I went to Cozumel in December for the first time. It was with a few friends of mine. I had just a very few dives under my belt and was pretty nervous as my first few dives were with a sinus and double ear infection (another story), and my experiences weren't all that and a bag of potato chips. Anyway, the trip was amazing. My first experience drift diving, and all was fascinating.
I decided immediately that I wanted to increase my experience, as my dive buddies all have a tremendous amount of dive experience, and they were diving with me, with all of eight dives under my belt at the beginning of our December trip. My first few dives were with Aqua Safari taking an AOW course. That went very well, I ended everyone's inquiries as to how the dives went with "I'm still alive." ... December's week long trip increased my dive number to 18, so I came home and started plotting my next trip to get some experience under my belt.
Enter Spring Break 2013.
I work three jobs, so getting time off work to do anything requires a lot of planning. One of my jobs is with the school district, so planning things during school breaks eliminates one job time off request. The other two went relatively smoothly.
Saturday, Mar 9: I got up at 1:00 am to drive to Austin for my 6:30 flight (I live a bit west of Austin), I arrive around 4:30, flew from AUS to ATL to CZM, arriving after some delay at around 5:30. A friend met me at the airport and we went to Paprika's for a drink and discussion of Sunday's dive after checking in and dumping my stuff at the Safari Inn.
Sunday, Mar 10: We met for a shore dive on Sunday morning, I saw my first sea horse thanks to Coco (dive number 19), and found a car key and a couple of snorkel mouthpieces... I learned that not all things that look like fishing lines caught on coral are fishing lines caught on corals... Sometimes it is a worm.. Oops. AND!! I saw a seahorse. Did I say that already?? That was my goal for this trip... My mission. Accomplished! After we dived, we had a fabulous lunch and drink at Paprika's. I went afterwards to sign up for Monday dives with Aqua Safari, but they were booked. After that was a trip to Mega Supermarket for guavas, papayas and a sandwich. Then it was to the AS pier to drink tea and watch the waves. Curiously, the water seemed colder for this March trip than it did in December.
Monday, Mar 11: Dive twenty in my whole lifetime of diving proved to be a bit more eventful than I cared for... I went downstairs to see if I could dive. They had four boats going out; their three and a rented one! I went on the rented one, the Yucab II. We got loaded and were underway, I am a solo diver, so I ask one of the DMs if he would be my dive buddy (I fear being stuck with just anyone), he said yes. We went to Delilah Reef for the first dive, max depth was 70 feet. All was good, I saw an interesting thing, a barracuda in the midst of a school of little fish. He didn't seem to be eating them, but I don't know. A nurse shark, and a huge midnight parrotfish. When my air got low, I floated up a bit, my buddy gave me two pounds and I stayed down for a bit longer. When we surfaced, I was unable to inflate my bcd... I was a little concerned, but just kept my regulator in my mouth. I was at the surface, just not above it. I discovered the hose to my octopus had come off. Yes, off.. We got to the boat, and there discovered that a piece from the inside was also missing. We put it back together (hooking the hose to the bcd), and it leaked air from a pinhole where the piece was missing, it was taken apart again, electrical tape added, and reassembled. I cannot use the dump valve until I take it for repairs, but I could use the one at the bottom of my bcd. And I could also inflate and deflate my bcd. Okay. Dive twenty-one. Cedral Reef was our second dive spot. We dived, I saw a smaller, and a rather large turtle, I was cautious with my "rigged" gear, but enjoyed the dive, max 60'. the visibility on both dives was less than it was in December. At the end of the dive, my buddy informed me that there air was coming out of several pinholes in my high pressure hose, the one that goes to my computer. Well crud. He told me it needs to be replaced. I asked him if it would be safe to dive with it this week, I explain that it was bought just December (all of the gear was) and should certainly last longer than a ten dives. He wouldn't dive with it... We got back to the dive shop and I bought a new high pressure hose, but asked the shop to save the original. There must be Some warranty. I plan to take it to the dive shop I got if from in Austin. And, it isn’t safe to dive with pinholes in your high pressure hose, in case anyone else needs to know that. I am thankful that my buddy saw them, it isn’t something you can see yourself.
Tuesday, Mar 12 (dives 22 and 23): I went downstairs to see if Aqua Safari had anyone not show up, and someone didn’t. I got on the boat and we went on our first dive, to the San Francisco Wall (same dive buddy, thankfully). A nice dive, 80' max. The visibility was okay, but not like December, and the creature count was MUCH higher then, too. I did get to see a pipe seahorse! Second dive was to Tormentos, and it started to rain. It was not a nice rain either. We went on our dive, visibility was poor, and a 50' max this dive. We got back on the boat to more nearly sideways rain, and the sea started heaving... I didn't, but my stomach did complain a little. I went in the cabin for quite a while, with the crew, that was comfortable. The harbor master closed the port, so no afternoon dive. My gear broke again, same place, but I'm pretty sure it was when it was loaded onto the boat, because I was able to inflate at the surface, but the water was rough, so everyone and everything was being tossed and turned.. Saying the water was rough is a bit of an understatement…
I went to La Choza for lunch, had a cheese crisp and pollo relleno negro. The chicken was very good. I recommend it to anyone going there.
