=========================================
Day 1: Thu Travel & Arrival
Woke around 3:30am (yes it exists). Airport by 4:30am, and flight lift at 6:00am.
We flew American Airlines through Dallas to Cozumel.
No food was served in 6 hours of flight time. Good thing we had a layover in Dallas else I'd have been far less comfortable.
Arrived at airport in Cozumel and quickly reverted to the things we learned from the web. Ignore the timeshare folks accosting you, and move straight to the money changer. This was the recommended mode of exchange online. The rate of exchange was about $9 pesos per $1 USD. Apparently the web can be wrong, as we later learned this was not a good rate. More on that to come.
Following the money exchange we realized that the people you need to ignore are not standing in the Trip Advisory booths, of which there were plenty. The gentleman near the money exchange provided us a small map, and directed us to the correct booth for the shuttle. All of this he did with what seemed like genuine cheer.
After getting our tickets for the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, we boarded a large van packed to the gills. I'm glad I had kept my carry-on bag containing my regulator in my lap, as the driver was not very gentle with bags. If we had arrived with others it would have been far cheaper to walk off the airport grounds to get a taxi, however the shuttle was fairly efficient, making only a few stops before our own, dropping us at the front door of Casa Del Mar.
We were greeted at the van by a bellboy who grabbed our bags and brought us to the counter. Checking in was smooth and efficient. They quickly and cheerfully arranged everything. We asked about the safe, and towels and received everything quickly. We also asked about arranging a rental car and the sub rides which were part of our package deal. We further asked about the all inclusive meal plan, which was around $39 USD/person/day.
The meal plan initially sounded like a good deal until we did the math. The total for the two of us would have been $540 USD. Holy carp! For the entire vacation we spent half that amount.
After having everything arranged, the bell boy then carried both of our 50lb bags to our room (227) on the second floor. Our room was considered a Superior room by the hotel, as it had a balcony. The hotel did not have dunk tanks or gear drying racks, no matter, as the balcony worked well throughout our stay. This doesn't say much for the people getting dripped on below us however.
My overall first impressions of the hotel were good. The staff was friendly and everything seemed well enough maintained, though far from a 5 star.
Downers: We had ants in the bathroom. There was no rinse tank or gear racks available (the hotel caters to divers after all). There is no elevator, which was not that big an issue for us, but could be for older folks. The cost of the food deal was a bit absurd if you don't drink alcohol with every meal.
Speaking of meals. The hotel has an extremely limited food selection. The morning buffet was good enough on the weekend days that it ran, and once again, contrary to the magical interweb, cheaper than Ernestos across the street.
We later Gave Diving Adventures a call and Felipe came over to meet us.
Day 2: Fri Dive 1, 2 -Diving Adventures, Felipe
The first morning, we ate the Buffet at the hotel around 7:30AM which was sufficient mealwise. It was mostly fruit, yogurt and granola, fried plantain, a couple of Mexican dishes. We then got everything ready to be picked up by Felipe. Around 9 he rolled up in his VW bug with a British man named Gary, we loaded gear and he drove us to the marina where his boat was docked.
The marina was jammed full of boats, even though it was obvious that many were already out. We got weights, loaded our gear onto a 15 foot boat with twin outboards. Getting into the boat was an adventure in itself, stepping from land onto one of the motors, then to down into the boat.
Once everyone was settled, we headed out to the first dive of our AOW course at Santa Rosa Wall. It was a deep dive and Felipe planned to take us to 100 feet!
That dive had many firsts. Neither Liesl nor I had done a back roll from a boat or a drift dive. I had not gone below 60' nor done any swim-throughs. Even though I was a bit uncomfortable with the current, Santa Rosa Wall was an amazing site. I expected a drop off and descent. Instead we dropped into a shallow sandy area, and then drifted out over massive coral columns reaching up from deep beneath us. We dropped down the columns, floating past them quickly in the current, spotting the usual suspects toward the top, but as we neared 100 feet we saw large groupers and a beautiful Queen Triggerfish! We swam through a small covered area about 20 feet in length, passing back into shallower depths .
I did not really get used to the current, and felt like I missed most of the dive, trying to watch out for everything flying past under, over, and in front of me while making sure I didn't touch any of it.
It is impossible to impart the amount of life congregated on that single reef. It was overwhelming and enthralling.
We spent the surface interval aboard the small boat chatting about the dive, and how we felt we were affected by the depth. Meanwhile the captain brought us to a buoy near our second dive of the day.
