Martha
Contributor
Our AA flight arrived in Cozumel at noon. No issues with our flights and all seven bags arrived. We were traveling with our two kids this time (ages 7 & 12) and also brought along a friend to watch them while we were diving, so we had a lot of stuff. We headed to El Cantil and the check-in was quick and painless. We rented unit 6B and all I can say is, Wow!!! The unit is fantastic. We got settled in and made a run to Chedraui. Dan (my husband) and I were diving with Blue XT~Sea all week and we were both getting Nitrox and AOW certified, so we had made arrangements to meet Christi at her office to do our Nitrox testing Sat. evening. Woohoo, we both passed. I didnt know if I would, since I was completely exhausted by then (after waking up at 2:30 AM) and I tend to get a little brain dead when Im tired. Christi was really nice about having to explain things to me numerous times prior to me taking the test. Shes the BEST! Ate at the condo since it was getting late by the time we finished.
1st dive: (Shamu) Christis Happy Place. Christi was our AOW instructor and we were doing fish ID on this dive. I was terrible at it, thats for sure. I did enjoy the dive site though. Saw my first nurse shark, a turtle, a peacock flounder, that I actually spotted all by myself (which I was very proud of) and many other varieties of fish (that I couldnt identify).
2nd dive: (Shamu) Columbia Shallows. I loved this place! Completed the navigation portion of my AOW cert. We saw another nurse shark. Of course Dan didnt have his camera on any of the dives we saw nurse sharks. Maybe next time. Also saw turtles, two large barracuda, large schools of grunts. Tons of fish everywhere.
We used Christis restaurant list and decided on Sonora Grill. My friend and I got the mixed seafood for two. It was OK, but I didnt think it was anything special. This was my least favorite of the week.
3rd dive: (Shamu w/Pedro) Palancar Bricks. Beautiful formations and swim throughs. Pedro pointed out some arrow crabs. I saw flamingo tongues and turtles. Very nice dive (of course, to me theyre all good). I did twist my ankle getting back on the boat and fell on my ***** (which was totally embarrassing), after that, I took off my BC prior to climbing back in the boat.
4th dive: (Shamu w/Pedro) Dalila. Saw four turtles, two stingrays and a splendid toadfish (first time seeing one). I just missed seeing another shark. They saw it when I started my safety stop. Since we were doing a night dive, we ordered pizza from Dominos for the kids and Rachel.
5th dive: Night dive at Paradise w/Pedro. We saw a lobster that had to be over 4 ft. long. It was a monster! I lost count of how many octopus, I think someone said 10. Also saw a squid. I love watching them.
6th dive: (Bandida II w/Christi) Punta Sur Cathedral. Deep dive for AOW cert. Did the puzzle at depth in 25 sec. & 8 sec. on boat. Wow, the cathedral was an awesome dive. The formations and swim throughs were fantastic.
7th dive: (Bandida II w/Christi & Pedro) Columbia Shallows. Saw a sand diver, stingrays, crab, lobster, abundant fish life everywhere you turn. This dive site is wonderful. I could dive here every day and never get tired of it. In the afternoon, we had set up a snorkel trip back to Columbia Shallows on Shamu w/ Arturo as our guide. The kids had a blast (as did the rest of us). Arturo was wonderful and pointed out a lot of things. Mago did his magic for them, which they absolutely loved.
We ate at La Choza. I had the fish fajitas. They were excellent. Everyone was happy with their meal choice.
8th dive: (Bandida II w/Arturo) Cedral Wall. Saw a nurse shark, green moray, groupers. Very nice drift dive.
9th dive: (Bandida II w/Arturo) La Francessa. Beautiful dive! Saw two stingrays, crab, other fish varieties.
In the afternoon we took the ferry to Playa. It was kind of rough and my son wasnt feeling too good once we got there. We stayed for a few hours, but decided against eating dinner there and headed back to Cozumel. The return trip was even rougher. Everyone did OK, with the exception of our friend who wasnt feeling to hot. Dramamine worked for the rest of us. She didnt feel up to eating, so she took the boys back to the condo and Dan and I wemt to Prima for dinner. We had calamari for an appetizer. It was some of the best Ive ever had (and we eat a lot of seafood). I just got a Florentine pizza and I enjoyed it. Not the best pizza I ever had, but good none the less. Dan got the surf and turf and he was very impressed.
10th dive: (Bandida II w/Pedro) Palancar Caves. Very nice dive. Beautiful formations. Saw two turtles and an eel.
