large ones. I assume that's part of the reason they ask divers to descend right after they get off the boat instead of waiting for everyone. Of course that means that those that get off the boat first already have some of their air used up before the last people get down there. In other dives we've done, this wouldn't be a big deal. When someone runs low on air (1000 or 700 lbs depending on the preference of the dive master) the dive master sends that person and their buddy (or another diver that is low on air) up to do their three minute safety stop. This company apparently just goes by whoever has the least amount of air... This made for two pretty short dives. We normally do around 45 minute dives, even when our maximum depth is 80 feet. This time, both dives were barely over 30 minutes... So we felt a bit gypped in that regard.
However, the dives were pretty nice. The coral was gorgeous and on the second dive we saw so many nurse sharks, a couple really big ones. One very large Moray Eel was swimming around, right up to some of the divers. It was very obvious it had been fed in the past. Still pretty neat though.
We're leaving tomorrow morning for Caye Caulker, an island just south of here. We'll hopefully do more diving off that island as well.
-Miranda
Joe windsurfing.
[ 4 comments ] ( 40 views )
The weather hasn't been cooperating with is. We were supposed to go on a dive on Tuesday, but when we checked with the dive shop they said it was too rough to go out. It would be dangerous. The wind has been just crazy. You can see the waves of the reef from shore. They're huge!
Then this morning I woke up sick. Once I got back from breakfast (only could stomach a little bit of an orange smoothie) I checked my temp. It was almost 101. Within a number of hours it was back down to normal though. I still feel pretty awful, so maybe it's not so bad we can't go diving right now.
Supposedly it may rain tomorrow, then that could help things. Maybe we'll get to dive Friday.
-Miranda
[ 2 comments ] ( 6 views )
Yesterday morning we had a scheduled dive at 9am. It was two dives with an hour between. The first spot was called Palancar Caves. The formations there were pretty neat. We went through some archways and through a cave where we saw a couple King Crabs. The second dive was more for seeing marine life as opposed to as much coral and other formations. We did see a couple Nurse Sharks. One had to be around 2 meters long. Another dive master just happened to be coming with a group. He had a camera and took some photos. I gave him my email. Hopefully he'll send me a few, but who knows.
The rest of the day was mostly spent relaxing. Joe keeps getting burnt no matter how careful he is, so he's pretty warn out by the afternoon. He's doing a bit better getting down for diving, but it still takes him awhile and he has some blood in his mask everytime after the dive. The dive masters have said that's normal, or not bad anyway.
This morning, we woke up at our 'normal' 7am. We decided another dive today would be fun, so he popped over to the dive shop to see if there was still room on a boat this morning. There was, so we went for another 2 dives this morning. They were relatively uneventful. It was gorgeous, but not as much for neat formations. We did see a number of Hawksbill Turtles and even a small octopus.
We were hoping to go on another dive tomorrow morning, but they're pretty full already. Two of the guys we dove with went on the Twilight and Night dive the previous night and said it was amazing. So, since the morning dive was full we decided we would give a night dive a try again.
-Miranda
[ 2 comments ] ( 5 views )
Bus to Playa del carmen, Quick and nice. Found a nice lunch place next to a forested area, the cafe had nicely built around some large tree trunks, so that they could continue growing above the roof. Miranda spotted an unknown large rodent of some kind.. grackles wandering around.
Ferry to Cozumel was fast and easy, $13 each. Cozumel has been a little less "Annoying" than Cancun. We struggle every meal to find something More to eat than greasy Cheesy stuff, but will survive
There are several Giant 12 story cruise ships that stop by and dock here each day.. . . that's a bit much. ..
We stayed our fist night $35 at hostelito, it was adaquate, but wifi was weak, no filtered water, and no breakfast. So, we've now moved to a economic hotel Hotel Plaza Cozumel ~$50/night where we get solid wifi/water refills/ and a good solid healthy breakfast buffet.
We went scuba diving today, 2 dives. I paid for a dedicated Dive master so I could take my time with my ears. I managed to get down but it took longer than I hoped. Both times surfacing I also had bloody noses.. and I'm still recovering from head-pressure pains several hours later, so we'll take tomorrow off diving. Hopefully It gets better again.
-Joe
[ 3 comments ] ( 20 views )
In the morning we got up and headed out for a dive. The goal was Manta Point and Crystal Bay if the conditions were good. We got to Crystal Bay and went in. There were fish everywhere. The water was pretty chilly, but it was still pretty neat. We were looking for Mula Mula (Sunfish) which are huge and apparently hang out in that area. We didn't get to see any. :( Oh well.
Next we headed to Manta Point. They spotted mantas from the boat, so we hopped in. It was very cool. We weren't in very deep water, so we could have brought the camera, but we didn't know that before going in. Oh well. We saw around 6 manta rays. Two were almost completely black. It turned out to be a great last dive.
The rest of the day was mostly spent relaxing. We had yummy pizza at a restaurant near our place. It was cracker thin crust. They even had popcorn as an appetizer. :D Right before our pizza came out the power went out. We got to eat in the dark, well, to candle light. Very fun.
Today we head to Kuta, which is near the airport so we can fly to Bangkok tomorrow.
-Miranda
[ 5 comments ] ( 6 views )
Back Next
Calendar