More tea and fruit on the pier… My evening ritual…
Wednesday and Thursday, Mar 13-14. I could already tell there was going to be no diving on Wednesday… The activity below my room, around the dive shop was very limited, it wasn’t on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday, I hung around and whittled on some projects, waiting to see if diving would happen, and my friends picked me up and we toured the island on Thursday. We went over to the “other side” and let the dogs run around and had a drink and nachos at Mescalitos.
Friday, Mar 15: I wasn’t going to dive. Since I was flying out on Saturday, but my flight wasn’t until 3:30, so I debated and decided I’d go. I went to ask Donna if there was room and she said no, they’d booked a full set of boats. At the last moment, Bill got me (I guess staring longingly at the boat causes pitying…
and said there was a spot on one of the boats, I ran upstairs and grabbed my already packed gear, hoping not to forget anything. I was in such a rush that I didn't grab weights from the shop, as I’d already turned in the ones I was using, but even when I went back and grabbed them I wasn't the last one on the boat... When we got underway, I discovered that I'd forgotten my dive socks.... I wasn’t sure what that would mean, it turned out to be just fine. I went to Palancar caves (dive 24), I am not a big “swim through” fan. My buoyancy is fine, it is just groups and cluster areas and … well, just no thank you… Maybe when I am more comfortable… Between the dives, the woman next to me didn't take the masking tape off of her tank (the crew puts tape on the full tank, so one doesn’t inadvertently put one’s bcd on the incorrect tank and wind up diving with no air), so she kept hearing a leak... Um... I explained that she needed to remove the tape first. And then the last dive of the week… San Clementes (dive 25). The second dive was spectacular. A huge moray eel swam with us for a bit. It was great. The last dive was the best all week. I'm glad I went on Friday, even if it meant wet gear on the plane. After the dive I rested a bit and then went out and about with friends again. We went to Los Otates for tacos and a beer. I had the Gringas. I would have it again.
Saturday, Mar 16: I am really hoping to get stuck in Cozumel, but no such thing is happening… We tool around the island for the morning, doing some last minute shopping, and then I am escorted to the airport and we check my bag, then head out for a last tour of the island and a quick stop at Mega for a sandwich for the trip.
And this is the Reader’s Digest version of my week off work…
I decided immediately that I wanted to increase my experience, as my dive buddies all have a tremendous amount of dive experience, and they were diving with me, with all of eight dives under my belt at the beginning of our December trip. My first few dives were with Aqua Safari taking an AOW course. That went very well, I ended everyone's inquiries as to how the dives went with "I'm still alive." ... December's week long trip increased my dive number to 18, so I came home and started plotting my next trip to get some experience under my belt.
Enter Spring Break 2013.
I work three jobs, so getting time off work to do anything requires a lot of planning. One of my jobs is with the school district, so planning things during school breaks eliminates one job time off request. The other two went relatively smoothly.
Saturday, Mar 9: I got up at 1:00 am to drive to Austin for my 6:30 flight (I live a bit west of Austin), I arrive around 4:30, flew from AUS to ATL to CZM, arriving after some delay at around 5:30. A friend met me at the airport and we went to Paprika's for a drink and discussion of Sunday's dive after checking in and dumping my stuff at the Safari Inn.
Sunday, Mar 10: We met for a shore dive on Sunday morning, I saw my first sea horse thanks to Coco (dive number 19), and found a car key and a couple of snorkel mouthpieces... I learned that not all things that look like fishing lines caught on coral are fishing lines caught on corals... Sometimes it is a worm.. Oops. AND!! I saw a seahorse. Did I say that already?? That was my goal for this trip... My mission. Accomplished! After we dived, we had a fabulous lunch and drink at Paprika's. I went afterwards to sign up for Monday dives with Aqua Safari, but they were booked. After that was a trip to Mega Supermarket for guavas, papayas and a sandwich. Then it was to the AS pier to drink tea and watch the waves. Curiously, the water seemed colder for this March trip than it did in December.