11th dive: (Bandida II w/Pedro) San Francisco Reef. I got to see my first seahorse! Wow, I cant tell you how exciting that was for me! Last year when we were in Cozumel, Pedro wasnt able to find a seahorse, so on my last day, he promised if I came back, hed find me a seahorse. So I reminded him about his promise the first day I saw him and he said that hed only seen one since Wilma, but hed try his best. The best part about it, not only did we see a seahorse, but two batfish. It doesnt get any better than that! Sue Sue, had predicted that we were going to see a seahorse and a batfish and I was totally amazed that she was right. (I need to take her to Vegas with me). Anyway, I was walking on air the rest of the day and woke up the next day still smiling about the seahorse. Actually, I still am smiling about it. I dont know what else we saw that dive, all I recall was the seahorse and batfish.
Ate at Casa Denis. I had shrimp fajitas, which were excellent. Dan had the Mexican combo plate, which he enjoyed. Mango margaritas were enjoyed by Dan and Rachel. I had a taste and they were really good.
12th dive: (Shamu w/Pedro and Sandra) Punta Sur Devils Throat. Christi wasnt sure if everyone would be up for this dive, so she sent an extra DM in case someone didnt want to go. She goes above and beyond to make sure everyone is happy. We all ended up going, but it was nice having the option not to. I have to admit I was nervous about this dive, but after going through Devils Throat, it wasnt really intimidating at all. I actually enjoyed the other swim throughs more than Devils Throat though, especially the third swim through we did. Coming out of it was just amazing to see the formation outlined in coral w/the blue background. It was just breathtaking.
13th dive (last dive of the trip). (Shamu w/Pedro) Paso del Cedral Reef. There was a giant green moray at the beginning of the dive under a ledge, but the current was really moving, so I wasnt able to stay and watch it for too long. Lots of different fish. Enjoyed watching a little family of sharpnosed puffers. They are so cute! I have to say, Im much better at fish ID now than in the beginning. I still have a long way to go, but Im learning. We hated to say goodbye to Pedro and Mago when we got off the boat. We enjoyed every dive and had a wonderful trip from beginning to end.
Random thoughts: We had the chance to dive with a lot of wonderful people this week and really enjoyed meeting each and every one of them. A few of them are SBers (Sue Sue and xiSkiGuy), which was a lot of fun putting faces to the names. Last year we didnt get to meet Mago because Shamu was being painted, so we really enjoyed meeting him and being entertained by his magic. We loved diving with Blue XT~Sea. Christi and her crew are all wonderful! We had an awesome time in Cozumel and wish we couldve stayed longer. Maybe next time. By the way, my husband is the photographer in the family, so once he sorts through his pictures, Ill try to remember to put a link to our website. Oh, one other suggestion for anyone trying to make a connection in Dallas after going through customs, if the lines are really long at the security checkpoint that you come to after leaving customs, go around the hall to the right and youll come to another checkpoint that probably has much shorter lines. That was the case for us anyway.
1st dive: (Shamu) Christis Happy Place. Christi was our AOW instructor and we were doing fish ID on this dive. I was terrible at it, thats for sure. I did enjoy the dive site though. Saw my first nurse shark, a turtle, a peacock flounder, that I actually spotted all by myself (which I was very proud of) and many other varieties of fish (that I couldnt identify).
2nd dive: (Shamu) Columbia Shallows. I loved this place! Completed the navigation portion of my AOW cert. We saw another nurse shark. Of course Dan didnt have his camera on any of the dives we saw nurse sharks. Maybe next time. Also saw turtles, two large barracuda, large schools of grunts. Tons of fish everywhere.
We used Christis restaurant list and decided on Sonora Grill. My friend and I got the mixed seafood for two. It was OK, but I didnt think it was anything special. This was my least favorite of the week.
3rd dive: (Shamu w/Pedro) Palancar Bricks. Beautiful formations and swim throughs. Pedro pointed out some arrow crabs. I saw flamingo tongues and turtles. Very nice dive (of course, to me theyre all good). I did twist my ankle getting back on the boat and fell on my ***** (which was totally embarrassing), after that, I took off my BC prior to climbing back in the boat.
4th dive: (Shamu w/Pedro) Dalila. Saw four turtles, two stingrays and a splendid toadfish (first time seeing one). I just missed seeing another shark. They saw it when I started my safety stop. Since we were doing a night dive, we ordered pizza from Dominos for the kids and Rachel.
5th dive: Night dive at Paradise w/Pedro. We saw a lobster that had to be over 4 ft. long. It was a monster! I lost count of how many octopus, I think someone said 10. Also saw a squid. I love watching them.
6th dive: (Bandida II w/Christi) Punta Sur Cathedral. Deep dive for AOW cert. Did the puzzle at depth in 25 sec. & 8 sec. on boat. Wow, the cathedral was an awesome dive. The formations and swim throughs were fantastic.