Dive number 2 was our AOW Drift dive. As you can tell above we had already done a drift, but Punta Tunich was a hydroplane to Santa Rosa's tugboat. It was shallower in comparison with a max depth of approximately 60'. Felipe notified us that the current was fast and all we should have to do was maintain our buoyancy, keep our eyes ahead and make sure we adjusted to variations well ahead of time.
Punta Tunich was certainly a fun dive, and fast. We dropped in and began spotting huge fish right off. Several large triggerfish, scrawled filefish, hogfish and large groupers, oversized trunkfish and large cowfish. We also spotted schools of black-barred fish which we later learned were Porkfish, hiding from the current in the few corrals and protruding rocks. This is also the dive we spotted our first Rainbow Parrotfish. They were massive.
As awesome as it was to fly above everything on a magic carpet, it made it difficult to get good pictures.
Ben and Anna had arrived while we were diving, so upon return to the hotel, we visited with them for a while. It was after 2pm by this time and decided dinner sounded like a good idea. We had noticed a little place not far from the hotel called Paprika, and decided to try it out. In a random small-world-moment, B&A found out that the waiter had an ex-girlfriend that was from a small town in Australia near where they had met. The food was ok at Paprika, but overpriced. It had an easy atmosphere but was located on a busy street. I was happy to get some vegetables finally.
That evening, while B&A were resting, Liesl and I decided to walk down the street and find out what was nearby. On our return, we got caught in a sudden downpour which drenched us quickly. We took shelter it a little alcove in a wall until the rain had subsided a bit, before returning to the hotel room. B&A came by and we visited with them for a while. It turned out they had contacted Felipe that evening, and he had thought she was starting her OW on Sunday and he wasn't going to be able to take her for the OW class until then.
Day 3: Sat Dive 3, 4, 5 -Diving Adventures, Felipe
We ate with B&A at Ernesto’s, having heard it was cheaper than the buffet at the hotel. The prices were a bit steeper than expected given the slight portions, but otherwise the food was ok. We headed back to the hotel and prepped for the day, bringing our stuff down to the lobby to meet Felipe. As it turned out, the couple who had also been slated to be on the boat for Saturday had backed out, so B&A were able to come. After a short meet and greet, B&A ran back to their room to grab up their gear.
We had a lot planned for this day. Anna's OW class and Liesl and I were to do our Wreck dive, and Night dives for AOW. We met up with another couple, Hector and Beatrice, at the marina who were from Mex. City who had moved to Cozumel to run a hotel.
Our first dive of the day was the sunken C53 Felipe Xincotenantl. Felipe, the instructor, not the boat, told us that we would enter and immediately descend to a sandy area about 50' down where we would group up. It would be a free descent as the buoy line was gone. The current was strong and if not done correctly we would miss the boat, literally. Nobody made it to the mark. Entry dumped us into a swarm of small, dark-brown jelly fish right near the surface. Once we got down far enough, Liesl and I ended up being directed to hang onto a rail while he collected Beatrice and Hector from the stern, then collected B from a shallower depth, as he was having issues clearing his ears. A had to stay on the boat above as this was not a beginner dive.
After having collected us on the side of the wreck, we proceeded forward where the current was being blocked and we could rest a bit before proceeding around the opposite side and back toward the rear of the ship. The current at that point was pushing hard, and I had difficulty gaining headway. We dropped through a structure at the rear, and entered the wreck. It wasn't all that interesting, with minimal life on it beside some tiny fish that looked like filefish. It had large enough passages and rooms to maneuver easily enough. I'm happy we had lights with us, even with the holes in the side letting light in many spots. A couple of spots inside the current would push us from a hole to the outside. In these spots we had to use our elbows to keep from smashing into the walls. Having a “No gloves in the marine park” rule is not such a great thing for a wreck. Even so, we all survived.
During our surface interval, Felipe brought A to a shallows where he could instruct her through her first open water dive. She ended up getting a nose bleed at some point but made it through her skills.
We proceeded then to Paradise reef, where I had thought we would do our navigation dive. It was A's second dive, and we didn't do any navigation skills. It was a good dive however. The reef is situated only minutes from the marina, and shallow with a maximum depth of only 40 feet. It was nice to finally have a slow current. There were more jellies at the surface as we entered, though not directly under us this time.
During the slow relaxing drift, we spotted large Caribbean King Crabs, huge spiny lobsters, a juvenile lionfish inside a pink vase sponge, large black sea cucumbers and a Tigertail sea cucumber, which quickly pulled in on itself when bothered.