Monday, Mar 11: Dive twenty in my whole lifetime of diving proved to be a bit more eventful than I cared for... I went downstairs to see if I could dive. They had four boats going out; their three and a rented one! I went on the rented one, the Yucab II. We got loaded and were underway, I am a solo diver, so I ask one of the DMs if he would be my dive buddy (I fear being stuck with just anyone), he said yes. We went to Delilah Reef for the first dive, max depth was 70 feet. All was good, I saw an interesting thing, a barracuda in the midst of a school of little fish. He didn't seem to be eating them, but I don't know. A nurse shark, and a huge midnight parrotfish. When my air got low, I floated up a bit, my buddy gave me two pounds and I stayed down for a bit longer. When we surfaced, I was unable to inflate my bcd... I was a little concerned, but just kept my regulator in my mouth. I was at the surface, just not above it. I discovered the hose to my octopus had come off. Yes, off.. We got to the boat, and there discovered that a piece from the inside was also missing. We put it back together (hooking the hose to the bcd), and it leaked air from a pinhole where the piece was missing, it was taken apart again, electrical tape added, and reassembled. I cannot use the dump valve until I take it for repairs, but I could use the one at the bottom of my bcd. And I could also inflate and deflate my bcd. Okay. Dive twenty-one. Cedral Reef was our second dive spot. We dived, I saw a smaller, and a rather large turtle, I was cautious with my "rigged" gear, but enjoyed the dive, max 60'. the visibility on both dives was less than it was in December. At the end of the dive, my buddy informed me that there air was coming out of several pinholes in my high pressure hose, the one that goes to my computer. Well crud. He told me it needs to be replaced. I asked him if it would be safe to dive with it this week, I explain that it was bought just December (all of the gear was) and should certainly last longer than a ten dives. He wouldn't dive with it... We got back to the dive shop and I bought a new high pressure hose, but asked the shop to save the original. There must be Some warranty. I plan to take it to the dive shop I got if from in Austin. And, it isn’t safe to dive with pinholes in your high pressure hose, in case anyone else needs to know that. I am thankful that my buddy saw them, it isn’t something you can see yourself.
Tuesday, Mar 12 (dives 22 and 23): I went downstairs to see if Aqua Safari had anyone not show up, and someone didn’t. I got on the boat and we went on our first dive, to the San Francisco Wall (same dive buddy, thankfully). A nice dive, 80' max. The visibility was okay, but not like December, and the creature count was MUCH higher then, too. I did get to see a pipe seahorse! Second dive was to Tormentos, and it started to rain. It was not a nice rain either. We went on our dive, visibility was poor, and a 50' max this dive. We got back on the boat to more nearly sideways rain, and the sea started heaving... I didn't, but my stomach did complain a little. I went in the cabin for quite a while, with the crew, that was comfortable. The harbor master closed the port, so no afternoon dive. My gear broke again, same place, but I'm pretty sure it was when it was loaded onto the boat, because I was able to inflate at the surface, but the water was rough, so everyone and everything was being tossed and turned.. Saying the water was rough is a bit of an understatement…
I went to La Choza for lunch, had a cheese crisp and pollo relleno negro. The chicken was very good. I recommend it to anyone going there.
More tea and fruit on the pier… My evening ritual…
Wednesday and Thursday, Mar 13-14. I could already tell there was going to be no diving on Wednesday… The activity below my room, around the dive shop was very limited, it wasn’t on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday, I hung around and whittled on some projects, waiting to see if diving would happen, and my friends picked me up and we toured the island on Thursday. We went over to the “other side” and let the dogs run around and had a drink and nachos at Mescalitos.
Friday, Mar 15: I wasn’t going to dive. Since I was flying out on Saturday, but my flight wasn’t until 3:30, so I debated and decided I’d go. I went to ask Donna if there was room and she said no, they’d booked a full set of boats. At the last moment, Bill got me (I guess staring longingly at the boat causes pitying…
and said there was a spot on one of the boats, I ran upstairs and grabbed my already packed gear, hoping not to forget anything. I was in such a rush that I didn't grab weights from the shop, as I’d already turned in the ones I was using, but even when I went back and grabbed them I wasn't the last one on the boat... When we got underway, I discovered that I'd forgotten my dive socks.... I wasn’t sure what that would mean, it turned out to be just fine. I went to Palancar caves (dive 24), I am not a big “swim through” fan. My buoyancy is fine, it is just groups and cluster areas and … well, just no thank you… Maybe when I am more comfortable… Between the dives, the woman next to me didn't take the masking tape off of her tank (the crew puts tape on the full tank, so one doesn’t inadvertently put one’s bcd on the incorrect tank and wind up diving with no air), so she kept hearing a leak... Um... I explained that she needed to remove the tape first. And then the last dive of the week… San Clementes (dive 25). The second dive was spectacular. A huge moray eel swam with us for a bit. It was great. The last dive was the best all week. I'm glad I went on Friday, even if it meant wet gear on the plane. After the dive I rested a bit and then went out and about with friends again. We went to Los Otates for tacos and a beer. I had the Gringas. I would have it again.Saturday, Mar 16: I am really hoping to get stuck in Cozumel, but no such thing is happening… We tool around the island for the morning, doing some last minute shopping, and then I am escorted to the airport and we check my bag, then head out for a last tour of the island and a quick stop at Mega for a sandwich for the trip.
And this is the Reader’s Digest version of my week off work…
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