Hi everyone. I made it back to Cozumel yesterday after a 6 year absence. It is good to be back!
Arrival at the airport was the same as it ever was. I flew Southwest from Denver through Houston, and both planes were only about 2/3 full. Upon arrival they deplaned from front and back. I was sitting right up front since I was the absolute first in line for general boarding (that's never happened before!), but it was all for naught, as one of my checked bags was literally the last one on the conveyor. No worries, the airport staff had things running like clockwork and I only had to wait 20 minutes or so in the baggage scan line. I was unlucky enough to get selected for the full cavity search, and I didn't even get to push the button! This was the first time I had to do this, as I've been lucky with green lights on every prior trip. Luck runs out! As I was walking to the button a security guy asked me "habla Espanol?" to which I replied no since my Spanish is coming along but not up to the challenge of a airport security discussion. He redirected me from the imminent button press right to the searchin' table. But after digging through my clean laundry and opening every zipper and latch in everything in my luggage, and finding nothing but boring old scuba gear, I was out the door and running the timeshare gauntlet (successfully) and getting my shuttle ticket.
As we drove through town, I was amazed at how busy the island was for September, all due to the IronMan races. After getting settled at Residencias Reef I caught a taxi back to town and walked around for a couple hours. The event was over but there were still people walking around everywhere. I would say maybe 70/30 on mask usage, but I wasn't running a tally or anything. It's certainly much higher than back home in Colorado. But there are still plenty of locals not masking up, it's not just the touristas. I walked by Hooters and Senor Frogs and they were DEAD for Saturday night! It was still a little early but yikes, they were both almost empty. Maybe not the right scene for Triathletes?
After I got tired of walking around I hit Chedraui for supplies and caught a cab back to the condo and just relaxed. There's nothing like that first cerveza after your travel day is done!
This morning after breakfast I walked down the beach past Carlos & Charlies to scope my dive boat pickup site for the afternoon. The sargassum is real, even here on the west side! More than I've ever seen before, although it is certainly not in drifts like the pictures posted of the east side. I could see several flotillas of it drifting in the channel as we flew in yesterday, so I knew there was going to be a lot! The RR beach and Carlos & Charlies were well groomed though, considering.
Finally the afternoon rolled around and I got to immerse myself in salt water for the first time in 6 years. It was just me and two other divers who were also doing their first dives of the trip. So we did two easy dives on La Francesca and Paseo de Cedral. Everything looks just as good as I remember. In just those two dives I saw 4 green turtles and 1 huge loggerhead, who had a big divot in the back of his shell, probably a propeller scar. Didn't seem to be bothering him fortunately. My DM found a splendid toadfish right out of the gate on our first dive, which was cool. And near the midpoint in Paseo de Cedral I got to see a nurse shark leave her napping spot because she wanted nothing to do with me after I drifted over her ledge. The one thing I did not see on either dive was a Lionfish. Couldn't believe it. I don't think I've had a diving day in Cozumel without Lionfish since 2008-ish.
That's it for the report so far. As I said, it's good to be back!
Arrival at the airport was the same as it ever was. I flew Southwest from Denver through Houston, and both planes were only about 2/3 full. Upon arrival they deplaned from front and back. I was sitting right up front since I was the absolute first in line for general boarding (that's never happened before!), but it was all for naught, as one of my checked bags was literally the last one on the conveyor. No worries, the airport staff had things running like clockwork and I only had to wait 20 minutes or so in the baggage scan line. I was unlucky enough to get selected for the full cavity search, and I didn't even get to push the button! This was the first time I had to do this, as I've been lucky with green lights on every prior trip. Luck runs out! As I was walking to the button a security guy asked me "habla Espanol?" to which I replied no since my Spanish is coming along but not up to the challenge of a airport security discussion. He redirected me from the imminent button press right to the searchin' table. But after digging through my clean laundry and opening every zipper and latch in everything in my luggage, and finding nothing but boring old scuba gear, I was out the door and running the timeshare gauntlet (successfully) and getting my shuttle ticket.
As we drove through town, I was amazed at how busy the island was for September, all due to the IronMan races. After getting settled at Residencias Reef I caught a taxi back to town and walked around for a couple hours. The event was over but there were still people walking around everywhere. I would say maybe 70/30 on mask usage, but I wasn't running a tally or anything. It's certainly much higher than back home in Colorado. But there are still plenty of locals not masking up, it's not just the touristas. I walked by Hooters and Senor Frogs and they were DEAD for Saturday night! It was still a little early but yikes, they were both almost empty. Maybe not the right scene for Triathletes?
After I got tired of walking around I hit Chedraui for supplies and caught a cab back to the condo and just relaxed. There's nothing like that first cerveza after your travel day is done!
This morning after breakfast I walked down the beach past Carlos & Charlies to scope my dive boat pickup site for the afternoon. The sargassum is real, even here on the west side! More than I've ever seen before, although it is certainly not in drifts like the pictures posted of the east side. I could see several flotillas of it drifting in the channel as we flew in yesterday, so I knew there was going to be a lot! The RR beach and Carlos & Charlies were well groomed though, considering.
Finally the afternoon rolled around and I got to immerse myself in salt water for the first time in 6 years. It was just me and two other divers who were also doing their first dives of the trip. So we did two easy dives on La Francesca and Paseo de Cedral. Everything looks just as good as I remember. In just those two dives I saw 4 green turtles and 1 huge loggerhead, who had a big divot in the back of his shell, probably a propeller scar. Didn't seem to be bothering him fortunately. My DM found a splendid toadfish right out of the gate on our first dive, which was cool. And near the midpoint in Paseo de Cedral I got to see a nurse shark leave her napping spot because she wanted nothing to do with me after I drifted over her ledge. The one thing I did not see on either dive was a Lionfish. Couldn't believe it. I don't think I've had a diving day in Cozumel without Lionfish since 2008-ish.
That's it for the report so far. As I said, it's good to be back!