Sometime during our dive both Liesl and I were stung on the hand, presumably by jellies, though I didn't see the culprits. I had welts for a few hours after the dive. Also during this dive, Felipe gave me some tips to improve my kick, which helped considerably.
Following this dive, we had several hours before our night dive. We headed back to the hotel, and decided to get some food with B&A. We went to a small place called Tacqueria Bandana, located directly before Paprika. It was a small taco shop, which only charged around a dollar per taco. You can't beat that price, and the food was fresh and good! I had a sope, which was some sort of masa dough fried on a grill, with carne asada, lettuce, sour cream, and other stuff. The man at the shop was very friendly and helped us learn a couple new words in Spanish. We decided to end our lunch with an ice cream from the Oxxo (convenience store).
As we were returning to the hotel, we were discussing whether or not P&M had arrived, and then we noticed them getting out of the airport shuttle. I swear we couldn't have planned it better.
After they got checked in, we all visited for a while. We invited them to join us on the night dive, which they happily agreed to do. We attempted to contact Felipe, but ended up leaving a message for him. P&M decided to try to eat before going, ended up ordering some food from the restaurant at the hotel, while Liesl and I rested a bit for the night dive to come.
Felipe didn't receive our message until after he got to the hotel and he had the captain with him, so did not have enough room in the car for P&M as well, but said the more the merrier. We met him at the marina via taxi. B&A stayed back to do other things. Gary had decided to join us for the night dive as well, and this would be his first so in all there would be 6 of us.
We returned to Paradise reef for the dive. The current had increased from the day. I had other issues feeling like people were too close for comfort. We spent a good 50 minutes, playing with the bio-luminescence. Liesl also fed worms to the coral via her flashlight, while I stared out into the dark with my light covered so I could see little glowing spots here and there. Not sure if they were fish or corals, but it was a neat experience.
We also spotted some large crabs hanging out and a sleeping queen triggerfish. At one point Felipe directed us to the bottom and had us turn out our lights while he swam close to a school of sardines, then flashed his light on them, making them scatter. His plan was for us all to sneak in under them, and then turn on our lights together. However, another group of divers decided to swim straight through the sardines. At another point he was showing us how dark it was without lights when another group swam over and shined their lights on us and wouldn't leave until we turned our lights back on despite our many gestures warding them off. It was a successful first night dive altogether.
Day 4: Sun Dive 6, 7 -Diving Adventures, Felipe
Sunday morning came far too early. Our first dive of the Day was to Palancar with Ben and Anna, and another guy named Greg from BC. As we were ready to pull out from the Marina, another couple from Chicago, Roberto and Sarah, had missed their appointment with the Dive House and asked if they could join us for the day.
We were to finish our AOW course by doing the navigation portion on this dive, so we decided to leave the camera behind. Truly a mistake. Palancar Gardens has huge corals similar to Santa Rosa Wall, but at a more leisurely pace. Our entry was from a sandy area, after which we dropped to around 50 feet where there was a large chute between coral heads. Liesl and I were taking up the tail, when we noticed Roberto seemed to be having trouble of some sort. Greg, B&A and already dropped into the hole following Felipe. Felipe noticed the problem as well, and returned. About the same time we noticed a green plume forming around Roberto, which turned out to be blood. Felipe was concerned enough that he returned them to the surface and the boat. He later said that there was a lot of blood inside the mask as well from a nose bleed, but it had stopped after returning to the boat. Felipe returned shortly descending quickly to where we were waiting to find out what was going on. He motioned us onward.
I had done fairly well on air through the first half of my tank, but the second half disappeared quickly. As we were ending our dive I noticed I was at 800PSI and told Felipe, he responded that we could finish the Navigation work before ascending. I went through a good deal of air during the training, kicking into the current in places. By the time I finished I was very low and ended up sharing air with Liesl through the ascent and safety stop. It was good practice, but not a comfortable thing. I began ascending earlier after that.
Sometime during our ascent Greg spotted a turtle and a small shark which we missed completely.
Dive number 7 was at Paso Del Cedral (Cedar Pass). It is a great dive site with low current, but enough to push you along without making too much effort. We saw groupers, shrimp and a crab inside a large conch shell, pulling itself along slowly. There were a couple of really nice swim-throughs, with schools of fish hiding out in side passages. A really great piece of reef!
Upon returning to the Marina, we did some work on our logbooks, and got them signed by Felipe. While working on this, the captain noticed that someone had caught a huge Marlin which was hanging from one of the buildings. It was probably 10-12' long. Even the locals seemed impressed.