7th dive: (Bandida II w/Christi & Pedro) Columbia Shallows. Saw a sand diver, stingrays, crab, lobster, abundant fish life everywhere you turn. This dive site is wonderful. I could dive here every day and never get tired of it. In the afternoon, we had set up a snorkel trip back to Columbia Shallows on Shamu w/ Arturo as our guide. The kids had a blast (as did the rest of us). Arturo was wonderful and pointed out a lot of things. Mago did his magic for them, which they absolutely loved.
We ate at La Choza. I had the fish fajitas. They were excellent. Everyone was happy with their meal choice.
8th dive: (Bandida II w/Arturo) Cedral Wall. Saw a nurse shark, green moray, groupers. Very nice drift dive.
9th dive: (Bandida II w/Arturo) La Francessa. Beautiful dive! Saw two stingrays, crab, other fish varieties.
In the afternoon we took the ferry to Playa. It was kind of rough and my son wasnt feeling too good once we got there. We stayed for a few hours, but decided against eating dinner there and headed back to Cozumel. The return trip was even rougher. Everyone did OK, with the exception of our friend who wasnt feeling to hot. Dramamine worked for the rest of us. She didnt feel up to eating, so she took the boys back to the condo and Dan and I wemt to Prima for dinner. We had calamari for an appetizer. It was some of the best Ive ever had (and we eat a lot of seafood). I just got a Florentine pizza and I enjoyed it. Not the best pizza I ever had, but good none the less. Dan got the surf and turf and he was very impressed.
10th dive: (Bandida II w/Pedro) Palancar Caves. Very nice dive. Beautiful formations. Saw two turtles and an eel.
11th dive: (Bandida II w/Pedro) San Francisco Reef. I got to see my first seahorse! Wow, I cant tell you how exciting that was for me! Last year when we were in Cozumel, Pedro wasnt able to find a seahorse, so on my last day, he promised if I came back, hed find me a seahorse. So I reminded him about his promise the first day I saw him and he said that hed only seen one since Wilma, but hed try his best. The best part about it, not only did we see a seahorse, but two batfish. It doesnt get any better than that! Sue Sue, had predicted that we were going to see a seahorse and a batfish and I was totally amazed that she was right. (I need to take her to Vegas with me). Anyway, I was walking on air the rest of the day and woke up the next day still smiling about the seahorse. Actually, I still am smiling about it. I dont know what else we saw that dive, all I recall was the seahorse and batfish.
Ate at Casa Denis. I had shrimp fajitas, which were excellent. Dan had the Mexican combo plate, which he enjoyed. Mango margaritas were enjoyed by Dan and Rachel. I had a taste and they were really good.
12th dive: (Shamu w/Pedro and Sandra) Punta Sur Devils Throat. Christi wasnt sure if everyone would be up for this dive, so she sent an extra DM in case someone didnt want to go. She goes above and beyond to make sure everyone is happy. We all ended up going, but it was nice having the option not to. I have to admit I was nervous about this dive, but after going through Devils Throat, it wasnt really intimidating at all. I actually enjoyed the other swim throughs more than Devils Throat though, especially the third swim through we did. Coming out of it was just amazing to see the formation outlined in coral w/the blue background. It was just breathtaking.
13th dive (last dive of the trip). (Shamu w/Pedro) Paso del Cedral Reef. There was a giant green moray at the beginning of the dive under a ledge, but the current was really moving, so I wasnt able to stay and watch it for too long. Lots of different fish. Enjoyed watching a little family of sharpnosed puffers. They are so cute! I have to say, Im much better at fish ID now than in the beginning. I still have a long way to go, but Im learning. We hated to say goodbye to Pedro and Mago when we got off the boat. We enjoyed every dive and had a wonderful trip from beginning to end.
Random thoughts: We had the chance to dive with a lot of wonderful people this week and really enjoyed meeting each and every one of them. A few of them are SBers (Sue Sue and xiSkiGuy), which was a lot of fun putting faces to the names. Last year we didnt get to meet Mago because Shamu was being painted, so we really enjoyed meeting him and being entertained by his magic. We loved diving with Blue XT~Sea. Christi and her crew are all wonderful! We had an awesome time in Cozumel and wish we couldve stayed longer. Maybe next time. By the way, my husband is the photographer in the family, so once he sorts through his pictures, Ill try to remember to put a link to our website. Oh, one other suggestion for anyone trying to make a connection in Dallas after going through customs, if the lines are really long at the security checkpoint that you come to after leaving customs, go around the hall to the right and youll come to another checkpoint that probably has much shorter lines. That was the case for us anyway.