We spent a while there hanging out chatting and letting some of our stuff dry a bit before getting a ride back to the hotel. This was the end of our AOW class, and the last dive we were to do with Felipe, though B&A were going to dive with him again.
I really enjoyed diving with a smaller operation, It seemed less hectic and rigid.
We met up with P&M at the hotel that afternoon and went to find El Morro, a local restaurant which was recommended by Felipe as a good seafood place. The rental car we had for the day was too small to fit all of us into, so P&M and Liesl and I headed out to find the place, then Liesl and I would return to pick up B&A. At least that was the plan.
We didn't find El Morro where Google said it should be, so on a whim, we decided to eat downtown at Palmera’s. We dropped P&M off to get a table, while we returned for B&A, then returned to the restaurant. I'm not sure it was really worth all the trouble, as it was expensive and the food was only ok. We enjoyed our meal together, then took a short walk through part of the downtown touristy area. Liesl and I were looking for a souvenir, but didn't find one.
We returned to the hotel and slept well, knowing we had to be at the dock by 8am for our pick up by the dive house boat.
Day 5: Mon Dive 8, 9, 10 -Dive House, Oslo & David
Monday started too early, having to be up around 6:30, but actually waking up around 5am. I wandered out to the balcony and got a few things together, making sure our wetsuits had dried enough, while trying not to wake Liesl up. That didn't work, and we were soon prepping for the day. We met everyone for breakfast at the hotel restaurant, then across the footbridge, to the dock at Del Mar Aquatics. It was a nice way to get picked up in the morning, allowing us ample time to get our gear sorted before anyone else jumped on the boat when we got to the Fiesta Americana dock, where the Dive house was located.
We had to do some paperwork, get weights, and whatnot, then off to our first dive with them.
First dive was once again Santa Rosa Wall. The DM wanted us to max out at 80 feet this time, but I ended up bottoming out at 91'. This time I was more relaxed and was able to take it in a bit more. It was exactly the same spot we dove before, but we saw a couple of new things. There was a Spotted Drum hanging out on a shelf, a huge cowfish, and some of the corals were spawning. They looked like little smoke stacks placed randomly around the reef. I later told people we were swimming through a coral orgy.
After about a little more than an hour for surface interval, we descended on Tormentos reef. It was a nice shallow reef. While we explored the corals, one of the DM's stayed out in the sandy areas, I didn't know what he was doing until later when I saw him with a handful of dead juvenile Lionfish. He kept trying to get a snapper to eat them, and eventually it did eat one. Later in the dive, while I was exploring something else, they fed one to a splendid toad fish. I missed it! Oh well, P got it on video and I got to see it later back in the room.
Following the dive, we returned to the Fiesta Americana dock to unload passengers. P&M had planned a night dive with them, Liesl and I had decided not to go on it, but we overheard them talking with the man who they coordinated it with, he was saying they would need to do it another night because not enough people had signed up. Well, this is why you dive with a buddy, so Liesl and I pulled out the save-a-dive kit and decided to go with them.
So we had a long day ahead. After returning to the hotel, Liesl, P&M, A, and I jumped in the rental car, which we only had for a few more hours, and drove down to El Cedral. El Cedral is a tiny Mayan ruins, about the size of a cottage. I think we spent more time at the coconut stand than the ruins itself. I discovered that coconut juice is gross, but I could stomach the meat well enough. Everyone else seemed to enjoy the juice. It was getting close to the time we needed to have the car back, and I was tired, so we headed back to the hotel, stopping for gas along the way. It turned out that a taxi would have been cheaper for what little land travel we did.
That evening we were picked up at the dock again around 7pm, and headed to the Fiesta Americana. Apparently some folks from another boat decided a night dive sounded good as well. All totaled there were about 10 of us on the boat. We had talked earlier with the DM about our options, and told him that we had already done Paradise Reef, he said the other option was Chankanaab. So down we went, and what a great dive it turned out to be!
Within a minute of dropping to the bottom, another couple pointed out a slipper lobster sitting out in the sand. I tried to get Liesl to come take a photo, but she didn't see what it was and wanted to catch up with P&M who were closely following the DM. I caught up to her, and we followed at a short distance, right at the front of the pack. Glad I had, because not much further along, the DM was stopped, and everyone was pointing their lights at a stick in the sand. I was confused for a while, until I realized that the stick was actually the tail of a large stingray buried in the sand with his eyes poking out. Once again no photo...Liesl was sleeping on the job! A bit further down the reef we spotted two large octo's, one of which decided to pose for us in the sand! With enough light from all of our flashlights, Liesl got a couple good shots. I hovered there until the following group arrived, then caught up with the others. I spotted a small lionfish, but was unable to get the DM's attention, as he had spotted a larger one, which quickly glided out of site into a crevasse. Other notable thing was a huge lobster scuttling away under a rock. The thing was massive.
The DM again tried to point out Splendid Toadfish, other divers later stated they could hear them croaking, but I didn't see anything when I was looking.
All in all it was a very relaxing night dive, and good thing, as the next day we were going to be back on the boat by 7am again.
Day 6: Tue Dive 11, 12 -Dive House, David
The next morning started early again, It was overcast and strong winds had come up making the water choppier. Before we got to the Fiesta Americana, I pulled the DM aside to see where we would be going. I showed him the list of sites we had already been to, and he was a bit shocked. He looked through the others on my list, and checked off a few that he stated would be too difficult given the weather, then settle on Punta Dalila as a good one.
The entry into Punta Dalila was choppy, so Liesl and I dropped from the surface quick as we could.
We saw Nurse sharks! Not one but 3. The first was lying under a ledge so far back I couldn't see it. The second was swimming and the DM tried to head it off so it would come back toward us. Apparently he didn't know, sharks are fast. The third I did get a good look at under a ledge. Very cool to see them out in the wild instead of an aquarium.
I can't write a lot on the dive aside from seeing groupers in the distance, and knowing there was some awesome scenery. But one thing that stuck was the Hawksbill Turtle we spotted near the end of our dive. And Liesl got some video! At the same time I saw a grouper come up to a coral to get cleaned by other tiny fish.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a very tough dive for me because I had decided to try to use a new mask that didn't flood as badly. Bad idea in case you are wondering, as it fogged up the whole time and had to be continually filled and cleared. I am sure it was likely the best dive site we had been on, but it was really cut short by me fighting my mask.
After the rest of the group surfaced, we were told we would also be doing the C-53, again, as it was part of another lady's AOW course. I was highly disappointed, as it wasn't that interesting the first time.
Someone had recovered the buoy line, and the boat tied off to it. The DM wanted us to get in and drop along the line to the wreck.
Yeah Right. We dropped in and were pushed downstream before we could get to the line. We fought the current all the way to the bottom just to stay near the wreck. We dropped down by the side to the sand and waited for everyone else to get down. While waiting Liesl point out a ray that we got photos of before entering the wreck. We pushed ourselves inside, and out of the current, then meandered through the lower section of the wreck. I took a photo of a large crab that was taking refuge in one of the rooms. We exited the room via a ladder hole, and were slammed by current coming through an opening in the side. We worked our way from there to the stern of the ship where the roof had been removed, the whole time fighting current. I snapped a couple shots of brittle stars, then pushed for the guide line attached to the boat. The initial idea was to head north (against the current) into a sandy area where, the DM told us, they sometimes spot sea dragons. Yeah. That wasn't happening, I was already down to 900 PSI, and after a short confused communication with Liesl we decided to stay on the stern for a short time. Short turned out to be very short, and we decided to take the buoy line back to our safety stop.
My total dive time was 27 minutes to 72 feet, and I had sucked down 2500 psi, half of which was done in getting to the bottom.
Looking back on it, we should have just stayed in the boat and asked for a different dive as there were other issues with doing the dive than simple disinterest. We had not come with the intent of doing a wreck, so had no lights between us. Later we found out this is a park requirement, also there is supposed to be a 4:1 diver to dive master ratio, which I'm not sure we met either. Combine those with the strong current and I should have just stayed aboard.
I was tired that night and don't remember much from it.
Day 7: Wed Dive 13, 14 -Dive House, David
Wednesday was our last day of diving before returning home, and, despite the continuing wind, waves and silt, we were taken on two very good dives. San Francisco Wall was the first. It was full of towering columns of coral, it was much like the others, with angels and groupers, triggers and filefish. At one point we saw Spiny lobsters climbing the sandy chutes. It was not a bad dive at all.
Following our surface interval, we returned to Chankanaab! It was beautiful shallow dive with very little current and an easy going time. We spotted small morays and shrimp in the crevasses, were able to stop and stare at things. We saw a group of approximately 8 barracuda prowling around. About half way through our dive the DM picked up a dead lobster. It had been chomped in half by something. Later we spotted a black finned fish we didn't recognize, which turned out to be a Black Margate. It behaved much like a parrotfish, and was quite striking for its lack of bright colors. Closer to the end of our dive we saw a huge puffer swim by. It was close to 18inches in length or more. This was the type of diving I really enjoyed, and it was a good way to end our diving vacation.
